AIBU to take my 12 year old out of school for 18 mths to HE....

[Reddragon116]

and then send him back for GCSE's - he is board rigid with the lessons in year 8 and starting to get stress migraines. Does what they cover in years 8/9 lead on to what they do at GCSE level ?

Lots of ways to buy the whole maths syllabus KS3 and GCSE. I bought conquermaths. Bite size lessons on the computer with a chap explaining it and you have little tests on everything. You can do them as many times as you like and then move onto the next part When done you can do some practice papers and you can take the exam.

BCB thanks for the recommendation of Facebook groups - have joined both :)

Thanks morethan - am very happy and DCs are visibly more relaxed already! Early days but I'm so glad we took the plunge.

OP if you HE you could look into skill swaps with other parents, if there's some subjects you are good at and others you aren't.

I am dyslexic but not thick - I home edded my oldest and he has 7 a*/b gcse's and is very dyslexic but it was hard work and I am glad he is now at collage doing 4 a levels.
My 12 year old is board as he knows most of the stuff they are teaching - its a very handout type of school and he is honestly very bright. Not genius but from a family where knowlage is valued and we all read a lot - he would probably not stand out at a grammer school but does in the schools that are avalible in our rural area. I thought that the streaming in year 8 would help aliviate his frustrtion at the speed subjects are taught but he starting to become a school refuser. I see the love of learning dying in him a little each day - 4 weeks in food tech 'designing' a pastie for goodness sake !

I have requested flexi schooling which we did in primary and school are considering it but it is very rare in high schools.

fuzzpig UK unschooling network is a really interesting Facebook group too, quite radical but really challenges me in a good way. I lurk rather than post but love learning about stuff there.

Uk unschooling chat is good too, and home education uk is another group you might be interested in.

reddragon
I see the love of learning dying in him a little each day
That's so sad. As you've done HE before I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.

I was explaining about number bonds to a bunch of maths professors yesterday. It's safe to say that they (and I) are spectacularly depressed by the way education is going in the UK.

Op I know you are dyslexic but you aren't spelling " bored" wrongly you are using a different word in " board".

I do know that - I can spell board I confuse the spelling of the other way - you do know that spelling and intelligance are not linked don't you ? My degrees I will admit are not in English but I can punctuate and use apostrophes - I have a type of dyslexia that does not hinder reading or comprehension just some blocks with spelling and the classic d&b's confusion etc

I was home educated for my gcse years (as were two of my other sisters), it isn't that hard honestly, I taught myself two them. You just have to do the work!
Socially, I just carried on seeing my friends regularly so there was no issue there.
If I could financially, I would prefer to HE.

No nothing different or Summerhill type round here - I did gcses with my oldest as he was bullied but he came out in year 10 and was very exam focused :) its thease 'loose' years that I'm apprehensive of but also see the most potential for following his own interests if that makes sense. I do worry about social life to a degree though have acess to some good HE groups .

Science point of view. He will miss out on practical skills and therefore suffer in the end. Also you need the year 8 stuff to understand the gases, e.g. Elements compounds and mixtures is taught in year 8 and potentially symbol equations which unless you have a scientific background and a teaching background, isn't the most straightforward of things to teach

IIronically he loves sciences and is frustrated as they do hardly any praticals which are his forte. They spend 8 weeks doing energy - renuables etc from leaflets and hand outs - we live in a wind farm hotspot. I personally would have had them out on a fieldtrip as the companies adore positive pr.

I will also pit the cat among the pidgoens and say some teachers can very often over estimimate the need for 'teaching' skills as opposed to facilitaing skills that are relativly easy at this level with a motovated child who is used to reserching his interests any way and some reasonable resources . Teaching skills are very important in a classroom situation not so much when its a child led exploration and pursuit of the childs interests

How did you do the practical science with your older child OP?

Every

Why would the OP need to be a teacher , and why would she have to have any knowledge about the subject at all?
Home ed isn't about being taught in the conventional way that teachers do in classrooms.
I haven't taught or given any lessons, we just learn together, it beats being talked at.

Fairenuff - brought and then resold lots of kit off Amazon and ebay - lots of it we had anyway - getting some chemicals was 'interesting' . My son actually sourced a lot of it himself and we saw it as part of the learning process - there is a place in Carmarthen we could also have done a residential course for a week but we managed ok for gcses's and hes gone all creative for A levels and gone to collage to do media , it art and photography - which I wouldn't touch with a barge pole :)

And school have tried to help I must point out !!! just not that much that they can do - am considering maybe a move to a bigger school where there are more sets per subject

I think as you've HEd your older child you have a much better chance of seeing both sides of this - if he's up for it and willing to work then it sounds great to me

Does your son have any thoughts? If you are going to home ed will he need to be very focused on leading his own learning? Ps i think you must live close to me. I wont ask which school.

He is not 100% either was - has some friends but not loads has some asd traits which dont help his school 'attitude' if that makes sense but the school is generally a 'nice' school Doormouse. You have me intrigued now - are you Mid Wales or a bit further south ?

I would worry that if you learn together you would both pick up common misconceptions that much of the general population have in science.

However your point about wind farms and renewable energy etc I completely agree with so perhaps what you lose in some areas, you may gain in others!

I think learning together works fine as long as you are following reputable sources for your information.
A wide variety of resources are available if anybody wants to follow the nc, we have most subjects up to GCSE, certainly all of KS3 .
I also had this type of stuff for our older ds as the schools they attended were pretty poor and we had to give them support at home anyway.
In science they had a good half year with supply and cover teachers who knew nothing about science.

Well my advice would be to go for it then but not be afraid to seek help and advice when you need it. Although it is only year 8/9 so I'm sure you'll be fine

erh wouldnt really need to 'learn togther' with science ;) I would facilitate and let him take the lead as to what he learns but have a slightly above gcse knowlage of science and maths ;)