Homeschooling Advice Please

HeavyMetalFan

Don't home school. Or you end up with this:-

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=K7NjzvRBMlQ

Caroline_a

To olga - my comments are purely based on my own experience of young people I know who were homeschooled. You mention that you feel your own children 'are more pleasant' than their peers who attend school. I would say that the home-schooled kids I know are polite and in an adult environment well behaved. However, their communication with their peers are skewed - they appear to behave almost as if they think they should behave. In reality it comes across as boastful and naive - it's quite difficult to describe but I have seen it in all the homeschooled kids I know. Sadly they are also ridiculed for this by the other kids, even those much younger.

I know there are youngsters who have gone on to university honours who have been homeschooled, and I would say that none of the kids I know fall into this category. However, I still stick by my original post and say don't do it.

Egypt191

I home schooled my DS for six months last year whilst waiting for his new school place. I always knew it was going to be temporary, but was also aware that it was imperative his education was kept to a standard so that when he rejoined he wasn't behind.
I think your child gets out of home education, what you as a parent are willing/able to put in. It was hard work for me, and a full time job, one that I couldn't commit to permanently, luckily enough when it did come to the time for him to rejoin his peers, he was actually ahead of them, however, I don't doubt that a year down the line, this could easily have been a different scenario.

Socially, well, my child's situation was slightly different, I withdrew him from his old school due to several academic reasons, but also due to severe bullying. He was incredibly withdrawn. The six months of being at home meant that his confidence grew, and by the time he came to start his new school, he was ready, and embraced being with his peers and different people every day, other than his mum.

Personally, I would say, research, research, research, meet other parents like yourself and children who are being home schooled but also, be aware, that to integrate your child back into mainstream school may not be as easy as you think ( obviously it may be, but I had to make several visits, from an hour a time, leading up to a full day).

Good luck, it isn't all negative, in fact, it can be great OP, but, you do need the reality of what you may be facing.

kafkathecat

My ds never went to school. He has friends who were home educated for as little as one term or one year and others he has known since he was three. At 16 most of his friends are at school or college now doing a wide range of subjects and qualifications. He has 4 GCSEs already and is waiting for the results of more.
Many home educated children are a little odd but that is often why they are home educated in the first place - because they don't fit it. There is Aspergers Syndrome in my family and I see the traits over and over in the parents and the children.
If you are only planning on home educating until you get a school place you are unlikely to suffer any of these terrible long term effects that are being reported here (I have not seen this myself - all of my son's home ed. friends have schooled friends as well) and at 7 with a few workbooks and lots of socialising you child will easily keep up with school.
It isn't always easy and doesn't suit everyone, I would try to contact local home educators to find out about any meet ups locally now. Most will be happy to talk to you and help you make a decision that is right for your child.
Education Otherwise is a good place to find a local contact.

Shortie

Thanks everyone for the thoughts - and I hadn't realised that a disability may help with our placement. We were considering appealing the placement change but I didn't believe there would be any value in it - that's given me fresh hope to appeal in that case thanks.

Our youngest doesn't mind the school to be honest - he has grumbles and we have known of issues in the school around teaching before we've actually become aware of them as he develops a range of 'ticks' when he's stressed, and last year especially we saw a lot of them - then to find out of issues accuring around teaching. But while you could see he was clearly stressed, if you asked him how he was and how things were at school, he'd say he was fine.

I do worry about the impact the school in general will have on our youngest if he stays. If I had a crystal ball and could foresee that the place we are waiting for never becomes available, then I would look to apply for another school. Another school however doesn't change the fact that we will logistically have an absolute mare in the mornings

I guess essentially I'm trying to juggle two different pulls with our chilren - one being the logicstics for us now that our eldest has moved (which is only impacting the primary school choice we are making for our youngest) and the second being that we dont' want our youngest to stay in the current school anyway - so if logistics weren't a concern, we'd look to othe good schools in the surrounding villages

Gosh, I hope I don't sounds like a thoughtless parent here - it's the fact that I do careabout my children's future that I'm in a quandry already and not just opting for what some may see as the easy option of home schooling (but actually, I don't think it is an easy option at all - not if you want to do it properly)

Thanks again all, especially the advice over the tick box on the form - our eldest does have a recognised disability, and we stressed this on the form when we first applied (as we didn't want to grumble about the current school so we went into more detail around the medical needs of our eldest in the new secondary school)

Shortie

Whoops, just realised there was a second page! Thanks - I really appreaciate the other perspectives to the HE (ie the positive ones) as they are a good balance.

In terms of research, before the end of the last term, when we considered the idea of temporary home educating, our first port of call was the LEA who put us in contact with the home educating department. Our chat with them was fairly light as we were thinking a place would be available come September anyway (as we know a couple of families in the process of moving out of the area)

We spoke with them again yesterday this time over our concerns about home eductaing for longer, and to be honest they were very calming, supportive and honest - the good and difficult sides. It was also good to hear from them about the support they can provide (teaching staff in contact with parents for touch points each year) and that they do expect to see the evidence of the work done which I think is good as it would help us to know if there are any areas that we are falling down and not doing our best for our child

I've also made contact with a local group who seem lovely and helpful - I don't want to go into this with my eyes closed as that's not fair on our little one either. I'm waiting to hear if i can join their emailing group but I have been very open that (at the moment) I would be joining to research it as I don't want to join and possibly disappear if we reliase we can't do our little one the justice by Home Educating

We'd definately be looking at this for the short term, are we would remain on the waiting list still for the other school. I was surprised to be told that it's becoming more common for parents to home school while they wait for a place at another school

System

I'm afraid that the rubbish about "socialising" is exactly that. My children are not isolated, they have lots of contact with lots of people of every age and background. They will happily approach anyone with questions, or to challenge a statement they don't agree with - something I have rarely seen in school-educated children.

My experience isn't rubbish thank you very much. The children who I knew were home educated had a very social background. They were the children of two separate ministers of the church I once attended. There were many children in the church but it was always the home educated boys that got into the most trouble.