Home Education

[red]

home educators here too

8)

[Shirley]

Hi Red

How old are your children and how long have you been home edding?? Are there any good/bad points??

I'm still not sure that I will be able to afford to do it... don't suppose you can do it on a part time basis can you!!

[home ed is fun]

hi shirley
there is always flexi schooling which means you could home ed part time until you feel confidet. as for cost it only costs as much as you want. books can come from the libary or second hand and as you don't have to follow the national curriculum it means you can do more hands on stuff or consintrate on what your child is into and they can always go back to school at a later date if you want, just remember to let them de school for a couple of month before going into a mass of work.
dawn

[Shirley]

Hi Dawn

Thanks for that...

I wasn't meaning the cost of books etc but the cost in terms of lack of one income... Still got a year to decide...

[home ed is fun]

hi shirley
it depends on your job as there are several parents in my area who run there own buisness and you could alway ask the grand parents to do baby sitting duties and they could teach as well as baby sit. as any there are lots of different ways to learn. you could have a look at www.freedom-in-education.co.uk site as they have a free contact list so it may be worth while having a look as there may be some one in you area to talk/socialize with and get all the information on group meetings etc.
plus remember with home ed there is no set time to do work so you could ask the grand parents or other relatives to baby sit during the day and teach your child once you get back as you do not have to follow a school day, your time is as flexible as you want it to be.
dawn

[Shirley]

Yeah I can see that it is flexible but we don't have any family up here so that makes everything that happens that bit less flexible really

Thanks for the link..

[home ed is fun]

do you by any chance have the sort of job where your child could go with you, and a nice boss? or there may be a child minder who also home educates her/his children that could be a way forward for as long as you need it as i know there are a couple of home educating parents in my area who are also child minders might be worth looking into.
dawn

[Kirstykbart]

another thing to think about would be that if your income dropped your tax credits may go up. Obviously this is dependant on specific circumstances, but is a big help for us. Tbh I wish we didn't rely on it but it's there and it helps me do what I want to do so I'm happy.

I love home ed. I think it's such a rewarding thing to do and I'm so glad we went down this path. Although I have to admit there are days when I wish I never knew it existed!! We've made so many really good friends and the kids have friends stationed all over the country. They love it too. My ds is 6 and he's learning to read. He can do it but has no real inclination to do it so we're not getting really far with it. I'm just taking it easy with him so it doesn't become a chore. My dd is 4 and a whizz with numbers, much better than my ds!! I love that they can follow what they're interested in. My ds likes history, as do I, and we both find out stuff together.

As far as I'm aware there's quite a few people up in Aberdeenshire (although how spaced out I've no idea!!), have you joined the Scottish HE list? If not and you want details let me know and I'll sort them out for you.

Kirsty
(sorry if a bit disjointed, baking cookies!!)

[albert onglebod]

That was one reason we didnt home ed from the start.
I was on the lookout for part time work to fit in with the kids school hours.
I did a job for 6 months and it was so expensive in terms of clothes and not having time to shop around for groceries ,cook from scratch etc that we were better off when I gave it up.
Then there was no reason not to homeschool and I really wish we had never sent them in the first place.
A very intersting book which has lots of ideas for living on one income is The tightwad gazzette.

[red]

Hi Red

How old are your children and how long have you been home edding?? Are there any good/bad points??

I'm still not sure that I will be able to afford to do it... don't suppose you can do it on a part time basis can you!!

We started January this year - I have just the one son and he is 12 - the reason we got into home ed is that he has special needs. Its been FANTASTIC honestly wish we had done this years ago. - bad points - always the socialisation aspect (and you will appreciate that things are different for us) but there are thriving home ed groups about. Other bad point is that i now do my work (lucky enough to work from home) in the evenings and weekends.. so thats time used up.
Good points - well his confidence has improved dramatically, he is learning stacks and stacks, we follow what interests us, can take holidays out of the school holiday times, and frankly i just like having my lad with me, he is great company. I spent alot of energy 'fighting the system' and now we dont have to and I can put my effort into my son. Just like that.
Alot of people do not follow a structure, and just go with the flow, but that does not work for us - because A I'm paranoid that we would not be doing enough and B my son thrives on routine.
If you can find a way to afford it, i would give it a go - don't worry about your ability, because all the info is readily available on th'internet etc, and there is a huge online community of home edders and frankly the one to one attention your kids gets is stacks better than they would be getting in school

Red

[Shirley]

and frankly i just like having my lad with me, he is great company.

That is so lovely! I've got a 12 year old too but he spends a lot of his time with his dad... I like having him around too

I am trying my best to find something I can do at home.... and as others have pointed out, you are generally no better off by going out to work anyway... not once one parent is working anyway... much of what you earn goes on childcare and transport unless you earn a shedload of money.

[maggie144]

I have home educated my two children for over two years now, we moved to cumbria in 2002 and from the start both my children were unhappy, and bullied.

Since i have been teaching them myself they are happy kids, and learning heaps more than they would in mainstream school, i joined an organization called Education Otherwise who were a great help.they do have a website.

Best thing i did was pull them from school, especially when just after i removed my daughter she admitted to me that she had contemplated suicide.

Maggie

Don't let you kids suffer, deregister them, and teach them at home, you will end up with healthy, happy, well mannered children.

[Shirley]

A very intersting book which has lots of ideas for living on one income is The tightwad gazzette.

I've just got a copy on ebay - it's a super book isn't it.

[Shirley]

Maggie

My daughter was bullied at school too and it did lead to problems for her.

I'm watching VERY carefully for any signs of bullying of my 12 year old.... none so far and he does like school (!) but he's just about to start the academy so things could be different there.

Here the schools are very small - the school that my 12 year old has just left had 40 children in it from P1 to P7 (infants - juniors) and the school that my youngest would go to has even less than that.

[mellie]

hi

Haven't been around for ages as our computer has been ill.

We had a go at home education when our no.2 started reception class (4 1/2) and we had no.1 in year 2 with a bossy old teacher. We also had small no.3 at home (1).
No.1 was so traumatised by attending school and this affected time at home which was dreadful. So! Out they came. The relief and freedom I felt on that first morning was amazing. We continued for about 1 and a half years until no.1 wanted to go back to her school friends and then no.2 started in year two with the sweetest teacher and now loves school more than any of them.
From my experience you really need support from like minded people and not just the occasional " how's it going?".
I would say it's best to working alongside another family, if not that then join all the groups you can. We didn't because there were none that met close enough to us and the places they met were out of the way for public transport, which we are reliant on.
I did enjoy the concept and my heart still belongs with it, bu t it's a very personal thing as to if it works for your family. Ours don't seem to be in the right place at the moment. Maybe I didn't 'unschool' them....who knows?
I have one left at home now who's just turned 2, so it remains to be seen which path she takes, although finances may make the decision for us.
Good luck anyway
Mel
nb. our children aren't actually referred to by numbers at home!!