My DS is home educated and doing his GCSes - AMA!

[UndertheCedartree]

My DS is 14. He has always been home educated. He is now doing GCSEs and other level 2 courses.

Did / do you get a lot of comments from other people? Especially neighbours.,,
Are you a low-income family, if so any tips on affordability? Clubs, curriculum etc all adds up.
How does your DS feel about home Ed?
Do you work? If so what age did you feel you could do something part time?
Initially was your partner/their dad fully on board until the end, or was it try it till 7, end of primary etc and it naturally progresed?

@CurryAndChipa23 No comments from neighbours but I'm friendly with them but don't speak loads.

I am on a low income now but my Ds is autistic and gets DLA which helps with his education. However, I would say Home-Ed can be as cheap or expensive as you choose. There are many activities that we used to go to like at community gardens that were very cheap eg £3 per child. The Arts awards course is funded we only pay towards their portfolios being assessed. If you want workbooks you can often get them cheaply like in the Works etc In terms of clubs I would always reccomend Scouts/Guides as such good value for money. For my DS's GCSEs 2 are being done at college and free, 1 I am teaching myself - spent about £30 on books for it. The other one he is doing via Learn direct. It costs £300 but can be paid monthly. My DS also uses Ed place which is great for Revision - I think it is about £15 per month.

My DS loves being home-educated. I started working again when my DS was 8. At that age you can start leaving them at activities and we had lots of friends too that would sometimes take him on trips. In hindsight I think he was a bit young for this but that could be because of his Autism. Contrary to what many people think many home-educated do work.

His dad has always let me make the decisions. He likes not having to think about anything. So he just said 'If you think it's best, then fine'.

Just to add there are lots of groups online with parents organising lots of things from trips to regular classes to social get togethers.

My kids were home educated until relatively recently. My eldest had epilepsy and is autistic and has dyspraxia . He’s at private school for his GCSEs. The youngest started school this year. He got into the local grammar. They are both quite bright but they both say that they learned more and were happier being home educated. Both made the choice to go to school. We felt it’d be easier for them to experience different things and get a range of GCSEs. I think home education was very mentally healthy for them both and I’m very glad it exists. It’s the ideal solution for children who are neurodivergent.

Just saying hi 👋 in solidarity!

I home educated my daughter from 11-16 and she then did A levels at 6th form and then went on to university.

It was a challenge for both of us at times but it all turned out fine! (This was 16+ years ago)

Good luck!

What do you find easy to provide? What do you find difficult?
What’s your pedagogic style?

I home educate and for different reasons my two kids haven't done / aren't doing GCSEs (well, the older one did them as a young adult without much help from me). So the experience of getting teens through exams is one I haven't had.

My question for you is, what has changed for you since your son started GCSE study? How do you and he feel about this phase of his education compared with his previous home education?

Also are you worried that Covid could interfere with him getting his exams as it has done for so many home ed teens in the last two years? Do you feel the need to tackle things differently in case exams get cancelled again?