HSers in the UK?

[Miss Innocent]

Hello everyone

Just wondered if there were any HSers in the UK here. I'm considering taking my 6 year old out of school and everyone in the local HS group seems to be unschooling. It would be good to chat to some other UK people who are following a Classical edcuation method.

Emma

[4littleones]

Hi Emma,

I am not in the UK right now (neither in the USA), but I was when I started home educating my children. I would say take the plunge and the bridge will appear... LOL.

There are more and more parents in the UK turning to structured curriculum as the time goes by.... And if you don't find any likely-minded in the near vicinity, you can always act as a proponent of classical education and win them over!

I know... I am not of any help, just wanted to say hello to a fellow Brit!

All the best!

[Laura Corin]

I'm in the UK. There is a board for structured home educators that I can direct you to - if you are interested, I'll send you a private message. It's not classical per se, but there are certainly people there who are interested in classical. They are a very friendly bunch.

Best wishes

Laura

[Miss Innocent]

Hi Laura and 4littleones. Thank you for your welcomes.

Laura, I would be interested in the board you mention. Yet more conversations today focussing on Autonomous Education. I feel like I don't have much in common with the HE group I am part of, although they are very friendly.

Emma

[MeganP]

Hi and welcome to the board. I'm in the US at the moment, but have lived in the UK for almost 10 years, and I've found, as you have, that most home-eders in the UK are focused on autonomous education. Wish I had advice to meet classical educators there, but I don't. I've found this board to be invaluable, though. Hope you can find some good advice and encouragement here, as have I.

[Laura Corin]

Laura, I would be interested in the board you mention. Yet more conversations today focussing on Autonomous Education. I feel like I don't have much in common with the HE group I am part of, although they are very friendly.

Emma

Laura

[CarolineUK]

I'm from the UK too - it seems that there aren't too many of us on this forum, which strikes me as strange as I find it by far the most informative and supportive of the home education forums I've visited.

I started homeschooling my two boys, DS9 and DS5 last September. I tried autonomous education initially because, as you've found, it seems to be the favoured approach of the main home education support organisations in the UK. By Christmas I'd read The Well Trained Mind and haven't looked back since. It has been very hard work, but also very rewarding.

We made an early decision not to join in with our local home education groups, partly the choice of the boys and partly because I feared they would be dominated by autonomous home educators with whom I might not see eye to eye! The boys still see a lot of their school friends, we have them over to play and also at afterschool classes for football, tennis and badminton.

I have been assured that there are a lot of structured home educators in the UK, they're just not as vociferous as the autonomous ones! I'm sorry that I'm unable to point you in a direction to find them, as I say we haven't really made much of an effort to look for them ourselves.

Wishing you the best of luck in your homeschooling journey, and hope to meet you again on these boards.

[lailasmum]

Hi, I just spotted this. We are in the UK. In Devon. There are a little enclave of us down here who use various elements of the classical method. Our local group is really mixed in its approaches to home ed so no one feels left out.

I have noticed much more of a presence of unschoolers on uk forums, I think maybe they shout louder. We are sort of child led and eclectic, picking from various things, though that happens to mostly be classical as it suits us.

I suppose I have noticed more requests for information on structured approached on forums recently. Maybe it was on the THENuk forum and HEUK.

[sands1978]

Here in South Africa most people follow their own ways. There are the ones that put up their own curriculum, there are unschoolers and classical and just newbies. The co-ops are very far and few between but we were blessed to join a group of moms that HS and we are supportive of each other in our HS road no matter what method one chooses. (HS are still looked up as strangers here). Usually the kids meet twice a month and we do crafts, baking or arty stuff. Once a month we go Ice Skating together it is just plain fun. Next week we will be doing some science experiments. My kids would have probably done some of these but it is mostly for the camadarie that we meet up...

[busylady]

Hi Emma,

I'm in the south of England (Hampshire) and I am a Christian, classical home educator. I agree that the autonomous home educators do seem to be more vocal, but there are plenty of structured home educators around.

I love the classical approach and its so right for my 3rd child-the other two were more eclectic-bits and bobs of this and that.

If I fancy doing a group activity with my child I just start a group and invite people with similar aged children to come-usually they are very happy to have someone plan and run a group for their child. That way I get to do all sorts of exciting classical things with my child and other people's children, while sharing the cost of resources.

Debbie

[femke]

Hi,

I'm in the U.K.as well! We're in the Midlands. I don't know much about our local group, as I'm not going. The only people I know are: Unschoolers and Sonlighters, that's why I'm on this board, to get my information...so I'm not much of a help.:D

[CarolineUK]

Good morning and welcome!

If it's information you want, you've come to the right place :001_smile:. I couldn't live without this board at the moment. It's also a really good fun place to come to unwind after a gruelling day homeschooling :tongue_smilie:.

Best wishes

[femke]

Indeed, this is the place to go for information and answers...and to relax and laugh :D
I've seen many other boards, but not one like this one.

[RitaWH]

Another UK, non-autonomous home educator here! I have 6 children, 5 of whm are at home, and we live in London. :)

[Hedgehog]

We live in the UK.. currently in Yorkshire, but that's always subject to change; London was the plan next, but then dh got a phone call today for a possible contract in Chester..!

As you can see in my sig I have 4 dc. We've been trying to follow the classical method for around 18 months; before that I would say we were unschoolers. Autonomous home-education seems to be the method du jour around here so we find ourselves to be not quite the norm, but the upside is that our School Link Officer thinks we're just great! :001_smile:

[CarolineUK]

Hi Rita, it's good to meet another UK homeschooler here. We've been homeschooling since September 2009, but only found TWTM last Christmas and have been trying to follow the classical method ever since. I've found this board very helpful and supportive, and sometimes a little addictive :tongue_smilie:. We live way up here in the North, in the dark and the cold, but we do have a very homeschool friendly local authority.

Best wishes

[Hedgehog]

Hi Rita, it's good to meet another UK homeschooler here. We've been homeschooling since September 2009, but only found TWTM last Christmas and have been trying to follow the classical method ever since. I've found this board very helpful and supportive, and sometimes a little addictive :tongue_smilie:. We live way up here in the North, in the dark and the cold, but we do have a very homeschool friendly local authority.

Best wishes

I keep meaning to say Hello to you, Caroline, somewhere, somehow, so here it is!! I think we're geographically quite close - as far as this board is concerned, anyway! It's nice that you have a homeschool friendly LA. Ours is fab, and I couldn't be happier with our School Link Officer; he's friendly and interested but very un-interfering :001_smile:

We made an early decision not to join in with our local home education groups, partly the choice of the boys and partly because I feared they would be dominated by autonomous home educators with whom I might not see eye to eye!....I have been assured that there are a lot of structured home educators in the UK, they're just not as vociferous as the autonomous ones! I'm sorry that I'm unable to point you in a direction to find them, as I say we haven't really made much of an effort to look for them ourselves.

Same here.. for similar reasons. And to be honest, I find myself so busy I would be hard pressed to find the time to attend any groups. That's not to say that I never will, but we're just not in that place at the moment. There does seem to be a predominance of autonomous H-Sers, especially those join Education Otherwise. When we first started H-Sing, I thought that was the only way to do it, as we never heard anything else! It's so nice to be able to dip in here where one's education focus is quite normal!

[CarolineUK]

Hi 'Hedgehog'! I think we have 'chatted' before via pm, we had a Bernese Mountain Dog (sadly now deceased) and live in a little city you know well, as you used to live in one of the outlying villages, I think.

By the way, we lived in Chester when we were first married - DS11 was born in Chester in fact - and we were very happy there. We also liked the close access to North Wales for walking, climbing and beaches.

I'm sure we'll chat again soon!

[Hedgehog]

Hi 'Hedgehog'! I think we have 'chatted' before via pm, we had a Bernese Mountain Dog (sadly now deceased) and live in a little city you know well, as you used to live in one of the outlying villages, I think.

By the way, we lived in Chester when we were first married - DS11 was born in Chester in fact - and we were very happy there. We also liked the close access to North Wales for walking, climbing and beaches.

I'm sure we'll chat again soon!

You know I'm going to laugh if we have actually met IRL!! We did go to a H-Sing group in the Harrogate/Knaresborough area once or twice, when DD11 was about 6, DD9 was 4 and DS5 was just a baby. I just love your city! - fabulous place, especially the cathedral. Yes, we lived pretty close by. We were very happy there, lots of good memories. We do still go up occasionally, as I have two very dear friends in the village.

Being close to Wales is very appealing, actually - and I like Chester. Dh wants to live in between Manchester and Chester so that if he has to find another contract after this prospective one we have a bit more flexibility. So I've been looking around. But we have so much to do on this house before we can rent it out; and that was before the boiler pipes started leaking! Eh, it never rains but it pours.

PM me if you like.. :001_smile:

[Miss Innocent]

Hello everyone and thank you for your replies.

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to re-introduce myself. I am now officially a homeschooler as of today. Our son has been 'on holiday' from school for the past two weeks and we deregistered him today.

Sadly the 6 year old I mentioned at the beginning of the thread was diagnosed with leukaemia (AML) just a month after I posted. He was treated for nine months but sadly the cancer was just too aggressive and he died on Easter Sunday last year.

Now W's little brother has been having exactly the same problems in school since starting in year 1 (kindergarden for anyone in the US). He hates school, hates learning and has been so miserable. My husband has agreed that we will homeschool him for the time being. He hasn't always been keen on homeschooling, but he is coming round to the idea. :001_smile:

I am so happy and relieved to have E at home with me. It has been such a source of worry and stress to me that he has been so unhappy. We are letting him have some time off from any formal learning for the time being until he has 'recovered' from school. Of course we are still reading stories and playing games and answering each other's questions and the like so he is still learning, even if he doesn't realise it. :001_smile:

Anyway, hello to everyone again.

Emma x

[Laura Corin]

Welcome back to the board, Emma. I am sorry to hear of your terrible loss. I'm sure having your littlest at home is a comfort to you both.

Laura

[Sweetbabe]

hello all

I'm sorry to read of your loss. We too lost our second boy to severe heart defects a few years back.

I'm in the UK too. I'm pretty new to homeschooling, was on and off a couple of years. Trying to get the plan for Ds. Cant seem to find UK retailers for the american curriculum like Growing with grammer or MCT. Any suggestions?

Than you.

[Hedgehog]

:grouphug: to those who have lost children. :crying:


Retailers in the UK that sell American curriculum - RainbowBooks.co.uk is one, and IchthusResources.co.uk is another. I think there may be a Catholic homeschooling website with an online store too but I don't recall the name of it. Personally, the website I use most often for curriculum is ChristianBook.com. The shipping is around 30% for any order size. I've often found this to be the cheapest option as the exchange rate seems to work in our favour at the moment. I also use BookDepository.co.uk and Amazon occasionally, and of course more and more retailers are giving customers the option of buying eBooks/PDFs. HTH.

[Sweetbabe]

Thank you:001_smile:. Checking them out asap.

[Miss Innocent]

Hello to Laura, Hedgehog and Sweetbabe. Thank you for your kind words and I'm sorry to hear of the loss of your son, Sweetbabe.

The main UK retailers of US curricula I have found are

http://www.ichthusresources.co.uk/index.html
http://www.rainbowbooks.co.uk/rnew/index.php
http://www.conquestbooks.co.uk/index.php

I remember a Catholic homeschooling resources website too, Hedgehog, but I also can't remember its name....

Emma x

[UKMum]

Hello, I am new to this site - in the UK - Warwickshire.

I am still reading about the various HS options. My daughter is almost 3 so we are not HS-ing officially yet.

Nice to see a few Brits on here too :)

[Laura Corin]

Hello, I am new to this site - in the UK - Warwickshire.


I'm in Scotland, even though I'm English.

Laura

[Miss Innocent]

Hello UKMum

Great to see another Brit on here. There is a wealth of information here, so hang around. There are also lots of UK homeschooling websites and groups and resources so do ask if there is anything in particular you would like to know about.

Emma x

[sawuk]

We are in the UK too. We are located in S. Yorkshire. I think the name you are looking for is Southwell-- they sell Memorial Press items. Also someone now has LOF which I love. I have been bringing it from the states. Someone told me the same family has other US curriculum. I also know the Math U See person.

Really sorry to hear about your son.

[Miss Innocent]

sawuk

Thank you. Southwell Books has closed though now. http://forestmurmurs.blogspot.com/2010/12/southwell-books.html What a shame!

Conquest Books (http://www.conquestbooks.co.uk/) has LOF books which is great, as I bought our first copy from the US. I also have the details of the people who have just taken over the distribution of Rod and Staff books in the UK.

Emma x

[Kulafey]

I'm in Staffordshire :)

I have a question - can anybody tell me why it is that a large proportion of classical homeschoolers tend to be christian? Is there any particular reason or is it just coincidence?

[Laura Corin]

I'm in Staffordshire :)

I have a question - can anybody tell me why it is that a large proportion of classical homeschoolers tend to be christian? Is there any particular reason or is it just coincidence?

..... a large proportion of classical homeschoolers are American and a large proportion of American homeschoolers are Christian.

Laura

[Miss Innocent]

I think Laura make a good point. I think also, though, that Christians tend (in my limited experience so far) to wish to 'teach' their children, rather than just leave them to explore on their own terms. There is a lot in the Bible about 'instructing' children, so although there are unschooling Christian families maybe it is more common for Christians to go down a more traditional route.

Sorry if that doesn't make much sense! I spent the afternoon at a children's party at one of those (very loud) indoor play centres and consumed rather a lot of caffeine in an attempt to 'enjoy' the situation more. :D

Emma x

[sawuk]

Most of the home ed suppliers in the UK are Christian; therefore, it follows that it is comparitively easy to be a Christian home ed classical follower, and far more difficult to go the secular route.

[Hedgehog]

Most of the home ed suppliers in the UK are Christian; therefore, it follows that it is comparitively easy to be a Christian home ed classical follower, and far more difficult to go the secular route.

We should probably have a list somewhere of suppliers. I know a mere handful. I know Galore Park is secular. Most of our curricula/books come from ChristianBook.com or the Book Depository.

[Hedgehog]

sawuk

Thank you. Southwell Books has closed though now. http://forestmurmurs.blogspot.com/2010/12/southwell-books.html What a shame!

Conquest Books (http://www.conquestbooks.co.uk/) has LOF books which is great, as I bought our first copy from the US. I also have the details of the people who have just taken over the distribution of Rod and Staff books in the UK.

Emma x

What company is that?

[desertmum]

I think Laura make a good point. I think also, though, that Christians tend (in my limited experience so far) to wish to 'teach' their children, rather than just leave them to explore on their own terms. There is a lot in the Bible about 'instructing' children, so although there are unschooling Christian families maybe it is more common for Christians to go down a more traditional route.

Sorry if that doesn't make much sense! I spent the afternoon at a children's party at one of those (very loud) indoor play centres and consumed rather a lot of caffeine in an attempt to 'enjoy' the situation more. :D

Emma x

Hello. First: sorry to hear about your loss. :grouphug:
Second: good to see more classical UK HSers here. We are a UK family living in the UAE. There is a large hs community here but they are mostly Americans, Canadians, and Australians (and a mix of misc nationalities

We are still new to home ed. This is our first year and we are still working hard on the 3 R's. I would say we are Christian 'light'. In any case we are going for a secular classical education (with a sprinkling of Waldorf). I find most materials come from the US and have a strong Christian slant. I would love to see more UK suppliers, especially when it comes to History, social studies and English. Galore park I am told is good but it doesn't seem to cater to younger ages :glare:.

[Laura Corin]

Galore park I am told is good but it doesn't seem to cater to younger ages :glare:.

The materials were designed for use in private prep schools, so they don't start until a bit later.

Laura

[Miss Innocent]

What company is that?

It isn't a company, it is a couple. I have their email address. If anyone wants their details PM me and I'll pass them on to you. I don't want to post their information on a public forum without their permission....

Emma x

[desertmum]

The materials were designed for use in private prep schools, so they don't start until a bit later.

Laura

Thank you for telling me. I'd been wondering about this for a while.

Where do ps and/or private schools get their materials from then? Does anyone here know?

[Laura Corin]

Thank you for telling me. I'd been wondering about this for a while.

Where do ps and/or private schools get their materials from then? Does anyone here know?

There are big publishers that cater to schools. Pearson is one, Houghton Mifflin too, I think. Oxford has a big reading programme, as does Ruth Miskin.

Laura

[sawuk]

I attended a Christian Home Ed Convention today in Coventry. Several curriculum suppliers were there. It wasn't huge but there was a wide variety. I finally got to see some things that I had been wondering about. There really was a lot there. I picked up some new stuff, also some used bargains. Anyway definately worth the trip.