Any home educators around? Need some help

YORKSHIRELASS

Hi

My son is almost 13 and only at school on a very part time basis because of health problems. This is likely to be a fairly long term situation. We are really struggling to fill the rest of our days, especially as winter approaches.

I know there are people on here who home educate and I really need some advice. What I am looking for are activities we can do together such as cooking, art, photography etc. It sounds simple but if DS wants to do an art project I struggle to think of ideas. It doesnt help that I am not a naturally creative person! Where do you get your ideas from? Are there books or online resources that you use? I just feel like I need some inspiration to get started.

We live in a very rural area and money is limited so these are both factors. My son has missed an awful lot of school and is behind with his development but he is a bright kid and I feel like there is so much more that we could be doing.

rachbc

could your LEA provide some home tutoring? Ours does for kids who can't attend school for helath reasons

*onlyme*

Hi Yorkshirelass

I started to home educate my 10 year old daughter about 4 weeks ago and health problems were part of my reason for pulling her out of school.

I have found some fantastic websites which I am happy to share with you, I only signed up as in paying for 1 but for £15.00 for 3 years, it is well worth it as I get a lot of my worksheets etc from there.

I had a visit this week from the Educational Welfare officer (you can refuse their visits or meet elsewhere, but I have nothing to hide so welcomed her to come round). When she left, I felt so happy in the knowledge that she felt I was doing outstanding and said she was one of the most organised people she has ever met. We have a very establised Home Education group that meet once every week quite local to me, but as my daughter has mobility problems (we don't drive) and I work full time from home, it is something we haven't been able to fit in.

What shocked me that 2 hrs of home education is the equivalent of what they would learn in school in a day....

Anyway I am rambling on, here are some websites I found very useful (I have also sourced workbooks for English, Maths and Science online as she would be doing her SATS normally this year so I use those on top of the other stuff I have found)

http://www.home-education.biz/forum/

(the one I signed up to and in the tab 'worksheets' you can select subject and age etc)
http://www.parentsintouch.co.uk/

BBC Bitesize have good resources too, Education City, Mathletics, Open University (we are recording Frozen Planet for example and signed up to OU and they sent out free materials),

We visit the library every fortnight.
Every morning we plan our day... but sometimes, something just happens...for example a few weeks ago we had a hedgehog in the garden in the daytime so she researched why this wasn't right, we found him a rescue that took him in, she made a factsheet about him for them, we took food round for donation, she made a whole booklet on hedgehogs....she now writes to them to see how he is progressing and he, with some friends is coming back in the spring to be released in our garden again...so she and daddy have designed a hedgehog house, she has worked out how much wood she needs which they are going to buy and together make the hedgehog house...

This afternoon we are baking, she has researched a cake, worked out what we needed etc. Learning can be fun!

I am so happy we made the decision of home educating her, it is hard work, it is rewarding and not for everyone, but we are enjoying it and she is learning so much more.

System

have you looked at the BBC bitesize site? for eg

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/art/

It covers a number of subject ( and key stages) & because it is linked in with the National Curriculum is probably well suited to someone who may be going back to school at some point, it may give you some ideas.

adelight

You live in a rural area and want to try something creative, so just look outside Draw landscapes from different windows of the house, bring in objects like leaves to draw in detail, research landscape/nature artists. Materials can be as cheap as some pencils, charcoal and puty rubber from ebay.

YORKSHIRELASS

Thanks for the replies, especially onlyme, there is some useful info there and its nice to know someone else is doing the same.

He gets the legal minimum of 6 hours per week, one to one education, with a tutor provided by the LEA and this works fine. At the moment its really all he can manage and interestingly the tutor says she has got other kids through five decent GCSEs this way.

We have a CAF meeting next week and I plan to ask school if they have an ideas or resources but its nice to hear ideas from people who are actually making it work in practice.

As adelight says being rural can be a bonus! We did actually go for a walk this afternoon and brought back some leaves to use in an art project. Its hard motivating him sometimes but I think he knows he needs to be doing something useful with his time and he does enjoy art.

*onlyme*

We have been doing the leaf collecting, working out afterwards which leaves came from which trees, used them as stencils, glued them etc. We have been making saltdough and all sorts of sculptures. She is making all sorts of Christmas things which after we baked them will be painted and varnished and handed out to neighbours.

There is loads out there to do, just some imagination and it doesn't all have to cost all that much. Good luck for the future and you know your son the best, so follow your instincts.

bestpud

I find the TES forums helpful for ideas.

DD(10) and I are just starting a portfolio of artists. The aim is to have an artist of the fortnight. She will find out about the artist and try out the techniques they use(d). If possible, we will try and visit galleries as well.

bestpud

Your son may be past this stage, but these worksheets are on my list of things to do with dd too:

http://www.dawnsbrain.com/?p=34

She struggles with perspective so I hope they will help.

YORKSHIRELASS

bestpud wrote: »

Your son may be past this stage, but these worksheets are on my list of things to do with dd too:

http://www.dawnsbrain.com/?p=34

She struggles with perspective so I hope they will help.

Thank you, those look interesting and they are definitely not beyond his level. Its frustrating because he is interested in art, but I have no natural ability or skill with it so I am going to be learning too! I also like the idea of studying artists. We may have to find out where there are art galleries we could visit.

kafkathecat

I home ed my 13 year old. He doesn't do a lot with me any more outside of school type work. Does your son play any musical instruments? Practice is always good. Online animations? Many programmes are free. Many board games are educational: scrabble, chess, yahtzee, risk, carcassonne. Reading together? I still read to ds, he reads what he wants to which is zombies usually and I read classics to him that he would never bother to read himself. Watching documentaries is good. There are lots of great science series about and David Attenborough is great. If possible it may be worth finding a cheap chemistry set and/or electronics kit if you don't have one already. There is also so much online. You and your son can find free lectures or demonstrations on anything he is interested in. Sorry, many of my ideas are quite passive. My ds has no interest in cooking unfortunately, we have done some photography together though. Good luck.