A number of peple have written to me on the subject of learning to read. I am intending to write short article on the subject – but, in the meantime, here are some thoughts which seek to answer your question:

Phonics can work for some kids but it certainly doesn’t work for all. In my experience (based on teaching my own children and watching other people’s ) I should say that phonics works only with people who have logical, tidy minds. The sort of person who can get to grips with maths at an early age may well learn to read by using some form of phonics.

The trouble with phonics is that it isn’t as logical as we would like to imagine. Merely teaching the child to pronounce A as in bat, and B as “Buh”, and C as “Cuh” doesn’t work – not in English anyway. In some languages the pronounciation of words and letters is very orderly, but the English language is a wonderful mish-mash of lingos, all stirred around and served up with complete disregard for any rules.

Phonetics is really only appropriate when it deals not with individual letters but with chunks. People learning to read memorise those chunks. eg. Mem-or-rise
This is the way in which my (very logical-minded) son learnt to read. I know this, not because I made him do it that way but because, like most small kids he began by reading out loud. I was able to hear him sounding out the words, bite by bite.

My elder daughter, who is very clever but who has a very “anti-logical” way of thinking learnt to read by simply recognising the words. Every word was photographed by her amazing mind, filed, and never forgotten!

The crucial thing, as with all teaching, is to be led by the child. Let him do it his way.
And relax – cos it’s really very, very easy!

Jill

I have just ordered your book and my husband has read your site inside and out. We have just moved onto our 48ft catamaran in the whitsundays Australia with our 5 and 3 year old. Though I still fight the deep seated program of formal education ( with well meaning family reminding me) your approach is what seems to feel right and we will continue with that.

As it will take a month or so for your book to arrive I was wondering if you could clarify why you feel phonics is not a good teaching method.
Also any imedidiate activitie ideas to keep a 3 year old girl and 5 year old boy occupied would be good.

Thanks for all your experiences on the site. A highly valuable tool for beginners to the experienced I’m sure.

Happy safe sailing to you and the family.
Thankyou
Lou

It’s always great to hear from people who are “schooling” their children in the same informal way; and, as you have already discovered, it’s an effective way and it’s fun for the whole family.
I think the idea of sending your kids to school, for short periods, in a foreign country is a very good one. We never really did this – largely because the kids didn’t want to – but I’ve noticed that cruising kids who spend time in schools in other counties always seem to end up being fluent in other languages. For example, we know a young French man who grew up cruising. He is completely fluent in English, having spent some time in schools in South Africa and England, and he also speaks Spanish and Portuguese.

Jill

Love the redesigned website! We are a family of 4 (mum, dad, Bethany aged 11 and Bryn aged 10) who are now in our 3rd year of cruising and homeschooling. We started off with UK curriculum-based materials (CGP workbooks) but now have a much more relaxed attitude to how Beth and Bryn learn, and a much better understanding of where their strengths and weaknesses lie. We now do projects on whatever the children are interested in, we learn (together as a family) about the history, geography, culture, religion, and customs of wherever we are, and we try to involve the children in helping us deal with the practical problems of boat life. While people are often fascinated to hear about our life, one of the first questions we get asked is what will we do about the children sitting exams. I often come back and re-read your articles on homeschooling — it reminds me that we are not alone and not totally weird! We are currently wintering in Greece and the children are going to school for a couple of months — their first taste of it for 3 years. They take in our boat school project materials to work on when they can’t join in and the whole episode is just to make friends and learn a bit of Greek. They are enjoying the experience, but we are all looking forward to getting back to ‘normal’ boat school — where we all learn a lot more! I hope that we get to meet you guys somewhere, someday. I was interested to see the link with Clare Collins, Llangollen and Chirk — I was brought up in Llangollen and lived in sight of the canal.

Sarah

I have just been reading about home schooling & I so need to meet you guys again one day!
I would have been worried too about if I could cope with home teaching, but your worries have been blown away eh!

Incredible kids, well incredible family!
Makes me feel a bit of a dullard!

Good on you!

Bear

Roxanne

Sorry I ask weird questions all the time. Sometimes they’re not weird, it’s just the voice I speak in.

Thanks for your comments and questions. I am glad to hear that your son’s educational needs have not put you off going cruising. I believe that he will gain as much from this adventure as from a whole childhood of schooling.

No, we haven’t used Oxford Homeschooling and don’t know anyone who has – but don’t let that put you off. They are one of the organisations which we considered, and it seems from their website that they have a good track record. I would imagine that if you contact them and ask for testimonials and references they could put you in touch with former students.

We used the NEC for the children’s GCSEs and, as a result of our problems with Mercer’s College, we are now also using them for Xoë’s Classics A Level. I believe that they follow the AQA syllabuses for most of their GCSE courses.

You will need to be sure that the courses which you choose for your son do not contain requirements which are difficult for a home-educator to meet. I am referring here to the “coursework” element. Coursework, in this context, means work which is done during the course but which counts towards the exam.
Until recently coursework could be approved by the Distance Learning (DL) organisation, but now, it seems, it has to be done under examination conditions and certified, by a tutor or an invigilator, as the work of the student concerned. This is a ridiculous requirement, because the question is handed out days in advance, and the children are taught how to answer it!
I suggest that you discuss this subject with your chosen DL provider, before you dive in. There are ways of getting around the problem. For example, if your son’s former school is co-operative they may be willing to let him do any required coursework at the school a few days prior to the exam. Even so, I would avoid this element if you possibly can. In our experience, coursework questions are very vague and leave the student (and the parents) completely bemused.

For more information on this subject you should make a list of the exams which your son wants to take, find out which exam board each DL provider uses for each of these subjects, and then visit the relevant exam board websites. Each exam board provides, on its site, full details of each exam. Your task is to identify the appropriate exam specification (being careful to ensure that it is the one intended for the year your son will be sitting the exam) and wade through the verbose descriptions, hunting for the dreaded words, coursework requirement.
If you can manage all this for each of five or ten subjects without throwing a fit or needing a large stiff drink, then you deserve a medal.

Incidentally, although you are “pretty confident” that your son’s old school will let him sit the exams there, I recommend that you ask in advance, just to be absolutely certain. I make this suggestion simply because I know that many home educators have a lot of problem finding a school which will accommodate “outsiders”. It is a constant topic of conversation on home education forums.Private schools are generally more enthusiastic than state schools. Some – such as the one which we stumbled upon – are even willing to invigilate exams which their own students are not sitting, hosted by boards which they do not, themselves, regularly use.
Clearly, it is worth finding out about this sort of thing before you select a course and a DL provider.

I hope you find this information useful.
Wishing you fair winds (and not too strong) for the trip south. If you will be stopping in the Canaries give us a shout. Since flights to the UK are cheaper from here than from the Cape Verdes, or anywhere else on our itinerary, we will probably be hanging out in this vicinity until after the children have taken their A levels.

Jill

I am at the moment researching home schooling for my 13yr old son as we are planning to go cruising this year. After reading your article I wish we had gone sooner as I believe your idea of ‘learning where you are and as you go ‘ sounds brilliant and it obviously worked for your kids.
But, my son has been in the state school system all his life and as we are only cruising for a year or two which happens to be the two years he should be studying for his GCSE’s we will have to enrol in a home schooling site. You say that your children took their GCSE’s and passed with flying colours (brilliant) but you don’t mention where you acquired the materials for them to study.
I have come across Oxford Homeschooling and according to their website they ‘seem’ to be very good but as time is crucial for us we can’t afford to have the same experience with this company as you did with Mercer. Therefore, I wondered if you could let me know which home schooling you used for your childrens GCSE’s was it NEC College? Have you heard of Oxford Homeschooling or know anyone that has used it?

We are pretty confident that our local school will allow our son to sit his exams with them. With this in mind we have to make sure that he is being schooled with the same examination board as the school which is AQA.

I wish Xoe and Caesar luck in their A levels.

I have thoroughly enjoyed reading your website and look forward to future instalments.

Best wishes
Philippa

How fun that you have the Welsh connection. How romantic to be the Vicar of Chirk! That was an utterly delightful vacation and I nearly had us convinced to buy a Dutch barge to travel Europe’s canals and rivers, but we decided we didn’t want to be hemmed in.