Week 1 of HE

This week we have been working on a Math Mammoth book I bought, it is teaching him tricks for mental arithmetic as the school have not taught him any. Se we practised things like doubling, doubling add one, trick of 9, trick of 8. He really struggles with Subtraction so we are working on that in the MM book. I was hoping to go with Math U See but need to brush up his addition and subtraction skills before we purchase Beta. I have to say I am loving MM, very nice books, nicely laid out, lots of practice and tips for maths too. I looked at MEP, but it seemed to hard for Theo and a bit too busy for me to wade through, so for now we are sticking with MM. Theo has also been practising his times tables.

We have been working with his SATs books from last year including the Reading, Writing and Spelling ones, so we have been practising and building the skills needed for these. We have been looking at Animals and what makes a mammal, we have been learning facts about mammals from these, they are great fun! Theo wrote out a poem about mammals and we had a chat about the duck billed platypus that is a mammal but lays eggs!! We had a Roman Banquet today since he missed the one that was at school. We had antipasti, lasagne, veg followed by bread and butter pudding. We read some facts about Rome from our encyclopaedia. Theo decorated the table and helped with all the food. Then we ended the day with a game of Cadoo which was lots of fun.

Friday 25th January- A New Beginning

So Theo was crying with his tummy ache and I thought no more. I printed off the dereg letter and gave it in that very day. And Theo just changed. He became light and happy and laughing so much, The experience of 1 1/2 years of forced schooling has done him some damage. He doesn't want to hear the words 'home school' as it reminds him too much of school. He keeps telling me how he was forced to go to school, how he never wanted to go, and I have to reassure him that he will not be going again, that he is safe now, he is home and I will look after him. He tells me school is jail for children. And that is how he felt, locked in, unable to escape, but now he is free. J is still in school and seems as happy as to be expected when you get lots of homework, but she knows she has choices. So now, it is a new beginning for Theo, a time for healing and games and silliness.

A New Beginning

It has been a while since I home educated. Theo and Jasmine went to school in May 2011 and Theo has still not settled in. Jasmine is happy ish at Secondary School and knows she always has the option of coming out. BUT Theo is a different matter.

He just hasn't settled at school, he gets anxiety about going, he cries, he begs, he gets sickness in his stomach. His attendance is falling and nothing has worked to help him adjust to school life. So I am doing the only thing a mum can do to protect her beautiful precious son. I AM PULLING HIM OUT AND ELECTIVELY HOME EDUCATING HIM.

This will make him so happy, he is so very excited and I can see my happy little boy starting to return slowly. It will take a while for the school damage to go but with my love and support we can do it. I know the next few months will not be easy as the LA will be informed, they will see he has had meetings at school and a play worker etc and they may be concerned so I have to show them this is in his best interests and home is the right place for Theo to be. I am prepared for a battle but hoping there won't be one and it will all go smoothly for Theo's sake.

SO today I have drafted my Dereg letter and I have written up my Ed. Phil. not changed too much but I have no old copies of my other one, our computer lost all my old documents. I am on a mission to get the house in order and the planning done so I can start the journey with Theo and HEd him.