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Home Ed experiences good & bad please

28 replies

Seahorsesplendour · 12/01/2026 07:49

Hi, I’m not going into the full circumstances and not asking for opinions on what we should do, we are fully researching & weighing up our options and what is right for ds.

I am more & more feeling that home education may be what’s right for him for multiple reasons.

however, this is terrifying as we’re only just starting to see the depth of his needs (he’s 7) we’ve just gone through EHCP process and would fight to keep that so can align with his needs as he grows so if we want to re-engage with education at a later date we wouldn’t be starting from scratch.

would appreciate knowing if anyone else has managed to do this?

also would really appreciate some insight into what the future looked like for kids who’s parents chose this path and has anyone regretted it?

I know this is a hugely emotive subject with strong feelings around it which is why I’m not asking for opinions but would love to hear some real life positives and negatives or angles we may not have considered while we wrangle with this huge decision !

thank you 💐

OP posts:
Seahorsesplendour · 13/01/2026 09:48

Just an update to confirm we are opting to electively home educate. But are waiting for his final EHCP which is due any day, we are going to fight to keep this in place as evidence of his needs and future proofing.

any experience / advice around doing this would be really helpful.

thanks 🙏

OP posts:
LeoLeo2 · 13/01/2026 09:56

Very quick reply for now, will come back later.

Look at Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) for the EHCP, rather than Elective Home Ed. Means you are entitled to some support/services etc.

Seahorsesplendour · 13/01/2026 10:22

@LeoLeo2 thanks for responding I appreciate it. 💞

we have explored EOTAS and have been liaising with LA about it but they’re blocking us at every turn.

we are also concerned that his specific needs including ASD & attachment /trauma & various learning challenges would make it really difficult to access temporary settings or changing tutors etc

we have been in this situation of uncertainty for a while (he’s currently not in school but still registered) and it’s just not conducive for us to function long term as a family.

we feel like we’ll be fighting for a long time to come to get what we feel he needs but with no guarantee that he’ll settle anyway.

since not being in school We’re seeing huge improvements in his ability to regulate & enjoy life & have the capacity to learn so we’re confident in our decision to ehe but really wary about the EHCP & the likelihood of getting to keep that 🫣

lots of life changes to navigate to make it work but it does feel like the right thing for him.

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2x4greenbrick · 13/01/2026 11:56

You deciding to EHE isn’t a lawful reason for the LA to cease an EHCP. LAs sometimes act unlawfully, but you would be able to challenge that.

Of course it is your decision to EHE, but just so you can make an informed choice, from the child’s perspective, EOTAS/EOTIS can look exactly like EHE. It doesn’t have to involve other settings, temporary or otherwise, or tutors.

LeoLeo2 · 13/01/2026 19:50

EOTAS can mean whatever you want it to mean really and it can change over time. We did EHE because it happened in a hurry and although we had EHCP already well in place no one mentioned EOTAS - funny that!

When we went back to school, 4 years later, we actually did flexi school with EOTAS (as by then I had discovered we were legally entitled to 15 hours a week of tutoring). At that point we had 3 days school and 2 days EOTAS - of which 3 hours was English tutoring.

I would say, do not officially de-register until you have a final EHCP in place.

Therapy can be part of EOTAS - make sure it is in Section F of the EHCP.

Anyway, to EHE... as stated, this happened in a hurry due to ill health caused by stress (at age 8).

Overnight, child to parent violence stopped.

Regulation was still an issue but I could be pro-active and completely change my planned activities for the day by just assessing how the day was going by the time we were up and dressed. That flexibility was key to staying more regulated - and the longer those patches of regulation became, the more ready to learn (and I don't just mean academically).

We spent a lot of time outside in nature. We walked or cycled miles whatever the weather (and that was regulating in itself).

We did need structure, so we had English, Maths and 'Topic' lessons every day - but there was no fixed timetable and a topic on Animals could include playing Animal I spy in the local park.

It was tough. An exhausting, unrelenting grind every day. But it changed their life and I could suddenly see a future for them where they could be part of society and manage a reasonably 'normal' life (which had not seemed even a distant hope before then).

We struggled with home education groups (for many reasons - partly because we didn't fit the mould even there), but we must have been 2 years or more in before we even tried those. We did find one that sort of worked for us and was very practical.

I knew nothing about Home education when I started, but soon learned there were many different theories - and a lot of heavy advice about 'unschooling'. That would not have worked for us though. We needed structure and they also very much needed to know I was in charge and leading the plans (but they were child led and responsive to their need).

I didn't try to stick with the National Curriculum, although there are lots of resources for it out there if you want to.

We needed far more early years style learning and a huge amount of relationship/attachment learning. We played games together every day. We baked together regularly, we went to the library twice a week. Lots and lots of stuff just us together initially, then slowly widening out to museum visits - when it was lovely and quiet on school days (with the occasional noisy and dysregulated herd of school children passing by).

We worked on a lot of general knowledge and understanding of the world. I felt like a narrator at times, explaining evwrything we saw, 'Oh look, that little girl in the pram is really cross because she wanted to carry on walking, but her Mummy is being a safe and sensible Mummy by making sure she can't run into the road again...' (because they just had no idea of how to intepret the world and everything was scary or confusing).

It became such a habit that at times I even narrated my own life to myself, 'Oh look, Mummy is flopping into the armchair exhausted after having spent 3 hours getting you to bed. Mummy needs to take care of herself because that's very important.' I swear I was very close to complete breakdown at times!

Seeing my child standing perfectly still for probably half an hour, watching in fascination as a pair of foxes worked collaboratively to try and get a meal, and then hearing them excitedly tell people over the next week how amazing it was and remembering all the details, in order and with awareness of their listener... that type of moment made it worth all the stress, all the battles, all the fear of them falling (even further) behind academically and the sheer utter exhaustion of it all.

I would probably change some things I did now, hopefully having learned a few things along the way - but I would definitely recommend it to anyone if school is impacting home life, security and stability in the way it was for us. I believe it changed our trajectory.

There is a book which has a section written by an adopter who was home educating, printed by Coram I think. Part of the 'Parenting a child who struggles with...' series. Our therapist had the books in their waiting room!

Happy to answer any questions as I have probably missed important stuff in my rambling.

RockingBeebo · 14/01/2026 07:19

We decided to electively HE after a disastrous year in reception. Son didn't have an ehcp and clearly couldn't cope with mainstream (very aggressive) but we had no other school to go to. Also a good friends adopted son went down the PRU route at a similar age and it was a nightmare. So I learned from watching their experience.

Only intended to HE for 6 months to get an EHCP and proper support but ended up HE for 3 lovely years. Got the EHCP but decided to keep up with the HE groups and building attachment at home. It was absolutely the best thing we could have done. Made loads of HE friends, did lots of interesting groups, took the pressure off.

Eventually found a brilliant therapeutic special school aged 8 where he has been for 6 years now.

although it was elective HE, the LA still paid for HE activities and a maths tutor. It was more like ETIOS. Be careful of allowing LA to absolve themselves of responsibilities. May be better to insist on ETIOS.

I had to battle for the EHcP and school. Not easy. I would join a good EHCP Facebook group. I also had to give up work for years.

DM if you have questions.

Seahorsesplendour · 14/01/2026 09:37

@RockingBeebo & @LeoLeo2 thank you both so for taking the time to reply & the details. Really really appreciate it.

so helpful to remember people have walked similar paths & survived!!! Feeling a little like our world is imploding and I don’t know which way is up!!

lots to digest & think through!

have a parent DDP session today so hoping to feel a little more grounded after that then may well come back to pick your amazing minds again! 💐

great to know you’ve both survived & come out the other side!!!

OP posts:
Arran2024 · 14/01/2026 19:08

I haven't done it but I did work supporting parents with ehc plans for a while and knew families who were home educating.

I don't know if it's still the same, but there used to be a very big difference between having an ehc put on ice as it were and one which names home ed as the placement. If it's the latter you can request all sorts of support, like online tutoring packages, swimming lessons, music lessons. But the LA has to agree to it being the best option.

You would have to show that home ed is the right placement, not show how inappropriate other options are.

I don't know if it still works like this. It's been a while since I was involved and home educating is contentious.

I didnt dobit but my daughter had a full time 1 to 1 in primary school. She only attended mornings for three years. There are sometimes other options around it which can work too.

2x4greenbrick · 14/01/2026 19:30

It is very rare to get a PB for EHE (rather than EOTAS/EOTIS) these days. To put it into perspective, someone did FOI requests to all LAs in England. Nationally, in January 2025, there were 168 CYP with a PB who are EHE plus a few that weren’t disclosed because 11 LAs thought disclosing the small numbers would lead to data protection issues and 11 LAs couldn’t separate out the data. So we are talking very, very small numbers in comparison to the number of DC with EHCPs - 638,745 in Jan 2025. Even a PB is provided, it is often limited. With EHE, the LA doesn’t have a duty to provide the provision in the EHCP.

Arran2024 · 14/01/2026 20:16

2x4greenbrick · 14/01/2026 19:30

It is very rare to get a PB for EHE (rather than EOTAS/EOTIS) these days. To put it into perspective, someone did FOI requests to all LAs in England. Nationally, in January 2025, there were 168 CYP with a PB who are EHE plus a few that weren’t disclosed because 11 LAs thought disclosing the small numbers would lead to data protection issues and 11 LAs couldn’t separate out the data. So we are talking very, very small numbers in comparison to the number of DC with EHCPs - 638,745 in Jan 2025. Even a PB is provided, it is often limited. With EHE, the LA doesn’t have a duty to provide the provision in the EHCP.

I hear what you are saying, but it shows it is possible, and an adopted child is probably going to be one of the potential recipients - massive level of needs and the sort of parent who can advocate for it. I was always being told my girls wouldn't get whatever, and I proved them wrong every time - anyway, if you don't ask you certainly won't get.

I know an adopter who got parcour lessons put into her son's post 16 ehc!!

2x4greenbrick · 14/01/2026 20:19

Arran2024 · 14/01/2026 20:16

I hear what you are saying, but it shows it is possible, and an adopted child is probably going to be one of the potential recipients - massive level of needs and the sort of parent who can advocate for it. I was always being told my girls wouldn't get whatever, and I proved them wrong every time - anyway, if you don't ask you certainly won't get.

I know an adopter who got parcour lessons put into her son's post 16 ehc!!

I didn’t say, and never have said, it wasn’t possible or that OP shouldn’t ask. I was merely pointing out the LA doesn’t have to provide a PB and that it is very rare.

Parkour in F isn’t uncommon. I know at least 2 dozen who have/had funding via their EOTAS/EOTIS/C packages for sessions.

RockingBeebo · 15/01/2026 06:47

Arran2024 · 14/01/2026 20:16

I hear what you are saying, but it shows it is possible, and an adopted child is probably going to be one of the potential recipients - massive level of needs and the sort of parent who can advocate for it. I was always being told my girls wouldn't get whatever, and I proved them wrong every time - anyway, if you don't ask you certainly won't get.

I know an adopter who got parcour lessons put into her son's post 16 ehc!!

I fought for and got a budget for EHE - it paid for anything I needed for HE, even a laptop! The LA knew the alternative was special school for my son which was many many times more expensive - which is what we did after several years.

Seahorsesplendour · 15/01/2026 20:47

Thanks everyone! All really interesting and appreciate your responses!!

those who have had success are you in England?

and if so any tips????

Our LA seem particularly resistant to everything 😥 we had to go to mediation to get ehcp despite lots of good step by step evidence from school & now despite his current school saying they can’t meet his needs and a lot of evidence from social worker, DDP therapist & Ed psych & OT they’re still naming his current school which he currently isn’t able to attend in the EHCP.

it’s a joke!!!!

if I’m being brutally honest I would fight to the ends of the earth to get him what’s right but I’m struggling to convince myself that school is right , right now, special or otherwise. Equally we can’t afford to give up work completely , luckily we do have amazing family who can help.

any financial help would be a life line!!

your messages have given me hope , but are the Parkour & the laptop etc recent ? We are wary of exhausting ourselves totally fighting a fight we can’t win!!!! When in reality he needs almost everything we’ve got to give to get through the day intact & ok

OP posts:
2x4greenbrick · 15/01/2026 21:01

It is worth looking on WhatDoTheyKnow at your LA’s statistics to see if in Jan 2025 they gave anyone EHEing a PB.

EOTAS/EOTIS rather than EHE but I have two DSs who currently have tech (including a laptop each and much more e.g. printer (and ink subscription), an iPad each, accessories, software, assistive tech, etc.) funded and both have sport/exercise sessions of their/our choosing funded from which one has had a few parkour sessions via that (other examples have included skiing/adapted skiing, surfing/adaptive surfing, sailability, fencing, kayaking, climbing, tennis, cricket nets, boccia, gymnastics. DS1 also has rebound therapy and swimming).

Seahorsesplendour · 15/01/2026 21:22

@2x4greenbrick thank you I’ll do that 🩷

OP posts:
undone561 · 15/01/2026 21:46

Why are adopted kids with attachment disorder not getting proper therapy for it? It must be so common and attachment disorder is a really serious issue. Have you read the other thread on the adopted teen with attachment disorder it's heart breaking. Have you been offered proper therapy for the issue? Honestly it just seems like it's not being taken seriously by professionals at all and parents are just being left trying to cope. Apologies for going off topic OP, I really hope home ed helps.

RockingBeebo · 16/01/2026 02:36

i received an EHE budget in London 2017-2018 then moved up north where it continued until son started special school end of 2020.

Arran2024 · 16/01/2026 03:48

undone561 · 15/01/2026 21:46

Why are adopted kids with attachment disorder not getting proper therapy for it? It must be so common and attachment disorder is a really serious issue. Have you read the other thread on the adopted teen with attachment disorder it's heart breaking. Have you been offered proper therapy for the issue? Honestly it just seems like it's not being taken seriously by professionals at all and parents are just being left trying to cope. Apologies for going off topic OP, I really hope home ed helps.

It isn't necessarily attachment disorder. Foetal alcohol, genetic deletion, autism, adhd, speech and language disorder, sensory difficulties, learning disability or severe difficulties can also be at play.

My elder daughter was considered to be failing at school due to "attachment disorder" but we had attachment therapy at the Post Adoption Centre and it did not change a thing. Later we had her privately assessed by an Ed psych who specialised in adopted children. He diagnosed a moderate learning disability and he said to me "I'm not picking up any significant attachment issues". Later she was diagnosed with adhd, a genetic deletion, then autism.

I accept that adhd and autism can be mistaken for attachment disorder, and/or be due to early life experiences rather than "real" autism or adhd, but the jury is out on whether they are in fact genetically inherited from families where people have struggled for generations due to undiagnosed difficulties.

Seahorsesplendour · 16/01/2026 08:32

@Arran2024 youve hit the nail on the head.

he’s got moderate learning disabilities, currently awaiting ASD assessment adhd queried.

I had advice from a poster on here who is really experienced with these multilayered complexities in a professional capacity.

we’ve always approached his challenges from a trauma & attachment perspective. She’s advised switching the lenses and to view it all through an autism lense, as the trauma, neglect etc will have been experienced through the way he experiences the work which is influenced by his autism. .

which further complicates his early life (and ongoing) experiences. This has really helped us start to understand the complexities a little more and start to refocus how we approach helping him.

obviously there are overlaps and we still approach in trauma informed way but adding in some of the ASD approaches is helping.

we suspect high likelihood of genetic involvement due to what we know of his birth family.

@undone561 thanks for your best wishes and I have read that thread, really feel for the op . It’s all so complex. 💐

I really thing post adoption support needs to be made standard (appreciate this would be hugely expensive) but I think if in place as standard st key points in a child’s life it could really change his family’s progress as children grow. We’re lucky in that we realised we were starting to struggle & reached out and he’s still relatively young.

if we were dealing with this alone I’d really be scared for the future of our family.

OP posts:
LeoLeo2 · 19/01/2026 07:08

Sorry for the delay in responding again.

We are in England - with a 'well known to be terrible for SEN' Local Authority.

Everything has been a complete and utter fight. One court case, 2 tribunals and, only a couple of months back, more solicitor involvement to push things.

It's been exhausting, but it has worked and has been worth it. Sadly, lots of authorities try to avoid their statutory duties as much as possible - and I would really recommend getting a solicitor to look at the draft EHCP for you (SOS!SEN offer this for a much smaller fee than solicitors but you would need to be in vontact withthem now before thedraft is issued or they may not have space when the time comes).

The biggest push has been for getting ongoing therapy (sensory integration and DDP) written in to Section F - and keeping it there post 16. That has been one of the biggest positives in my child's progress - they are very Autism and FASD aware and this has helped massively.

My child is now in a mainstream Post 16 provision but with an extremely bespoke package of support.

I resent the amount of time I had to take to fight for what my child needed. It took so much from both of us - but was absolutely needed for their long term outcomes.

I would learn as much as you can about SEN rights and provision, never give up at the first hundred or so hurdles and if your LA fairly easily give in to something when it is against your nature, don't gratefully accept straight away but question what they are afraid of/what they should be providing (and push for that instead).

Seahorsesplendour · 21/01/2026 14:25

@LeoLeo2 thank you for sharing your experience that’s really helpful and appreciate you taking the time!

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Nel81 · 06/02/2026 15:23

Seahorsesplendour · 12/01/2026 07:49

Hi, I’m not going into the full circumstances and not asking for opinions on what we should do, we are fully researching & weighing up our options and what is right for ds.

I am more & more feeling that home education may be what’s right for him for multiple reasons.

however, this is terrifying as we’re only just starting to see the depth of his needs (he’s 7) we’ve just gone through EHCP process and would fight to keep that so can align with his needs as he grows so if we want to re-engage with education at a later date we wouldn’t be starting from scratch.

would appreciate knowing if anyone else has managed to do this?

also would really appreciate some insight into what the future looked like for kids who’s parents chose this path and has anyone regretted it?

I know this is a hugely emotive subject with strong feelings around it which is why I’m not asking for opinions but would love to hear some real life positives and negatives or angles we may not have considered while we wrangle with this huge decision !

thank you 💐

Hi @Seahorsesplendour I was wondering if you'd gone ahead with the home educating? It's looking to be an option for my as7 as the specialist provision he was allocated to in Sept is not safe for him (he's also not getting any education there but his safety and wellbeing is my priority at the moment).

Seahorsesplendour · 06/02/2026 19:12

Hi @Nel81 sorry that you & your ds are going through it too!! It’s so stressful!!

we are still awaiting his final ehcp despite being told it had been finalised a month ago ! I’ve chased each week & am planning a formal complaint next week if we haven’t had it by then!

so we have had some more time to reflect & calm down & research.

My desire to ehe is still there tbh but practically we want to make sure he can still have SALT & OT & horrifically if we deregister him this will stop .

so we are taking the measured approach and the long view.

we have been open with his current school and they are fully supportive that we will not be sending him back.

we are going to take the LA to tribunal to fight the decision and if we win we will try special school for him with a low threshold to stop if it’s not right. We hope it will be but it’s impossible to know without trying.

we will decide next steps at that point but are 100% that we’d rather have him at home than in the wrong school.

I think the weakness on our side is that he won’t have been in school post ehcp however us & school know that it’s the environment that he just can’t cope with and no amount of support will change that.

We’ve made it very clear we refuse to put him through more trauma just to gather evidence.

so technically he is at home yes but officially not ehe.

In an ideal world & long term I’d like to go for EOTAS with ehcp and personal budget however our authority seems to default to no over everything so it seems we need to go through long processes and see where we end up.

I would love to just withdraw him and focus solely on him but for us it feels like the loss of services for him wouldn’t outweigh the benefits to us at the moment if that makes sense.

I highly recommend the book I’ve attached photo of it was so so relevant and really helped me see things more clearly and understand more. Anything else by the author too I’ve become quite the fan!!!

from his point of view his life has improved beyond belief.

we’ve gone from multiple daily violent and destructive melt downs or total shut down to a happy regulated engaged little boy for the majority of the time!

we went very low demand initially and he’s still living in onsies but he’s leaving the house, he’s choosing to read & write for short snaps of time and we’re playing games , making our own games , happily learning to use laptop which he’d developed a real fear of from issues at school

Melt downs have reduced massively I think we’ve had 3 in the last month and all with clear triggers.

we were heading for one today but we managed to talk it through whilst having a pillow fight which would not have happened before he was so locked up & explosive.

honestly I think it’s saved us as a family.

we’ve got lots of practical stuff still to sort but that’s life and we’ll get there!!

if money wasn’t an issue I would 100% ehe & pay privately for all the services but sadly it is!!!

one thing we have decided (maybe naïvely as we don’t know what we don’t know yet!!) is that we’ll do what we can but we’re not spending £100’s on solicitors and we’re not expanding all our energy either he deserves our money & energy more than the very broken system does.

we’re taking it one step at a time & will see where we end up!!!

good luck with whatever you decide & apologies for my massive answer!!!! 🙈💐💜

Home Ed experiences good & bad please
OP posts:
LeoLeo2 · 07/02/2026 21:37

OT, SALT and therapy can all be included in Section F regardless of whether you choose to home educate or not.

As long as you can justify that such provision meets an education (or training) need then it can be included.

I think that's where the difference is between the terms 'Elective Home Education' and 'Education Other Than At School'.

For EHE, the Local Authority will rub their hands with glee and absolve themselves of all responsibility (or cost). That's why they are trying to push you into believing that is your only non-school based option.

EOTAS will mean the Local Authority have a responsibility to provide the services detailed in Section F of the EHCP - but the main education element could still be you home schooling.

There is another option. It's not common and it does need a co-operative school, but you could have an EHCP which states flexi schooling - basically a joint placement between a named school and home education. We did this for several years (after a spell of being fully based at home). Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday were at school - which gave us a 5 day period of being at home and was the balance we needed to work on regulation, attachment just having fun together. I know others who have flexi-schooled with every morning at school or with a Tuesday and a Thursday at home.

It is a difficult balance between fighting for what your son needs and spending the time with him now - especially as he is obviously responding really well to being at home with you. There is some benefit though to getting his needs recognised now (partly because it saves later fights).

Good luck, it sounds like you are turning his life around right now!

Seahorsesplendour · 07/02/2026 22:23

Thanks @LeoLeo2 that kind of confirms my understanding is correct but what I’m really not sure of is how to get eotas.

it sounds like you have had fight after fight & you are amazing for doing that!!

can I ask do you know how much approx you’ve spent?

i basically got laughed at when I first put EOTAS forward to the LA. And the response was you are years and multiple school placements away from us even considering that.

It is a difficult balance and I do feel like we’re doing right for him right now but the future is scary!

Our post adoption social worker said just take 1 step at at time and you cannot know what is right for the future because you haven’t yet taken the steps that get you there yet!

I get that but it’s pretty darn scary when a little persons future is in the balance!!!!

i fluctuate between yes, we’re good, we’ve got this & aaaaaarrrrgggghhhhh what the hell is happening!!!!!!!!

OP posts: