The British Homemaker - One day at a time

Yesterday I talked about my decision to homeschool my 9 yr old. Today I want to share a few thing that I've learnt along the way (though I know I have so much more to learn yet) in hope to assist a couple of my friends who are also considering this move with their own children. We each make this decision for different reasons yet from what I understand the majority of us struggle to make the transition without 'beating' ourselves up, doubting our ability and being unsure what is available out there to prevent our kids being 'held back'. A few check points to consider: * We start our schooling at 10am * We have a timetable that guides us, not dictates * We cover 2 elements of numeracy and 2 elements of literacy a day plus reading * We've set our basic subjects as numeracy, literacy, reading, religion (not just Lds), arts & crafts, homemaking (no surprise there, eh?!) * I set up a jar where any questions Charley has on other subjects get written down...

A couple of months ago I made the huge decision to homeschool Charley. I confess that I'm not a believer in homeschooling based on the fact that I'm  one of those moms that likes to divide up my time to equal a balance, with the kids in a school it's meant I could work, do the momsy stuff or other stuff. I also think it's healthy for the separation. But , given that the new school is currently in the process of being built right on the development site I live on and the fact that the school he was at was as helpful and supportive as a wet roll of tissue paper it was the only choice I could make and keep some of my sanity. The first peace of advice when I asked around other homeschooling parents (both UK and USA friends) was to 'relax', 'de-school', 'take control of how you want to educate'. After 21 years of having at least one child in school, let me tell you the 'de-schooling' was the hardest thing I found. The whole routine of bedti...