MSE Parents Club Part 6

SusanC_2

feelinggood wrote: »

Can I ask why you'd like to home-educate? I always wanted to, but don't know if that is just because I was so very unhappy at school, and I'm letting that cloud my judgement. My neice and nephew are home-schooled.

Many reasons. I'll list a few now but this isn't necessarily comprehensive.

(I will also add that as with everything else, everyone has to choose what is best for their family and what is best for one family is not necessarily the best for another. In my opinion, the important thing is that parents have responsibility for their children's education - some may choose to fulfill that responsibility by doing it at home whereas others may choose to send them to school but as long as they have made the choice that they think is best then that is what matters.)

School as a means of education is generally inefficient compared to home educating simply because of the numbers of children involved. This is not a criticism of teachers but is an inevitability of mass education. I'm sure nobody would question that mass catering (e.g. school dinners or hospital meals) is generally not as good as home cooking and that this is simply because of the scale involved rather than the abilities of the cooks and this is the same view I have with education.

In addition to the fact that at home you do not have all the time consuming activities involved with dealing with a large number of children (general organising, moving around, taking registers etc.), you can tailor the curriculum to fit your child. If they catch on to something really quickly, you don't have to carry on teaching them the same thing for the rest of the week until everyone else gets it and if they struggle with something you can spend extra time on it instead of just moving on and leaving them floundering.

At home you can integrate things into real life and put them in a real context more easily than in a school. So for example, instead of learning about weights and weighing by weighing a random collection of meaningless objects in the classroom, they can learn by helping mum with the cooking and weighing out ingredients. You can also integrate the subjects with each other and have more general flexibilty than in a school. If your child(ren) have an interest in a particular topic, you can work that into the curriculum appropriately rather than waiting for the allotted year for teaching it. You can go on lots of school trips to help make things more real.

As Christians we believe we should raise our children in a Christian manner. We believe in certain moral values and standards which are increasingly being eroded by new legislation and this affects what might be taught in the classroom.

The main argument people seem to put forth against home education is socialisation but in my opinion, a child does not need to spend most of their day with children exactly the same age as them in order to learn how to get on with other people. (I'm not saying it's wrong for them to do that - just that it is not the only way for them to learn social skills.) Schools are realtively recent inventions and we all got along for millenia without them. In my observation of children at our church (which is a relatively small sample) I have noticed that those who are home educated are more likely both to be able to hold a conversation with me and to play with Alice than those who go to school which presumably is because they spend more time with a larger age range of people than the average child. (When I was at school it was socially unacceptable to speak to someone you knew in a higher year unless they spoke to you first and I generally find it easier to talk to people close to my own age and younger and harder to talk to people who are older.)

I could wax lyrical all day but I think I'd better stop there.

Feel free to ask if you have any more questions.

weezl74

Hi Susan,

You're trained as a teacher aren't you? D'you think that makes you feel more confident about homeschooling?

I like your ideas about integrating things into their real life context. I struggled with maths, but in my adult life my interest in all things financial gives me loads of reasons to do quite complex maths. So did my interest in healthy eating and nutrition. I wish there had been 'applied maths' at school.

I'm sure you and Alice will have a great time.

There are networks for homeschoolers, where a parent who's really strong in one subject can plan a -say 3 hour science activity at their house for a few children in the network. That way you could get support with any topics you didn't feel you could help Alice as much with, and also have a little bit of you time every now and again

xxx

Sami_Bee

carlamagee wrote: »

i could get the fairies to send one your way....OH is a doggy man that likes rabbits, but it might get a bit stinky on delivery!!

what would you be sending, a rabbit or a dog? :rotfl:
It's ok though I think dad will enlist a friend that can come complete with dog to go with

I found the season for Rabbit on THIS site, looks good - they will email you when things come into season a bit like the bloke on Ecomony gastronomy talked about

SusanC wrote: »

Yes I do and yes I have.

I sort of knew that would be the answer
I find it really strange that they only care if you take your child out of education not if you never send them
I was also quite intrigued by you personally because you're a qualified teacher aren't you?
It's not something I'm thinking of but would do if say one of the boys got bullied, having been bullied I've seen how hard it is to 'fix' so I decided that if my children got bullied I'd think nothing of removing them from the school and send to another/home school

keelykat

money_maker wrote: »

A lot of the older (not in age) members of this thread seem to feel like they don't fit in any more. Sorry if you feel us newbies have pushed you out, we just jumped in as we didnt know anyone over here and if we hadnt we would have been the ones left out !! I know there are a lot of us on here now, and that it moves a lot faster than it used to, but no catching up is needed, just jump in, thats what we were all told

I slowly stopped posting as much because i couldn't join in/help/advise with breastfeeding problems etc and now Elliot is a bit older, i feel as if im getting in the way of newer moms needing help/don't want to fill the pages with random chat/rubbish!

searching_me

keely all i ever talk about is randomness ... saves philips ears from bleeding :rotfl: x

weezl74

PS Susan, I don't know if you go on mumsnet but there's a section of the forums devoted to home educating, with various topics, this one for example got opinions from mums who were homeschooled themselves. Thought that section might be worth a browse. Sorry if you've seen it

feelinggood_2

Unproductive GP visit!

Anxiety medication - he doesn't think it should be taken long term, nothing more than a couple of weeks. Shall have to try 4+ outings a week without medication.

Antidepressants - wait to see Pyschiatrist (which isn't in walking distance) as he thinks she wants to prescribe.

SPD and back pain - paracetamol 4 times a day, no other painkillers while breastfeeding.

Weightloss - no medications suitable (didn't think so) and he says he wouldn't recommend balloon/band until about a year after stopping breastfeeding.

He didn't want to do a blood pregnancy test, he said he it was really doubtful that I tested negative for so long. He says more likely that the scan dates were off, and I was 6 or so weeks instead of 12.

Also mentioned that he thinks PCOS isn't a disorder, just a natural thing.

He did say well done on the breastfeeding, and that I should try and persevere without pain/anxiety medication until he is a year old or more.

weezl74

oh Feely, how do you feel now?

susan: click for an article of possible interest

feelinggood_2

I like there being new Mums, means I can actually help by posting ideas and sharing my experience. When I was the newest, I felt like it was just me asking for help. I like to be able to give back, whilst still getting help from older members. I also like the random chat.

Main thing I like is just hearing how everyone is getting on. I like updates about babies, as well as how everyone is feeling. Absolutely everyone can talk about themselves and the babies, so absolutely everyone should post about that!

feelinggood_2

weezl74 wrote: »

oh Feely, how do you feel now?

Bit annoyed, but not suprised. I'm not good at coping with pain at the best of times, let alone chronic pain that I thought I'd got rid off! To be honest, I struggled with the 500m there and 500m back, and I'm worried I'm going to end up back on crutches. I can't hold Toby standing up anymore, and I get really bad pain when I try and carry him in the carseat.

Will do some more research on the balloon and see about going private.