The dilemma of jealousy.

As you know, I HE my 12 year old son. Which leaves my 11 year old son still attending secondary school. Which has caused some....issues.
Jealousy, to be precise, from my schooled son. We expected as much when we first discussed the pro's and con's and now it's arrived.
Daniel started secondary this September, and on the outside seems to love it, he comes home with lots of homework, which we help him with, and he has received 4 mentions in the weekly academic achievement awards (in the form of a letter sent to us, commending him on his behaviour/attitude etc in certain subjects).
He recently brought home his first term report which sang his praises in all classes, and according to the teachers he has settled well and is achieving good to excellent reports from them. 
All this makes us very happy, and content in the knowledge that he is adjusting to secondary life well. 
He has some issues at present with his homework, which he frets and gets his knickers in a twist about - fearing the dreaded detention for poor standards or insufficient work, and so he really does push himself to complete homework on time, and to a level which pleases everyone. However, he does get quite stressed about it.
His main gripe is that Ethan gets to 'study' those subjects which interest him, rather than actually having to sit down for long periods and go through set subjects in a robotic manner learning across the board, and that he gets to go out during the day to places instead of staying in school.
Now, Daniel does have a bit of a selfish streak running through him, and has always complained about Ethan having something which he does not have, or doing something he does not get to do, so in a way we are not surprised about his behaviour. They are at the end of the day very close in age (17 months) and this inevitably causes quite a degree of sibling rivalry which we have at times handled well, and at others not so well. We are fully aware of this, and address the issue as and when it arises. But this time, I have to admit to being in a bit of turmoil about it.
After seeing how well Ethan has responded to HE, and how much his general concentration and achievements have improved, I would secretly love to HE all the children. I think about Laurence (3 yr old) starting school next September and in truth it makes me shudder. 4 Years old and expected to learn to such a degree that he will receive his first reading test at 6 yrs old, hardly a year into his proper academic career (reception year at 4-5 of course).
And with all the pressures of the National Curriculum changing like the wind these days, and discussions about scraping modular GCSE's and replacing them for one big test - possibly at 14, just seems like a level of stress not condusive to happy learning. It would seem that it's all about gaining as much in as little time as possible, and I am sorry, but I don't think it's going to work as seamlessly as people think it will. 
Inbetween all this academia, where exactly is the time for children to just be children and learn through experience? Learn through coming across something that is not neatly set out for them in a classroom first? Learn through wanting to learn, because something has caught their attention and interest, and not through having to learn because that is the way society and government says it must be done?

Anyway, back to the Crux of this waffle. My husband and I have discussed the possibility of Daniel also being Home Schooled, because he has expressed that he would like that also,and although I would do it in an instant, my husbands' voice of reason came up with an option that I think is worth giving consideration to.
We have told Daniel that we think it is best if he completes his first year at secondary and then gives some serious thought about what he wants to do thereafter. In more ways than one, this would work out better, since it coincides with when Laurence would be starting too. If we decided at that time that it would be feasible to HE all of them, then the proverbial two birds with one stone would come into effect.

I believe in my own ability to HE my children. I enjoy it immensely, and thrive on seeing how effective it is.

Here is a brief statement from Ethan, who wanted to contribute to this:

"The good points are, that I can get taught about certain subjects, then my mum will let me learn about that subject until I want to try something else. I don't have to do as much writing and sit at a desk all day listening to a teacher going on about stuff which I forget half way through. My mum gives me the most important facts about what I have to do in my lesson, so that I can remember it all and get on with working. 

I don't make as many friends at home as I could at school, even though I didn't make that many anyway. But, my mum can arrange trips and we get to meet other HE families. The hours I work for are not as long as in school. I get to be around other people that understand when I get bored or tired and loose track of what I am doing so I can take a break, and I get to have whatever I want for lunch. I don't have to wear a uniform for 5 days in a row. There is no chance of me getting picked on at home. I get to be around my brothers Joseph and Laurence more. 

I feel more happy when I am HE, because I can actually ask about things which confuse me, and not have the rest of the class laugh at me, like what happened in my last lesson of English at school. 

If I need to research anything which I don't know about, I have a computer close by. 
I feel that I am more calm at home than I am at school...it is less of a rush. 
I think my mum would be a bit all over the place to start with if everyone was home schooled, then after a while she would get the hang of it.
I believe that if we were all home taught we would become a much smarter family, I also think that probably everyone would be better off being home taught rather than going to school. "


I like it that Ethan feels he can be honest and open about his feelings. We have always pushed for that in this family, as we feel pent up emotions and opinions are not a good thing.

To conclude then (this turned into a far more in depth blab than I intended it to be).
Daniel has his issues with Ethan being home Schooled at present, but personally I am hoping that that is a short term thing, because I would like to HE all the children eventually. I of course, welcome comments and suggestions if anyone would like to leave any. (I love to discuss...can you tell? :P)


Loz x