Homeschooling in the UK - 1

We've been homeschooling in the UK now for six months, and I wanted to share some of my thoughts as I reflect on how things have been going. Rather than write one very long blog post about it all, I thought I'd turn this into a series of 10 bite-sized observations. For each post there's a positive and a negative side, and the posts are in no particular order. So here goes with number 1......

 

Positive: Freedom

When we returned from Russia, where we'd lived for 11 years, we were determined to maintain the progress that the children had made in their Russian language. We had crazy ideas of 'Family Russian Days', where we would only speak Russian to the kids. However, we soon found that, with no other Russian speakers around us, any attempt by us to use the language just seemed too artificial, and the children rebelled. Sophie and Charis were in mainstream school for that first year, and Sophie was learning Spanish. Besides, we just didn't seem to have the time, inbetween school runs, homework and cranky, tired kids. I was also disappointed that Sophie seemed to be doing so little art at school, and I knew that she had a real gift and passion for the subject. Another area we were concerned about was spiritual input. There just didn't seem to be time for the family devotions we'd been used to.

Fast forward a year, and here we are homeschooling and able to choose how we spend our day and what subjects to focus on. Gone are the often pointless home learning assignments, which seemed to be more about the artistic skills of the parent than the child, and instead we have Russian, art and family Bible time, with Scripture memory, firmly back on the timetable.

In addition we're reading some wonderful books and loving our Astronomy course. The children get to choose their own topic to research for the display board every half-term (space, dinosaurs, electricity...), as well as choosing which sports, handicrafts and musical instruments they'd like to learn.

All in all, I love that homeschooling allows us the opportunity to focus on subjects and skills that we think are important and that our children are interested in.

Negative: Fear

I don't know if it's because my kids are a little older now, or if it's because we're back in the UK, but suddenly I feel huge anxiety about their eduction and a sense of the huge burden of responsibility that I've taken upon myself. 

How do I know if I'm teaching them the right things? Are they keeping up with their peers? What am I going to do about GCSEs (exams usually taken aged 16)? Are my choices burning any bridges for them academically later down the line? Will a home education still allow them to follow their dreams in terms of a higher education and career?

I have to admit that this is the number one negative I feel about homeschooling at the moment. The more research I do about how to study for and take exams as a home educated candidate, the more scared I feel. So much so that we haven't yet decided if we might put Sophie into secondary school at age 11, simply in order for her to achieve the necessary GCSE qualifications to get into college/sixth form, and are leaving our options open at the moment.

Since homeschooling is still relatively rare in the UK, I don't personally know any families who have already, successfully navigated the waters of exams, qualifications and university applications. Yes, I've joined enough facebook groups to know it can be done, but without that face-to-face, personal encouragement, I feel very isolated and alone. 

So, there we go, the first observation is about curriculum choices. You'll find part 2 here.

Does any of this resonate with you? Do leave a comment - I'd love to hear from you.


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