Home schooling - how do i do it?

skyrocket

Ironically the SENCO is his teacher!
I applied for a statement but where we live had cut the budget for Education, no doubt to spend the extra money on the seethrough plastic bin bags we now have each week! :mad:
He has been hitting other children as a result of being harrassed by other children. I have been trying to help him find other ways of coping, I'm a Hypnotherapist so I do nightly relaxation session with him which he loves and seems to be helping, and also removing all colourings from his diet etc.
But as I pointed out at school, I can do everything to help him but if they aren't dealing with the children who wind him up too, how can I honestly tell him not to react if no-one else is championing his cause?
I tell him to tell the teachers but they all seem to be too keen to blame him for it, and now it seems like he is the black sheep!

anonymousie

skyrocket wrote: »

Ironically the SENCO is his teacher!
I applied for a statement but where we live had cut the budget for Education, no doubt to spend the extra money on the seethrough plastic bin bags we now have each week! :mad:
He has been hitting other children as a result of being harrassed by other children. I have been trying to help him find other ways of coping, I'm a Hypnotherapist so I do nightly relaxation session with him which he loves and seems to be helping, and also removing all colourings from his diet etc.
But as I pointed out at school, I can do everything to help him but if they aren't dealing with the children who wind him up too, how can I honestly tell him not to react if no-one else is championing his cause?
I tell him to tell the teachers but they all seem to be too keen to blame him for it, and now it seems like he is the black sheep!

GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR on your behalf!!

SWMBO

Hi Skyrocket,

Have you discussed the bullying with the head? Goading him until he reacts is a form of bullying.

You've possibly already tried some of these, but I'll put down everything I can think of on the off chance there's something you haven't come across before.

You've mentioned removing colourings from his diet. Have you also tried removing sodium benzoate & monosodium glutamate? I also give him a multivitamin & omega 3, 6 &9 supplements. Sleep & enough fluids also seem to make a big difference. Getting to sleep can be a big problem for someone with dyspraxia, so the relaxation sessions will help with that. Have you come across the yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/DyspraxiaFamilies ? Sometimes some of the posters get a bit evangelical about something they've found works for them, but if you can ignore that you'll probably also find some useful gems. The book Caged in Chaos is well worth reading & is written by a dyspraxic teenager.

We found that home educating was really good for DS's confidence, since he could learn in a way that was best suited to him, so he was more relaxed & could focus in the actual learning rather than putting most of his effort into the dyspraxic problem areas. For example he hated maths & thought he was useless at it, so we didn't do anything that looked anything like academic maths for ages after he came out of school. We still did maths related things in the course of everyday activities like shopping & cooking, so over time his confidence grew & eventually he decided he was interested in studying maths formally & dived straight into a GCSE maths textbook, getting an A 18 months later. For him, short lessons, chopping & changing between subjects increased his frustration because it took him a while to settle into a subject. At home we were able to spend whole days, or even weeks focusing mostly on one area that really interested him. Being completely immersed in a topic made it much easier for him to reinforce his understanding. There's no requirement to follow the national curriculum so you can study whatever interests him.

Some books I found especially helpful when I started out HEing:

• Free Range Education by Terri Dowty
• The Unschooling Handbook by [SIZE=-1]Mary Griffith.[/SIZE]
• [SIZE=-1]How Children Learn & How Children Fail, both by John Holt
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[SIZE=-1]Useful groups:
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• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/eo/
• http://groups.yahoo.com/group/AEUK/
• there's a group for HE special needs childrens - the link is on the HE special website posted earlier in this thread.

Websites:

• http://sandradodd.com/unschooling
• http://home-education.org.uk/
• http://www.educationcity.com is very popular with some HEers with primary age children. They offer a free trial of a couple of weeks so you can see if it suits your DS. If you join the EO yahoo group, ask if anyone has a code so that you & they can get 3 months free added onto your subscription.
• http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/ lots of free resources
• https://www.what2learn.com free(for now) resources
• http://www.enchantedlearning.com

I hope that's enough to go on with?
[SIZE=-1]
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bonnie_2

I use education city it is fantastic, can't recommend it highly enough. I also use primary home tutor which is £20 a month for maths and english, which they mark and send back to you.
A great site for learning to read is starfall.com you can download workbooks from hear as well.
Also learningpage.com has lots of free worksheets and books you have to join but it is free. I also print of the grammar workbooks from scott foresman.

dad-of-4

great thread, thanks for the links, if anyone knows any more good sites worth a look i would be very greatfull, im giving serious consideration to pulling my son out of school, the eductation system is a joke thesedays.

SWMBO

http://www.besttreasurehunts.com/product_info.php/cPath/36/products_id/91 A solitaire dice rolling book to an exciting adventure story. Kids of all ages roll the dice as they make decisions in an effort to find the legendary Golden Crown of Anubis
http://www.edupics.com/demo/en-coloring-pages-pictures-photo-egypt-c144.html. Free coloring pages Egypt. On this site you can find educational coloring pictures to print and download.

http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ngkids/trythis/egyptiantomb/mummycase.html National Geographic For Kids: Egyptian Tomb Model Create your own ancient Egyptian tomb model, mummy case, wall paintings, and treasures! Then navigate around the site for lots of other resources with other themes.
Also there's a Tesco clubcard deal for the National Geographic Kids magazine subscription.

http://www.popastro.com/youngstargazers/
http://www.coolmath.com/

dad-of-4

i just wanted to say thanks again for all the links ive been browsing sites for the last couple of days, following links with in those sites as well, and theres some wonderfull information to be gained, i almost feel guilty for letting the kids go thru the school system now.

the more i read the more i look back on my own time at school and realise how god damn awfull school realy was, the vast majority of my knowledge has come from real world experiece, and any display of interlect i may have comes from me feeling passionate enough about something to want to know about it.

my missis always says how i can "just pick things up" "turn my hand to anything", this was something i was born with and luckily manged to retain when i came thru the mincer.

dad-of-4

After much searching around on the net and discussion with the missis, we started a short trial run last thursday, just to see how the kids would take to being at home but filling time with various learning activities, its worked well for the last 5 days so we told the kids they will no longer be attending school for there education and dropped the de-registration letters into the school today, i guess for the time being we need to play things by ear whilst we all adjust.

bonnie_2

I forgot to say the curriculum i am using is from an old fashioned education, where everything is free. Have been using it for 8 months, dd has just been reasessed and has gone from an age 6 to 7 years and 11 months. I know it does seem old fashioned but the old methods seem to work better. i found key stage stuff too confusing, and as she has gained nearly two years in 8 months it obviously works. I just supplement with education city and primary home tutor and starfall.
Also classics for kids
explore art lots of art lessons
home school share we do the lapbooks, kids love doing these and they tend to cover all subjects as well.

zztopgirl

Just wanted to say thanks in person to all on this thread, my daughter is due to start school in september but currently attends the attached pre-school, plus attends another pre-school. We have been discussing he with the other pre-school, and the only thing they can say to discourage us is regarding socialising (lol). They have dim views of the school that dd attends though.

I spoke to a neighbour earlier, who knows a he parent, so im hoping they will get in touch and give me a little more encouragement. Not that i need anymore, but it does feel like im going to be jumping off a very high diving board. I also told a friend of my plans, and found out he used to be a teacher.:T

My next step is joining education-otherwise, thats when i know im being serious. And i have a pros and cons list here, the pros far outweigh the cons so far. I will trial during half term and easter.