I'm so angry

tandraig

hi reeree - I can't reallyanswer your query with any certainty, but suspect that they will be trying to ascertain that your DG is actually getting schooling and isnt just lolling about watching dvds or playing games.
personally i would prepare a folder showing the work he has done so far and with details of any educational trips or visits (even if its only to the library to look something up). also if you could show that his work is improving - be even more advantageous for you.
I could be entirely wrong and they may be coming with help and advice! but to be prepared in case they try to persuade you to send him back to that place with plenty of ammo cant hurt.
hope you are enjoying lessons the both of you - how you getting on? having fun?
let me know if you have time hun - been thinking bout you all.

Savvy_Sue

reeree wrote: »

we have had a letter from lea saying they are coming to see dg on the 17th of november does anyone know what we should expect, ive got a feeling they will try to talk us out of home schooling, Pipkin if you are around ive tried to pm you but your message box is full

WHO is coming and WHY are they coming? You have a right to answers to those questions, and also the right to decline such a visit, AFAIK.

You don't want someone coming who undermines your DG's confidence in what he's learned so far with you, or your confidence in your ability to do better for him than the school did. That's my opinion, at any rate. It's far too soon to say whether this is going to work long term, and by the sound of it there's a lot of damage to repair first.

Have you joined Education Otherwise? You could phone them for advice!

Shelldean

Reeree,

Can't offer any practial advice, but would like say am with you in spirit, YOU GO!!!!!

reeree

tandraig wrote: »

hi reeree - I can't reallyanswer your query with any certainty, but suspect that they will be trying to ascertain that your DG is actually getting schooling and isnt just lolling about watching dvds or playing games.
personally i would prepare a folder showing the work he has done so far and with details of any educational trips or visits (even if its only to the library to look something up). also if you could show that his work is improving - be even more advantageous for you.
I could be entirely wrong and they may be coming with help and advice! but to be prepared in case they try to persuade you to send him back to that place with plenty of ammo cant hurt.
hope you are enjoying lessons the both of you - how you getting on? having fun?
let me know if you have time hun - been thinking bout you all.

hi tandraig thankyou for asking, we had a really good day today and got through quite a bit, we are getting into more of a routine now, do you remember i told you one of the boys who bullied dg apologised on the phone to him, well dg plucked up the courage to phone this boy up and asked him if he would like to go into town for the day, the boy said yes he would, he called for dg on saturday and they had a great time which i was really happy about. I will take your advice and have as much amunition as possible i will show them the work we have been doing and show them the improvement in his writing and other things. dg has been so much happier he gets up at 7.30 every morning and has an hour on the computer before starting lessons around 9 oclock
I usually had to drag him out of bed but he gets up without being told, hes also stopped comfort eating which is great, hes told me he's really enjoying home schooling and i can really see a difference in him, so much happier i wish we had done this sooner, but still its done now

sp1964_2

The first visit from the LEA should be an introductory visit where they give you useful websites and resources. However this isn't always the case.You can write to them and ask for more time to adjust before they visit.Education otherwise has a very active yahoo group which you can join and you can then post there to find others in your area and their experience of your LEA.You don't have to be a member to join.

I've been Home Educating for 6 years- if I can help please PM me. It's really rewarding and there are loads of local groups to meet up with wherever you live so you don't need to worry about socialisation.My son does judo, football,Latin and History with our local HE groups.

BW
Sarah

tandraig

thanks reeree - appreciate the update! sp1964 sounds like they know what they talking about!
was thinking - you cant be the only one home schooling in your area. does the local library have any details of parents home schooling? if not an ad on their notice board might get results. you could all get together! get advice and support and as they local would know best way to get help advice etc.
give my love to your GS I know he is one brave lad! and tell him to knuckle down and do the work! its not all fun i should think - but worth it.

jellyhead

I'm so glad things improved before I got to the end of the thread, I can wipe my eyes now!

I was talking to a 14 year old on the park who I recognised from primary school and she said she will be going to college in september (so I suppose she'll be there now) for her GCSE courses. I don't know if all colleges accept 14 year olds but it may be something to bear in mind of you later feel that your grandson might benefit - perhaps just for maths and science?

At the end of year 8 this could have been my son and my mum was battling with me to take him out of school. It's a difficult choice, and we're going to see how things go but the main issues (for me) are whether he has friends in school and whether school does anything about bullying. School have done everything they can to help my son, and his friends have drifted back although he is still solitary outside of school. They have referred him to CAMHS (a psychologist to talk things through, give him strategies for how to cope with bullies and how to raise his self esteem etc.)
If he was still friendless or of school weren't getting involved then I'd have taken him out of school, but because he is such a solitary boy and I'm not much better it didn't seem that a solitary homeschool life would equip him for later life. If things go wrong in school this year I'll take him out like a shot though, and this thread has been really great for me personally - especially the notes that your grandson has written. I've cried reading those.

Also your grandson's remarks about not being able to concentrate because people were 'at him' all the time - my son's downslide academically has been shocking over the last 12 months or so. School are letting him request to move seats in lessons. Because of this thread I'll be talking to him more about it (he's 13 and doesn't like talking!) and will be bearing what your grandson wrote in mind.

Your grandson sounds lovely, and so do you xx

SWMBO

I've only quickly skimmed through the posts, so I apologise if I'm repeating something that's already been said.

http://www.home-education-exams.org.uk/ has lots of information about taking qualifiations

http://www.cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm has a complete maths course for all levels, right through to GCSE & A level.

If you think your grandson might be interested, look into Air Training Corp. They do a BTEC qualification that is equivalent to 5 GCSEs.

Find your local Duke of Edinburgh award group - http://www.dofe.org/takepart/ Its great fordeveliping their self confidence & also looks great on a CV/application form for jobs or university. My DS does this, and I just wish I'd persuaded him to go along sooner! A while back I was getting the usual cross examination about HE from a doctor & he totally changed his attitude once I mentioned that DS was doing DofE.:D

reeree

jellyhead wrote: »

I'm so glad things improved before I got to the end of the thread, I can wipe my eyes now!

I was talking to a 14 year old on the park who I recognised from primary school and she said she will be going to college in september (so I suppose she'll be there now) for her GCSE courses. I don't know if all colleges accept 14 year olds but it may be something to bear in mind of you later feel that your grandson might benefit - perhaps just for maths and science?

At the end of year 8 this could have been my son and my mum was battling with me to take him out of school. It's a difficult choice, and we're going to see how things go but the main issues (for me) are whether he has friends in school and whether school does anything about bullying. School have done everything they can to help my son, and his friends have drifted back although he is still solitary outside of school. They have referred him to CAMHS (a psychologist to talk things through, give him strategies for how to cope with bullies and how to raise his self esteem etc.)
If he was still friendless or of school weren't getting involved then I'd have taken him out of school, but because he is such a solitary boy and I'm not much better it didn't seem that a solitary homeschool life would equip him for later life. If things go wrong in school this year I'll take him out like a shot though, and this thread has been really great for me personally - especially the notes that your grandson has written. I've cried reading those.

Also your grandson's remarks about not being able to concentrate because people were 'at him' all the time - my son's downslide academically has been shocking over the last 12 months or so. School are letting him request to move seats in lessons. Because of this thread I'll be talking to him more about it (he's 13 and doesn't like talking!) and will be bearing what your grandson wrote in mind.

Your grandson sounds lovely, and so do you xx

thankyou im so glad this thread has been a help to you, my grandson is way behind in his subjects, im really shocked at how behind he is in maths especially, ive had to go right back to basics just to get him back on track . the school has really let him down there wouldnt have been a chance he would have passed his gcses at that rate, im not saying he will do even now but at least he's going down the right road now, My dg has one friend from school that he sees now and again and he's quite happy with that, because he is an only child he is used to his own company, and dosent worry about having loads of friends, I think its such a relief for him (and us) that he's away from that school and the people in it that it somehow balances itself out if you understand what im trying to say, he's told me today that on several occasions he's had dreams about being back at school and being among the bullies again, he says its such a relief when he realises it was just a dream and not real. Im sorry to hear your sons work is suffering that sounds just like my dg, and because he's to shy to speak up if he didnt understand something its just got left. If you did decide to take your ds away from that school you can be sure of unlimited help from the people on mse they have been fantastic, when i first started this thread i really didnt know where to turn but my dg and myself have come such along way and its only thanks to them and their encourgement that we have got this far. tomorrow we have the visit from the LEA so i will let you all know how we get on

reeree

just to let everyone whos been following this thread know the lea have been today, he looked through all dg work that he's been doing, said it was very good and he could obviously see he had been working hard, he said he was very pleased with all his work he liked his drawings aswell, and that i was doing everthing i should be, he also said he didnt recommend dg goes back to that school and gave dd a number to phone to complain about the school !!! It was nothing like i expected. he even said there was a home ed group that meet every wed about 5 miles from where we live. Yesterday my dd was still iffing and butting about home ed, but after the lea had been and said all that. you could almost visibly see a wieght lift off her shoulders, she seemed really surprised at how it turned out. He also said we dont have to follow the curriculum, and that dg can go to college when hes 16 and do his gcses then if he wants to, which i think someone said earlier in the thread, im so pleased at how its all turned out i really thought he was going to try to persuade dd to let him go back to that school, but apparently he said that was not the case and that wasnt why he was there. There are 300 home educators in derbyshire apparently and he said the numbers are going up all the time,which to be honest dosent surprise me.
I have to say a big massive thankyou to all those who have supported dg and me on here, youve all kept us going through what has been such a really worrying time, the strain on us has been enormous as im sure you could see from my posts, although i never said so my oh didnt agree with home schooling so theres been arguments about it, he's one of eight and thought dg should toughen up but when your an only child its different, theres no-one to fight with, so thats been a strain, but he's slowly coming round and i think when i tell him what the lea said that will make a big difference. So thankyou all once again your help has been invaluble and i hope it has helped others that find themselves in the same situation as us