Home schooling GCSEs

[WhiteDust]

AIBU to think that there is no way GCSE preparation for every subject can all be done independently at home?

Do the DC have tutors?
Where do they sit the exams?
Do home schooled children even sit exams?
How do home school parents prepare their DC for GCSEs?

As you can see, I don't know how it works. I only know how much work the teachers at DC's school put in to getting them through these exams!

I was going to say what TabbyStar has said. Depth and tangential learning was very much the order of the day for us. We had no constraints and so could study a part of a subject for 5 minutes or for days. I remember DD2 getting fascinated with magnestism. She spent days magnetising and de-magnetising objects. I remember someone coming round whilst she was relentlessly bashing away at an object with a hammer and having to explain why! Then she would get really excited and take what she had learnt round to her friends and they would all have a go. They weren't constrained any more than DD so they could drop whatever they happened to be doing and give it a go. DD tried so many new things this way. Home ed children don't generally exist in some lonely friendless world. DD2 in particular kept her friendship group from when she started home ed and met them at age 8 right though to college. They are all at uni or working across the country now but she still keeps in touch with them and has some definite friends for life.

WhiteDust I've enjoyed reading your posts and perspective. Some of my teacher friends thought I was brave when I took DD2 out of school (she came out first) and some thought I'd completely lost my mind! I get why it seems a mad and impossible idea to people - when I took DD1 out she was 12 and I said "two years only and you go back for GCSEs". We surprised ourselves, to be honest.

Exactly what Tabby Star said about depth.

I have experienced both sides - child doing GCSEs at school and home. Home definitely offered ability to do things in more depth in terms of visits, getting hands on and extending beyond the book. Much easier to get out and about with fewer children and no school budget issues. Don't need a lab for many science practicals, I am planning for IGCSE Chemistry and I think we can do most of the required practicals and those we can't we'll watch YouTube videos. We'll probably do a workshop at a science centre to get a chance to work with kit I don't have, and we'll do as many extra practicals for skills practice/interest as time allows. Also home ed kids aren't isolated, mine attend group classes for some subjects, some physically some using tech. We have used tutors/external markers to get feedback on pieces. They hang out with friends; both purely socially and sometimes while they are 'working ', they chat and share what they are doing.

Home educating at GCSE level is hard work and obviously it isn't cheap, approx £125 per subject locally for exams plus any study costs. Although I am positive about it from our experience I can see why it would not be right for others and think you do need to do lots of research. The huge growth of numbers home educating at this age (usually not as a positive decision but due to problems at school unfortunately) has led to a huge growth in online courses, online schools, tutors targeting home education. Unfortunately not all are good. We hear numerous tales of children being taught an exam spec that local exam centres don't use. If anyone is seriously thinking of home educating at this age (or any age really) getting advice and support from experienced home educators is vital. Facebook is the best place to find support groups.

I remember one year a student left our school at the start of Year 10 and his parents requested not only his books/ info. re. exam boards he would have studied for (quite legitimately) but they also requested long / short term and schemes of work and lesson plans for each subject. The school declined the latter!

Re the sitting of Gases over several years - many RG universities, and especially medical schools, like to see them taken at the same time. This shows that the student can cope with the stress of multiple exams.

Blooming auto correct! It's GCSEs.

Re the sitting of Gases over several years - many RG universities, and especially medical schools, like to see them taken at the same time. This shows that the student can cope with the stress of multiple exams.

I've heard this in theory but never experienced it as an issue in practice for home ed students, who can get GCSEs (and A levels) from quite a young age. I think unis recognise the different paths and that the discipline of doing it much more on your own out of school is is recognised. I assume that the same year thing is more aimed at those that have got their grades though retakes.

DD was applying to medical school a couple of years ago, and most of them specified that they wanted grade A or above in at least 6 GCSEs, and at least 8 GCSEs all taken at the same time.

It's not quite the same as a home edded student though.
Some kids have had to deal with serious illness and all kinds of things which have hampered their education temporarily.
It's going to be considered in a uni application.

DD was applying to medical school a couple of years ago, and most of them specified that they wanted grade A or above in at least 6 GCSEs, and at least 8 GCSEs all taken at the same time.

That might be what they say but IME admissions staff are good at recognising different circumstances and that if you're home ed it's just not the same as being at school, these sort of rules are set up for the majority in school but not applied inappropriately.

We have two or three local secondary schools that accept external candidates, no problem at all.

Neither of my DDs had any problem with GCSEs not all taken together. DD2 had much lower RG offers than any of her college friends. We suspect this was because she looked so interesting on paper - applying for a Physics degree but had done so much unrelated stuff (Lots of music, ice skated at national competitive level, professional panto, art, sports, poetry, volunteering, local youth theatre etc). Yes, lots of schooled children did some of this too but I think the difference was she had so much free time for this kind of thing that she looked so diverse and it made her stand out.

The things we were told would be a problem (GCSEs not taken together, no MFL, some IGSCEs instead of GCSEs) were not mentioned at all by any uni.

I know more than one HE child who has done a year of an OU course (no GCSEs required!) then transferred to actual uni on the strength of that. Not easy but certainly possible!

My son is home educated and has just taken his gcse's. He sat Maths and English papers at our local adult education college. He attended 3 hr classes twice a week for two years.

Lots of information here he-exams.wikia.org/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki

Home-educating families sometimes pay for courses, sometimes just do it under their own steam using books and online resources.

@TabbyStar

they're not constrained by the classroom or the text book and can take learning of into any direction they want. Lots of shared activities and workshops and trips to do things we'd never have done when DD was at school.

The point was that by learning from textbooks and online lectures alone the student wouldn't get a great education (although could easily get good grades). For a great education they need peer interactions (preferably with a known peer group - which from the sound of it can happen at workshops) and also expert direction. So for example they can do some research and see something they think is a contradiction for example and have a discussion with someone who can lead them to a resolution. An expert will be able to put the proper stepping stones in place so they can make the leaps themselves.

That said this "great" education often doesn't happen in schools and bright students are sometimes left bored and other students can be left behind. This wasn't a criticism of home schooling just a recognition of the limitations involved if a student doesn't have someone available who is qualified to teach the subject.

My experience is that lots of state secondaries accept external students

You are very lucky then Dana, we couldn't find any within an hour of us.

None near us, though there's a v well established relationship with a private school.