How do you go on about homeschooling your children?

Question

We live in Cardiff in the UK

Answer 1

Since several people have directed you to Education Otherwise for the legal stuff I'll answer the how you do it question :-)

My daughter is 4 and I'm taking a child centred going on autonomous approach. What that means in practice is that I answer her questions, looking stuff up in books and online with her but also suggest activities and projects we can do together (e.g. a tank of tadpoles is currently expanding into a series of related amphibians projects).

We meet up with other members of the local HE for a general activities and play date weekly and one of the other mum's has started a weekly French class for the 3-7 age group.

When she's older, 6+ I'll see if she wants to take music lessons because I'm pathetically untalented in that area.

I'm collecting general reference books on all sorts of subjects from local charity shops. You can borrow books for projects from your local library of course but it's also good to have a bunch on hand for when a question is asked, striking while the iron's hot.

I'm not going to bother with the National Curriculum because I think it's, well, rubbish. Forcing kids to cover stuff they find boring and pointless and limiting them in areas they find interesting.

Answer 2

We're in Canada.  If a child here has never attended school, you don't have to do anything.  You just don't enroll them.  If the child is already attending school, you just have to write a letter informing the school of your intention to homeschool.  We don't really have any legal issues with homeschooling, here.  We have the right to educate our kids however we see fit.  The government actually gives us a budget to buy materials.  You sign up under a supervising board, and they keep an eye on your kids' progress and handle your funding.  You make more or less funding, depending on how aligned you are to the provincial standards.  We've been using a program called Sonlight.  It's a complete curriculum.  It's a little more expensive, but all of the legwork has been done for you.  The schedules are included, too.  It's a really good program if you love literature.  They're worldwide, so here's a link to their site:

http://www.sonlight.com/

Added:  So many people are still stereotypically bringing up the social issue.  I would advise you to turn a deaf ear it to it.  It's just what people regurgitate when they have no real experience with homeschooling.  My kids are far better socialized now that they're homeschooled.  They see and meet a much greater spectrum of people than the thirty kids (of the same age) that were foisted on them in school.  They're not put in a room and told that the other kids are their only "peers".  They're able to choose their friends based on more substantial qualities than age.  We only need to school in the mornings, so our afternoons are for field trips, outings, play meetings, sports, arts, classes and volunteering.  My kids have really learned to consider all people, regardless of age, race, religion, social status, gender or ability.

Answer 3

Do you live in the UK or elsewhere? I'll edit my answer to help then. =] Righto, Cardiff. =]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/schoolgate/ab...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/parents/lif...

I would also recommend that you speak to your local council for the rules on home education but don't be discouraged by them, because some people - actually, most - are against it.

http://home-school.com/Articles/phs41-ma...

The link above is about laptop homeschool and might be a good idea for you. I don't know. I recommend, because I noticed you have seven children, that you could do a lot together. You could watch DVDs and play games and such together in most things. English and Maths and such, you would have to teach seperately because they are of seperate ages. You could buy a lot of books from Waterstones and WHSmith. Also, the poundshop do revision books which are really useful. =]

I bought some revision books from there for my exams. Um.. The library is really useful. You can get a lot of educational books and DVDs and some books to intrest your kids in general to improve their reading and vocabulary.

Where I live, in Merseyside, UK, we only have to notify the LEA and the school of a few things and then you might be checked out so I recommend you look at Education Otherwise.

http://www.education-otherwise.org/

It tells you about rules, and everything and what to do if the council have something to say or whatever. xD

Maybe you could ask your kids their opinions too? Homeschooling is beneficial because children can do things that intrested them. So.. maybe one of your children is intrested in Animals, another Art, another Football, another Reading and another Writing so they could all do something that intrests them.

It's your choice whether you cover basic things like English, Maths and such. You could even go along with the whole school thing but at home. It really is your choice.

But you could do English and Maths at levels suitable to each child, watch History and other DVDs and programmes together, draw maps and do special projects together. Do special things that are of intrest to each child.

So they could learn about things that intrest them as well as what you would like to learn them. Feel free to email me if you decide to homeschool and if you have any children close to thirteen, I would be happy to talk to them because I'm the same age. =]

I would love to homeschooled and obviously I know quite a lot about it since I want to homeschooled so much. I have yet to convince my nan though, and my parents both work full time. So, it's a no go at the minute. But ah well.. Best of luck and don't forget to email me!

EDIT ; in response to a reply below about socialising. It is true that both parents and children have to put more effort in for them to socialise. So, send them to clubs and activities and see if there are homeschool groups in your area. Youth clubs, activities, Girl Guides and Boy Scouts, Sport Groups, Groups at the Library, that sort of thing. =] Also, socialising in the nearby area and friends that they already have. So no offence to the person below, but you are wrong and aren't even helping.

Answer 4

Look up Education Otherwise and they will give you all the info. you need.  If the kids are in school, you need to write to the school advising them that they are leaving and will be educated by you.  Use the Education Otherwise website as this letter needs to contain certain information.

Some LEAs are very supportive of home educators, others make life quite difficult.  You need to be aware of the law regarding home education.  Education Otherwise can also help out with this.

Answer 5

I think you have to get in touch with the LEA and tell them you are wanting to take your children out of mainstream school to home school!

They will be able to tell you what happens next and if there are groups in your area where home taught children meet up for some lessons!

just be aware that most lea's are keen to prevent home schooling so will possibly try and talk you out of it!

Answer 6

Also depends how old the children are.  You only really need to notify the authorities if the children are already in school and you plan to take them out.  If they have not been to school yet then just do it.   Look up Education Otherwise.

Answer 7

well you keep in touch with the local school and the curriculum and get a few test paper websites (legal ones though) and as i have read a few books about home schooling it can be really fun not only for you but for your children too

Answer 8

sorry but kids need to mix with other children, im not against home schooling so long as children mix with others, i know some kids who r home tutored n i dont think they even know that the outside world exists,one is almost 13 an isnt allowed out the door, not even to the shop which is literally 2 mins away

Answer 9

phone ur local education department and they will help you with any question's you might have.

good luck. x

Answer 10

ive posted you a link below all about home schooling i hope it helps you sweet heart

Answer 11

My mom stated homeschooling us in January. The way she does it is that she gets school books from the library and then we do lessons out of those. For science we watch science channels and write summaries about it. We also do science out of a book.

Also when we go on trips we do video journals. We went to Italy a wile ago and we went to a pastry shop and helped make them. It was a lot of fun.

The bottom line is you have to be creative. You need to make it fun to keep the children interested.

you can also ask the school near your house if the have an independent study program or if they have a homeschooling program.