Home Educating?

[Clara]

That has struck me as well, because it´s alright me wanting to live this way but what if LO wants to be an accountant?

The only thought I had is that it isn´t such a big deal really, afterall if you or I wanted to take a GCSE we could just go and do it at a college. In fact I can see a greater advantage in not feeling like our children must do all their GCSEs in one year - do you remember the stress? But just do them, if they feel they must, as and when they are ready

Also, I don´t know about you but I did really well at school academically, Mr Clara was thrown out in his o level year - yet here we both are in the same place, living the same life, our educational pasts seem largely irrelevant.

Clara x.

[mrsflibble]

I know that feeling, I was a high flyer until I hit a levels and went off the rails a bit. i stillmanaged uni but dropped out because of pressure and also i had been forced into the whole application process by people who thought they knew better. mind you, if I'd not gone to uni i never would have met my friend's older brother- Mr Flibble lol!
He got an HND as his highest achievment, after really bad exam results further down in his past and yet he's in a really well paid job which he loves.

I have all sorts of ideas on how to enrich sophie's education, but I remember when i started school my mum got told off because I could already read. She didnt learn to read till she was 11 because in school she was told she was stupid and fell by the wayside. you just can't win.

I'm worried about fighting the establishment. If she does end up being home schooled, I would like to take sophie with me on photographic jobs when she's bigger so that she can still learn a skill. if she's interested.

[Trinity]

Regarding exams... just my tuppence worth here

I know several children who've been educated at home all the way, and then decided to study at exam level (gcse or alevel etc) when they felt interested in specific professions. They had no trouble being accepted into colleges, and seem, if I may say to be incredibly successful and devoted to their studies.

I also know of several children from the age of twelve upwards studying GCSEs at home. It does seem to me that if a child is motivated, then there is always a way. Qualifications don't appear to be a barrier.

Warm Regards
Trin

[red]

what about exams? I mean I am all for other "ways of life" but the outside world don't seem so open minded. How would Sophie do standard exams * ?



(* NOTHING until GCSE, children are put under far far too much pressure)

plently of home educated children take and pass their gcses - and in fact it can work out better, as your child can take them when they are ready, whether that is earlier or later than school thinks fit. downside is you will have to pay for them, but thats all.

oh, and if you child wants to go to school, when they are able to make that reasoned decision, then they can - it does become their choice too in the end.

[baldowrie]

Clara

alright me wanting to live this way but what if LO wants to be an accountant?

A friend of mine, who has dyslexia, left main stream school with no exams and her parents being told she was stupid and would amount to nothing......she is now a successful free lance account!

Mrs Fibble

when i started school my mum got told off because I could already read

My children weren't allowed books with words in them at the school in Scotland as the rest of the children couldn't read!!!!

Needless to say I refused the school books and took the children to the library to get books with words. After me insisting for assesments the children who were 5 at the time were tested for reading ability. My son came out at 8 an my daughter at 7...still didn't get books with words though!

[mrsflibble]

OK, this is all really good fodder for me to get my teeth into lol! finally, I'm terrible at maths. will that matter or do you think I'd be able to learn along with sophie? my mum is a teacher's assistant in a special school and she's 1 week ahead of Connor, the boy she aides in class, learning Makaton. Could I do maths like this?! does it work?!

I can teach sophie so many more things than a school can. life skills, how to balance a bank account and budget properly, how to change the brakepads and oil on her car etc but i cant teach her long division.

[red]

and life skills and being a well adjusted person are far more important things to develop in childhood than many of the things taught at school!

yes - you can learn at the same time - it will be fine!
there is a tendency to remember school when we were last there.. ie 16-18 - but you will be starting at age.. well.. now.. but officially 5 - don't worry about the 16 year old stuff now, worry about if you could teach a 5 year old, and you know you can! - hey kids manage to learn how to walk and talk without school.. if those major milestones can be achieved, a little maths will be no problem!
besides there are lots of useful, free resources. -e.g. The BBC will send you a schedule for the term's school programmes, and a booklet detailing each program for free - i sit down and decide which programs might be useful to us, record them and intergrate them in our home ed plan. Numbertime was very popular! (remember El Nombre?)

when I started I thought 'eek, can I do this' - but its just fine.

[baldowrie]

but i cant teach her long division.

And neither do they get taught in most class rooms these days...they use a calculator!

[red]

And neither do they get taught in most class rooms these days...they use a calculator!

this is true.

some of the maths homework my son came home with when he was at school was just plain daft. for example, a picture of a load of aliens, some have 3 arms some have 3 legs - question along the lines of 'how many aliens would you have to have to get x arms and y legs all together'
only ways to do this are by using much higher level maths invovling simultaneous equations or trial and error. daft daft daft

AND if that was not enough, the homework was photocopied from a book of photocopyable pages schools can buy.. and guess what.. you too can buy them from Smiths too, if you are so inclined.

meanwhile - my son, who has learning difficulties, did not have basic number bonds.

btw, when I asked, mostly parents 'helped' with the homework.. so you will still have to be capable even if you send your kids to school.

[Annpan]

I have decided to start using a bit of french with my baby (8 months old) and I have been asked if I am "teaching her French" It got me thinking about the whole home ed thing.
I do not school my baby I am not teaching her anything, she is "learning" and believe me she really is picking it up so fast, she already understand almost as much in french as in English, and I only started useing bits and pieces last week. I now count the stairs in French sometimes or talk about her breakfast or the cat, etc. She waves on cue at bonjour, aurvoire (sp?), hello, bye-bye and hola (just for fun)
I am now feeling really possitive about the whole home ed thing as it seems that (until a certain age at least) you don't need to teach your child, just give them the opportunity to learn.

As for maths, it seems much more sensible to me that you can 'use ' maths more practically and in a work and home environment rather than work out how many monkeys with 3 arms and 4 legs...

On the homework front, I was helping my 11 year old nephew with his English/spelling homework and it was all puzzle based and with no real work involved. One question was
YYUR
YYUB
ICUR
YY4ME
I have no clue as to what it was supposed to help children learn, it explains the high proportion of illiteracy in Scotland.

[baldowrie]

my maths is not that good but I have ensured my children can do the basics using the old fashioned working outs and not a calculator

[catalyst]

and life skills and being a well adjusted person are far more important things to develop in childhood than many of the things taught at school!

a very good point. how are school kids meant to learn about society when they are shut in an artificial environment 8 hours a day - oh, but perhaps that is what school is meant to tech them: to deny their own impulses, feelings, life. to be happy shut in a space, controlled by someone else, used to mind-numbing boredom. taught to deny themselves whenever authorty wishes them to.

schools werent created to 'educate', they were created to inculcate the machine into the hearts and minds of children, and as 'child care' so parents could work for the machine, and to prepare the children for a mind-numbing life of wage slavery.

[Annpan]

right on catalyst

[chadspad]

I have read this post with interest. If I was still in the UK I think I would definitely have looked into teaching my 5 year old at home especially with having seen how difficult it is to get into decent schools. My friends sister, about 15 years ago, had to fight in court for the right to teach her hildren at home because the local school was so bad - she did win but not before having to battle hard, so I find it amazing that people are allowed now to just take their kids out if they want. Im still not sure that its the right thing to do with the kids with them not getting social skills - I understand these are not always the best skills (swearing etc) but I think theres a lot to learn from others. Having moved to France I thought it imperative that my son go to the local school to help with his learning of the language and as I tend to stick to english friends he wouldnt have mixed with the locals. The schools in France are fantastic tho, they dont start properly until they are 6 and the level of teaching is about 2 years behind the UK until they reach college when they seem to up the tempo. The final French exam is about on par with A levels but they like to give the children the chance to remain children for a lot longer than they do in the UK.

[red]

I think in your shoes, I might well make the same decision. It's important that your son learns the language etc.

so I find it amazing that people are allowed now to just take their kids out if they want.

Hmmm but... you the parent are legally responsible for providing your child with an education, not the state. In fact - if you send your child to a rubbish school, its YOU that are responsible. Think about it some more - when people choose to send their kids to a private school, they are also stepping out of state provision, and some private schools are strange/poor etc

then think about it some more.... some countries its illegal to educate your own children... hello? you mean the government have more say in how I raise my kids, and what they are taught than me?

then at this point, I decide that the UK have it about right.

Im still not sure that its the right thing to do with the kids with them not getting social skills - I understand these are not always the best skills (swearing etc) but I think theres a lot to learn from others.

but that is making the assumption that no socialisation will happen when home educating. here, we have a thriving community of home educators, and rather than just mixing with the same age group, the children get to mix with a wide range of ages... and this is far more natural - more akin to village life a few generations ago. The only time you need the social skills of being in a class of25+ other people born in the same year will be at school. outside of that enviroment, they will meet at totally different mix.
A lot of people arrive at the decision to home ed because their kids are having a terrible time at school - being bullied, dont fit in etc - so the social side of school has already failed them
In my particular case, my son is on the autistic spectrum, and has lots of trouble coping with other people - the social side of school was not working for him either, and now he is at home, the pressure is removed and he is achieving alot more.. and yes.. mixing.. but mostly with adults (and thats ok cos he will be one one day)

I guess what I am saying is the set up of school does not fit everyone - for those that get on well, yay, for everyone else.. yay there is an alternative.

I have no idea if home ed is popular in France.. if it is, then socialising would still take place

Of course, there are plenty that think that its just more the right thing to do to stay together.. and that again is the set up of generations ago.

Also - most people who home educate their kids believe in allowing the children to be freer.. and that includes allowing them to go to school at some point if they want to.

The schools in France are fantastic tho, they dont start properly until they are 6 and the level of teaching is about 2 years behind the UK until they reach college when they seem to up the tempo. The final French exam is about on par with A levels but they like to give the children the chance to remain children for a lot longer than they do in the UK.

yes - I have heard that steiner schools attract alot of foreigners because the UK are unusual in starting their kids to read etc early by comparison - Steiner schools are more like continental schools in that respect. (not that my son ever went or anything)
mind you - I was reading before the age of 5 so again this wont fit everyone. the great thing about home ed is its designed around each individual child, and the teacher child ratio is always better than that at school!

the bottom line of course is each parent must make the best decision for their kids.. that might well be school, or home ed, whatever works .