Typical day

[feelinghthelove]

I’ve just deregistered my 15 yr old and panic is setting in massively now!
Can anyone give me an idea of their typical day with a child of the same age please?
I realise everyone is different but I’m just looking for ideas I suppose.
Thank you

[ommmward]

It varies hugely, depending on the child's interests, needs and aspirations.

E.g. some people i know of that age are mostly using an online school to get them ready for a pile of GCSEs, and that probably takes 2-3 hours per day. Some have tutors in for an hour or two once or twice a week. Some are following a curriculum at home with parents, maybe just for maths and English and something else that is their special interest.

Some aren't ready for getting ready for GCSEs. They might be doing some formal education, but at a less advanced level. They might also be doing quite a bit of life skills or vocational activity and volunteering alongside a parent (e.g. at a city farm, at an old folks home, in a toddler group or home ed group aimed at little children, or learning how to look after themselves at home - cooking, cleaning, laundry, budgeting, meal planning, gardening etc).

Quite often there are bits of activity in the local home ed community they can join in with, for sports, gaming, board games, art, drama, music etc etc (depends on the skills and interests of those in your local area). It can take a bit of time and digging to hook in with those sorts of activities, partly because some teens are off organising their own activities, and partly because such groups tend to go a bit under the radar to prevent invasion by enthusiastic newbies with tiny children...

Some people get a season ticket (e.g. national trust) and just squeeze every drop out of trips out, being relaxed and chatting about the experience as it happens. That can be exactly what a new home educated teen needs to relax and get their mojo back and start being curious again.

NB really important to give your child time and space to recover from whatever made you pull them out of school.

Does this help? Take your time to work out what will work for your child, and give them as much time and attention as you can.

[feelinghthelove]

That’s brilliant! Thank you.
I was just looking for an insight into how it all worked. I had this idea in my head of sitting down for 5 hrs a day completing work books etc!
I’ll be honest, he doesn’t care for school at all and I think I may have a bit of a battle on my hands getting him to knuckle down for the first couple of months but in there is a bright kid who was actually looking forward to his GCSE’s!

[Saracen]

I agree with ommmward!

Do you want to tell us a bit more about why your teen came out of school? With this age it is often because of a crisis at school, and recovering from difficult school experiences can take time. A period of adjustment is usually necessary, especially after an unhappy time at school.

If you are feeling worried about the future and can't bear to wait before getting stuck in, then you can make good use of this time to do some reading about the possible options open to your child, so that when they start showing some interest in doing formal learning or getting job experience etc you will be able to help them. You can also make contact with your local home ed group and chat with other parents, whether or not your child wants to go along. Meanwhile focus on their mental health. You could also think of getting out to some places which interest your child. What do they enjoy?

A great thing about home ed is that unless your child is in a hurry to achieve something specific (e.g. go to university at a certain age), there are no deadlines. You don't have to do exams at a particular age or at all.

[feelinghthelove]

He was permanently excluded last week for one stupid silly serious incident which I don’t really want to go into. Just a bad move on his part.
He went to school out of our borough because he was seriously bullied at a school in our borough. Anyway when he was excluded school passed him back to our local LA and they offered him a place at the PRU, I declined because I know two of the bullies are at this PRU and it wouldn’t have been safe for him, aside from that I don’t feel his behaviour warrants a PRU.
I asked for an alternative like the 14-16 college scheme and they said no they wouldn’t fund it. They told me the only other option would be to home educate, so basically we’ve been bullied into it which is another matter.
I did some research and decided if I home educate I could enquire with college myself and get him into the 14-16 scheme that way.
I just don’t want him to fall behind with his English and maths, he’ll have to drop all the subjects he enjoyed and did well at too which is gutting for him.

[Saracen]

Sorry, cross posted! If he wants to do GCSEs then he'll be needing to do rather more formal study than if he weren't, but it's unlikely to be five hours a day because home ed is so much more efficient than school.

"he’ll have to drop all the subjects he enjoyed and did well at too which is gutting for him" He won't have to abandon them entirely if you are willing and able to pay for him to sit them independently and help him study for them on his own or hire a tutor. But he will probably have to change to a slightly different syllabus and do IGCSE instead of GCSE, so it's some extra work. He might prefer to do fewer subjects so he can concentrate on his favourites.

Have a look at the home ed exams wiki here: he-exams.wikia.org/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki There is a lot to take in, so you'll need to do some reading and ask questions. Depending what he wants to do, your son may not need or want as many GCSEs as he'd have done at school. Typically, home educated kids do as many as they need to get into work or college, often five or six. They may choose to spread them over several years rather than sitting them all at once, which reduces stress and lets them focus. If he's to sit some exams next spring, then in the autumn you should identify where he can sit them, which can be tricky, so do start on that process soon. Registration deadlines are usually Nov/Dec/Jan sort of time. Local home ed parents of teens will be happy to advise.

There might be local tutor-led study groups where a handful of home ed teens learn together preparing for an exam. You could also see whether there is a suitable college course right away - as you've discovered, this would be free and the funding is automatic if he's accepted onto the course - or ask the college about entry requirements for any course which interests him for 2020 or later, so you can ensure he gets what he needs. Work backward from that.

[feelinghthelove]

Brill! You’ve basically just answered everything going round in my head in that entire post!! Thank you!!

[Saracen]

The college may or may not have experience with home educated kids. The 14-16 college provision for kids who are NOT being home educated must be full-time and includes specified subjects. But your son can just take whichever individual college courses he wants: just English and science, say. The college might not realise that and you might have to explain it to them. Come back here or talk to local home ed families if you need help with that.

[Saracen]

Awesome! I'm sure I have forgotten many details, however, so do chat with other parents who live near you as well. They tend to be very helpful, as many of them will have been in your shoes and know what it is like.

[feelinghthelove]

I’ve checked with college, they do run the scheme but they’ve finished for summer now so I have to wait for someone to call me, hopefully before September!