How difficult is home schooling?

[Nia18]

My year 8 daughter finds school unbearable at times. Shes recently been referred to CAHMS, but I'm seriously considering an alternative to mainstream education or home schooling her.

I have an almost 2 year old and I'm pregnant, so I'm worried that I may not be able to give her enough of my time.

I am also quite an introvert, so I'm worried about how much she'll miss with social interactions.

I'm really looking for positive stories from other parents who have decided to home school or use alternative schools.

[Saracen]

My young people are 21 and 14 and have always been home educated except when the eldest went to school briefly. The consensus among the people I know is that home education is much easier than everyone else thinks. The hard parts are

When they are quite young and unable to entertain themselves and you don't get much of a break from them. Ages 4-6 were when my eldest was most exhausting; the younger one never was very hard work.

If their special needs mean they have challenging behaviour and again, parents don't get a break without school. It's a pity they can't just get a few hours a week of respite care instead of 30 hours a week at a school which is wrong for their needs. It is such an all-or-nothing choice!

GCSEs. The actual academic side is not necessarily that hard to do, but it is often very complicated and time-consuming to arrange. On the plus side, you can do GCSEs much more flexibly than at school; for example, most kids spread them out over several years instead of having a huge load of pressure all at once. But parents spend lots of time figuring out which arrangements are possible and what suits their kids best.

So I am thinking that in your case, the first two probably don't apply, as your daughter is older and you don't mention her having behaviour which exhausts you. GCSEs are likely to be hard work for you, but that is a few years off and you have time to find your feet before then. You could have the backup plan of home educating for a couple of years and then if you think it's too hard for you to sort the GCSEs from home, send your daughter to school or college for them. By that time you may well feel they are manageable for you to do after all.

[Pringlemonster]

I’m home educating.it’s ok ..we are very structured,so I plan the weeks work on a Sunday ,we do 2 hours a day ,the rest of the day he does as he pleases .we use CGP books and I get clips of u tube or bite size to watch along side what we learn
We don’t go to groups as he’s not in school because he can’t cope around children ..plus other SEN issues .
But it’s not as hard as thought it would be ,and it’s cheaper than buying school uniform and school shoes

[HHmom]

It’s completely normal to have concerns. I started homeschooling in September and I love it! I’ve started a blog which might be helpful, //www.hogwartsandallhomeschool.com 😊

[itsstillgood]

Mine are 18 and 15. Eldest did some time in secondary as he likes the social side but essentially as a family we've always home educated. They have both done GCSEs via home ed. My youngest has just sat 3 this Autumn - we spread them out.

I second everything Saracen said.
I will add that Covid has made things more difficult. This year at least there are a lot of centres who are refusing to take private candidates, and there is a lot of fear about cancellations as home educators really did suffer in the chaos of last summer.
It's also I think harder for new home educators to find their feet in the home ed social scene with much cancelled/on line. I'm an introvert so quite enjoy the quieter pace but we have network of friends in place. That said if you join groups and reach out people respond.

[sini123]

my daughter is in year 7, I would like to home school her but If I change my mind can I register her back to school.

[itsstillgood]

Yes but you won't automatically be entitled to a space at the school she's leaving. You would have to go where there is space.

[Saracen]

Hi sini123!

Last spring while schools were closed, some parents took the opportunity to try home education. Because there were no fines for nonattendance, they could leave their children registered at school for the time being. The school cannot demand that you do the work they set, so you could just leave your daughter on the school roll and do your own thing. That would buy you some time to see whether you like home ed without risk of losing the school place. It also gives you some time to settle in to home education in peace before the LA approaches you to ask about how you are educating your daughter, at which point you should probably write a report for them describing what you have been up to.

Once attendance becomes compulsory again, you'll have to make a decision whether to deregister her from school or send her in again.

Of course, if the school has plenty of vacancies in her year group then you can deregister without much danger of being unable to get her in again. You could ask them how full they are in order to get an idea whether this is a safe plan or whether she might end up having to go to a different school.

[jebthesheep]

Pretty easy via an online school if you can afford the fees and are Prepared to consider a half way option. I realize not accessible to all, but worth considering if you are in a position to.

[Popstop]

Hi I'm new home educator. Anyone can advise on best national curriculum resources for me to teach primary year 1 subjects. Does anyone know of any local groups in London actually functioning?