[Closed] Does anyone on here home school a child?

We home-schooled one of our kids a few years back, and he is a happy, healthy, very sociable young man finishing his first degree in London right now.

I'm quite pro home-schooling, but not for any other reason, really, than hating to institutionalise kids. Having said that, its success depends on the willingness of the child to buy into the project. In other words if he spends all day on a video game machine, then it's unlikely to be very helpful; if, however, he gets opportunities to visit museums, and walk in the woods, and listen to music, while getting the language and maths he needs, then he should be fine.

I would honestly say: try it. There are many networks out there of home-schoolers, and not all of them are religious nuts! 🙂

Thanks for the reply, all helpful. He is keen to learn and loves certain subjects, he has ASD and school isn’t very ASD friendly. I would be providing the lions share of the teaching and suffer cabin fever fairly easily so we would have to use all external resources for learning. Can you reccomend any non-religouse nutter networks or places to start looking?

If he has a formal ASD diagnosis, and the school is not providing the assistance he needs I absolutely would not suggest telling him to throw a chair across the classroom. The school has a legal duty to provide all children an education and in safety and resources will appear as if by magic.

Yep, get him to lob a chair across the classroom, that'll sort it.

The level of stupid on the internetz never ceases to amaze me!

He does have an official diagnosis, the school is requesting additional support. Departments have been halved in this area, so everything takes far too long to get set up or sorted. In the mean time, he is not getting a formal education. He need stability and routine so we are considering alternatives. He is smart and enjpoys learing and we do not want that hampered by a system which is, at this stage, not fully suitable to him.

We home ed both our boys. 7 and 12
Drop me a pm as there’s too much to type.
Where abouts are you in the country? We’re near Lewes in East Sussex and the home ed network is substantial down here.
Btw- you won’t be teaching him. You’ll be facilitating his learning :0)
Tim

I have no direct experience but I suspect the critical thing here is strength of local networks and other activities (sports, cubs etc). My primary concern about home ed would be the loss of social interaction, learning to make friends, deal with arguments, social resilience etc. This can all be met elsewhere but will require strong local networks and other interests.

Good luck

If he has an EHCP then the council have a legal duty to meet that.

If he's not been formally excluded from shcool then contact Ofsted - councils are rightly being hauled up on this informal 'we'll let him do an hour a day' type exclusion that effectively leaves children without an education.

My wife is the head of a special needs school covering children who have PMLD through to ASD (but with other learning difficulties) - the EHCP guides everything they do and gives access to funding for the child so I'd focus on getting the school and council to deliver against that.

If the current school is unable to meet his needs look at what other local alternatives are available (council are required to pay for private if there's no LA suitable LA provision - they don't like it but they will)

Hint: informed, middle class parents who make the most noise get the most attention - be the squeaky wheel, don't let wait for people to get back to you: agree dates, chase, escalate. Learn the way the system works and make it work for you.

roper - do you have any previous teaching experience? how long/to what level can you imagine teaching? (e.g. if there are particular topics where he excels will you be able to support that in a few years time, how well do you cope trying to teach basic skills using different techniques from the one you were schooled in 2-3 decades ago?).

My primary concern about home ed would be the loss of social interaction, learning to make friends, deal with arguments, social resilience etc

I think with an ASD child/adult (depending on where they are) this is likely to be less of a consideration, tbh. That list is all the things that make a school environment difficult for the child and lead to behaviours that the schools find disruptive.

I think with an ASD child/adult (depending on where they are) this is likely to be less of a consideration, tbh. That list is all the things that make a school environment difficult for the child and lead to behaviours that the schools find disruptive.

Good point

Speak to SEN at the school. Assuming they have someone there . In my sons school (an academy which is part of a larger group), there is one between 3 schools ( primary).

Does he have an Education Health and Care plan ? If so, the school should be receiving funding to pay for additional TA's etc. When it appeared my sons class did not have one , Mrs Revs went to the school, requested a meeting with the head and SENCO. We had been briefed by the nursery what to expect, i.e schools spending the funding on other stuff etc. She can be quite assertive at times shall we say, and once it became clear to them that we knew how the system should work, then a TA became available pretty soon after.
My son (age 6) has very mild autism which is mostly sensory based ( at the moment anyway), so does not need one to one quite as much as some of the others in his class.( whether they have diagnosis or not I do not know). Don't forget they receive funding for EACH pupil with "special needs"

Don’t forget they receive funding for EACH pupil with “special needs”

Equally bear in mind its shite, and going down every year. Unless your child has specific, high level needs the funding they receive won't cover a TA alone, but you should see some additional support in place at least.
If you don't have an EHCP in place, help draft it - you can do an awful lot toward it, but as it varies across the country you'll likely need the SENDCo to guide.

timbur PM will be sent soon, thanks for the offer of help.

We are waiting for his EHCP, hopefully tomorrow. I do have some experience teaching adults with disabilities and challenging behaviour children and adults. I have also limited experience teaching privately. I do not have a PGCE or any formal standard classroom experience. The school have said they are struggling with him as he needs extra staff attention, which they don’t have . They have applied for assistance with this.
I should say that he is not a disruptive child. He has high anxiety and either has panic attacks, or shuts down. He finds a school enviroment all consuming and gets burnt out.

We are considering Home ed because at the moment his accademic as well as social learning is being hampered. Home ed would at least deal accademic study while the more sensitive social skills could have a more gentile approach.