Home schooling

[summer rain]

I home-educate my boys too though they ended up calling it 'school at home' themselves, you don't need to follow the national curriculum (or any curriculum at all) or even teach in English; and you can choose to have the local authority come and inspect what you're doing but it isn't an obligation. We didn't choose to have the local authority come but a HV 'reported' us for home-educating anyway or rather she basically said the kids are at home doing nothing despite me telling her we are home educating. It took a long time to clear our name and prove that the kids are doing really well at home and doing tons of work and learning. The lady who comes around in our area is a former headteacher herself. We roughly follow the national curriculum and use national curriculum textbooks/workbooks in some subjects; but in others we do something completely different. For example in Maths we follow a Hungarian maths curriculum as Hungary is pretty much the most advanced country in mathematics in the world-some of the topics covered in my son's year 3 workbooks I did not learn about until GCSE level. The only thing I wish we did more of was more structured science experiments and work and more messy art and design-but because my youngest is about the art and design tends to mainly be limited to work not involving glue or paints and the science we can do is also limited-though we do a lot of cooking and baking and plan to go on science-based field trips with other homeschooling families in the summer. The majority of kids in my family, OHs family and friends' kids are in mainstream schools and consequently we know where children should be up to in any given subject, though I have to say my boys are ahead in most things. They are very sociable too and are a lot more confident in many ways than other kids we know; they are able to relate to people of all ages and not just their age group, and my eldest even makes suggestions in the supermarket to the staff on how they can improve the store. Not seen many other 7 year olds doing that xx

Wow. I am so impressed by you! Home-schooling sounds so good but I really don't think I'd have the patience for it. I remember trying to tutor my siblings and there were a lot of arguments

The hungarian maths thing sounds really intriguing. I am going to look it up. I am very good at maths and would love my son to be amazing at it as its such an important skill to learn.

The Hungarian maths thing is called 'Maths Enhancement Programme' aka 'Plymouth Maths', it is run by the uni of Plymouth but has a lot of major business organisations giving it financial sponsorship as they believe its a very worthy cause (don't worry there are no ads on the workbooks ), it is completely free as well

https://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/menus/resources.htm

xx

 

[summer rain]

i just struggle with the social aspects of it all. i think school is about children learning to interact outside of the family environment

While kids are in school for a lot of hours; the hours spent on school work for home-educators tends to be less as there are not the usual distractions of a mainstream school environment-many home educators find they can study for as little as two hours a day and still on top of the work. In many cases these home educators are steaming ahead. So this leaves a lot of social time for home educated children; most home educated children do regularly see friends outside of their family circle and there is a huge effort from homeschooling parents to create socialising opportunities on a regular basis, as I have mentioned my children can interact wonderfully with not only those of their age, but older children and even adults. They have started a part time evening school recently as the one thing I don't feel qualified to teach well is Arabic and Qur'an recitation, we had to wait a long time before we could get them into a 'modern' school where they are taught in English and the teachers are qualified, so they see other children on a daily basis as well xx

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I am on the fence about it. Its not something I want to do and I feel like I have been pushed into the possibility of doing it with no other option. I dont know.

 

[lucy_x]

.

 

[Midnight_Fairy]

I wonder if people realize "Naughty kids" may not be naughty. They may not be getting the help they need. Local authority are seriously failing some kids right now.

 

[freckleonear]

Nowadays there are home education groups all over the country. Even in our small town there are at least three different meets we can attend. Some of them are just for socialising but some organise field trips, sports, classes and workshops in various subjects and all kinds of different activities.

 

[Blob]

I really love this subject, I know my DH isn't hugely in love with the idea...he doesn't think they will have enough of the social side and I guess sport etc.

I think I would love to teach them for the first few years, I hate how much they have to do at such a young age. I want her to learn as fast or slow as she wants but also have lots of fun doing it? But then also knowing my daughter I think that she will really thrive in a school atmosphere?

Basically if my daughters can't get into the school we want I will home school. It's a small school which we have a lot to do with so it's nice to feel like you are really involved? Maybe I'm going to be a really interfering mother our school committee interview head teachers etc which I think is great

 

[mum22ttc#3]

Me and OH were talking about this last night, he said he would actually prefer for me to home school all 3 and to send them to clubs for the social side.

We actually did home school DD1 for a year because we couldn't get her into a school when we moved house and TBH I did prefer the more relaxed approach to it. She went back to school just over a year ago and she is above average in all areas so I can see it didn't do her any harm.

I think if anything her learning has seemed to slow down, she is still progressing but just not as fast as she seemed to before. I think that is probably because of the big classes and I do tend to agree with a PP about the teachers attention going on only 1 or 2 children because of them being naughty. We have also had quite abit of trouble with one of the kids in her class lashing out and just generally being very nasty, not just to her but many of the kids, I think this is just adding to OH's reasons to home school and I do tend to agree. I don't want to have to send my kids in each day to the name calling and the verbal and physical abuse. This is also one of the better schools in our area.

If DD2 doesn't get into the school that we have put down then there won't be a choice anyway as I will be home schooling them no matter what. I would rather home school then to have to send them to a not so good school, I just don't see how it would benefit them, plus if we are getting this kind of trouble with a 'better' school then I dread to think what it would be like elsewhere.

 

[mum22ttc#3]

For the ladies that do home school I have a few questions:

Where do you get your text books from and the national curriculum to follow?
If I had local authority checking what 'evidence' do I have to provide?
Will it still be easy enough to get them into a secondary school?
For a secondary I was thinking of a grammar school, will they still be able to sit there 11+?
How do I find out about the groups in my area?

Sorry for all the questions and Thanks in advance.

 

[sophxx]

For the ladies that do home school I have a few questions:

Where do you get your text books from and the national curriculum to follow?
If I had local authority checking what 'evidence' do I have to provide?
Will it still be easy enough to get them into a secondary school?
For a secondary I was thinking of a grammar school, will they still be able to sit there 11+?
How do I find out about the groups in my area?

Sorry for all the questions and Thanks in advance.

we dont homeschool yet but will be

theres lots of homeschooling groups on yahoo groups that organise field trips meet ups ect there also homeschooling forums
if you look for steiner schools they offer kindergarden once a week up to 7 whichbis good for children ti meet alot of homeschooling kids go to them in our area. they also organise swimming sport playing ect theres also things like brownies guides cubs ect that are good for naking friends

theres lots of texts books on amazon and whsmiths homebargins ect stock them to
theres no reason why they couldnt sit the grammar test as that has nothing to do with primary school you ring up and book your child in for it ( well you do here) your child would need practice papaers ect and alot of tutors offer 11+ choaching which is what you would propably have on top of going to primRy school asmost schools dont offer 11+ choaching.

x

 

[marley2580]

For the ladies that do home school I have a few questions:

Where do you get your text books from and the national curriculum to follow? We don't follow the national curriculum, but we do use workbooks etc. You can get them from bookshops like Waterstones etc

If I had local authority checking what 'evidence' do I have to provide?If you never register them at school you may well not have the LA checking up, but if you do, all you are required to provide is a statement of your educational approach and an outline of what you intend to do in the year ahead. Many people do provide more and that can take the form of written work, photographs, projects etc.

Will it still be easy enough to get them into a secondary school? Yes is the simple answer to this

For a secondary I was thinking of a grammar school, will they still be able to sit there 11+? Again, this shouldn't be a problem

How do I find out about the groups in my area? If you're in England, one of the best places to to start is Education Otherwise. There's also quite an active home ed forum at www.home-education.biz where people should be able to help you find local groups etc.

Sorry for all the questions and Thanks in advance.

Hope this helps

 

[mum22ttc#3]

Thanks for both replies, thats really helpful.
I think after reading this thread I'm defiently going to seriously consider home schooling from september onwards.

Thanks again.

 

[Brookey]

I dont think I would do it. I want my son to be able to meet other people his age and become social. I would worry about him going out into the world as an adult if he has spent 16 years basically being in his house every day.

 

[NuKe]

Personally, I'm against it. I think kids need that different enviornment and the social side of it, along with learning about authority figures and believe it prepares them for a working enviornment.

 

[feeble]

This talk of the 'social' aspect of school being important confuses me, partly because I don't know any home schooled kids who don't spend lots and lots of time with other kids and partly because the time they spend with other children seems so much more realistic than school.

Schools are big institutions with hundreds and hundreds of children in them, I think the nearest adult version of a school I can think of, where that many adults are forced into a place together, is a prison.

Let's face it, in the real, adult world, the likelihood of having that many people around you on a daily basis is slim.

The social aspect is one of the main reasons I would love to flexi school, so do half school days and half at home, that way the kiddies can do science, art and sport with other children in an institutional environment, but actually have one on one care the rest of the week.

 

[NuKe]

This talk of the 'social' aspect of school being important confuses me, partly because I don't know any home schooled kids who don't spend lots and lots of time with other kids and partly because the time they spend with other children seems so much more realistic than school.

Schools are big institutions with hundreds and hundreds of children in them, I think the nearest adult version of a school I can think of, where that many adults are forced into a place together, is a prison.

Let's face it, in the real, adult world, the likelihood of having that many people around you on a daily basis is slim.

The social aspect is one of the main reasons I would love to flexi school, so do half school days and half at home, that way the kiddies can do science, art and sport with other children in an institutional environment, but actually have one on one care the rest of the week.

I've never heard of flexi schooling, sounds like a good middle ground!

 

[Dragonfly]

I think homeschooling is a great idea and would love to do it. I dont think I would as I am not that brainy myself but I dont like the way mainstream schools are at all now. They really do fail to educate, I am sure I could do the basics myself but wouldnt want them in the house all the time I want them to go out explore and come home. As I see it school interrupts education. maybe socially they will learn something, though you can socially learn stuff home schooled as well I am just trying to gather what my kid will learn from school. I worry about all these star charts, manipulation in to acting this and that way, punishments etc Other kids being bullies and taking it out on kids to. But I dont think I have a choice, I know my family would flip at me. But from this thread I learned more off than anywhere about home schooling, I think i will get a circulim when they go to school anyway, often education has a way of not sinking in. I forgot everything when I left school due to the crap methods of teaching. Only speaking about my school it was a really poor performance school with no teachers most the time. I educated myself at home more. I want to know more about flexi schools but I dont think we have them in my area.

 

[feeble]

You don't get flexi schools, it's flexi schooling, where you have an agreement with any school that the child will only be in 2 or 3 days a week and they do the rest of the days at home.

 

[OnErth&InHvn]

I homeschool 2 of my 3 kids. In the US if you go to HSLDA (google it) each state has different laws for what they require of you. Some require testing, some dont. Some require basic subjects (reading, writing, math), others want everything (fire safety, health, gym, reading, writing, math, science, etc). You can pick w/e curriculum you want but you have to fit the states guidelines.

DD1 is 5 and is in 1st grade. DD2 is 4 and is in kindergarten so they are actually ahead. DS is in public school, 6yrs old and in 1st grd.

We use Horizons (made by Alpha Omega) for phonics and Math U see for math. In Ohio I have until DD is 6 (so this fall) to register with the superintendent of the local school district. Ill have to send them a copy of her work and the curriculum ill be using. Its quite simple really. For next year ill add science and history to her curriculum and leave DD2 at just phonics and math.

There are different types of curriculum and different teaching methods. I use what works for my children. DD1 is very hands on. Shed never be able to sit and do a textbook/workbook combo.

There are homeschool groups that meet up and coops that get together. We plan activites and "socialize". The girls go to church and MOPS and library classes, they are normal kids.
Thehomeschoollounge.com is a GREAT website to get started if you are thinking about it.

I have a blog about our homeschooling so far. Not super exciting, but it shows what we do. (if you want to check it out, let me know, i dont want just anyone having the link).

There are hard days. Dont get me wrong. i question why im doing it. The days when DDs wont listen or just dont get it. However, the moment it all clicks, it makes it worth it.

 

[Dragonfly]

how do you deal with exams in home schooling ? like the 11 plus? I never done one myself as I was afraid of failing (no self esteem but wasnt a stupid child just shy). These get you in to grammar schools here. And later if you are home schooling a secondary school pupil how does it work with qualifications?