Home Education and benefits issue....

bestpud

janninew wrote: »

Most Universities (in fact all that I've come into contact with) ask for GCSE's/AS Levels/A Levels or a certain number of points (given for the grade received at A Level) I'm not sure how a child would be admitted to higher education without formal qualifications? Even basic admin jobs in the paper ask for 3 GCSE grades at a C. I do think the whole system is flawed and having a grade in a GCSE doesn't prove anything really, I have a grade A in maths, but I can't remember much about what I learn all those years ago! Its only going to get worse with the newly introduced English Baccalaureate certificate, we suspect this will be the new set of qualifications that most universities will want their students to have! Who knows!

I'm using my phone at the moment so can't find links but I know HE students can be accepted into Unis (not just the poorer ones either) without formal qualifications.

I will have a look later.

janninew

bestpud wrote: »

I'm using my phone at the moment so can't find links but I know HE students can be accepted into Unis (not just the poorer ones either) without formal qualifications.

I will have a look later.

That would be very interesting, thanks! I had a quick Google, but couldn't find anything, and I have a pile or marking so don't have time to look now.

Gleeful

AliBambee wrote: »

I was the only one who could spell words like phlegm and catarrgh and diarrhoea! :oD

Couldn't help pointing out that you have spelled catarrh wrong:p

Anacrusis

AliBambee wrote: »

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?

Hi there,

I'm a single parent who home educates, and I'm in the same position as your daughter.

The rules are, to be on job seekers allowence we must be looking for work. How old are her children + are they able to be left with other people, e.g yourself or a childminder? If they can be left then I'm sure she will be able to work something out. Amazingly our government is happy to use our tax money to pay for school places, and childcare costs, but not income support for families of children who don't go to school (which is less)! So in theory, your daughter can work 16 hours a week, and claim 80% of the childcare costs, as long as the childminder is registerred with ofsted.

Another option for your daughter is to train as a childminder herself, and become self employed. However, the process can take up to six months and presumably she'll be on job seekers allowence while doing this, so will need to be looking for a job while she is waiting for registration to be approved.

There are some huge benefits atm for becoming employed for 16+ hours, but none for becoming self employed. If your daughter finds work for 16+ she might qualify for a £250 grant, and a weekly £40 payment for 52 weeks. She might also have her rent/council tax paid for 4 weeks after she starts her new job. I don't think any of this counts with self employment.

If your daughter likes looking after children and has a spare room, she could apply to become a fosterer. I believe there might be payment for fostering these days and I'm certain that fosterers are eligable for income support whatever age the children are.

If your Grandchildren are being home educated beacuse they specifically need to be with their Mum, there are no options open to help as far as I know. The only thing I can think of could be to consider whether their GP could advise that they need her - if there are any seperation issues, if they are recovering from trauma, or if there are any conditions such as ASD spectrum etc. that affect your Gchildren - I wonder if in cases like that you could claim some sort of carers allowence.

I hope that helps

mumps

I home educated for four years, no official ever visited or checked up on us. When DD decided she wanted to go to school at 9 we visited a local school, the head advised me she would need to spend time with the special needs teacher. She had a half day assessment and I was told she was ahead of all 60 children in her year group at reading and maths. We never did any structured "teaching" with her. We did lots of fun stuff and she loved brownies and her other activities. She didn't like primary school and if I had my time again I would have kept her at home till 11 and let her go to grammar school, which she did enjoy. To the OP I would say have two days a week with your grandchildren and let mom go to work, she will still have five days a week with them. HE doesn't need to take much time for younger children, think of the average school day starting at nine, by the time the get the register done and everyone settled down it is probably half nine, they have a break at half ten, back in at 10.45 and again probably takes 15 minutes to settle them down to an hours work before lunch. So we have two hours work done? Well probably not as some of the time they will be sitting waiting for the teacher to finish something with another child before they can ask a question. I would guess in a normal morning they probably are lucky if they get 90 minutes work done. Afternoons are even shorter. If you work one to one with a child you would probably need about 1.5 to 2 hrs to get a full days work done. I know a Stiner educated person who did no exams and went to university so it can be done.

viktory

AliBambee wrote: »

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'?

I wouldn't be so arrogant to think that they have turned out to be the well rounded, decent people they are solely because of their home environment. It is due to both home environment and their school - which was merely a local 'comp' - nothing special. They were neither bullied, nor blended in. I would say, however, that the fear of bullying is not a good reason to keep children out of school. Children need to learn the tougher lessons in life as well as they easy ones and with the right help and support they can overcome life hurdles like bullying.

AliBambee wrote: »

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)

By the same logic, there are always going to be bad apples and children that fail to thrive at school. They are, however, in the minority and often their stories make the papers because they are unusual. You rarely hear the good news stories about children settling in and doing well - making something of themselves and their lives - because good news does not sell newspapers.

AliBambee wrote: »

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

Some don't. Most do.

AliBambee wrote: »

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

I doubt they would either. But they are still in the minority. Bullying is reprehensible but it is a sad fact of life and goes on everywhere, school, work, college - even on internet forums. We should teach our children to deal with it - not run away from it or pretend it doesn't exist.

AliBambee wrote: »

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?

Actually, I think you are wrong. You are not going to help your children get on in life by wrapping them in cotton wool and shielding them from the less pleasant aspects of life. At school children mix with all different children, from those that are from 'good' families and those that have less in life than their peers. However, a child that has a supportive home environment and are taught right from wrong can learn from these children. They are given the tools needed to make the right decisions in life. When they make a mistake, as they will do, they have a supportive family to help them back on the right path.

School is much, much more than the times tables.

Indie_Kid

bestpud wrote: »

I'm using my phone at the moment so can't find links but I know HE students can be accepted into Unis (not just the poorer ones either) without formal qualifications.

I will have a look later.

Some ask for relevant experience. IE, working in the field for several years and wanting to expand upon knowledge.

pipkin71

viktory wrote: »

At school children mix with all different children, from those that are from 'good' families and those that have less in life than their peers. However, a child that has a supportive home environment and are taught right from wrong can learn from these children. They are given the tools needed to make the right decisions in life. When they make a mistake, as they will do, they have a supportive family to help them back on the right path.

The same applies to home educated children - they also mix with children from a wide range of backgrounds - those who have more than them, those who have less. They also mix with children and adults of varying ages.

Home educated children are also given the tools to make the right decisions in life. They can still face peer pressure and bullying and have to learn to deal with it.

When home educated children make a mistake, as they will do, they have a supportive family to help them back on the right path.

viktory wrote: »

School is much, much more than the times tables.

So is home education - much, much more than the times tables

Anacrusis

viktory wrote: »

Actually, I think you are wrong. You are not going to help your children get on in life by wrapping them in cotton wool and shielding them from the less pleasant aspects of life. At school children mix with all different children, from those that are from 'good' families and those that have less in life than their peers. However, a child that has a supportive home environment and are taught right from wrong can learn from these children. They are given the tools needed to make the right decisions in life. When they make a mistake, as they will do, they have a supportive family to help them back on the right path.

School is much, much more than the times tables.

Well I agree and disagree with this - if we always shield our children from everything then yes they would miss learning opportunities BUT I do think we should surround our children with positive influences. They will still come across less pleasant things in the natural course of life... no need to pack them off to a school fuill of strangers who might or might not like them - may indeed even hate them - pot luck really whether the child gets a nice teacher or whether they'll be the one who's picked on by other children. To be stranded there apart from family as young as four years old seems a bit extreme to me.

I agree that the supportive home environment is what counts most too.

bestpud

viktory wrote: »

I wouldn't be so arrogant to think that they have turned out to be the well rounded, decent people they are solely because of their home environment. It is due to both home environment and their school - which was merely a local 'comp' - nothing special. They were neither bullied, nor blended in. I would say, however, that the fear of bullying is not a good reason to keep children out of school. Children need to learn the tougher lessons in life as well as they easy ones and with the right help and support they can overcome life hurdles like bullying.

By the same logic, there are always going to be bad apples and children that fail to thrive at school. They are, however, in the minority and often their stories make the papers because they are unusual. You rarely hear the good news stories about children settling in and doing well - making something of themselves and their lives - because good news does not sell newspapers.

School works for the majority, yes, but not for all. Why should a significant number of children be left to fester within the system just because it works for most children?

Some don't. Most do.

The impact on those who don't come through it ok is huge. You don't really believe a poor education is good for a child, do you?

I doubt they would either. But they are still in the minority. Bullying is reprehensible but it is a sad fact of life and goes on everywhere, school, work, college - even on internet forums. We should teach our children to deal with it - not run away from it or pretend it doesn't exist.

They are in the minority. However, don't we all know at least one other who was badly afected by their educational experience. They won't all go on to commit suicide but that doesn't mean they're unaffected.

Actually, I think you are wrong. You are not going to help your children get on in life by wrapping them in cotton wool and shielding them from the less pleasant aspects of life. At school children mix with all different children, from those that are from 'good' families and those that have less in life than their peers. However, a child that has a supportive home environment and are taught right from wrong can learn from these children. They are given the tools needed to make the right decisions in life. When they make a mistake, as they will do, they have a supportive family to help them back on the right path.

I don't often disagree with you, but on this one I believe you are wrong. A good HE does not shield children from natural behaviour and different personalities. What it can do is shield them from the daily hell of bullying (and it can be hell - please don't underestimate how bad school bullying can be).

At the same time however, it can build their confidence in other ways and help them build a healthy inner shield so they can go on to deal with idiots out there.

Leaving a child to suffer daily humiliation does not teach them to defend themselves - it teaches them to withdraw or project their anger elsewhere. That isn't healthy.

School is much, much more than the times tables.

HE is much much more than sitting at home with curtains drawn.