DIY schooling by Claire

[advert:mpu]I also always thought they had to be a bit soft in the head….I mean who in their right mind would WANT their children to be around all day when you can cart them off to school for 6 and half hours to be fed, watered and entertained for free….yeah ok, I know we pay taxes, well some of us do anyway.

But recently, in spite of myself and my rather biased view, I have been thinking about oiking all three of them out of their primary school and blooming well getting on with the job myself. Reasons?

Well there are lots of reasons and none of them are straight forward but the bottom line is that I am beginning to think that they would be happier, less stressed, less anxious, more content and that basically I could meet their needs better if I got on and did the job myself, from the point of view of an emotional need rather than an educational one.

No one knows my children better than me, and the fact is that none of them are reaching their potential in school. Of course two of them have special needs, which just compounds the problems because I am now battle-weary from fighting for what I think my children deserve. For example, in a recent meeting with SENCO and class teacher of my newly diagnosed ASD four year old, I was told in response to my request for the school to apply for a Statutory assessment that ‘but he is making progress isn’t he?’. Can’t argue with that. He may be still way, way, way behind his peers developmentally and socially and educationally but hey! The bottom line is the gap isn’t wide enough yet to warrant the request.

And the on-going problems with my eldest Asperger’s child and another child in his class who has kicked him in the balls twice, who throws his clothes all over the floor when changing for swimming and who regularly bad mouths me to my son. Not that I give a damn, but poor Jack gets really upset when his mother is called a b**** or a S***. The adults in the school must be really keen for the kids to learn tolerance in this ‘inclusive’ environment because it appears all they are told is to ‘ignore him’.

As for the curriculum? I reckon I could cram into a day, ok then, two days at the most, all they do in a whole week at school once you have taken out the assemblies, the playtimes, the dinner hour and 10 minutes, the time it takes to walk from a to b, sit down on the carpet, get up again and go to their desk AND have more time for other forms of learning besides.

I’ve spoken to several people who home educate their children and none of them regret it. I’ve been warned that it’s hard going if there is no external family support etc. But I don’t get any support anyway! Also there are networks of home educators who club together to pay for tutors for the more specialised stuff.

One woman I spoke to said that within three months, her Aspie son had put on weight, was sleeping better, eating better, was less stressed and anxious and was having fewer temper tantrums and meltdowns than when he was at school.

The bottom line is I just want what is best for my kids. And maybe home educating is it…