Home education possibilities

[sheffminxy 10]

Just thought I'd stick my oar in with..

 

I was home educated so I can report on the end result and the perspective of a child in that educational situation..if anyone's interested.

[hennypenny 10]

Just thought I'd stick my oar in with..

 

I was home educated so I can report on the end result and the perspective of a child in that educational situation..if anyone's interested.

 

It is always interesting to hear from home educated adults, although as there are as many different styles of home education as there are home educators, the perspective is also different in every case

 

Were you home educated throughout your compulsory education years, or only for part of your childhood?

 

I would love to hear your perspective

[sheffminxy 10]

It is always interesting to hear from home educated adults, although as there are as many different styles of home education as there are home educators, the perspective is also different in every case

 

Were you home educated throughout your compulsory education years, or only for part of your childhood?

 

I would love to hear your perspective

 

Hi I was home educated from 11-16 prior to that I attended a state infant and primary school.

[hennypenny 10]

Hi I was home educated from 11-16 prior to that I attended a state infant and primary school.

 

Was this in Sheffield? Do I know you?

 

So how do you feel home education affected you?

[Wheezy 10]

I'd be interested in hearing all stories possible regarding home education. Not for me, but for my friend. She is really intent on not taking her child to the school she has been appointed (quite understandable) and anything regarding home education would be most greatful.

[sheffminxy 10]

Was this in Sheffield? Do I know you?

 

So how do you feel home education affected you?

 

I don't think so , I'm not infamous..... Home Education was the best thing in the world for me, it allowed me to grow into the person I am today, it didn't hinder me in the slightest, although I would say with retrospect that it does depend on the personality of the child.

 

As to whether they'd be suitable for it and indeed it for them.

[hennypenny 10]

I'd be interested in hearing all stories possible regarding home education. Not for me, but for my friend. She is really intent on not taking her child to the school she has been appointed (quite understandable) and anything regarding home education would be most greatful.

 

Happy to provide any information you require

 

Do you have any specific questions?

[sooz79 10]

Hi, I just joined the Sheffield Forum. I am the local contact for Education Otherwise in Sheffield and would be happy to answer any questions about home education whether or not anyone is a member of EO. Some home educated children have never been to school, but many more have been deregistered after some time in The System. I have a 13 year old boy who has never been to school; he is educated autonomously without using any textbooks, workbooks, planned curriculum etc. We have a good relationship with Linda Barrett from Access and Inclusion at the Children and Young People's Directorate ( formerly the LEA ) and we have started discussions to change the council website which gives a misleading impression about how much the council might ( or should ) interfere. There is a thriving home ed community in Sheffield with many group activities organised by local parents. I hope this helps. Please get in touch !

Fiona

 

Hi,i also home educate my two girls who are 9 and 6,we took our girls out of school just over six months ago now and although we have had sort of a slow start i am pleased to say,so far so good :)we had help from fiona (hi ya fiona hope you are ok how are things?)we had our visit from LEA with fiona on stand by on yahoo mess to help us out (which really helped to put me at ease)thank you fiona....we also had a visit from Linda Barrett and i have to say she is a lovely warm lady...my girls are very happy at home and love what they learn,it was very scary at first but i it was well worth it and to be honest there is totally nothing scary about it......lol

[hennypenny 10]

Following up on this, did any of the people on this thread who were considering home education go on to do it?

 

I would be interested in what decision you took and why

[Flutterbyes 10]

i am considering home educating my baby girl, she is currently 17 weeks

i think i am quite daunted by the prospect and even though i am certain i can give her a better primary school education than the local primary I am not so sure when it comes to secondary education. ( i am hoping to move house by the time secondary education comes round!)

 

what if i forget to teach her something fundamental? we use computers a lot at home so what if she is typing loads but can't actually write??

[hennypenny 10]

I made my plans to home educate pre-conception of my kids, so you are never too early to be thinking about it:)

 

When people first start home education, they tend to think of it in terms of school education, but as time goes on you realise that school doesn't necessarily have the best methods. Who ever decided that the best way to teach kids was to make them sit still and listen, instead of letting them explore as they were designed to do?

 

With home ed, there is no need to split everything up into subjects and spend an hour on each. My kids learned by doing things they were interested in until they had thoroughly learned everything there was to know about that subject, or until they lost interest. Sometimes this meant that they were doing one thing for up to 3 months at a time! It all balances out, and over time they get a balanced education. If there is something they realise they need to know, they will learn it very quickly.

 

My son did all his writing on computers, but when he was 11 he had a trial at secondary school. Once there he realised he needed to be able to do handwriting, so within 2 weeks he had mastered a cursive style. He left after getting totally bored within 6 weeks, so he never really advanced with his writing until he got to uni. In fact his writing still isn't too great now, but I have discussed it with him, and as it hasn't stopped him doing a PhD, he just doesn't feel it is important enough to him to bother with. He says if he ever needs it to improve he will spend a week with a caligraphy book and sort it out then.

 

The big thing is that children are born wanting to learn, we mistake when we assume that they have to be hectored into learning. If they are left alone to choose what, when and where to learn, with us taking the role of helpers or facilitators in pursuing their interests, they have proven time and again to learn incrdibly well. It is difficult to take that plunge of trusting them, but it really does work Remember that school is a fairly recent invention, and the human race has advanced over thousands of years without it.

 

Schools made sense in an information poor society where one person could dispense difficult to find knowledge to a class of 30 at once, but we are now in an information rich society, where all we need to do as parents is let them free to explore that knowledge

[Flutterbyes 10]

thanks hennypenny

 

your post has been most inspiring!

i think we will ply it by ear, but i am definately thinking about home ed for primary school

 

you say you did a lot of planning for home ed before your son was born, what did you do???