where to start

[mummyvamp]

Jenny is in year 1 at a private school she loves it but she is bored, she reads at a grade 5 level and they wont put her up or cater to her needs, I had thought that perhaps homeschooling might be a good option to cater for this however i'm worried because i;m not that good at spelling or maths or school in general.
So I'm wondering where do i start am i wasting my time investergating this option.
Thanks
Robyn

[Ceres]

Well it seems that your parenting has been successful to this point as she's so advanced!
I think a slight adjustment to your thinking is what's needed here. Your role as a homeschooling parent is not to "teach" - it's to provide opportunities for learning and facilitate. It sounds like you have a child who is extremely motivated to learn, and that will make it quite easy for her to pick up what she needs to know.

[Ayla]

You're definitely not wasting your time :) Does Jenny love to read? If so I think just going with the flow and letting her direct her own reading would be the way to go. Take her to the library and let her pick out the books she's interested in reading. As for spelling, keep a big dictionary handy ;) I always used to read with a dictionary next to me for the words I didn't understand.

She will learn maths in context, but if you want to do a bit more you can buy workbooks that she can do in her own time. But if there is no context to learning Pi or Pythagoras's theorum or whatever, why learn it? If it comes up she can learn it then and you have the library, internet, and workbooks available to you to help with that :)

[mummyvamp]

When you homeschool are there textbooks and set things that must be followed/learned?
Sorry if these questions seem sill but I have no idea :shrug

[Ceres]

No, those things are available if you wished to use them but there's nothing compulsary. You do need to be able to show evidence of some form of curriculum but it's up to you how you choose to do that.

[~*heket*~]

Here's a thought for you to chew on, if YOU went to school and you aren't any good at maths or spelling, what makes you think your daughter will come out of school with those things firmly instilled? ;) (thanx Beatrice, I've quoted you on that so many times :lol)

It sounds like your daughter could definitely benefit from home learning, take the school out of her life and just let her fill her own head with stuff she is interested in :D You get the hang of it pretty quickly, a bit more reading on JL and you'll be all over it like a rash ;)

[mummyvamp]

Here's a thought for you to chew on, if YOU went to school and you aren't any good at maths or spelling, what makes you think your daughter will come out of school with those things firmly instilled? ;) (thanx Beatrice, I've quoted you on that so many times :lol)

It sounds like your daughter could definitely benefit from home learning, take the school out of her life and just let her fill her own head with stuff she is interested in :D You get the hang of it pretty quickly, a bit more reading on JL and you'll be all over it like a rash ;)

This will probable be more amo for you but Jenny is actually going to the same school I went to and last year she had my grade 2 teacher as her prep teacher and this year her teacher went to school with me as well :rofl

[Beatrice]

:lol I reckon Jenny has a much better chance of learning if she isn't being bored shitless by her teacher refusing to let her work at her own level.

[jikki]

My deciding factor in taking DD9 our of school was reminding myself of the freedom to change my mind. :) We could go back to school whenever we wanted and no decision bound us for life to a certain course of action. But you'll never know if learning at home is better for your daughter if you don't give it a go! :thumbup

Your education level makes little difference...I have a university degree and I still freak out that I'm not helping my daughter learn the right stuff!! :rolleyes Most of the good stuff she learns she does in spite of me and not because of me!!

[Ayla]

What Jikki said!

[mummyvamp]

I was talking to some mums from school, jenny's nana and another friend of mine today at a linen party about this and we have decided to perhaps try and homeschool for the first semester of next year and if she isn't happy or doing well then we will reenrol her at school.
Now i just need to convince her dads this is a good idea and find out how to do this. So now i need to work out the little minor details now.

[jikki]

That's a great idea mummyvamp - keeping an open mind about returning to school really took the pressure off me to "get it right, and quickly"!

You will need to decide whether you're going to register with the authorities in your state, or just withdraw from school and try to 'fly under the radar'! Some other people here can probably share their stories about how they did that - we chose to register (we're in Qld).

You're in the right place for help!

[mummyvamp]

I think I would rather register with the authorities. Is it hard to do?
I still need to talk to her dad about it

[jikki]

I can only speak for the registration process in Qld, which involves some paperwork and planning, but I found it fairly reasonable. If you ring the HEU (Home Education Unit) on 1800 677 176, you can request an application package, which outlines what you'll need to prepare. That's only for Qld though, if you're in another state, someone here might be able to give you some information for your state.

[mummyvamp]

I am in qld so thank you that is most helpful

[jikki]

No problems! Getting started can seem overwhelming (it did for me, anyway!), so feel free to ask any questions!