posted November 03, 2009 09:10 PM         

I have made a monumental decision tonight, based mostly on the fact that i have moved to the country to put distance between my ex husband and my sons and i and he has already tracked down our school!!

So i figure, homeschooling is a viable option for my kids.
At the moment they are in a class with 30 kids and 1 teacher.
I am 1 potential teacher and 3 kids, plus the internet and a dedicated, determined outlook.

My eldest son is terrified of school because his dad always told him he is stupid so why am i putting pressure on him. I have a good network of friends with kids for social activities, a lot of time on my hands and my main wish is for my kids to be confident and secure.

Does anyone here home school and would you consider it?

Open to ALL opinions

posted November 03, 2009 09:49 PM         

I believe you can do it. Perhaps linking up with some parents on the web about homeschooling will help? A talk with the department of education or what ever it's called in the UK might be another way to go.

Research, research, research.

EDIT:

I don't know if you have this one.....

posted November 03, 2009 09:59 PM         

This works out much better because they are part of the public school system.
(it might be a little different in the UK)
http://www.ehow.com/how_4845782_child-charter-school.html

posted November 03, 2009 10:01 PM         

I think i just need to bite the bullet!

Spanky - hehe you should see my email inbox. I've just emailed myself a dozen links on home-schooling.
Thanks for your link - i didn't have that one

posted November 03, 2009 10:27 PM         

If you are in the US, many school districts offer the option to do the same curriculum online. The graduation certificate and all transcripts are from the school, which means no problems with accreditation (there is a backstory on this that may not apply to outside the US, so I'll leave it at that). You might check into the local schools wherever you are to see if they offer something similar.

There are a lot of private homeschooling groups that will offer you support and also social/educational opportunities. I know socialization isn't a big worry for you, but with these groups they will attend events that give educational lessons somehow (attending the opera for music, touring a lab for science, etc.). Also, these groups are a great way to match up specialties among the parents. If one of them is a musician, they will host music classes or lessons for all the kids, an accountant will teach algebra, and so on. A homeschooling group really helped my sister with planning lessons and also getting her kiddos involved in activities that were hands-on learning.

There is a book I remember by the Colfax family. They are a US family who had five (if I remember correctly!) children, all homeschooled on a farm, and the kids were accepted into Harvard. The Colfaxes wrote about everything they learned about homeschooling, and much of that was helpful to my friend. Your library might have this book (and I'm sure a lot of others on homeschooling).

It's a shame that your son has been made to feel inadequate by the other parent. It's a good thing that you are sharp enough to be aware of the situation, and it sounds like you're making a sound decision that could really help him (and possibly your other children). My big suggestion is to learn about learning preferences and thinking styles so that you are able to present materials to each of your children in a way that they can best understand. One of them may be kinesthetic/converger and another may be auditory/accomodator. You might already know all this, but just in case not, I do believe it makes a large difference.

posted November 03, 2009 11:36 PM         

Lalalinda, we do K12, also. For us it's still public school, but I know it can be purchased for personal use as well.

When I say we love this, I don't mean to imply that it's all unicorns and bubbles. Sometimes it's hard and each child will adjust to homeschooling in a different way. For instance, my son gets almost too laid back for my tastes, but I've talked to his teachers and they say that if he's learning, then go with it. He's in fourth grade. Some families stick to more rigid schedules, but if it doesn't work for your child, it's usually okay to save that for middle school or high school.

It can be hard, and it can be time consuming. I also have a three year old and she's very active, so that's a specific challenge for us. But we're really enjoying it so far.

posted November 04, 2009 03:47 AM         

The only thing I would say to you about it is just ensure the kids are socialised. That's all. I've seen people who were home schooled find it hard to adapt socially in adulthood. The other thing is that the kids themselves tire of being with each other. That's been my experience with it. I just found the kids really needed to be around other children and learn to interact with other human beings in a way that gives them good self-esteem and learn to deal with things rather than be sheletered from them, which is why I put them back in school.

Good luck with it. I wish you well.

posted November 04, 2009 07:53 PM         

I'm going to give it a go! I have no idea how many hours a day i need to do it for nor what subjects to teach but i think they will be genuinely better off with home schooling for at least the next year or two.

posted November 04, 2009 09:31 PM         

some kind of social activities or kid's club is a good idea, maybe a crafts center or sports. they do have to be around people part of the time...

i highly recommend reading john holt, the champion of homeschooling (actually UNschooling) in this country and internationally, he wrote some great books, the first two were called "how children learn" and "how children fail" - and john gatto is really inspirational too - he wrote the book that coined the phrase "dumbing us down"..classic.

my daughter was a bit old to take completely out of the system when i did it...we ended up with a tutorial program supervised by the state education board where she went to school for a FEW hours aweek and i made her take a job to keep her off the streets and learn some practical survival skills, like money handling, speaking spanish, food preparation and customer service...

it worked well except she was convinced she hadn't had an education! until this year when she went back to school and discovered she's a really good student and quick learner, thank you god...

where are you at? you said the middle of the country...northants? summerhill is in buckinghamshire, you might get some good tips from them!

posted November 04, 2009 10:14 PM         

I can not even begin to state the multiple reasons, why, better focus, higher attention level, little peer pressure, better education in general!

If you can do it, if you can handle it, certainly do so! Much better off for the kids, me thinks.

I looked into it once, there are pleanty of support groups out there for home schooling.

Kids can always have socialization in other forms, not necessarially public education.

I am a huge fan of self-education. When I went to college the first time and obtained my ADN, I quickly learned the instructors did little for me, it was all self-taught anyway, and now as I whittle away at my BSN, all online, all self-taught, I think home schooling is where it is at for the future education of our kids!

luck to you, lady!