to be interested HOW a teenager is being home educated when both parents work?

[tessa231]

and didn't get further than GCSES (if that ) themseleves....
no no tutor

yes judgy.

julie, did they do formal qualifications at some point to get into uni and/or apply for jobs? If not, how did it all work out?

Ds went to FE college and did 2 GCSEs one day a week. Then he used thiohose to go and do 2 A levels at a different FE college. Then he did an Access corse and used that to get into Uni.

DD1 didn't do any GCSEs or A levels-she used a wealth of life experiences (including sailing round the country with another HE family for two long summers, helping to run workshops for women who experienced Domestic Violence, helping run a little family run shop, being a 'go for'/office girl for a brand new internet based IT company-to get herself a job with a well known national organisation.
Then she went to college and did a FE course and has followed that into Higher Ed now.

DD2 was so severely dyslexic she was predicted to never be a normal reader, and never be totally independant. She didn't learn to read at all until she was 13/14. She would never have been able to do GCSEs/A levels, but by 15 she had begun an OU starter course in which she completed all of the outcomes, and used that to get into FE College. College retested her. She is an 'average reader' now She got straight distinctions on her Nat BTec course and scored the highest marks in the class. She used that to go on into Higher Ed now.

I know a lot of people who Home-Ed and none of them do unschooling; rather, some of them are quite scathing about it. Unschooling is controversial even in the HE community (HE happens in many different ways).

I'd be skeptical too, OP. Just X your fingers and hope it turns out no worse than if the child was struggling thru a "bog standard comp". Kids in the regular ed. system can end up with no real education, too.

tbh, if anyone on here posted "Is it okay or sensible to leave my thirteen/fourteen/fifteen/sixteen year old alone at home most of the week" ALL of you would be scathing; that's the real problem with this picture, imho.

Well done to all of them.:)

Did they do the exams later than the usual 16 for GCSEs, 18 for A-levels?

The only controversial thing I can see about un-schooling, is that the child might not have the formal qualifications come 16/18.

But ...most unschooled kids teach themselves skills that are vital to employers from the get go! Something (that many times) traditional education over- looks.

As I said earlier,my son could get well paid work with computers today,only problem he is only nearly 13!

Yes TotemPole Ds did them later than the usual. But considering school at 13 had said he 'might achieve Grade Ds at GCSE if he tries very very hard' because of his dyslexia, I think following his own timetable, was the right path.

ragged you are right in that there are many different ways to home educate-probably as many different ways as their are families doing it !

However I was talking about this the other day to a local Local Authority. I'd say more than 60% of the hundreds of families I know personally IRL, are autonomous home educators. I know people seek out like minded people-so it was normal in the 'community' we lived in.

Yep,Riven thats why I said mightnot get formal qualifications.:)

It is normally the argument given when people are very anti it ,don't you think?

But then again isn't it controversial that around 50% of state schooled children fail to achieve the Government's standard of success -5 GCSEs Grade A-C I think?

The vast majority of all autonomously home ed teens I have known got qualifications at some stage-relevant to their own chosen paths. Many do not do GCSEs or A levels though. I've known a lot who have used the OU for instance.
In fact I can only think of one young person that doesn't have any-and he has plenty of work experience in his chosen field.....and on talking to him, he'll be embarking on something more formal very soon.

Oh julie, totally agree.

I am very pro home education...:)

I am strongly considering it for DS in the future.

Hmm Vallhala, maybe you're right in saying that the educational authorities should be the first port of call in this situation and not SS. On the other hand, hearing about a child being left on their own all day rings big alarm bells for me. It depends on how old the teenager is.

My scepticism regarding this situation isn't born of ignorance about HE. I actually know quite a lot about HE from personal experience (although of course there are as many different ways of doing it as there are families). And to the question of whether it's reasonable for a child to be home educated in a family where BOTH PARENTS WORK FULL-TIME, my answer would be a resounding no. The fact that so many HErs on this thread are keen to say it's possible is hardly a good advertisement for HE.

We HEd DS for 2 years (Yr 10 & 11) while we both worked fulltime. But we used an online school, and DH was mostly working from home at the time so DS wasn't left alone all day. So while it sounds shocking (and is quite possibly inadequate) it really does depend on the detailed circumstances.