Having trouble deciding to HE or not?

[Ali P]

I was thinking of an entirely different group when I posted earlier. I have always found Noshed to be very supportive and continue to refer newbies to their activity mailing list.

Glad it's now all sorted out, Amby.

[aileen]

Hi Amby,
It sounds like your kids are round about the same age as mine, I always knew I would home educate them, although when people ask me why i draw a blank and am never sure how to reply. D will be 6 in march he has never been to school J will be 4 in april and T is just 8 months, I don't find socialisation a problem for the kids but as you mentioned it is harder for me to socialise, i grew up in america and have not managed to make many friends since returning to the uk, It is difficult to get to parent and toddler groups with the baby when I have 2 older kids to deal with, I don't think there are any home ed groups near me - atleast i haven't found them yet. So far the most socialization i get is a breastfeeding group i go to once a week and they have a creche which watches my older two while I chat with other breastfeeding mums and feed T, although i find myself wondering what will become of my socialization when T stops breastfeeding. I completely agree with the points you raised about home education such as keeping the kids young, going on vacation anytime (very important to me as my mom dad sister and brother are in america and it can be pricey to visit them at peak times), and family outings anytime you want is of course ideal, because not only are weekends not an option (my husband works sundays and every second saturday) but with everyone elses kids at school, weekdays are much quieter! I must admit I am not organized at all, not even a little bit, my housekeeping is terrible, I feel like i do very little with the children compared to what a classroom would and I feel everyone around me is judging me but I still think my children are learning as well, if not better than they would at school with the benefit of me not having to miss any of their milestones. I have tried to be strict with d and get him to sit down and do 'work' but i find this stresses him out and we get nowhere, he learns better when he is relaxed so we just let him do what he wants really, he can read, write, count, and those are the most important things. we prefer for him to learn through experience, helping out with the shopping, or cooking, that sort of thing its relaxed and fun and thats when children learn best. I admire how you and others on here are able to come up with reasons to home school, I know there are hundreds of reasons to do it but when people ask me why I draw a blank and can't seem to answer and then they think I'm not a very competent person but I won't let anyone convince me home education is not good because I know it's perfect for MY family - that is something I am certain of and that's what matters.

[Elaine Kirk]

You are extremely competent Aileen , we must meet up again text me or pm me on here fbook is no good I miss most of the posts

[banshee]

Thanks, Aileen...you've put a lot of my thoughts into words...similar scenario: family abroad (2 other continents, hub works weekends, and I also start spouting my preference for Waldorf rather than mainstream...but there's so many more reasons to be part of my children's process of developing their worlview. And the beauty is that I can incorporate as many styles, methods and philosophies (or parts of them) as we go along, and question and discover together. I feel at times (and it's more often than not in this wee village) that I have to justify my desire to keep my babies close: or else they'll call in a child psychologist to "help" with my separation anxiety!?!

[AmbyUK]

Thank you Aileen, that was really helpful! I am in the process of withdrawing Cora now, and I can't wait to start HE. So far the only 'issue' is she keeps thinking it has to be just like school. For example, she said today "We'll have to get a 'house corner' like school does". Still, she'll learn!

I am almost finished reading "Dumbing Us Down". It's really good, but the thing that really struck me is that in the 1850's when compulsory schooling was started in MA the people revolted against it (including with guns at times!). It took 30 years for them to get all the children, and they had to take them by force in the end. From that initial resistance that took 30 years to break down, we're at the other end of the spectrum now aren't we?