To Home Ed, or not?????

[motherofboys]

I was always interested in home ed, but lacked the convidence so put my boys into pre-school then school. Over time most of my fears have been laid to rest and now I have the convidence. Since realising I could do it the urge to take them out of school has grown and grown. I would LOVE to just say "right thats it, your not going back on tuesday" (mondays a bank holiday lol) but they really enjoy school! I've been lucky that the school/pre-school they go to are really good ones. The teachers are lovely. The boys are doing well. And I do tend to think along the lines of "if its not broke, dont fix it" But its kinda driving me crazy!
Is there anyone here who had been in that situation and what did you do? What happened? Are you happy with the result now?
My boys are 6, 4 and 2.

 

[sazzyb1985]

Hi, sorry I have no experience, but my daughter was always going to be home educated and now she has decided she wants to go to preschool. She is only 3 and I think she may get on well at school. I have decided to let her go to school but always make sure she knows she has the option to be home educated. If she is ever unhappy with school she will leave. It is great that your boys are doing well and if they are happy maybe just let them know that they have the choice.x

 

[motherofboys]

Thanks for your reply. I guess all I can do is leave the door open.

 

[freckleonear]

If they are already happy at school then I think you need to consider what benefits you are hoping for by home educating. You don't need to justify it to anyone else, but I think it would help to be clear in your own mind about your reasons for choosing home eduction. What kind of education style would you use, what would be the advantages and disadvantages in the short-term and the long-term? Once you've pinpointed those it should be easier to weigh up the decision.

I have a friend whose boys are almost exactly the same age as yours. She took them out last September and the whole family is enjoying home-ed and seeing a lot of benefits. If you do decide to go ahead, it's a good age to take them out and you could do it before your middle son starts school (I presume he's due to start in September?) so it would minimise the disruption.

 

[motherofboys]

Yes my middle son is due to start this september. I may make a pros and cons list or something then.
As I say it was something I wanted to do from the start but didnt think I was up to the job.
I'm not really sure the middle one is suited to full time school, my eldest does well at school but I do think there are benefits for him being home, some academically and a lot emotionally.
I feel it would be good for us all, individually and as a family. Most of my original 'cons' have already been dismissed.
I really wish I had tarted with H.E then if it hadnt been right gone into school, rather than this way round. I think that decision would have been much easier.

 

[marley2580]

One option would be to home ed the younger 2 and see if the older one wants to leave school as a result.

 

[BunInTheBelly]

I was home schooled until 6th grade, and I implore you: make sure if you home school that you give them an abundance of opportunities to interact with kids their age! There certainly were benefits to home schooling, in the areas of manners and generally being ahead of the curve gradewise. However, it definitely hurt my social development and I didn't feel like I'd caught up with my public-school classmates until the end of high school.

 

[motherofboys]

BunInTheBelly, that was one of my original worries, but now the older 2 go to judo saturday mornings, the eldest goes to football sunday mornings, which the middle one can start in september, the eldest also goes to beavers on a thursday evening, which eventually the others will start when old enough (they have to be 6 for that) I have plenty of their friends mums on facebook to arrange playdates, one of their friends lives just 8 doors away and is round all the time anyway. We go to mum and tots too which is on a day my hubby doesnt work so even if they said the eldest could stay home with Daddy if he couldnt/didnt want to come. I have also found the local home ed group which has meets for children to interact.

 

[Angelicous]

Good luck whatever happens Please let us know how it goes xx

 

[supermaman]

most important is to see what suits your child not what suits you, we have 1 who is home ed the other loves school and all the social interaction. DS will go to an online school, InterHigh, for secondary school as they offer teachers and classmates from the comfort of your front room. Works well for kids who don't get on in busy, noisy, regimented environments.

 

[motherofboys]

Just a quick update, though its not much really lol
I have spoken to my boys, asked what they think of the idea and explained what would happen and how the most important thing to me is that they are happy and that if they decided at any point they wanted to try home ed we could and if they didn't like it they were free to return to school.
They were worried about their friends and I explained they would still go to clubs and I get all their friends mums phone numbers to arrange for them to come and play at weekends etc
My eldest likes the sound of it and understands its not a free ride. He thinks it sounds good, but is still unsure if he would want to do it completely. My middle son doesnt seem too bothered either way. I worry about how he'd cope a full day in school but also worry how he'd get on at home. I need to keep structure for him, or he will get bored and out of 'control'.
We have decided that with the summer coming up I will get some books and my eldest knows the websites they use at school (apparently his favourite is bitesize) and we will have a loose routine to the days. It will stop them getting bored when home all day, and give us all a taste of what it could be like. At the end of the 6 weeks (for 1, the other has 8 weeks) the decision will be theirs.
The option to begin home ed or return to school, will always be there should they choose it.
So now I'm working on a plan for those few weeks. I'm thinking of maybe having a hart with velcro on options so they can choose that days activities to keep them involved. And set snack times and 'free play' times, but also following their lead if there's something they express an interest in learning about. But so it still has a pattern and a school feel to it.

 

[marley2580]

I think that's a great idea, but I also think you need to remember that, for most families, home ed is nothing like school. It's the free and easy approach to learning that appeals to many. For example, last week we decided to build a volcano, so we experimented with different chemical reactions to decide the best way of doing it, we got books from the library and read them (kaya keeps wanting the same one as a bedtime story lol) and then we made a big paper mashy volcano. We're just waiting on it drying so we can paint it etc and then erupt it. Tomorrow we're driving up an extinct volcano. Volcanos are all we've done all week tbh and that's the beauty of home ed. Kaya (and Blythe to some degree) has had loads of fun and covered loads of topics without even realising it. And none of it has felt like school work

 

[motherofboys]

Yeah, I've read that there are many different approaches people take. Like with your volcano, if they took an interest in one particular subject I would concentrate on that and just incorporate everything else into that. Most of it I hope will be allowing them to learn through educational games, puzzles, board games played as a family. Even baking, reading the ingredients, and counting forward on the clock how long they need to be in the oven for.
I just thought a loose routine would help me keep track of what was happening, they would know what to expect each day and help in the beginning to transition from school to home, with out them thinking they were getting off.
I figured some choices would be quite broad, like creative time, which could be painting, drawing, playdoh, sticking. Work books, which would be their choice which subject. PC time, they would chose which site, subject and game. There could even be a board game option.
Just so they knew after lunch we would have a story, then do some painting etc

 

[marley2580]

I think a routine can be great as long as it's a loose one. It's all about what works for your family, I just find that a lot of people who start home ed after sending a child to school end up putting a lot of pressure on themselves to 'keep up with the school' so to speak. The whole point of home ed is that it isn't school, it's about finding what works for you and your family.

There's actually a home education group on here in the parenting group section where you may get more thoughts and advice. There's also some really good home ed forums including www.home-education.biz where you can get tons of advice.

 

[motherofboys]

oh really? I can't have looked hard enough LOL One of the things I like is that they do progress at their own pace.

Thanks for the link

 

[lepaskilf]

If you are still worrying then maybe you could do home ed part time? Send kiddies to school for 2 days a week and then home ed the rest of the time? That way they get the social interaction! Also, it will give you an idea about whther you can cope home ed'ing them before you decide to do it fulltime?

 

[motherofboys]

Can you do that? I thought school wouldn't allow it because they would say they would fall behind because they would miss things, and want you to follow the curriculum, or go down as bad attendance or something?

 

[marley2580]

where are you hun? there are some people in england that are flexi-schooling but I think it all depends on the school. Please don't let the socialisation argument sway you though, there are many many ways for home educated kids to socialise with others.

 

[motherofboys]

I'm in Kent, England. We are in a small village, so just the one school.
I'm not overly worried about socializing. They have clubs, and I found the local Home Ed group who have lots of meets etc
My 4 year old has told me today he thinks it would be 'a good idea'.

 

[marley2580]

From what I know about flexi-schooling (which isn't much) it's totally at the discretion of the school. You should find more info about it on the education otherwise website. Personally, if I were you, I'd not send the 4 year old to school at all after the summer hols, as then you don't have all the hassle of de-regstering him from school.