Any home educators around?

*onlyme*

I am seriously considering home educating our DD who is 10, and currently in year 5. I have read up quite a bit on the whole subject of home educating but welcome any links, advise, do's and don'ts etc.

One thing I can't seem to find the answer to is how it works when they are in year 6 and take their SATS?

We live in England incase that makes a difference.

Gigglepig

Big, big responsibility.

Does your DD have some special needs which means she would benefit from home education, and do you have any special skills which would make you a better teacher than a whole set of professionals which would be available to her through the school?

It seems slightly more common in the US than in Europe, some times due to religious reasons. In the US they call it "home schooling" . There are plenty of resources on the net, the Guardian education section seems quite good, and there is a discussion section specifically for home schooling:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/homeschooling

pigpen

SAT's are not to assess the ability of your child they are supposed to be to assess how well the school is educating the children so if you are HEding they dn't do them.

Nottoobadyet

I dont have much specific advice, but i was home educated for my entire schooling life and found it to be a life defining, profoundly positive experience. It made me into a free thinking, independent person and i believe did the same for many of my home educated friends, at least the ones that weren't home educated for the fundamentalist religious reasons that are so popular in America.

While looking back I do suspect that i grew up "too fast", I am very happy with the path its set me on in life and wouldn't change it for anything.

By the time i took my SATs i had already left home and moved country, but i had no problem sitting them at a university in a nearby city.

My experience was in the US, not the UK, but I'm happy to answer any specific questions that you might have.

Gigglepig

just a small comment, to avoid confusion: the US SATs that Nottoobadyet is talking about is the US standardised admissions test for colleges and universities, which is not the same as the UK SATs (national curriculum assessment)

j.e.j.

Sorry no specific experience, but home-schooling seems to be gaining in popularity in our area (south coast). Depending on the child/parent I think it could be a really positive thing. Good luck if you do decide to go ahead with it.

reeree

*onlyme* wrote: »

I am seriously considering home educating our DD who is 10, and currently in year 5. I have read up quite a bit on the whole subject of home educating but welcome any links, advise, do's and don'ts etc.

One thing I can't seem to find the answer to is how it works when they are in year 6 and take their SATS?

We live in England incase that makes a difference.

I home educated my grandson because of persistent bullying and violence at school and it was the best thing l could have done (although l accept it's not for everyone,) as has already been said do you have a specific reason for taking your dd out of school, perhaps if we knew the reason we could help you more

*onlyme*

Gigglepig wrote: »

Big, big responsibility.

Does your DD have some special needs which means she would benefit from home education, and do you have any special skills which would make you a better teacher than a whole set of professionals which would be available to her through the school?

Our DD has APD (auditory processing disorder) and is finding school very hard from a concentration point of view but also from the view of understanding other kids behaviour as in slyness, lying, nastiness etc which you and I understand it is part of life and they will grow out off. For DD it isn't that simple.

She doesn't understand the concept of lying, she has no imagination, so if it hasn't happened or she hasn't experienced it, she is lost so it takes a lot of different ways to explain something to her to make it 'click' (if at all!)

She get's extra one to one on a daily basis, mainly for maths as numbers don't mean anything to her. They have no value. The TA told us that basically she will never be a mathmatician, but their aim is that she can go and pay for items and make sure she isn't short changed, everything else, you can get by one way or other. DD's reply was: it's ok, I will pay by debit card.

When there is background noise, she really has to concentrate hard to define the teachers voice. She is always sat at the front of class (she does that herself anyway)
Shouting makes her jump out of her skin (and it hurts her head - her words) and the teacher has no choice but shout with some of the kids as they just don't listen.

She is the only child in her class that has no siblings, she is quite naive, well she is a 10 year old. All her classmates have between 4 and 11 siblings so much more streetwise and articulate.

I know DD has to be in the real world and we are hoping by age she will understand other people's behaviour better.

We are always complimented how polite she is, how she stands out in the crown with manners etc. To me, manners and politenes don't cost anything....it should be standard but sadly it isn't.

We have met with the senior school already and she is actually very excited and looking forward to going there, which is not till Sept 2012.

She is very unhappy at school and from an education point she doesn't do to bad under the circumstances, they are overlooking the ADP fact and making allowances for other kids bad behaviour because the have a bad homelife.
We have been told that we are not the norm as we are married parents, living together with our child.....

They don't get homework anymore as most kids refused to do it and told the teacher to 'make them'...their parent(s) told them they didn't have to do it...so I do extra work with DD on the subjects they are doing in class, some she does independently, others we research together and I guide her...and best of all, she enjoys it.

From an education point of view, I am well educated myself, speak 9 languages, English being my 5th language and not what I would call thick. I do a lot of extra KS2 work with DD at home so as long as I have the right resources on each subject and ensure the link to senior school is smooth, then I can't see what I can do worse then the school.

I know it won't be easy peasy, but I feel that as a parent I have to do what is right for my child, and currently I don't think school is the place.

Nottoobadyet

Gigglepig wrote: »

just a small comment, to avoid confusion: the US SATs that Nottoobadyet is talking about is the US standardised admissions test for colleges and universities, which is not the same as the UK SATs (national curriculum assessment)

Doh! point taken :rotfl:

balletshoes

OP you seem to have really thought this through, and its only for one school year to start with, yes? I think this could be a a good solution to your DD's problems at her current school. Best of luck .

reeree

*onlyme* wrote: »

Our DD has APD (auditory processing disorder) and is finding school very hard from a concentration point of view but also from the view of understanding other kids behaviour as in slyness, lying, nastiness etc which you and I understand it is part of life and they will grow out off. For DD it isn't that simple.

She doesn't understand the concept of lying, she has no imagination, so if it hasn't happened or she hasn't experienced it, she is lost so it takes a lot of different ways to explain something to her to make it 'click' (if at all!)

She get's extra one to one on a daily basis, mainly for maths as numbers don't mean anything to her. They have no value. The TA told us that basically she will never be a mathmatician, but their aim is that she can go and pay for items and make sure she isn't short changed, everything else, you can get by one way or other. DD's reply was: it's ok, I will pay by debit card.

When there is background noise, she really has to concentrate hard to define the teachers voice. She is always sat at the front of class (she does that herself anyway)
Shouting makes her jump out of her skin (and it hurts her head - her words) and the teacher has no choice but shout with some of the kids as they just don't listen.

She is the only child in her class that has no siblings, she is quite naive, well she is a 10 year old. All her classmates have between 4 and 11 siblings so much more streetwise and articulate.

I know DD has to be in the real world and we are hoping by age she will understand other people's behaviour better.

We are always complimented how polite she is, how she stands out in the crown with manners etc. To me, manners and politenes don't cost anything....it should be standard but sadly it isn't.

We have met with the senior school already and she is actually very excited and looking forward to going there, which is not till Sept 2012.

She is very unhappy at school and from an education point she doesn't do to bad under the circumstances, they are overlooking the ADP fact and making allowances for other kids bad behaviour because the have a bad homelife.
We have been told that we are not the norm as we are married parents, living together with our child.....

They don't get homework anymore as most kids refused to do it and told the teacher to 'make them'...their parent(s) told them they didn't have to do it...so I do extra work with DD on the subjects they are doing in class, some she does independently, others we research together and I guide her...and best of all, she enjoys it.

From an education point of view, I am well educated myself, speak 9 languages, English being my 5th language and not what I would call thick. I do a lot of extra KS2 work with DD at home so as long as I have the right resources on each subject and ensure the link to senior school is smooth, then I can't see what I can do worse then the school.

I know it won't be easy peasy, but I feel that as a parent I have to do what is right for my child, and currently I don't think school is the place.

you sound more than qualified to home teach, lf l was you l would find a phone number for your local lea and tell them what you've told us l found them really helpful and they didnt try to sway us one way or another to be honest they were brilliant with me and dg they visited after 6 weeks home ed then again after 3 months then it was another year before we saw him again, his advice to us was invaluble