Anyone thinking of switching to home ed after this?

[woollylizard]

Interested to know if this bout of forced homeschooling is inspiring anyone to take their kids out of school after the pandemic has passed?

I imagine for most people it's a 'HELL NO' but I was intrigued as to whether it has inspired anyone and whether the rates of home ed will increase dramatically after this?

@SquashedFlyBiscuit
4 GCSEs in year ten so that we've got the basics covered, then further GCSE level qualifications in year 11, for us. This suits their current career plan.
However, should my eldest change their mind on their career path, they may well need to do more GCSEs in their subject of interest or at least another GCSE so that they have the standard 5 GCSEs a-c.

We have our eye on the ball, but they don't all need 10 GCSEs. Obviously if children wish to study medicine or similar, they'll make different choices.

UCAS points can be got through other things not just A levels
Not all your UCAS points if you want to go to uni.

No

UCAS points can be got through other things not just A levels
Not all your UCAS points if you want to go to uni

Actually yes.

As I said Dd was looking into it and even with 4 scraped through GCSEs + all her ECAs grade 8 qualifications you can have enough UCAS points.

We all dissuaded her as the debt would be too great and round her neck for years and she would lose 3 years when she could actually be working and growing her business

Yes you can go to uni without A Levels! There are plenty of other qualifications that you can take - I did one at college in graphic design.

I didn't know that BertieBotts that could really help DD15.

Shiny, when this is all clear, get her an appointment with a careers advisor at your nearest further education (post-16) college. I found them incredibly helpful. Much better than Connexions (do they still exist?)

Thanks BB we'll do that.

Fuck that shit

"Yes you can go to uni without A Levels! There are plenty of other qualifications that you can take - I did one at college in graphic design."

True. Obviously many courses won't take candidates without standard prerequisites, but for some subjects they are less important. My eldest applied to do animation at five universities. From this has come one unconditional offer and two conditional offers. (No word yet from the other two - they haven't requested a portfolio, so presumably it will be a no from them.)

This is based on portfolio, personal statement and relevant experience - all much easier to acquire if you have lots of time on your hands due to not being at school. Academic qualifications consisted of just two (I)GCSEs, nothing else.

Interestingly, it was the colleges rather than the universities which proved very inflexible and would only allow her onto a Level 1 course with no GCSEs. So she decided to skip college, do English and maths IGCSEs from home and get some more experience in her desired field before trying for a uni place.

No, one shoudn't rely on being able to stroll into a university course without the usual qualifications, as there is no guarantee of getting a place, but some young people do better to get experience instead.

Nope, I'm thinking of boarding school.

This made me laugh, notmyusualname!

the thing is though, this is very different from Home educaiton is. I used to Home Ed my kids for a few years. We were out and about all the time. loads of groups, lots of socialising etc. This is just kids who are stressed and anxious stuck in the house being sent masses and masses of work to complete by their school (my experience currently) and parents who are also tressed/anxious/maybe working form home/still going to work trying to manage it all. A very different epxerience I would say.

I’m a teacher and if I could afford it then I would homeschool after all of this. But I can’t so my DC will be back at school as well.

If I had decided to homeschool my kids, I would do it differently to this, which is basically supervising them on digital learning while also doing my day job from home. We've done a few science bits how I'd like to, and started they have started a piece of extended writing each, but mainly it is online learning or tasks that school have set, because I have to work, and also I want to make sure they are covering what school are asking, as hopefully they'll be back soon! Also they enjoy the screen time!

Never in a million years did I think I'd say this, but it would have always been an absolute no....but I'm no longer scared of it. If I ever had to, I would.

Possibly. Autistic 5yo has thrived. No meltdowns. No hitting his sibling. No hitting me as I put on his uniform. He's never been happier. Not sure I could do it alone once DH is back at work though.

I have been wondering how it is that my miserable, violent ASD boy appears to have been transformed by not being in school. Maybe it's a coincidence, but I'm certainly thinking of not sending him back. That coupled with the complete disinterest on the part of the school since lockdown. The work sent home is shocking in its paucity and there has been no other contact.

@MuminMama my son has ASD, amongst a host of other things. Once I took him out of school a few years ago he was a different child entirely! Home education isn’t a permanent thing if you don’t want it to be, if you took him out of school and it didn’t work out you can always send him back.