Any info on homeschooling pls

[rednikki17]

Yes, the lovely thing about HS is the flexibility! I know quite a few HS families here in the UK and what strikes me the most about them is how relaxed the kids are. What do you do for sports/art/music etc?

[sgilli3]

Love the flexibility (no school run, take holidays without hoards of people everywhere, do museum visits when it suits us etc, etc, etc!!!)

My kids are not really into sports.
Back in Oz, they had 1 sport each + 1 other activity (not a fan of over committing kids schedules)
My DS did karate and art lessons, and DD did netball and art.

Here we dont do a specific sport. Kids are happy to have around at beach, or run around yard, climb trees, ride bikes, build cubbies etc.
We do art by ourselves once a week, but sometimes we incorporate art into other lessons (for eg: kids made death masks, sugarcube pyramids,etc while studying Egypt)

For music, my son plays the guitar, and my daughter has an electric keyboard.
My son practises a few times a week, my daughter each day.
They use books + DVD's to help them)

We also incorporate religion into our week (we have studied Sikhism and Islam, and christianity this past 6 months), and kids also work on nature journals each week.

We also do maths, english, history, science, comprehension, journal writing, spelling, creative writing, geography + vocabulary.

[rednikki17]

Yes i totally agree with you on the not over-committing thing, it all becomes very stressful otherwise! Both mine love swimming and would happily stay put in a pool all day! They havent started any music stuff yet but i'm hoping to get DS guitar lessons (plus singing as he has a lovely voice...biased of course!) and DD i will teach my very basic clarinet knowledge! She does drama too. Both love Art (so do i!), i think its good to have themes and link it all in...makes it more interesting and children learn in different ways too. How do you find socialising with HS?

[sgilli3]

Socialising is fine. (it would be different if we were on a deserted island)

We have neighbours next to us, (both sides) and across the road with kids the same ages.
So when others are home from school, they all play.

We also school during the summer here, as so many people head back home, and its too hot to do anything else, so we may as well stay in the cool and work, then when the nice weather is here(Dec, Jan etc), we take 2 1/2 - 3 months off, so kids can play all day.

[rednikki17]

Thats a really good idea, i hadnt thought of doing that, thanks. I guess kids are natural socialites really!! Its the only side of things that worries me about HS. And also whether or not i can keep smiling sweetly at them all day!! Do you find Dubai a safe place for kids? When we visited in April i saw kids out really late cycling around parks etc.

[sgilli3]

Lots of things cound as "socialisation"...going to the library (speaking with other library users/librarians, going to the supermarket + chatting to butchers, shop assistants, chatting to other kids at beach etc)

I think the best piece of advice I can give you is to let you know...there will be bad days, and some mistakes are made along the way...such is life.
When we have a day, where it doesnt all seem to come together, I pack up the books and either finish for the day, or try a diffrent approach..(maths..make cakes etc as kids need to measure/estimate, kids can type an email to friends/family- keyboard skills, get out sewing machine-craft+ maths, let them scrapbook-writing,art, spelling etc...)

There are so many tings you can do to make things interesting for them...but dont be hard on yourself if you have a bad day. Just enjoy the time you do get to spend with your kids

We are having "picnic day" tomorrow, so for maths kids are making the food, for english they are making menus, we are going to only have reading and science to do tomorrow...which we plan do do on the floor on the rug, (along with an assortment of toys no doubt) !!!

As for being a safe place, yes I do feel it is.
Its a "night" culture here !!!

[rednikki17]

Yes and these are great life skills too!! Thanks for the encouragement. ACE is very structured so i plan to give a more relaxed approach to the afternoons (including lots of beach and pool work of course!). You can get through the pacework very quickly so some days we can dispense with it altogether Where are the libraries in Dubai? I dont remember seeing any.

[sgilli3]

We use the library located on the roof at Mall of the Emirates
(just on the outside of the building)
It costs 150 dhs per year to join.
It is open Sat-Thurs 10-6

I will send you a PM now

[Christeve]

Hi, there is a good chance we will be moving to Dubai in the autumn. It's great to find there are homeschoolers in Dubai. We already homeschool here in the Uk. Do homeschoolers there meet up and arrange days out together as we do here? I have two daughters 11 and 7.
We are very excited at the possiblity of coming to Dubai, we are just waiting for the details of the package before we can make a firm decision.
Thanks.
Christine

[sgilli3]

Hi Christine, and welcome to the forum.

Perhaps there is a group around, But I havent met them.

I dont believe there are many home schoolers in the emirates.

I was on an American HS forum earlier in the year, and within 1 week "met" 5 other home schooling families (all in different emirates).

We have left Dubai this past week and are now living in Sharjah , but would love to meet up when you arrive...keep us posted !!