Well, since don’t subscribe (ethos wise) to tests etc, I’m not sure I can claim to be ‘successfully’ HE’ing. But we are doing it.
It is extremely tough though. Not the HE, but other people’s attitudes.
I really believe in autonomous education and John Holt (et al)‘s belief in children learning all the time.
My daughter is bright, but I don’t really feel that there is any need to push formal education (eg reading, writing, maths etc) until children are 7. Molly spent a year in school (reception), can read extremely well, and in her end of term report her teacher said she was top of the class for maths, particularly mental arithmatic, and was also achieving above average in literacy etc. But I did not agree with the schools principals (on things like dealing with behaviour - both good and bad ), and felt that Molly was ready for school in terms of educational ability, but not in terms of social ability. (She loves playing with other kids and makes friends easily, but she finds it hard to control her temper, gets worked up easily, often lashes out etc, and was prone to arguing back against the teachers too.)
Anyway, since she had had a year of school she went to Montessori part time last year. I wanted to HE from the start (well, from Reception year), but had sent her to school after getting pressure to from my mum, plus M said she wanted to go. She went to Montessori the following year, 2 days a week, for two reasons, 1, to appease my mum who believed (still believes) I couldn’t really HE her, and 2, because I felt it would go some way to countering the ‘how will she socialise!!!???‘ concern that almost *everyone* has in regards to HE’d kids 
She also attends Rainbows one night a week and may be starting Majorettes and Ballet class soon. So she still gets regular contact with other children of a similar age to her. And as she gets older there will be other groups and out-of-school clubs and workshops she can attend.
My ex is now fairly anti HE (though thankfully he’s not going as far as to put his foot down about it, which is good). He keeps saying that [M’s Montessori teacher] ‘did wonders’ with her (grrr!) and my mum keeps saying [Molly] wants to be with other kids, and has said, or implied that I cant (or wont?) teach her and will I actually ‘make the effort?‘.
I find it so frustrating, because I don’t want to push anything formal on her, I’ve read Free Range Education, Life Without School, and a whole host of other HE books, and i want to do Autonomous ed/unschooling; but my mum and ex seem to be wanting something that resembles ‘school-at-home’ in order to ‘prove’ that we are learning. It’s incredibly frustrating.
With Katy, she is only 3 (almost 4) and tbh no one really thinks about her, I suppose with Molly being older she diverts the attention away from Katy’s educational needs. Plus they’ve had 2 years now of me talking about Home Ed and saying that I feel 5 or 6 is too young for school, that mum and their dad are less concerned about Katy for now.
When Katy was 2 I had other parents (Molly’s classmates mums etc) asking about her going to playgroup and nursery, and I said I dwasnt sending her. I got a few funny looks, but saying I wasnt sending her and didnt want her to go to nursery usually shut them up! LOL.
She did actually attend montessori nursery from January, at first it was just 2 half days a week, then around May we increased it to 1 full day and one half day. She missed quite a few days too from having a bit of a cold/feeling sick, or from just not wanting to go (most of the time she loved it and asked to go, other days she asked to stay with me. She wasn’t upset or anything, but I wasnt going to cajole her into going when it wasnt compulsory).
They aren’t going back this year because I do want to give Home Educating a *proper* go.
In another thread you asked about Steiner schools… well the Montessori school is applying for ‘free school’ status and hope to be confirmed/approved by September 2011. If they did become a Free school, and were still local (because there is some question as to where they are going to be operating from.. their current school is a rented building and since the government cut funding to the social sectors, the people who own the building - a charity/surestart organisation- have decided they need to sell the building), I would consider sending them there.
Certainly, if my children really insisted on going to school, I would rather send them to a Montessori or Steiner school than a mainstream school, because I believe their ethos(es) fits in better with my own, than regular schools. I’d also consider it to get my mum and ‘well meaning’ friends/relatives ‘off my back’. LOL. Although, that said, human-scale education is still important to me, therefore I’d still want the children to be in mixed-age groups, and with ‘class’ sizes no more than 12.
To be honest, in your situation I would reply “He is only two! Plenty of time to think about that later. We’re quite happy as we are at the moment” *big smile* .
If you are worried I would urge you to take it a bit at a time; you do not legally have to give him any sort of education until he is 5 (though the implication that children who are kept home til then do not or would not learn anything is absurd). I would start by saying that you are happy to take him to playgroups and on outings and do messy play, paint etc, and do everything he’d do in a nursery, at home. If you decide it’s not working out you can send him to school whenever you like. Schools will always be there, and it is the LEA’s responsibility to accept and grant your child a place in a local school should you wish to send them (no matter when you request it or how long you’ve been HEing). So there really is no worry on that front.
If you feel it is right for you, go for it
