Urgent! Home Schoolers help please!

joeblack066

After many sleepless nights and 3.5 years of agony for my DD, I am just about ready to take her out of school and home school her. I have researched IGCSE - is anyone else followin this and does anyone have any reviews/ opinions ofthe providers out there? I would really apreciate some feedback. Thx!

the_pink_panther_2

I think IGCSE for different subjects vary. Although I couldn't be sure about all subjects, I understand that they are thought to be tougher than the GCSE's. Why are you considering IGCSE over GCSE?

meritaten

relax hun - home schooling can take many forms. I am going to PM a mate of mine who has home schooled for a couple of years - hopefully she can advise you.

pinkclouds

Alas, I guess she is about 13 years old and all my homeschooling friends have much younger children!

Are you a member of EO? You could try asking on the forums there.

Have you considered the NEC? It has a good reputation as it's basically some sort of precursor to the OU and they do a wide range of iGCSEs. Plus, it has the advantage of easier access to exam centres, in case your local schools aren't willing to let her sit the exams there.

Alternatively, I've heard the Little Arthur school mentioned many times in various forums. They specialise in the secondary school age group and offer various iGCSEs.

EO: http://www.education-otherwise.net/
NEC: http://www.nec.ac.uk/
Little Arthur: http://www.littlearthur.org.uk/

joeblack066

the_pink_panther wrote: »

I think IGCSE for different subjects vary. Although I couldn't be sure about all subjects, I understand that they are thought to be tougher than the GCSE's. Why are you considering IGCSE over GCSE?

Now that Controlled Assessment has taken over from Coursework, GCSE is no longer available to distance learners.

skipsmum

DS did 4 GCSEs at home with Oxford. The materials weren't great but provided a really good start point, and the tutors were excellent and sent lots of extra materials. I have friends who used Oxford, NEC and Little Arthur. Little Arthur (apparently) is cheaper and good if you know the subject yourself. I don't know anyone who was happy with NEC between 2008 and 2010. Education Otherwise and Kent And London Home Educators websites are both good sources of info, feel free to PM me if you have any questions (I home-edded 2 of mine).

joeblack066

pinkclouds wrote: »

Alas, I guess she is about 13 years old and all my homeschooling friends have much younger children!

Are you a member of EO? You could try asking on the forums there.

Have you considered the NEC? It has a good reputation as it's basically some sort of precursor to the OU and they do a wide range of iGCSEs. Plus, it has the advantage of easier access to exam centres, in case your local schools aren't willing to let her sit the exams there.

Alternatively, I've heard the Little Arthur school mentioned many times in various forums. They specialise in the secondary school age group and offer various iGCSEs.

EO: http://www.education-otherwise.net/
NEC: http://www.nec.ac.uk/
Little Arthur: http://www.littlearthur.org.uk/

Thankyou so much for these links - I will explore!

joeblack066

skipsmum wrote: »

DS did 4 GCSEs at home with Oxford. The materials weren't great but provided a really good start point, and the tutors were excellent and sent lots of extra materials. I have friends who used Oxford, NEC and Little Arthur. Little Arthur (apparently) is cheaper and good if you know the subject yourself. I don't know anyone who was happy with NEC between 2008 and 2010. Education Otherwise and Kent And London Home Educators websites are both good sources of info, feel free to PM me if you have any questions (I home-edded 2 of mine).

Hi, and thanks! It's Oxford thats taken my eye atm. Did your DS have any trouble beind accepted into an examination centre? Thanks again!

skipsmum

He sat English and Geography at the Special School he would have gone to if he hadn't been home-ed. They were great, didn't charge us a penny, and bent over backwards to make him feel welcome. They didn't offer Physics or Maths so it was much harder. The adult ed centre let him sit maths there without much difficulty but the Physics had a practical element and it was really hard organising that. Eventually the local college took him but we had to get Oxford to pressure them. They wern't particularly welcoming, but he got through it ok!

BTW, my level of education was poor o-level, but after working through DSs GCSEs with him I had so much more confidence and went on to do an access course - I've just started a degree. The tuition packs really worked for both of us.