Am I ready to commit to homeschooling?

Question

I have two children and live in the uk. I've been considering homeschooling for about a year, not because my kids are unhappy at school, but because of the wonderful things i've been hearing about it - learning at their own pace,following their interests, relaxed learning and feeling closer as a family. The only thing that concerns me is whether i can make the commitment to stay at home and be organised enough to ensure they're getting a good education and, although it sounds selfish, am i willing to sacrifice my own career to homeschool? But then my children are only going to be children for a relatively short time and i do want them to have best that i can give them. oh i am so confused! can someone please give me advice?

thanks x*x

Answer 1

Well...

I have to disagree with the previous (first two) posts!

We homeschool our son and all the positives that you cite are true.

Also, I am (was) a certified teacher.  None of what I learned getting that certification is at all relevant to teaching in a more one-on-one environment.

In primary grades certified teachers are generalists and they teach all the core subjects.

Moreover, there are so many resources that you and your children can take advantage of it will make your head spin - that is one of the most difficult aspects of homeschooling in my opinion - choosing among so many great learning options.

Homeschoolers (at least here in the states and I imagine also in the UK) have teaching cooperatives, commonly take dual credit courses through community colleges (secondary level), can take online courses in just about anything imaginable, and a dizzying variety of extracurriculars.

How is sacrificing your career selfish?  One, IMHO you won't be sacrificing your career - only put it on hold for a while.  And when you are old and look back on your life which path do you think will give you fonder memories and a greater sense of accomplishment and satisfaction?  When your kids look back which of those two options do you think they will reflect on as having been "selfish?"

You can see what some real homeschool kids are like and are up to at the link below to our homeschool student newspaper.

Answer 2

Well the first 4 didn't say anything to help!

Start by taking a deep breath and relaxing.

Have you looked into the laws of the UK yet? You can easily find them at http://www.hslda.org Just do a search for your area.



Are you sure you have to give up your career? A lot of us still work outside the home and home school. I work part time as an insurance inspector. I am out of the house 2 days a week and write the reports from home. I cherish the 2 days out. They are time for me to be more than mom.

You don't have to be super organized. I'm not! My house spends more time in "CHAOS" than I care to think about. You can buy curricula that has lesson plans all ready set up for you. I keep track by putting the first initial of the child who has completed each lesson. My sister uses home school tracker for her oldest.

The best advise I can give you is to enjoy all the time you have with your kids! It doesn't matter if you home school or not enjoy them. They stay small for only a little while. Take time and just play with them. Smile and laugh often. Take time to relax with them and just talk.

Timetoscrap: As always the best place to start is the laws. You have to know what is allowed or not before you begin.

For curricula I suggest you look into Sonlight. I can't say enough good things about it. We simply love the entire curricula. There are more home school curricula than I care to think about. If you do a search for them you will find hundreds. It's kind of overwhelming. Try a home school curriculum fair if you can find one in your area.

Answer 3

Homeschooling is a wonderful way to help keep your children's hearts with their family instead of with peers. You were given those children so you could influence their lives, you were also given the wisdom needed to guide those particular children on the path they are meant to go. Teachers are not endowed with the wisdom and understanding of what is best for each individual child in their classroom. With all due respect to the previous answers, there are no legal requirements in the UK that a parent must be certified or trained as a teacher. See this link: http://www.hslda.org/hs/international/Un... You can find the legal requirements listed on the right hand side of the page under "Country Information". There are so many resources on-line to help, you can most certainly be organized enough to provide an excellent education. As to whether or not your willing to sacrifice your career, that's a call only you can make and it depends entirely on your worldview - why are you here?

Having just graduated my oldest after 12 years of home schooling, I can say it makes all the difference in their attitude toward their family. We haven't dealt with any rebellious attitudes. She is confident in who she is because she knows she is loved by a wide range of friends and family. This foundation of love, encouragement and unconditional acceptance has given my daughter the confidence to face difficult people and situations with grace and understanding. Despite the concerns of "socialization" many people will put forth, being brought up in a loving family that is set on encouraging our children's individual strengths and talents, providing ample to time to explore the world around them and participate in numerous community activities over the years, will result in young adults who are mature, self confident and self-less.

Answer 4

personally i dont like homeschooling i think it kinds of makes children out of place and set apart form other children. being around children their own age is a great benefit for them and being able to learn accoring to the way they should be.

Answer 5

yes and i think you'll do great at it just get a sport or somthing for them to do to help them socialise and to get them up early because they might end up sleeping till 3:00pm and doing work at 1:00am witch is not good! but yeah great idear for two years only though because it gets irritating after a while!

Answer 6

Im in the same boat. My questions are:

what curriculums are available to follow - this might be good to start off with before finding something else that suits.

How many hours do kids need to be studying for each day.

Im sure there are more, would love to hear more!

Answer 7

before you even get there, are you a QUALIFIED teacher?  do you have the experience to teach your own kids, or any other kids for that matter.

Homeschooling is not easy if you are not a qualified (certified would be better) teacher.  No where in your message did you even hint at that.  So, I suggest you leave them in school so they get a proper education.

Answer 8

To be honest i think that school is a vital part in a child's life this is where they form friendships and have time away from the family where they can grow themselves. in my honest opinion they are far better off there than home schooled.

Answer 9

Hi, I'm in the UK and home educating my daughter. We're just starting out but the commitment has meant I can't go back to doing the kind of work I was before. OTOH it's actually given me the push to try something new. I was doing tech support in an office and to be honest that's a young person's game and I was getting a bit sick of it. Now I've set up my own company and am trying to get a business going doing web design, programming and a little bit of local freelance tech support. Maybe you could have a think about working from home, or could you do a little bit of part time work to keep your career going?

Home educating isn't the same as a school, you don't need to be teaching for 8 hours a day, even if you take the most formal, National Curriculum following path imaginable.

As for your kids learning enough, that's one thing I've found to be no problem at all! Of course since your kids are currently at school they might take a while to get into the idea of studying because it's interesting and fun, but they'll get there.

p.s. HE kids can watch Springwatch and other educational shows without worrying about getting up in time for school or being too tired and grumpy the next day  ;-)

Answer 10

I know plenty of disorganized homeschooling parents who do just fine making sure their children have a decent education.

Only you can answer the question of whether or not you are willing to let your career go (or is there a way to somehow incorporate it into a homeschooling life?). Parents don't choose their career over homeschooling their children simply for selfish reasons--self-identity plays a large role in it, as well as personality, finances and other issues. Don't think you'd be selfish--if you wouldn't feel truly happy and satisfied homeschooling your kids, then you'd be doing them a disservice because they would pick up on your unhappiness.

ADDED:  I just feel the need to address some misconceptions. Having a teaching degree does NOT make homeschooling easier. It's a totally different ball of wax than a classroom situation. I'm a former teacher and I know other homeschooling parents who taught and we ALL agree that our teaching degree did almost nothing to help us in provide the indivualized one-on-one education we are giving our kids. You don't need a teaching degree to do well by your kids--just  a desire to do so. If you've got that desire, then they will be fine. There was even a study done once on homeschooled students, I believe their SAT scores and parental education. There was actually a small correlation between parents with no high school education and students who had HIGH marks on the SATs. Those parents worked hard and had high expectations; it's the drive that matters, not the certificate.

Being of a different race, from a different country, a city kid moved to the country or a country kid moved to the city and more ALL make for children "out of place". Our goal should not be to make everyone the same but that everybody learn to accept certain differences. I do agree that being with other kids is a great benefit, but they do not have be in the same grade and it doesn't have to be mainly sitting in a desk next to other kids the same day for 6 hours a day. If you join up with homeschooling groups and find other social options for them, have playdates and sleepovers and more, you'll see they will be fine.

School is a vital part of a child's life where they form friendships IF they are kept in school for 7 hours a day, 180 days out of a year for 12 years. If they aren't in school, then something else is a vital part of their life. Homeschooled kids can gradually spend more and more time away from their families instead of being thrust away into a social milieu that makes no sense. They don't need to spend most of their childhood years away from their parents in order to grow up well.