Great Teaching Resources Hunt

bonnieheather

fantastic to see home eders are being mentioned here on MSE!
there are a lot of yahoo groups, some of which i am a member, but you can never get enough help and support when teaching at home.

SO a big thanks to all MSE users who have put links here and a big hello to fellow stressed out, balding but loving it HErs! lol lol

bonnie :T :j

sausagefans

Declared interest: I co-wrote these courses

Free to use resource for KS3 Maths SAT and GCSE Maths.

http://www.mathslinks.co.uk

ssjx

There are some maths and word games here too:

http://www.stormsoftware.co.uk/

ahopkins_2

Fantastic Award winning software that is so simple to use.

2Simple produce software for numeracy, literacy, animation, typing, music and mindmapping amongst others.
All of the software can be used independently and contains short vidoes with extra tips and ideas as well.

My daughter has been using 2create a story, Music Toolkit and Simple city since she was two and loves them.

FREE videos of what the programs can help your child to do can be viewed at

www.2simple.com/videos


enjoy:j

JulieJ

I just wanted to say a big THANK YOU to Martin for starting this thread and to everyone who has contributed to it. I have two teenagers, aged 15 and 13, and a 17-month-old. I have long believed that the biggest mistake of my life was sending my older two to school. They were happy, had good manners, and enjoyed learning - until they went to school. Both, when starting school, were way ahead of their classmates in numeracy and literacy. The schools then did everything they could to hold them back, to make them average so that they could teach the whole class the same thing at the same time. My son's done well despite it all and will be leaving to go to college at the end of this year. My daughter, however, has been unstimulated in school, and so was labeled a chatterbox by primary school teachers (who, incidentally, also said she was 'average in everything', something I would not believe of any child), and a disruption at secondary school. She ended up getting in with the wrong crowd and was bullied so badly recently that the school sent her home one Thursday and told her not to return until the following Tuesday, 'for her own safety'. I feel if I had home educated her, she would have done much better and, more importantly, been much happier. That is why I am seriously considering home educating my youngest child. My initial research into the idea left me feeling a bit daunted and out of my depth, so when I read about this thread I nearly cried with relief. Thank you, everyone. :T I now feel that there is enough support out there for me to give my youngest child the best start in life.

Best wishes to you all
JulieJ

DRAGONZ_2

For those of you who Home Educate, or would like to.
If you wish to take your child out of school to Home Educate, legally you must send a letter to the school [preferably by recorded delivery as proof] that you are de-registering your child from the school. Obviously not necessary if the child has not started school.
You do not have to allow the LEA Inspector to come in your home. Your child does not have to read to them. Legally you must provide an education suitable for the child's age and needs. The LEA would have to prove that you weren't. You won't get so much as a packet of paperclips in support, despite the money you are saving them.
The one who banged on my door did not know the Law. He wanted to "interview" my grandson, who did not want to speak to him.
He wanted a copy of my timetable, and wanted to sit in on my "lessons". He wanted copies of lesson papers and homework (??? it was all "home work"), dated and time stamped, with my markings and corrections, and detailed explanations of how I was going to correct these flaws.
We didn't follow a rigid timetable. If it was a nice day we would be out. We visited the Natural History Museum, the Science Museum, and Horniman Museum. Much easier during term time when they aren't crowded. We went to Art Galleries, and saw Shakespeare plays at the Theatre. Much more interesting than reading from a book, and during term time a lot of these places were nearly deserted. We went for boat trips along the river, spotting old buildings, saw a lock working, went to the place where the Magna Carta was signed at Runnymede. [The memorial to JFK is there too.] He learned some history and geography painlessly.
http://www.home-education.org.uk/legal-guide.htm This is a concise interpretation of the Education Act as it applies to teaching your children at home.
You do not have to follow the National Curriculum.
I home educated my grandson from the age of 14 years 9 Months. He was Dyslexic. Despite SEN [at the minimum level the LEA could get away with] his reading age was 8, writing 7. This was holding up his education badly. In 18 months, I had him reading to his age level. He will never write well, but did produce good work using a PC, spell checker, and printer. He then taught himself using resources he found on the Internet himself. Learning was now fun, rather than torture.
My eldest grand daughter was Home Educated from the age of 6, after a lot of bullying at school. At 11 she asked to go to school. Tests before admission found she was 3 years ahead of her year group, apart from History and Geography.
Exams are another sore point. If you wish your child to take exams for qualifications, you will almost certainly have to pay for them. If your child was at school, you would not be charged.

oldMcDonald

DRAGONZ wrote: »

Exams are another sore point. If you wish your child to take exams for qualifications, you will almost certainly have to pay for them. If your child was at school, you would not be charged.

It is worth checking your local Higher Education college with regards to exams. We have a really helpfull one locally which will allow children after the age of 14 to do their exams via evening classes, they just require that an adult also enrols on the course alongside them. This is a lot cheaper than paying to do a private GCSE (i think they charge for the adult only)

I believe that there is also a school locally which allows HE kids to use the school as an exam centre (although you still have to pay for the exam, but it easier than having to travel half the country to use a private centre.)

oldMcDonald

http://www.education-otherwise.org/Legal/Deregistration.htm

The above link will send you to a page with all the legal information regarding deregistration. There is also a de-reg letter you can print out.

Also information about de-reg of a child with a (statemented) SEN, in which case the law is slightly different.

loo

Yes please Martin,
a home ed forum... all of our very own. My son in coming out of yr 9 of secondary school in two weeks, the four weeks he's been there weren't very positive and we need all the money saving educational help we can get!

Louise :-)

stas4949

Oh my god I never realised there was so much help for my sons... My eldest is year 9 and hates school although he is actually quite bright he tends to argue with the teachers (I must add he is and always has been a very confident child much to his depriment (?sp)). Although I don't feel I can HE him (wouldn't know where to start!) its good to know there's lots of help I can give him.... thanks to everyone for all your useful posts and links! He wants to be a doctor so needs all the help he can get.

My 9 year old is year 5 and as he is only just 9 always struggles with his peers as he is the youngest, hopefully I can help him get a bit of a headstart!

many many thanks again :T