Home schooling for the third term of Y6

[Yamin151]

Must admit this has taken a different direction from what I suspect OP was wanting. Nothing wrong with that of course, discussions develop, but for myself, I have to say I am much less in favour of deregistering for an extended non-peak holiday. Our interest in deregistering was purely based on us thinking the boys weren't happy and we could do a better and more life enhancing job at home, that would have meant they learnt somehting in that last term that school couldn't teach them. I had woodwork with my dad and art with my mum, all sorted for them, various other interesting things, but no, it wasn't to be.

[LostInTheShuffle]

To update those who are interested (I started this thread a couple of months ago), we informed our DD's school today that we will be homeschooling her for the final term of this school year. We look forward to some quality time with our DD before she starts secondary school.

Many thanks for your encouragement and helpful advice.

[mystery]

Good for you. Enjoy!

[Stroller]

Lovely to see an update. Time out is special. Don't make it too purposeful either - life is short.

[LostInTheShuffle]

Stroller: Agree - we had more ambitious plans (academically) at the start but now realise that days spent together on non-academic activities such as art (without any distractions) would also be quite meaningful.

[neveragainmum]

Thanks for the update, your daughter will no doubt have a great quality time with you, to do as you all see fit and meaningful. I'm hoping to do the same, and your post was very inspirational.

[meerme]

To update those who are interested (I started this thread a couple of months ago), we informed our DD's school today that we will be homeschooling her for the final term of this school year. We look forward to some quality time with our DD before she starts secondary school.

Many thanks for your encouragement and helpful advice.

Excellent news. Our children were happy and "thriving" in school but deregistering them was the best thing we did. We don't homeschool as such, we home educate i.e. no fixed times and sessions and we try to avoid "doing school". Apart from us having a lot of quality time with the children this decision has led to them being academically far, far ahead of where they'd be if they were in school (and infinitely better behaved). We've had more educational trips per year to museums, NT properties etc., than I can count on both hands and feet, visited places like Legoland and Alton Towers without the crowds and had a two month holiday abroad. It's been a blast. The children are also, in our opinion, better socialised now as they get to spend a lot of time with home ed friends while other children are in school, whether it's at the numerous home ed camps, "forest school" or just riding their bikes in local parks. It was well worth giving up the year 6 disco, school trip, boring and repetitive homework, SATS etc.

I hope you enjoy your decision as much as we enjoyed ours.
....... [Edited by moderator]

[mad?]

Gosh what a shame that what started as a thoroughly pleasant thread and seemed to have ended with a great outcome for the OP has gone this way. Back to the OP, good news and enjoy your summer!

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Gosh what a shame that what started as a thoroughly pleasant thread and seemed to have ended with a great outcome for the OP has gone this way. Back to the OP, good news and enjoy your summer!

Mad? is quite right.
Off-topic posts have been removed.

[LostInTheShuffle]

Friday was DD's last day at her primary school and we are now in (somewhat) earnest preparations to homeschool her over the next few months (after which DD will move on a proper secondary school).

For those who are interested, here are some of the activities we will be pursuing (still under development):

Theme-based learning (topics below came largely through discussions with DD) [in terms of approach, we drew inspiration from Finland's "phenomenon-based learning" (see Washington Post article http://wpo.st/2OOA0) and SPGS's 11+ "comprehension" exams]
- How safe is nuclear energy? [On this, we will probably touch on chemistry, history, geography and politics]
- Why has classical music transcended time and geography?
- Why have governments banned books at different times in history?
- How are special effects in movies created?

Out and about activities
- Tennis, swimming, archery (if we can find a suitable course) and other sports
- Outdoor group activities (organised by local parks)
- Attending a legal trial (age might be an issue, though)

Travel (we will endeavour to make it more educational by getting DD to do some pre-trip research)
- Visit Belgium to attend Queen Elisabeth violin competition and explore Brussels
- Visit the Adriatic Sea region

Other activities
- Debating (DD suddenly has become rather keen)
- Art projects (mother and daughter have a long wish list)
- Science projects (particularly outdoor experiments)
- Coding and "educational" online games (see U of Washington's Center for Game Science: http://centerforgamescience.org/games/)
- Foreign language "tasters" (to help DD decide which foreign language she will learn in secondary school)

Having been made aware that those taking the 11+ exams have gone (much) further on maths than age-group/Year 7 expectations, we will probably not do very much here (other than to ensure that she still has a good grasp of fundamental concepts).

In terms of materials, we will draw on traditional (libraries) and online (BBC, Khan Academy, etc) sources.

I suspect things will change as we go along, with some activities dropped and perhaps others added.

We would appreciate any advice from those with experience going down this path. For example, does the above look feasible/realistic? Should we devise a weekly (or monthly) calendar to provide some predictability to DD? Etc.

Wish us luck!