Home schooling, where do I start

Absolutely not true. Your LA may like to think that, but that is not the law and provision can be enforced.

@Thatsnotmycar Section 19 tutoring can only last 2-4 weeks then reintegrate into school. im going through that at the moment with my 14yo after a 3 yr battle with various hoops to jump with the school and LA. im about to finally crack up so i think home schooling is the best option now for my child.

Cambridgeshire is an awesome place for home ed. we moved here partly because of this! There's loads going on in Cambridge but there are also things happening in surrounding villages so depending on whereabouts you are you might find something quite local.
There are Facebook groups (Home education Cambridgeshire is a good place to start) but also lots of stuff organised in WhatsApp groups too.

Yes, DS1 has an EOTAS package with tuition, therapies and other provision worth well over £100k pa. If we EHE we couldn’t afford to provide all the support he receives. It’s important to distinguish EOTAS to EHE as with EOTAS the LA retain responsibility for providing provision.

I agree with @Thatsnotmycar Request that your LA carry out an assessment for an EHCP tomorrow. The bar for assessment is very low (only if she may have SEN that she may need special educational provision for). If you can get her an EHCP, that will be helpful even if you need to de-reg her - increasingly people are getting their home Ed paid for with EOTAS packages (education otherwise than at school) if their kids have SEN and you can get the expert reports (OT, Ed psych, SLT) to say it’s reasonably required.

You wouldn’t need to sit on the normal waiting lists with an EHCP.

Just to say have just started my ASD / ADHD / OCD and depressed 15yo at King's Interhigh and the change in her is amazing. She's joined a local youth group and is still seeing her local friends. She's happier, in control and attending (couldn't even cope with part time at school).

Some reading comprehension on this thread would be great.

Some understanding that we are not all as able to pick things up as yourself would be equally as great.

I home Ed my 12 year old because social interaction turned her into a quivering wreck.
Yep, and that sounds like a good decision for your DC. However, OP said her DD sometimes struggles a bit socially, not that she's a quivering wreck. Thus, reducing social interaction could potentially worsen the situation for her. Some reading comprehension on this thread would be great.

With respect, if she struggles a bit socially already then homeschooling and reducing social interaction could ultimately make this worse, especially if she has ASD and is slow to pick up on social skills.

Only if you want to prioritise socialising over mental health.

I home Ed my 12 year old because social interaction turned her into a quivering wreck.

The after school activities sound good. But if the other groups are 45 minutes away I doubt they would realistically be attended often enough. Hopefully you will make the appropriate choices and decisions for your daughters development though.

We took ours out in year 5 and best decision we made. It gave them two years of wonderful freedom and an extension to their childhood. We put them back in year 8 which was a joint decision. You've nothing to lose in year 6. If you and she hate it your can reverse the decision. My advice is remove her from school, de school for a while and the make decisions. Find your nearest meet ups, have some fun and enjoy the journey.

That's great but if you live rurally what kind of clubs, groups, activities, etc will she be attending?

OP do look at medical needs tuition and applying for an EHCNA. Online tuition, including providers such as Interhigh, can be funded. The added benefit is that an EHCP can include therapies without the need to sit on normal waiting lists.

Yes, I think keeping things flexible is useful at first. Also allocating time to particular interests. Have you read any books about home educating ASD children? That may be helpful, although you don't have a diagnosis it may give you some ideas.

Nice reach. I didn't say homeschooling would cut off social interaction entirely, just reduce it, which is obvious.

OP also said she lives rurally, which will most likely limit the number of groups, clubs, etc that her daughter can attend.

I would say if a child struggles socially then EHE is very helpful. We have a very popular home education group with children ranging from pre-school to early teens. What I find interesting is how the older ones grow in confidence to organise activities. Nobody gets left out, not a phone in sight, such respect between boys and girls and kindness from older to younger children. it's fascinating to me to compare them to a group of secondary school children who often seem unhappy, sexually precocious, unkind to each other or just bored. It does children a lot of good to be in respectful environments and to have freedom to organise themselves rather than a place where they are unhappy, misunderstood or feel trapped.
At secondary level you may want to look at part time alternative schools, private tutors and online schools. Bear in mind that college at 14 is now an option also, for GCSEs.

Yeah once you've put her in her required home Ed cupboard under the stairs, socialisation is impossible!!!
She will be fine socialising, as others have said scour Facebook, there are meet ups and study groups for older kids, general gatherings and local events, as much or as little depending on the child. All the home Ed children I know are perfectly sociable apart from the ones who suffer crippling anxiety (but then school wouldn't help that either).
Now is a good point to try it out. Good luck.

With respect, if she struggles a bit socially already then homeschooling and reducing social interaction could ultimately make this worse, especially if she has ASD and is slow to pick up on social skills. And she'll be going into her teenage years soon - the most important years for social development.

School refusal and anxiety is normal at this age with all the new hormones kicking in. I have first-hand experience dealing with these children due to my job. Removing the child from a normal schooling environment is typically the last resort.

Another thing to consider is are you fully equipped to teach KS3 and GCSE? Even in home-schooling situations, this level of education is normally handed over to professional teachers and tutors, rather than just a parent.

Year 6 is an ideal time to try out home education if you aren't sure. As you say, SATs prep can be a pressure cooker. In some schools it's all about teaching to the test rather than about education. I've known a number of families who usually prefer school but took Y6 out to home ed.

Unlike in other years, you don't have to worry about the possibility that you might decide to return to school and your child might not get her place back at her old school (if she had friends there or was settled - though of course some kids would want a new school anyway). If home ed doesn't work out, you can apply for secondary as usual and she can start alongside all the other new Y7s rather than feeling like the odd one out. She will have had a break from school and a chance to try out a different way of learning.

I do know families who have tried home education for a while and then gone back to school. I don't know anyone who says they regretted trying home ed. At worst, if home ed doesn't suit, a spell of home education provides an experiment, a break, a chance to realise that school has benefits after all which you didn't realise at the time. At best, home education might open the window to a whole new world where your daughter will be much happier and learn more effectively than in recent years.

De schooling is really important, lots of good adv ice on youtube etc, interesting to see how other families chose to HS. Most families find their own way through trial and error.