Home Schoolers- anyone else?

SailorSam

This poster is in a similar position as you, don't know if you've already picked her up.
If it's any help ....
https://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/discussion/5120473

KARO

I can't help much but I just wanted to say it's fantastic that home schooling is an option and becoming more popular these days :T

The school environment is not for everyone, and it can do more harm than good in a lot of cases.

WantToBeSE

Thanks everyone

Sam- i have just emailed that user, thanks I did a search, but must have missed that.

Mela- thank you I have found a lot of local groups, but none that cater for teenagers, and most info is geared towards pre schoolers, or the under 10s.

I am freaking out a bit that GCSEs are quite expensive (about £300 each) so really need to tighten my financial belt.

mimmy1977

WantToBeSE wrote: »

Thanks Mimmy

He is soon going to be starting air soft with my friends husband and son, so hopefully that will help him with the social side of things. I just hope his SA doesn't stop him doing it.

I am a bit worried about the cost of GCSEs and other exams...

We looked at air soft but was wondering if they had any groups he could join so any info you have would be greatly appreciated!
They can be a bit expensive and there doesn't seem to be any funding.
Not sure how much the average child education costs the government (which we saving them) but that another discussion.We are going through https://www.nec.ac.uk/course-categories/a-levels
at least they do instalments.

Mojisola

mimmy1977 wrote: »

Not sure how much the average child education costs the government (which we saving them) but that another discussion.

It varies around the country - average is about £4.5k per secondary pupil.
http://www.sec-ed.co.uk/news/how-much-per-pupil-funding-will-your-school-get

bylromarha

pipkin is your girl

http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/member.php?u=68195

Lily-Rose_3

Awwww, I can't give any advice to you, but I just wanted to say that I am really sorry about your son's issues, and you're a diamond for helping him. Home schooled kids do very well, if it's all done the right way.

I wish you well.

meritaten

Good on you for realising that school is not the best environment for your son.
ReeRee is a lovely person and I know if she can help you she will. haven't seen her for some time but in her last posts she reported that her grandson (who SHE homeschooled) was doing extremely well.
you do realise that GCSEs do NOT have an age limit? they don't have be taken by the age of sixteen! if you want to delay by a year or two and are paying for them, then you are able to do so.

clark24

I home-schooled my daughter as we had to remove her from her school just after her mock GCSE's due to the worrying and obsessive behaviour of a senior member of the male staff, and the adverse effect it was having on her mental health.

She didn't sit her exams in the end, the school refused to let us have her coursework and we decided to let it lie, and focussed on getting her in a better place emotionally. We then moved to Scotland for a fresh start, so the system was completely different, and nobody does them up here anyway.

WE then home-schooled her in various things, not aiming towards exams, just towards finding out what her 'thing' was, what she wanted to do with her life and she chose being a psychotherapist or psychiatrist so she applied to college and got into a course of psychology and counselling which counted towards enough credits for a Uni foundation. The college didn't care one jot that she didn't have qualifications, only that she had the intelligence and aptitude to do it. She then got accepted to Dundee Uni but subsequently chose to do Open Uni due to my ill health, and is about to start her 2nd year.

So GCSE's etc are not the be all and end all, nor is the time they are sat (if you do them) and it is perfectly possible to do a degree without having done them, or A Levels, at all. Many institutions of higher learning are very open minded about the fact life can go awry but the person is still perfectly competent.

So if a child has a social anxiety then there are ways of doing distance learning, as long as you are prepared to look outside of what people see as normal.

Corelli

How long ago was this, Clerk24? I'm asking as there has been a big discussion about the necessity of GCSEs to get into further education now. This was on the [EMAIL="HE-UK@yahoogroups.com"]HE-UK@yahoogroups.com[/EMAIL] Consensus was that admissions policies have been tightened up a lot for the more academic courses and that stories like yours are not being repeated. there were alternative routes in like OU credits, portfolios and a good personal statement but now the criteria of a GCSE is now essential.

However, I will be testing this myself soon. My son who also has extreme GAD has failed to attend the majority of his educational opportunities (ex home ed, long story) and is very very unlikely to achieve any qualifications this summer. Possibly a functional levels skill in English. The college have told us that he can do an assessment at interview and if he achieves the level of literacy they require he can go on a level 1 diploma course with additional functional skills maths.

In the light of all this, I'd recommend that you talk to the admissions tutors in the fields your son is interested in pursuing and quiz them on their colleges admissions procedures.

The figure you quoted per GCSE seemed rather high, was that to include tuition as well? Do join the exams yahoo group, people share information about centres who will take external candidates and compare prices.

Another though, for a young person with an Anxiety disorder, just how challenging would it be to go to a strange venue to sit a paper? I'm worried enough about my boy getting to his outreach centre and his tutors agree which is why at this stage the functional skills qualification will be set up for him. It would be done with him and an invigilator sitting in the IT suite, just my son and a computer with a paper to answer on the screen, it can also be broken down into shorter sessions.