home schooling
 

Hiya folks,
Well I have decided after almost 20 years of living in Italy (last 14 in Sicily:ohmy:) that it is time to go home...
It'll be in a couple of years if all goes well, as I'm waiting for my second daughter to finish high school. But, my son will still only be 11 and he is certainly not fluent in English or is used to the British way of life (neither am I really). I will have loads and loads of questions for you guys as I see you are great with advice. So, my first one is do any of you know anything about home schooling. I was thinking it might be a good idea for my son till he gets on his feet (maybe for a year). Who is qualified to do it, where do I get the programme, etc. I did have a look for info. online but didn't come up with much.
Thanks alot for your help.
You'll be hearing alot from me, so be patient. After being here in Sicilly for so long my brain is a bit rusty:o
Sandra xx

Re: home schooling
 

Have a look at this section on Home Education on the Parents Centre forum. Lots of info and advice from people who are engaged in home schooling and the opportunity to ask questions of may experts:

http://www.parentscentre.gov.uk/foru....cfm?catid=128

My daughter's secondary school has lots of immigrants who do not speak very good English when they arrive, but they all seem to settle in well and soon pick up the language.

Re: home schooling
 

You can contact your local education authority and they will send out the paperwork.
J x

Re: home schooling
 

Slightly off topic, but you should make sure that both your children have British birth certificates (from the British Embassy in Rome) as well as British passports.

There is no time limit for consular birth registration. If you encounter any problems with the Embassy then you should contact:

Nationality & Consular Registration Section
Consular Directorate
Foreign & Commonwealth Office
Old Admiralty Building, London SW1A 2PA.

tel: +44 (0) 20 7008 1500

Re: home schooling
 

Hi Sandra,

I am in pretty much the same boat as you, except I'm on Java not Sicily:blink: I've been here for 22 years now. We, that's my husband whose Javanese, and our three children (15, 13, 11) are planning to return to the UK (Scotland) next year. Well, that's the plan anyway. We decided to take our the children out of formal school here and homeschool them for a year!

Well, it all seemed a bit daunting at first, but it's turned out to be a lot of fun, and a great learning experience, for us all. My three all speak, read and understand English well, but because they've been schooled in Indonesian, do have a hard time writing. I decided not to follow any particular programme, but to pretty much go with the flow, whilst focusing on their language skills. There's loads of stuff available on the internet, thank goodness, and I'll make a list of the some of the sites I've used and post it here tomorrow.

If you're going back to England, where they use a national curriculum, and you fancy following that, then here is a place to start:
www.direct.gov.uk/en/EducationAndLearning/Schools/ExamsTestsAndTheCurriculum/DG_4016665

And you can download the curricula for the different subjects here:
www.curriculumonline.gov.uk

ruth

Re: home schooling
 

not sure where abouts in the uk you are heading, but just wanted to say that here in sheffield there is a big home-school network. i know of several mums who chose this route for their kids, and they have had lots of support from the education dept, and from other parents.

good luck :thumbsup:

Re: home schooling
 

Hi the website Education Otherwise are fantastic.:thumbsup:

When i pulled my daughter out of school at the age of 13 these guys were brilliant with advise, contacts and other info. If you subscribe to these guys (its not much) like I did you will receive newsletters, info books and contacts of other children and their parents. You can also buy from them for about £1 or £2 a card.

When my daughter was out and about with me through school hours she always had her "get out of jail" free card
This is a card that explains to 'all and sundry' when stopped that she wasn't truant but a student that was being home educated.:thumbsup:

Its the law that all children have a right to be educated, not necessarily at school, this is not illegal not to send your child to school, like some parents think!

a little explanatory of what the card says ...........

My child is receiving education otherwise than at school in accordance with Section 7 of the 1996 Education Act and is out with my knowledge and consent. My child is not registered at a school and is not a truant.

My daughter loved wearing this she attached a bright pink lanyard, she looked very VIP.:cool:

I cannot thank Education Otherwise enough,for all the help and advise, when I didn't receive any from the School, Education Authorities or Police, I myself actually worked in the Education Sector so I knew who to contact straight away, we didn't have any police knocking at our door demanding my child returned to school, the school in fact could not be bothered with any support only disappointed I was not sending her back,because now they would have to forfeit their government funding for her losing them some much needed money!!!:curse:

anyway best wishes to all and good luck :thumbsup: xx

Re: home schooling
 

I commend all you homeschooling moms. I've done it for 9 years, and my two oldest are about to write their iGCSE's in the spring, live here in the US.

As far as I am aware, it is written into the European Constitution - a fact which Germany tends to forget :( I have an old friend who is currently in battle with the authorities there.

Good luck to you all. :)

http://home-ed.info/index.html

There are a lot of home ed yahoo groups that you can join, that are based in Europe.

:thumbsup: