Home Education and benefits issue....

whitewing

If your daughter is of a suitable personality and does want to homeschool, and there is sufficient space, could she look into becoming a foster parent? It's definitely not an easy option, of course, and would depend on strict selection criteria (so she may not be eligible) but may allow her to be home for her 'extended' family.

bridgend_girl

Self-employment would definitely be the most straight forward answer. Sign up as an avon or similar agent - the 16 hours work would include leaflet drops, collecting returned nooks, processing orders, delivering orders and handling paperwork and returns.

Her children could accompany her on rounds (weather permitting). All commissions received would be subject to tax and NI once the thresholds were reached (over about £6700 per annum). She would need to prepare a self-assessment tax return - pretty straightforward - her local tax office would help her free of charge. Proper business expenses such as cost of calls, and some computer usage could be claimed.

She would most likely be better off and be able to show her children the role model of working to support yourself - an invaluable life lesson. the calculator on entitled to will let her play with the figures to see how being in work compares to income support.

good luck

Working tax credit people

Indie_Kid

bridgend_girl wrote: »

Self-employment would definitely be the most straight forward answer. Sign up as an avon or similar agent - the 16 hours work would include leaflet drops, collecting returned nooks, processing orders, delivering orders and handling paperwork and returns.

Would all that really take 16 hours per week? Probably fine if you want a small part-time job; but not a main one.

bridgend_girl

To be ineligible for income support you must work more than 15 hours a week. To qualify for working tax credit you must work on average 16 hours a week. There is a premium paid to those who work in excess of 30 hours per week.

If this lady is home schooling her children, running a home and single - parenting her kids then that already sounds like she has her time well filled. If she takes on too much she will be a tired parent and that is to no-ones benefit. Avon (or similar) work can be scaled up or down should the seasonal demands and to fit around her other commitments.

Many single Mum's, myself included, are not looking to buy luxuries but will be happy to cover their financial commitments and still have enough energy and time for their most important priority - the children.

viktory

AliBambee wrote: »

If you are a parent who wishes your children to be respectful and honorable, loyal, and honest, to be able to make wise decisions in life, to build and keep a good conscience and benefit from it then school is not a good environment in which to nurture those qualities.

Excuse me? My children are both well adjusted, happy, respectful, honest people. One is working in a job she loves, the other has one full time (fully paid) apprenticeship under his belt and is at college. He also works part time. Both attended state schools - as did their friends, who are also well adjusted, 'normal' young people.

You are making some seriously sweeping, inaccurate statements about our education system. Your poor grandchildren, being raised in a such a toxic environment.

The fact is, unless you are prepared to 'keep' your daughter, it is time for her to seek employment. The children will have to attend a state school and get their moral training after school hours.

AliBambee

That is a great idea thanks, and one we have considered, however, she lives in a fairly small Welsh valley area - not somewhere exactly dripping with spare cash, so whether an Avon round would actually be of benefit is questionable. She is an avid and talented cake maker but again, it's finding an outlet and whether it would be enough to support her is in doubt.

There is an art route I want to sit down and discuss with her - she is good at drawing. Unfortunately, on top of everything else, her laptop has terminally died so she can't access the internet herself, but it would be good for the two of us to have a bit of brainstorming session to see what we could come up with.

Foster parenting would not be an option - her house is way too small - barely big enough for the three of them as it is. Plus she would then have the dilemma of having to take foster child/ren to school and teach hers at home. One suspects that the foster child/ren could be a bit miffed about that!

nearlyrich

If you are a parent who wishes your children to be respectful and honorable, loyal, and honest, to be able to make wise decisions in life, to build and keep a good conscience and benefit from it then school is not a good environment in which to nurture those qualities.

Funny my two went to state schools they are both doing well in life, I didn't have a choice whether to work as a single parent in the mid 80's I didn't fancy living on the pittance that was the lot of a single mum after my ex left. Sadly the state can't afford to subsidise the choices of everyone and to be honest it's more than reasonable to get supported for 7 years.

AliBambee

Excuse me? My children are both well adjusted, happy, respectful, honest people. One is working in a job she loves, the other has one full time (fully paid) apprenticeship under his belt and is at college. He also works part time. Both attended state schools - as did their friends, who are also well adjusted, 'normal' young people.

Yes, but are they so because of their good supportive home environment and your valuable input, or because of the school they attended? Were they bullied or distressed at school or did they manage to 'blend in'?

Of course not every child is going to be 'toxic', but it only takes one or two 'bad apples' to disrupt many others (One woman took her little girl out of school and taught her at home for a year because the attention demanded by two unruly boys in her class meant that she (and undoubtedly others) had been sidelined and ignored. She was regarded as 'dyslexic'. When her mother returned her a year later, it was evident that not only was she not dyslexic, but she had caught up and overtaken everyone else in the class! Daily Mail)

If your children have come through the education system 'unscathed' then you, and they, are very fortunate. Many don't.

Would the parents of children who committed suicide because of the bullying culture at school feel the same as you? I doubt it.

It is a 'sweeping' statement because it is a 'sweeping' culture. Every school contains children whose parents, unlike you or I, who do not share the same standards of discipline or moral support. It is not the children's fault. They know no different. But they bring that environment into school with them and share it around, bragging about the videos they have watched, or the evil games they have played, or the girls/boys they have slept with, or the stuff they have pinched. Are we wrong to not want any of that to touch our children?

GlasweJen

Schools teach other things such as how to get on with your peers, how to sit still for a few hours at a time, how to deal with deadlines etc all of those things are essential for working in later life.

You say your daughter is not work shy because she used to work 3 hours a week 7 years ago, hardly busting a gut is it?

Now while I support anyone who chooses to educate their child privately, through the state or at home I don't think that it's appropriate to pay people to do this - I already contribute tax to keep the state system going.

If your daughters sole reason for home schooling is because she was bullied at school and never learned to cope then I don't agree with that at all. She should be building the kids up to be confident enough to tackle bullies and know when to ignore, retaliate or involve a teacher. Hiding them at home now will mean they wont be able to stand up to bullying adults later in life.

Sixer

Mystery shopping.
Optimum Contract.
Sensee.
AQA 63336.
Quext.
Lionbridge.
Butler Hill.
360 CRM.
Teletech.
Arise (not too sure about this one, it's hotly contested).
eDigital Research.

These are all work from home opportunities with active threads on the Up Your Income forum. They're off the top of my head, so I am quite sure there are more. I don't have any personal experience of any of them, but there could well be 16 hours of self-employed work for your daughter between them. Perhaps, as it's clear you're quite happy to help out, she could find a Saturday job in a shop, and then she would only need 8 or so hours of self-employed work and she would qualify for enough benefits to make home-ed work for her. That's do-able, surely?

While I see many problems with state schools, I disagree with your overall assessment of them, and many of my problems were helped greatly by my own participation. Several years of both PTAing and parent governor-ing give you a better perspective.

But you and your daughter are absolutely entitled to your view. I don't think, though, that you are necessarily absolutely entitled to financial support. Our society offers an education to all children - if you choose to reject it, you need to finance it. I realise that takes choice from some - but that's part of education too, really, isn't it? Wanting it doesn't necessarily mean you can have it - and nor would it always be just that you should. If your daughter can find 16 hours of work a week, and if you are prepared to lend a hand, then she can home-ed. I think that's fair enough.