Home Education and benefits issue....

AliBambee

My daughter teaches her boys at home and has been for a year. The boys do not want to return to school, neither does she want to be forced to send them back, but now her youngest has turned 7 she has no choice but to have to go on to Working Tax Credit and to be actively looking for work.

This means that, as she will be having to work at least 16 hours a week much of the childcare and teaching is very likely to fall on my and my husband's shoulders (not that we mind that, although our health isn't brilliant, but she would obviously only be able to work if she is getting free childcare from us!). She cannot do night or evening work because, due to unfortunate circumstances, she is bringing the boys up alone. She is an intelligent girl, but the type of work she could do in these circumstances would likely only bring in a pittance.

It seems that people in this situation have fallen through a bit of a black hole in the benefits section. The Government gives this option to parents, then takes it away with the other hand. In reality, only those who have either one partner living at home, or plenty of income, are able to Homeschool their children.

Does anyone have any ideas please, either how she could deal with this situation, or what kind of work she could do at home, preferably, to bring in some decent and reliable income?

GlasweJen

The government do not have a fund for people who choose not to send their child to school. If your daughter does not want to return them to school then she will not be eligable for job seekers allowance as she wont be actively seeking work.

Your daughter can either choose to go and work and send her children to school or choose to educate her children at home and not get as much financial assistance from the government. Not sure what else you want posters to advise?

GlasweJen

To be fair, some home schooled children do turn out alright. Their parents join home schooling networks and the kids mingle with other home schooled kids and they can share facilities or get discounted rates on trips that they take together.

Obviously this only works if they have a parent whose circumstances allow for them to stay at home. As the OP's daughter doesn't fall into this category then the children should either be sent to school or face having a reduced income in the house (but don't worry their rent and council tax are paid for by the tax payer so they will never be evicted).

OP has your daughter considered becoming a child minder? Or would having pre-school kids running about during the day impact too much on lessons?

Jowo_2

Your daughter is being moved onto JSA from Income support, like virtually all single parents whose youngest child turns 7 are. To get working tax credits, she has to have work...

Are there any home educational groups in the local community that share the teaching between their kids?

Does she have any opportunities for childcare if she takes up part-time employment -for example, would you or your husband or a local child carer look after the children why she took up evening or weekend employment which would keep her free for teaching during standard Mon to Fri blocks of time? Then again, if she did get part-time employment during the week, she could teach around it as she can be fully flexible about the teaching schedule.

Genuine work from home opportunities are rare indeed and she will cut out 99.9% of employment opportunities with this preference. Also, the job centre will expect her to be a bit less specific in her preferences. I believe she is able to stipulate a preference for term time working only with the JC but again, opportunities like that are rarer than hens teeth.

Does the non-resident parent pay child support?

She should model the impact of part-time employment on her benefits using the Turn2us online benefit checker and find out what child care costs she may be eligible for - she may find she's actually better off than she thinks if she takes up work. The Job Centre will also do a better off calculation for her.

Here is a website from a group who share a similar preference to exempt home educators from having to migrate to JSA.

http://www.freedomforchildrentogrow.org/lone.htm

Here is an article from a single parent about their experiences of educating their children at home.

http://www.home-education.org.uk/articles/article-he-single-parent.pdf

"Yes, it is possible to home educate as a single parent. Money is short, but it is mostly manageable, and there are other compensations in the free time to spend as a family having fun. More importantly I haven’t found that my son and I are spending unhealthy amounts of time together. It can be healthy to have a close and trusting relationship with one parent, and to enjoy a mix of activities together with other people too and it has widened our interests and social circle as by sharing a little in each others hobbies, we have opened ourselves up to new friendships and experiences. "

Another helpful article

http://pledgingforchange.com/lifestyle/education-2/home-education/home-educating-family.php

bezzza

Obviously I do not know the ages of all the children involved but I have home educated my (now 16 year old although she is till in technically final year) daughter for over 2 years - the first year I was in full time work (leaving house at 5:30am and back for just after 3pm) but still managed to provide a wide ranging and varied timetable - most children over 12 are capable of self guided home education - if you know the syllabus and have the internet, local libraries and access to learning resources there should be no problem.

As for those in primary school, most parents and grandparents have the level of knowledge needed (I was forever being called into my daughters' primary school to be told off for allowing her to get too far ahead in class as she was hindering the teacher who had to find her more advanced work to do).

It should be fun for the children being with their grandparents as you will build a great relationship and be involved in teaching skills and talents you have learnt from life.

Oh by the way my daughter took 5 GCSEs last June (a year early and at a cost of £200 to me) all grade C and above, then she took 3 more in November (just over £140 that time) 2 As and a B and will be taking 5 more this May/June (again costing about £200 but worth every penny). When I took her out of school they said she would not amount to anything - how wrong has she proven them?

Good luck and have fun! xx

Oldernotwiser

AliBambee wrote: »

It seems that people in this situation have fallen through a bit of a black hole in the benefits section. The Government gives this option to parents, then takes it away with the other hand. In reality, only those who have either one partner living at home, or plenty of income, are able to Homeschool their children.

I think that, if the government allowed lone parents who are home educating to stay on IS, we'd have a large number of unsuitable lone parents doing it!

Your daughter must have known that this situation was on the horizon when she decided to take her children out of school so she should have a plan in place ready for this moment.

Diamond78

I do not know much about home education although I was considering this for a while as my son was being bullied in his school for over a year and the local authority could not find my son another school to attend.

If you check netmums website, there is a big thread about home education and you can get lots of avice for parents who are in similar situations.

seven-day-weekend

Maybe she could work evenings/weekends and you do the childcare then so that she can do the homeschooling during daytime hours?

karenx

Does she know she cant claim working tax credits till she has a job. Its just the way you said " she has no choice but to have to go on to Working Tax Credit and to be actively looking for work"
She will have to sign on JSA and be looking for work which means have to take any job there is. So what would then happen to the children if she went to work in say tesco for example? Who would look after the kids when she has interviews?

AliBambee

Thanks for all the replies. Sorry, I meant that she would have to go on to JSA until she finds work. Of course her Dad and I would be happy to look after the children whilst she works, we see them nearly every day anyway and do a lot together as a family so that would be no different - I usually have the children on a Friday and do crafts and geometry and stuff with them anyway, but to me it's the principle. I realise it's her/their choice at the end of the day, but if there wasn't this option then school attendance would be compulsory and all children would have to attend whether they could cope with it or not.

School can be very tough places these days - it is no coincidence that the rate of suicide among schoolchildren is increasing and too many parents are finding out that their children were deeply unhappy at school, and in many cases, very damaged as a result, when it is way too late.... Are we and our daughter considered bad parents because we wish to protect our vulnerable children from what can often be a very toxic environment?

Attending an educational establishment is quite a 'modern' concept. For centuries children learned at the feet of their parents and other community members - and in some cultures, still do. That is nothing unusual. Many of the World's greatest past achievers did not attend any external educational establishment but were taught at home. Rather than stifle achievement, home education can often be the gateway to lifelong learning.

I can understand her desire to teach them at home (although being taught at home is only a part of their 'curriculum') - I hated school - was very frustrated by it because it did not nurture my strengths or address my weaknesses, and I know that both she and our son found school very stressful and wanting in the education and encouragement departments. I certainly wish I had been taught at home, and I regret not having taught my own children at home too. At school, kids are usually all lumped together and treated the same whether they have the same abilities or not, whereas at home they can be given one-to-one attention as needed and be encouraged to 'fly'. As Dr Rhodes Boyson once said 'children should be taught according to their abilities'. Absolutely. And encouraged to learn. Once you acquire the ability and desire to learn, it never leaves you. Life is a continuous 'learning curve'.

Our boys do lots of external stuff and socialise with a lot of friends, both children and adults, and are very 'rounded-out' little boys as a result, with the ability to communicate with people of all ages - something that is often lacking in children who spend most of their time with other children.

Of course she knew this was on the horizon, we all did, but that doesn't make it any easier to deal with. Even if the boys were at school, finding work that would fit in during their school hours would not necessarily be that easy. She did do some care work before she removed them from school, but that was three nights a week and she found that very hard to cope with. Doing these things is not so easy when you have no husband/partner to share the responsibility.

Thanks 'Diamond78', I have had a look at the Netmum's website and it looks helpful although I haven't been able to find the section on homeschooling as yet.

As far as being unsuitable is concerned, any Council Education official with half a brain should be able to tell the difference between those parents who are dedicated to teaching their children and those who aren't. They only have to look at the set-up, the ability and 'intelligence' of the parent/s, and the work being produced by the children to see whether the parents are dedicated or not. I do feel that in some ways it would be good for the Education System to perhaps be a little more involved, and to be able to either make a parent commit to the Home Education thing or make some provision for weeding out those who are not pulling their weight. Even amongst those who 'unschool' their children there are still ways of telling if the parents care about the process.....

Anyway, I really appreciate all the supportive comments and will consider some of the suggestions.

Ali.

millym

Very interesting post.

Personally, I feel that every parent should have the right to home school their children, irrespective of their income, as long as they are able to provide it to a decent standard. From what little I know about it, it doesn't seem like an easy option, and checks are made to ensure that the education the kids receive is of a high standard.

Perhaps there needs to be a means-tested allowance paid to parents who undertake this, similar to carer's allowance? I would be interested to know how much it costs to educate a child in school, as a comparison.