£16,000 savings limit

bestpud

zaksmum wrote: »

I have a neighbour who doesn't send any of her 5 kids to school. She tells anyone who will listen that they all hated school when they initially did go, so after a couple of court appearances it was agreed she could home school them.

All they seem to do is hang around the streets abusing passers by, and she says she "gets paid" for the home schooling.

I never knew what she meant but now wonder if it's this same money as the OP gets.

She's just purchased a brand new car although she's never worked and there's no partner.

What checks are made to ensure the home schooling is up to standard?

Very few local authorities give any support, let alone money, to home educators so I very much doubt it.

Sounds like she may be pulling your leg ;-)

Money really isn't the draw! If anything, the opposite it true - people want to home-ed but can't afford the cost as well as reduced earning potential.

Home-ed children often have a far broader education as a lot more can be covered one to one and they are able to follow their interests.

The national curriculum is pretty crap in comparison.

pipkin71

shedboy94 wrote: »

Wow.....can anyone apply for money towards extra curricular activities because I wasn't aware that Japanese tutors, kickboxing and MMA were on the national curriculum?

The criteria for the funding is that it leads to a qualification.

As home educators, we don't have to follow the national curriculum, however schools do offer a language GCSE, we have just chosen Japanese, in which my girls speak fluently

Schools do offer a GCSE in Physical Revision, they also provide PE for students each week. Kickboxing and MMA are the sports my children have chosen to do and are both one away from blackbelt, so are quite experienced in their sport

As Japanese, kickboxing and MMA will all result in qualifications, they meet the criteria for funding.

pipkin71

missapril75 wrote: »

And this is home education? Sounds more like a form of one on one private schooling.

That's the beauty of home education - one on one private tuition [or in our case, two on one, as I have two children] and, after almost six years, we are reaping the rewards

pipkin71

zaksmum wrote: »

I have a neighbour who doesn't send any of her 5 kids to school. She tells anyone who will listen that they all hated school when they initially did go, so after a couple of court appearances it was agreed she could home school them.

All they seem to do is hang around the streets abusing passers by, and she says she "gets paid" for the home schooling.

I never knew what she meant but now wonder if it's this same money as the OP gets.

She's just purchased a brand new car although she's never worked and there's no partner.

What checks are made to ensure the home schooling is up to standard?

This isn't really the forum for general discussion on this topic as the benefit section is mainly for help and advice, which, for my question, the general consensus was a separate bank account.

I would just say though, not all councils will offer money. Our LEA only started it last year and only for children in years 9, 10 and 11. Our neighbouring LEA does not offer this funding so I am extremely grateful that my LEA are doing so.

Funding isn't the reason for home ed - for a few years before I received any funding, I received nothing, and fair enough as I made the decision to home ed.

Not sure what funding your neighbour would be receiving.

To update on the issue with the DWP, I have to send all correspondence from the LEA and details of the bank account when I open it but they think it will be straightforward enough, fingers crossed

missapril75

pipkin71 wrote: »

That's the beauty of home education - one on one private tuition [or in our case, two on one, as I have two children] and, after almost six years, we are reaping the rewards

Until this thread it never even occurred to me that some funding would be involved - seems reasonable.

But what if every parent elected to do it? All those empty school buildings...not enough teachers/tutors etc.

The mind boggles. :eek:

FBaby

Seems a waste of tax money to pay for private Japanese lessons to pupils who are already fluent in the language

pipkin71

FBaby wrote: »

Seems a waste of tax money to pay for private Japanese lessons to pupils who are already fluent in the language

Taxpayers pay for english lessons for those already fluent in the language.

The Japanese exam has two parts, written and spoken. The language has more than one style - hiragana, kanji and katakana.

Whilst the children can speak fluently, they also need to write correctly in order to pass the exam.

bestpud

missapril75 wrote: »

Until this thread it never even occurred to me that some funding would be involved - seems reasonable.

But what if every parent elected to do it? All those empty school buildings...not enough teachers/tutors etc.

The mind boggles. :eek:

There would also be a lot more happy children around in my experience!

pipkin71

bestpud wrote: »

There would also be a lot more happy children around in my experience!

:D:D Absolutely!

Whilst school may be the best years of their lives for some, for others it is one of torment and sadness

ab.da54

somethingcorporate wrote: »

I am massively surprised that the LEA write out such huge cheques for something like this (which would be so obviously open to abuse), I would have thought there would be a better way to do it.

I agree.

The council should not be offering out money without any proper checks in place.

Out of interest, what will Japanese, kickboxing and whatever mma is do to help secure employment in the future. Surely curriculum based lessons would be more useful to the child?