Does anyone home school their children?

Lunar_Eclipse

TheEffect wrote: »

I do believe children should be punished if they do wrong.

... but as defined by who exactly?

As long as everyone is treated fairly and equally, I have no issues with discipline or punishment. Sadly I'm yet to witness equitable treatment in schools; teachers have the power.

For example, I find it completely unacceptable that pupils can receive a detention for not completing homework on time, yet teachers are not punished in a similar way if they fail to mark it!

rinabean

Why should the son's (possible) preference against being home-schooled be taken into account? Well, okay, of course it should be considered, but it shouldn't be the deciding factor by any means. I'm sure plenty of kids want to be home-schooled and I bet they are still sent to school if it's what the parent prefers. I don't see why it should be different when it's the other way around.

onlyroz

How do parents who home-school manage to do their own job at the same time?

bestpud

rinabean wrote: »

Why should the son's (possible) preference against being home-schooled be taken into account? Well, okay, of course it should be considered, but it shouldn't be the deciding factor by any means. I'm sure plenty of kids want to be home-schooled and I bet they are still sent to school if it's what the parent prefers. I don't see why it should be different when it's the other way around.

At that age, home ed requires a certain level of commitment if he wants to take GCSEs.

In general, home ed children are more independent learned, but that tends to be a natural outcome.

The OPs son has spent many years in the school system and may find it harder to motivate himself to work alone.

Ultimately it's the OPs decision, but forcing home ed on him is likely to cause some friction and may impede his academic progress for a while at least.

It's a bit different the other way round as home ed isn't something most families ever seriously consider, so it's often more of a wish to avoid school than a serious intention to be home educated.

It's something I would consider before making a decision anyway.

bestpud

onlyroz wrote: »

How do parents who home-school manage to do their own job at the same time?

There is various ways, but from my experience:

Some have only one parent work while the other home eds.

Some run a business between them and share the home ed.

Some have one parent run a business and the other fit in a part time job around their hours.

Some live very simple lives, with few outgoings and manage with seasonal or casual work.

For us, DH works full time and I work part time, but I work evenings and weekends and he works days.

Where there's a will there's a way.

pinkclouds

rinabean wrote: »

Why should the son's (possible) preference against being home-schooled be taken into account? Well, okay, of course it should be considered, but it shouldn't be the deciding factor by any means. I'm sure plenty of kids want to be home-schooled and I bet they are still sent to school if it's what the parent prefers. I don't see why it should be different when it's the other way around.

Of course your child's preference should be taken into account! It's like touring prospective schools with your child. You, the parent, still have the final say but your child's feelings should be acknowledged and you should opt for the "school" that best suits their abilities/needs. Again, of course, that may well be homeschool. But, equally, it might be another type of education - not everyone approves of Waldorf schools but some parents still choose to send their kids to them.

onlyroz wrote: »

How do parents who home-school manage to do their own job at the same time?

From my second hand knowledge, it is no different to juggling childcare at any other time. You work around your child and co-ordinate with your spouse (or childcare provider) and fit everything in as best you can. Tbh, the dads usually work as "normal" and the moms do the equivalent of the "9-to-3, term-time only" hunt e.g. working from home, working evenings/weekends, simply not working at all, tutoring in spare time, sending child to daycare for a few hours here and there, etc.

Really, it's no different to how most people have to manage the endless school runs, inflexible hours, 24-48 hour sickness rules, school holidays, etc. I sometimes wonder how working moms manage with my daughter's school... there seems to be a *lot* of holidays, half days and long weekends.

addictedtosoreen

Hi guys, firstly thank you all for your help and opinions.
Thought i would give a little back ground on my family to clarify a few things and again ask for opinions
my son, 13, who i am thinking of homeschooling has attended the school since yr 7. it is our nearest catchment school with a bus srvice. we live in a rural area in north norfolk so not many schools to chose from. My son has certain aspergers traits although has never been diagnosed but has had therapy after my divorce from his dad.
initially he fitted in fine and i had no problem with the school. it is known locally as a not great school but is apparently improving. I have had trouble getting my son to go to school and when i approoached the school, they were less than supportive to say the least! in july this year he was put on a CAF and it was decided by the school that if he missed his bus, i could take him down and he couls sit outside the pastoral support workers office (he will not enter the classroom halfway through a lesson). This was great as it meant he was not missing a whole day just for being late.
We started in sept with his attendance being great. he went for 3 weeks without a day off. However, he had a bit of a wobble one morning and missed the bus. i took him down to school thinking he could go into second lesson after sitting at psw office. The school marched him into his lesson half way through, greatly upsetting him and giving him a panic attack . I rang the school the next day and was told that he wasnt now allowed to sit out first lesson. We hadnt been told that this had been revoked. my son now says the school has broken the promise it made to him so he wont stick to his side of the bargain and go to school if hes late. He now misses a whole day instead of just first lesson. surely the school would want him in for most of the day rather than missing all day?
Before anyone leaps down my throat, i have tried everything to get him to go to school, from bribery to punishment for not going, even at one point sending him to stay at his dads because i couldnt cope with it all.
There have been other similar incidence with a complete lack of support from the school. His attendance is now less than 80% and im waiting for the fine from the council.
My other son, 11, started at the same school in sept. To cut a very long story short i had to take him out because he ended up in hospital after the school failed to follow his care plan (he is insulin dependant diabetic) I am now persuing this further with ofstead and my local mp.:mad::mad::mad:
My son is a very bright boy and has predicted A grade GCSE in chemistry, physics, biology and maths and has many friends at the school, so that isnt the problem and niether is bullying. I just dont think such an unsupportive place that he HATES going to is the right place for him. He refuses to move schools either ( believe me, i have tried as the school his brother now goes to is fantastic)

I have spoken to other parents who have children at the school and they have found the same as me, a school that is unsupportive of any pupil that has any kind of special needs, be it medical, behavioural or educational.

I have been to the school endless times to try to sort this out but am met with a "what do you want us to do about it" attitude, "you should be able to get him to school" well in an ideal world , yes, i would but i cant so please help me, but nothing from them

Thanks for reading :T
was a bit of a rant lol x

addictedtosoreen

P.S forgot to say with regard to finding the time to home school, im a single parent (please dont stone me lol) so am home all day. In the new year i will be working part time so will still have the time to do home schooling around work and other children. Ds only has just over 2 years left at school so its a small sacrifice from me to ensure his future x

bedpotato_2

I was home educated, but both my parents wrote well. They hailed from a generation that had been taught at school that "advise" is a verb whereas "advice" is a noun, and the pronoun "I" is always written as a capital letter.

pinkclouds

bedpotato wrote: »

I was home educated, but both my parents wrote well. They hailed from a generation that had been taught at school that "advise" is a verb whereas "advice" is a noun, and the pronoun "I" is always written as a capital letter.

I do see what you're saying. However, not everyone types as well as they write. Your parents' generation did not have computers (or, at least, not the type that we have) and typewriters were... considerably more difficult to operate.