telling others you want to home ed your kids

[ina]

Another reason why home-ed may be a much better option:


Most schools 'not turning green'


Most schools are not teaching children about green issues in anything but a piecemeal way, schools inspectors say.

The government wants schools in England to be "sustainable" - that is not impacting on the environment - by 2020.
But according to Ofsted, few schools are making the environment central to the curriculum and school life.


http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7412477.stm

[baldowrie]

ha, ha, ha Ina that is soooooooooo very true!

Apparently putting NEW concrete slabs down in the garden...said loosely...and Jessie's school was green. As is buying vegetables at T***o's!

[getting there]

The only green lessons I can remember from school is when we buried food scraps and plastic which we had to dig up once a week and note how they'd changed (the teacher ended up secretly removing the food scraps because they weren't breaking down fast enough ). And the trip to the recycling factory.

My 2y/o knows what recycling bin what goes in. Yesterday I heard her saying "go make nu wun" (go make new ones) as she put something in a recycling bin

[mrsflibble]

Mine knows where our recycling bin is and what to put in it too. I love it when she goes round collecting drinks cans, stamping on them in her size 6 wellies and then chucking them in the recycling bag lol!

[getting there]

I love it when she goes round collecting drinks cans, stamping on them in her size 6 wellies and then chucking them in the recycling bag lol!

That is so cute and adorable.

[MrsD'ville]

I'd love to home school for all the reasons given in this thread and more besides, but I don't stand much chance of convincing DH, esp with another baby on the way.

One of his concerns is the old chestnut about socialisation, and I have to say, living as rurally as we do it is something that we would need to work at. DD is 6 and very intelligent, articulate and outgoing, and for all that she says she'd rather be home educated, she's into school like a greyhound out of the traps in the morning and constantly talking about the stuff she's done there (and blatantly enjoyed). She has good friends, likes her teacher, does well and gets into the spirit of it, so at the moment it's hard to see really what she would gain by being removed from an environment in which she obviously thrives. I wouldn't hesitate to remove her though if she started reacting badly to school and it transpired that it was nothing that could be solved or dealt with. Part of my motivation for home-ed is that there's so much I'd love her to learn about life that doesn't happen at school and I just wish there was more time for that, but I'm totally schizophrenic about the whole thing as on the other side I'd love to be able to send her to a really excellent top private school with every opportunity under the sun - that's about as likely as home ed so it's a good thing we're in catchment for the best high school in the county!

[Ratty]

My oldest son had a horrific time at Primary School on the outskirts of Sheffield. He was bullied by other children and the Headmistress decided he was a "problem to the school" - the reason being that he was diagnosed with autism and they didn't know/want to handle his special needs. I battled against taking him out & home-schooling him because everyone around me said he was so bright, it was the school's fault and they had to change. They never did and last year we moved to Nottingham. He went into a local mainstream primary who were absolutely brilliant and so supportive, the made him feel like a wanted little person for the 7 months he was there. Then he was taken from us suddenly by Leukaemia & I wish every single day that I'd taken him out of that d@mn first school as he didn't end up needing his 'education' at that awful place.

Go with your gut feeling every time. It is no-one else's business but your own.

Ratty

[MrsD'ville]

Oh my goodness Ratty, what a terrible thing. Wishing you all the strength you need (((hugs))).

[red]

sorry to hear that Ratty - glad that he did have a good experience in his new school. we none of us know the future..

strength to you.

[Helsbells]

Ratty, that is so sad, and really makes me think about what you have said about following your gut feeling. Thankyou for sharing that with us, my thoughts are with you
x

[missie moo]

....I'd love to be able to send her to a really excellent top private school with every opportunity under the sun - that's about as likely as home ed so it's a good thing we're in catchment for the best high school in the county!

there's no reason why you shouldn't be able to send her to a top independent school later on if she's a high achiever - they offer excellent scholarships and if you still can't afford the fees after the scholarship remission then you can apply for a means-tested bursary. if you are on a 'low' income (under say £30,000) then you can sometimes apply for a bursary even if the child has not been awarded a scholarship. we have a 75% discount for one of ours (50% scholarship + 25% bursary). the remaining 25% is still painful of course, but the other options just aren't as good as far as we're concerned so it's worth the sacrifice.

most of these scholarships are available at 11+. it's worth looking into if it's what you really want for your daughter. many independent schools are having to make huge efforts at the moment to fund bursaries and scholarships. we had no idea that we'd ever be able to put our girls through the independent system, but we have managed and we're nearly out the other side!

jane

[lucy.lists]

I got a scholarship to a 6th form type college - a very good independent one in Oxford. On paper I was only ever 'average' (in the higher stream) at secondary school, but I got awarded the scholarship because, apparently (!), the ideas in my essay were so original (How I wish I could recapture that originality now, whatever it was!). So I just wanted to add that even if your child isn't an especially 'high achiever', they may have a spark that an independent place is looking for.

On the Home Ed front, I have an autonomously educated 6 year old who doesn't read or write yet. On the other hand, she is very interested in the Big Bang theory, completely obsessed with what came before the Big Bang, and is currently following an interest in early human culture (ie what makes us different from chimps.) :-)

Unfortunately, at the moment my kids don't get to socialise as much as I'd like them to - but when we were living in the U.K we could have been going to different activities all the time. That said, when my kids do meet other children (or adults, for that matter) there don't seem to be any socialisation 'problems' ... they come across as 'normal' kids.

[lucy.lists]

Oh, and going back to the original topic, both my parents are retired academics, and yes, they were certainly bemused by our decision to Home Ed. But now they are seeing more of the girls, they are realising that it's much the best thing for them, and we are getting a lot of support.

I used to email them pretty much every article on education that came up in the news - because the majority of them backed up our home education decision, even when they weren't directly about Home Ed.

Also, I point people towards Gill's blog:
http://www.sometimesitspeaceful.blogspot.com/

She has 3 teenagers who were autonomously home educated from the age of 8 or so (as well as younger children who have always been autonomously home educated) and she also writes a column for Green Parent magazine on autonomous education ... over the years, her blog has given me confidence that I won't end up with teenage 'misfits' ... or at least, if I do, then it won't be down to the home ed! :-)

[AnnieR]

Hi all,

I home ed my 13 yr old daughter, she's my youngest, and I've had three others who went through the state system. (My 15yr old is still there - he hates it, but is doing well academically - but hates school and school life -but its a bit late to change it all now - he's half way through his GCSE's)

I discovered Home ed when my daughter started secondary school, and really couldn't cope. She has Asberger traits, and severe anxiety syndrome, and the school would not bend to meet her needs at all, and she started self harming.

I found their inflexibility and attitude to be appauling, and I withdrew her from school. She now smiles in the day, and is learning about life in a completely different way, and she is happy. Why didn't I think about Home Ed before? I think many people have no idea that there is another option to educate their children, and try and "fit" their children into the state education mould - sometimes with painful results.

Wearing my other hat however....
I run a preschool in the morning for chilren aged two and a half to five, and follow the national curriculum accordingly! (well ISH)
In my preschool we have fun, and try to teach the children in our care in a way that is engaging and exciting, creating an environment that is warm welcoming and inviting and inclusive to all.
- This most certainly includes children who dont seem to "fit"
We cook, paint, build, draw, experiment, sing and are free to express ourselves in many ways. We try at all times to adapt our teaching to the children that we have in setting, and not the other way around.

Why does the state system not try and do the same?
Primary schools are quite so bad, but the secondary schools are now so massive and rule bound that they cannot possibly be child orientated, or have the childs interest at heart at all. I see formal secondary education as something to be endured or imposed on a child, and unfortunatly the teachers no longer have the freedom (or sometimes the inclination) to do the one thing that bought them into the profession in the first place - which is the love of teaching. With league tables, SAT's and GCSE's the schools are only interested in one thing - results, and not how they get there, or what the children have to endure.

Sorry this post seems like a rant,
but the way children are treated with our "school systems" is very close to my heart.

Annie

[MrsD'ville]

I've thought about bursaries for the future, but I was concerned that a scholarship child would feel immense pressure to live up to their massive opportunity. Well see, it's a way off as DD is only 6 and is still enjoying and wanting to learn. The minute I see that changing though I will be wanting to make biiiig changes.

I had a sad conversation with DH last night. My 15 yo year 10 stepson lives with us and is totally disengaged with school despite being one of the brightest in his year. DH said SS used to be just like DD is now but something changed for him (long after the DH-XW split so we can't blame it on that - he was 3 at the time). I think the high school environment can adversely affect a great many children so I'll be very open-minded as DD goes through her education and prepared to jump sideways at any point. Perhaps when the one I'm carrying just now is five years old DH will have had a change of heart and we can home-ed after all! He was never going to go for having a second one at all and changed his mind on that with no nagging from me so miracles can happen!