flutterby Posted July 8, 2012 Share Posted July 8, 2012 :001_smile: Yes thank you very much once again ~Jenn Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HappyChaos Posted November 28, 2012 Share Posted November 28, 2012 Hi Everyone, I've never been on a forum before (dinosaur) and have finally got round to joining this one. I've just read the whole of this topic on Home-edders in the UK, pleased to find that classical education isn't as much of a taboo as I thought. Personally, when I first read the Well Trained Mind material I was stunned - I had never heard of this sort of thing before, and I fell in love with how sensible it seemed. I love the fact that learning happens in stages, and especially with history, that there is an unashamed start point and logic and flow to it all. I dislike small and bitty histories (and I've had my fair share of it with a background in archaeology). I have a son (6) and daughter (just 4) at home with me. we live just outside London. I really struggle with everything to do with school and routine and life right now - it's lovely to find some other folk who are keen on classical education. I really am only just beginning to dip my toes in where I should already be swimming. Oh well!!! I feel at present that I want to quit teaching the kids at home - but also don't want to send them to school at all. My fear is, if I did actually decide to send my son to school he'd actually not be able to keep up in year 2. Sadly, looking at all the lists you guys have of what you do with your kids, I think I'm probably right! All we have done is concentrate on Phonics, reading, a little writing, some maths (although maths and science are completely shelved at present), and lots of Sonlight books. I've stopped using the Sonlight stuff tho cos it drove me mad. We love just reading their stories, and Ed loves their science stuff - so it's my fault it's shelved right now. We've just started Story of the World, book 1. Both of them are loving it, and little girl, barely 4, is shouting out all the information she's storing in that sponge of a brain. I'm tempted to do nothing but read that book and follow the worksheets for a whole year! I have been using maths programme I inherited from my mother-in-law. She used it with her children to supplement their primary maths, and passed it on to me. It's Catherine Stern and uses manipulatives. I am however hitting snags with American currency - anyone have anything useful for teaching British currency in an easy, no-frills kinda way. My son can't cope with any distractions on a page - even creating a simple story around a sum is too much and we end up with a very convoluted discussion about the story without achieving the maths, he almost jsut needs numbers on a page and nothing else! One final thing - do folk struggle with friends and family the way I do - I think we're thought of as slightly mad and deliberately going against the grain (which really is not me at all!). My parents seem to think our kids will be socially inept if they don't go to school, which they're clearly not since they can hold a better conversation with my dad at 6 and 4 than I can at 37! Any helpful tips much appreciated. Oops - Ive just seen the time and length of this......... better go. sorry! Ex Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
munashe Posted November 29, 2012 Share Posted November 29, 2012 Hi HappyChaos I am another UK Homeschooling mum to a soon to be teenage girl. I too enjoyed the book but don't necessarily follow it to the core but we more are structured in our approach. I have a 4 and half year old too and surely at that age its all phonics, a little this and that??? Oh and the family and friends bit is just one of the things I live with. Every time I hit a snag and tell my family, immediate solution is for them to tell me that if I feel that way then its perhaps better if they are in school. I am just learning to grit my teeth and not say much to them now. Have you looked at some of those home ed yahoo group to see if there are any local activities to you? That may hopefully fulfill the social side of things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Emma S Posted March 30, 2014 Share Posted March 30, 2014 Any Uk home educators still here? Would be nice to chat if there are! :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted April 2, 2014 Share Posted April 2, 2014 There are a few of us still here from this old thread and a couple new ones too! 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Innocent Posted April 12, 2014 Author Share Posted April 12, 2014 Sorry - I missed the new replies. Yes, I'm still here, although I tend to lurk rather than post much. I can't keep up! Hello to all the UK home educators out there. :) Emma 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest upociv Posted April 16, 2014 Share Posted April 16, 2014 Hello, Just setting out on this path. We've been involved in a home ed community since my daughter was about a year old, she's now four, but I've never been convinced about unschooling which is what most people seem to veer towards. I was very uncool, because I really enjoyed quite dry traditional academic learning when I was younger, and I think my daughter is showing signs of being similar (asking for 'numbers homework' and 'writing homework' which means sheets of exercises that I have to come up with!) I haven't read The Well Trained Mind yet, my pile of unread books about home ed goes down far too slowly to buy more just yet, but it is a great relief to find this forum and see that unschooling isn't the only way. If my daughter likes sitting at the kitchen table doing her 'homework', then that's fine. I'm also loving reading what all the kids are up to in people's signatures. I'm such a newbie that I have no idea about the various curricula, but I'm having to find maths exercises (Singapore?) because I'm running out of ideas and though we have an app on the iPad that seems quite good, I'm not mad keen for her to spend too much time on it. Anyway, I just wanted to say hi. And thank you for being here! I shouldn't think I'll be able to post often. Usually I go to be too early! Today we went for a rare nap after lunch (lovely!) and now I can't sleep! Jessica Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted April 17, 2014 Share Posted April 17, 2014 Hello, Just setting out on this path. Welcome, Jessica. I'm no longer home educating, but this board was a great help when I was. L 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raising Little Shoots Posted July 6, 2014 Share Posted July 6, 2014 I am still here... :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EMHE Posted January 5, 2015 Share Posted January 5, 2015 Hi, I'm here, Leicestershire 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest kdja72 Posted April 9, 2015 Share Posted April 9, 2015 I'm in Sussex always followed an unschooled route until I realised (for us) it failed. So with son no.5 I intend to go classical and be a lot more structured!! I agree there are not many uk hS families that use any sort of curriculum! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirkle Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 I'm in the UK, in Sussex too and I'd love to hear from some others. There are just so many unschoolers round here it can get a bit lonely. We tried unschooling and it was almost as disastrous for our family as school was, so now we are getting back on track with a more structured curriculum. I'm building it up slowly but its quite hard to find anything UK specific. if anyone knows of a UK geography curriculum, I'd love to hear all about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 I'm in the UK, in Sussex too and I'd love to hear from some others. There are just so many unschoolers round here it can get a bit lonely. We tried unschooling and it was almost as disastrous for our family as school was, so now we are getting back on track with a more structured curriculum. I'm building it up slowly but its quite hard to find anything UK specific. if anyone knows of a UK geography curriculum, I'd love to hear all about it. Welcome to the board! I'm not home educating any more, but there are one of two British people here. I don't know how old your children are, but Galore Park is sometimes a good place to look for curriculum. They have some geography - I haven't used it, but I've used some of their other books. https://www.galorepark.co.uk/Product?Product=9781902984728 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted April 29, 2015 Share Posted April 29, 2015 Welcome! I am not sure what ages you are looking for. We used a combination of library books and materials from the US when they were younger for geography. More recently we used the Oxford Press key stage 3 geography books. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Squirkle Posted May 1, 2015 Share Posted May 1, 2015 Thanks for the responses. My children are 8 and 9 years old, though the eldest has some mild LD. even taking that into account she is 'behind' due to her needs not being met and subsequently learning next to nothing, during her time at school. So they are both working at around the level of a Year 2-3 (1st-2nd grade?) child in most areas. Maths is the exception. I do know about Galore Park but I think most of it is for older children. I tried my son out with their Junior English but he hated it. Its too advanced for my daughter also. We are currently using English Lessons through Literature and All About Spelling instead, which they both love. DD does Write from the Start exercises everyday too to improve her motor skills. So anyway for Geography I'm looking for something to help teach the actual geography of the UK. you know like the counties, major towns and cities, rivers etc. I've seen loads of great curriculums like this for World geography and US geography (I particularly like the Trail guide to...) but no one seems to do anything similar for the UK. I'd really like for my children to learn the geography of the actual place they live first! I'm guessing the reasons why is down to the fact most UK home schoolers either don't use curriculum (unschooling is big, to the point I originally thought that was the only acceptable way) or they look to follow the National Curriculum taught in state schools. Most of what is called geography in the NC is what i consider to be Earth sciences, with just a little bit of finding places on a map in an incidental way, when the names come up in other subjects. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 Thanks so much Laura for your response, I thought maybe it was just me not "getting" the system. I too felt so much of the KS3 lacking. Someone mentioned to me about ds moving forward with at least the Biology IGCSE but I hesitated for want of knowing where to start really. And then with the recent mention that they may do away with the GCSE's I thought why bother. I know he would love to really have an achievement like that under his belt and I feel pretty confident he could do it, but then I am left wondering then what? But your comment has helped me to rethink my idea about doing the US middle school science, I think it would just frustrate him with its simplicity. It helps to know your son did just fine! Is your son then going ahead with the GCSE's or do you understand how this switch affects the curriculum yet? Thanks again for your assistance. :) ~Jenn I know there were some rumours about IGCEs being done away with but having investigated this, as an acquaintance was spreading this rumour, it turned out that it had come from the news reports that IGCSEs would not be included on the performance tables for some schools and it had got twisted to them being phased out or something. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted June 3, 2015 Share Posted June 3, 2015 I'm in the UK, in Sussex too and I'd love to hear from some others. There are just so many unschoolers round here it can get a bit lonely. We tried unschooling and it was almost as disastrous for our family as school was, so now we are getting back on track with a more structured curriculum. I'm building it up slowly but its quite hard to find anything UK specific. if anyone knows of a UK geography curriculum, I'd love to hear all about it. I haven't found much below KS3 but we are using Oxford university press Geog 123 I wouldn't say it's an horrendously high level but there's a lot crammed on each page which could make it a bit overwhelming for a younger kid. UK Geography is part of it but there's also a lot of other things like general physical geography and one other area (in the first book it's Africa). Also the Core Knowledge UK books have UK geography built into each year. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahW Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Just wanted to join in here to say - It looks like I'll be in the UK as well in a few months! My DH just accepted a job in Cambridgeshire. My 8yo is quite pleased that he'll be able to be homeschooled again. So now I just have to figure out getting our schoolbooks across the pond and learning the British system, eek! I did already check to see that the town we'd be moving to has a library, and it does. Though maybe not as big as the one's I'm used to in America? Do you all find the public library helpful for getting good non-fiction kids books or WTM-esque literature? How easy is it to ILL specific books? Is there a decent used-books market for those types of books? I have some older anthologies for kids books (that I bought when I though we might go to NL long-term) and some picture-books for baby, and now I'm wondering if it's worth taking them. I know unschooling is more popular in the UK, but is there a place to buy or sell second-hand homeschool materials there? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Loesje22000 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Www.alibris.co.uk and put your setting on UK first :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted July 27, 2015 Share Posted July 27, 2015 Libraries in England are generally regional, so several small libraries grouped together with one card catalogue. I have cards in three different systems. I simply requested cards in two nearby systems explaining that we are a home educating family. No problem with that. Moving the books within a system is easy. In all three that service is free for children and costs roughly 20p for adults. Moving books between systems is possible but a bit painful (I tried once). I generally just order a used copy from Amazon or find a substitute. Books here sometimes have different titles and almost always have a different cover then in the US. This makes it hard to grab a book or two for pleasure at the library sometimes. We did home ed off the library shelves pretty exclusively for our first year here (they were 7 and 9) so it is possible. Lots of great non fiction. We tended to go search the shelves then put together a unit study based on the most interesting finds. We did British History using Our Island Story as the spine, supplimenting with the library and field trips. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahW Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 Thanks for the info! I've been looking around home education in the UK. I see that there's a few community groups. I know these things can be hit or miss, but are they generally active? Broadly speaking, do classical homeschoolers fit in socially? I think I'm good piecing together outside activities, but I'm wondering if it's worth hooking up with a local group. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
YsgolYGair Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 I'm in the UK - in Wales. I'm a Christian following the WTM fairly closely. I would love to get to know any other classical home edders in the area, if there are any! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted July 29, 2015 Share Posted July 29, 2015 There are a few active groups in our area. Not all classical (none are, but varying academic leanings) but groups that plan outings where my kids have friends who are home educated. All have their merits although I stand out pretty noticeably, Christian home ed with a classical curriculum who makes her kids do school. I have stopped all talk in rooms with the mention that we can stay longer as long as they promise to finish their latin when we get home. But I was asked privately later how to do Latin and some gave it a try. :) What I am trying to say is the groups are worth it in my opinion. I (and my kids) have made friends with a wide assortment and learned a lot. I keep a spare loaner copy of the WTM which I give to people with questions. At this point I am the mom with the older kids ..... Home Service runs a Christian Home Ed conference in Wales beginning of September. We don't attend but friends love it. Pm me if you need details. Both of you feel free to pm me with questions, willing to try and answer. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 Just wanted to join in here to say - It looks like I'll be in the UK as well in a few months! My DH just accepted a job in Cambridgeshire. My 8yo is quite pleased that he'll be able to be homeschooled again. So now I just have to figure out getting our schoolbooks across the pond and learning the British system, eek! I did already check to see that the town we'd be moving to has a library, and it does. Though maybe not as big as the one's I'm used to in America? Do you all find the public library helpful for getting good non-fiction kids books or WTM-esque literature? How easy is it to ILL specific books? Is there a decent used-books market for those types of books? I have some older anthologies for kids books (that I bought when I though we might go to NL long-term) and some picture-books for baby, and now I'm wondering if it's worth taking them. I know unschooling is more popular in the UK, but is there a place to buy or sell second-hand homeschool materials there? I know someone who moved to Devon from Cambridgeshire somewhere and she said she left behind a buzzing community. Loads of organised activities. I might be able to get some contacts for you. I find our library useless but mine is a very rural network. In an area with more city libraries in a network you should have more luck. The only thing you'll probably find is that a lot of popular American kids books aren't popular here and are hard to find unless you buy them. Depending on what books you want there are a couple of suppliers of American curriculum and there's always Amazon. Libraries often don't carry much non fiction kids books outside the National curriculum topics. There are facebook groups for buying and selling but they are small. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Corin Posted August 11, 2015 Share Posted August 11, 2015 Libraries often don't carry much non fiction kids books outside the National curriculum topics. This can be a big problem. A friend of mine wanted to cover the Byzantine Empire with her daughter, but there was not a single book for children on it in either her city or the neighbouring county library network, because it's not on the NC. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 This can be a big problem. A friend of mine wanted to cover the Byzantine Empire with her daughter, but there was not a single book for children on it in either her city or the neighbouring county library network, because it's not on the NC. Yeah I had the same with Mesopotamia and Ancient India & China. There's nothing to even get on inter library loan. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaNZ Posted August 12, 2015 Share Posted August 12, 2015 I've stopped bothering with the library. I just buy books second hand from Amazon for a penny. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maya*s Mumsey Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 This is the first time I've ever commented on a forum before😳, however this topic is rather close to my heart and glad to have people to talk to. I'm the mother to nearly 6 yr old daughter and 2yr old son, neither ever been to school/ nursery etc. Oh and we live in Manchester (woo!). I found the brillkids forum whilst on Mat leave with my daughter, and was totally amazed by what some of the kids could do. I soon found this forum mentioned and after quick perusal decided there and then to homeschool. My daughter was amazingly receptive to all the stuff we did and is brilliant at reading and maths. We don't participate in any local groups at all and I try not to mention my kids education unless specifically asked, as had afew negative reactions. Regarding curricula, I see so many great recommendations and great ideas on this forum that I use a lot of American material bought on the cheap from Amazon. We use Saxon Math, SOTW history and Writing with Ease inspired language arts. Everything else is done via books from Amazon again and the library (my daughter loves the Horrible History and Horrible Science series and reads them over and over again?!). Anyway thought I'd stop lurking and introduce myself, but gonna stop wittering on now! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahW Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 I know someone who moved to Devon from Cambridgeshire somewhere and she said she left behind a buzzing community. Loads of organised activities. I might be able to get some contacts for you. I find our library useless but mine is a very rural network. In an area with more city libraries in a network you should have more luck. The only thing you'll probably find is that a lot of popular American kids books aren't popular here and are hard to find unless you buy them. Depending on what books you want there are a couple of suppliers of American curriculum and there's always Amazon. Libraries often don't carry much non fiction kids books outside the National curriculum topics. There are facebook groups for buying and selling but they are small. When we get settled in I'll send you a PM for some info about activities, if you don't mind. We don't really read a lot of popular fiction. But we do usually load up with non-fiction, so a limited selection would be something of a bummer. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma4 Posted September 1, 2015 Share Posted September 1, 2015 (edited) . Edited March 23, 2018 by Homeschoolmomofmany 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maya*s Mumsey Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Kmama, we love Fred in our house too. I Liked the look of Right Start but didn't get it in the end. I did however get a beautiful wooden abacus from Ikea very reasonably and went at it with a permanent marker. Coloured in half of the beads just like the Right Start one. My daughters maths came on leaps and bounds after that, and the colour has held up bril. My son loves it too, feels like "a big boy" doing maths! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mumto2 Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Kmama, At one point Hooked on Phonics made a British version. It was sold at Costco roughly 6 years ago. You might be able to find one on the resale market. I have also heard positive remarks made about Jolly Phonicshttp://jollylearning.co.uk/overview-about-jolly-phonics/. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 We just used OPGTR and yes there are pronunciation differences and spelling but It varies so much with accents it may or may not affect you (especially if you have northern UK accents-it never affected our friends from Doncaster as much). I just spent a bit of time explaining how accents varied and some people pronounce things one way and others another and that spellings vary from the US to UK. Kids do come across it so it's useful to know that. and doesn't seem to affect their learning. OPGTR took ages but I'm glad we took the time. Still halfway through it with my 7 yr old. For maths we've used Math Mammoth (I really like it), MEP and now Conquer maths.The kids hate MEP and I don't love the earlier years but some people do. I like the higher levels of MEP as it's very to the point but my kids haven't got there yet. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma4 Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 (edited) . Edited March 23, 2018 by Homeschoolmomofmany 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Maya*s Mumsey Posted September 2, 2015 Share Posted September 2, 2015 Kmama, a little rusty as not used it for a number of years, about to start again with my son but let me see, hmm? First we would take it out and count from 0-10 then 10-0, I would do it quite slowly moving each bead so she could see and we'd do it everyday for about 1 min, she'd repeat it. After she could do that I moved on to teaching her the 10 number bonds saying/starting at 5+1,6 5+2,7 etc up to 5+5,10 as its really easy to see with the different coloured beads on the abacus. That's basically where we started, by everyday repetition showing her as clearly as I could for a minute or two until she seemed really comfortable then I did it in reverse for subtraction. I didn't have a clue what I was doing but she really caught on. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lailasmum Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 OPGTR is extremely thorough but quite dry and easy to use as it's scripted. You can make the lessons quick and to the point which my kids liked but if your children need something more colourful to keep their attention then it may not work. I like that we could just use books we like as first readers rather than being tied into some expensive and dull reading scheme. We used the first box of bob books but after that used a wide range of books. My favourite beginning reading books are the Tadpole, Leapfrog and Hopscotch reading books from Franklin Watts because they have interesting/funny stories as well as folktales, non fiction etc. Just more variety and they feel more worth reading unlike some first reading books that seem like a computer has forced a set of words into something that vaguely makes sense. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmmaNZ Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 Salaams Kmama. I used OPGTR with my oldest 3 - it works great. I got bored with child number 4 (!) so I went with Phonics Pathways instead. Haven't finished it yet, but it's good so far. Anyway, I think my point is that it doesn't really matter a great deal what you choose, as long as you just sit down and use it every day (or thereabouts). Therefore - choose something that you think YOU will enjoy - your enthusiasm will rub off and your kiddos will enjoy it too. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Momma4 Posted September 8, 2015 Share Posted September 8, 2015 (edited) . Edited March 23, 2018 by Homeschoolmomofmany 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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