Thread: Home schooling advice please!

oh wow! where were you all you home ed mummies all that time!

We home ed our dd age 4 and the more I see the way she learns in a natural, no-pressure environment, the more I am convinced schools are such an artificial establishment and bound to fail. Very very small schools might work, but nothing beats one-to-one tuition. Why tutors are so well paid, you know?

It is a great commitment for the parents, no doubt, but a great joy too.

Muddle puddle is a good site for early years education.

And oh! Primary school education is no rocket science! I think a parent can do it comfortably. And you will be amazed at the things you will learn again. Actually, I am looking forward to dealing with maths again because I am so dreadfull at it. Perhaps I can learn now what I didn't learn at school!??!!

Socialisation? We know the local group and meet with other home-ed families. We have the social activities at church plus all the other activities like dancing, Scouts, etc. Also, I think socialisation happens when the kids are involved in situations where there are no similar age children, like visits to the neighbours, an old peoples home, etc. We tend to thing that socialisation is a situation where the kids are with kids. Not necessary.

I remember I was thinking about home-ed when my dd was a newborn, that was 4 years ago! LOL.

Good luck, read a lot, visit the web, home-educating weblogs too, there are so many ways to home-ed, the bottom line is to find something that works not only for the kids, or for you, but for the whole family.

Esther

Originally Posted by muminamillion

Hi there Arwen!It's so nice to be able to speak to others about HEing. We are the only HErs in this area that I am aware of and as I am not driving at the moment, we can't get to any of the EO meetups. This is the next best thing!!

Muminamillion, can you contact them and arrange a meeting somewhere near you? Just a suggestion

Esther

Gosh I can't believe how much has changed since I wrote that first post!

I can't believe I feel into the trap of asking that old 'socialisation' question now! Mia is almost 20 months now and I see her as 'being' home educated as it is just one long process not something that will start at the age when she would be expected to go to school. It feels so mormal and natural and I don't have any doubts at all really. Mia spends all day every day 'learning' and is a complete bookworm already!

I've read lots of books, joined a under 4's HE wales group and got in touch with other HE families. We're moving soon to an area with an active HE group, so I'm looking forward to getting involved with other local families, but as our new baby is due a month after we move I'm sure I'll be very busy anyway!

Love Gina***

Originally Posted by Gina

Mia is almost 20 months now and I see her as 'being' home educated as it is just one long process not something that will start at the age when she would be expected to go to school. It feels so mormal and natural and I don't have any doubts at all really. Mia spends all day every day 'learning'

This is how I have always felt!
Take today ,me heavily,heavily preggo,decided I needed a bath no matter how the children felt!
I figured my bath would be plagued with them up and down,but no the 11year old wrote a story and listened to Harry Potter in her room,the 8 year old discovered a pair of compasses,and spent three hours drawing ,cutting out circles,whilst the 4 year old just sat on the sofa with a mountain of Dr Seuss!!
So much for slack !

So, so sorry I have been away so long. Our computer contracted a virus (embedded, whatever that meant???)

Anyway, am back and would love to chat with other HErs again. My girls are doing great. dd1 (12) has said she wants to sit GCSE's (although we are in Scotland!!) so we have joined up with Oxford Learning who now have a homeschooling section and she will be receiving her first selections - Maths and English GCSE packs in September when she will be 13. She is so excited! She has discovered a fascination with Shakespeare (from something she saw on TV) so is avidly reading Macbeth at the moment and is into poetry at the moment in a big way. dd2 (11) is working away happily with whatever interests her - animals it seems to be at the moment, esp horses, with the Egyptians thrown in at various intervals! dd3 has discovered (now she is 6) that she has a burning desire to read. She has learned to read almost anything and everything within the last 4 months and I am certainly not going to stand in her way. She has also decided it is time (no pun intended) to learn to tell the time. So I have bought a learning clock and am off to buy her a watch tomorrow. dd4, just turned 5, is still happy to play with her dolls and cuddly dogs for much of the day. However, she is displaying a love of numbers (this is something which is alien to the rest of us) and is completing a workbook almost daily. This is costing me a fortune - any suggestions???

What I have learnt in the last 6 mths, (with huge relief it has to be said) is that if we just leave the children to learn at their own pace and within their own interests, without specific structures or workplans in place, they will develop their own interests and WILL learn without any pressure. Children want to learn, they just need to be left to do it, with just the tiniest bit of direction from us.

Am so glad to be back. x

Hi, muminamillion, Nice to hear from you again and glad things are going so well for your family!
Love Gina**