AIBU to think teachers that developed this would be onto a nice little earner.

[confusedandold]

Posting here for traffic.
We're moving back to the UK in November, my eldest has been homeschooled since September due to an operation and my youngest as well since March. When we arrive in the UK I am expecting difficulties in getting my eldest into secondary school (North West Leicestershire) as there doesn't seem to be any places at the catchment area school. I will, therefore, be in a position where I need to carry on homeschooling until there is a place.

I'm following the UK curriculum so I am pretty clued up with the resources that are available out there and I'm subscribed to some excellent ones. One of my favorites was designed by a retired Science Teacher. He has created courses for KS2, KS3 and GCSE where there are narrated powerpoints for all the topics. He also provides worksheets and they work alongside the well known CGP books. I also look for Youtube videos that relate to the topics and mark the work done. It is excellent and my son is absolutely flying ahead with Science, understanding it, and more importantly, enjoying it. It is great for me as all the resources are organised and it wasn't ridiculously expensive either. I also subscribe to another resource for ICT which was approx £100 for the whole KS3 course. In comparison, for other subjects I have to spend a lot of time finding resources and planning what he is going to do.

I think over the coming months there will be many parents who will be homeschooling for various reasons, many who will not have the funds to put a lot of money into it with places such as Interhigh or Wosley College.

AIBU to think that it would be amazing if some ex- teachers (retired?) out there could great something similar to the Science course I mentioned for subjects such as English, History and Geography. They could be used alongside cheap and easily obtained books such as CGP. Keep the costs reasonable and I'm sure there would be lots of subscribers. I know that the ex-teacher who does the Science course props up his pension nicely with it and because he keeps the price at a sensible level he gets lots of subscribers.

I'm not saying this is suitable for homes where parents are not able to oversee homeschooling, but for those homes where the parents are willing and able but don't know where to start.

Also, you appear not to understand that there is no such thing as 'one curriculum' for English and history.

In our town (I get the ads on facebook) 2 teachers are doing forest school/tutoring in maths and english outdoors all day for groups of 5 kids. You can sign them up for the whole week if you need childcare. I imagine they've made a fortune!

I would have merrily sent DS1 along as he loves going in the woods but it was for ages 6-11 and he's only 4.

@Piggywaspushed
That came across as a bit narky. I'm sure you didn't mean it that way. I'm obviously not an expert, just a parent trying to fill the gap until I can get back to the UK and get my children into school. There are lots of parents in similar situations who are having to make temporary arrangements. I'm not a teacher, I'm no expert. I have just outlined what I have experienced as a parent. At least I am taking ownership and will not be dumping my children on a state school on arrival having not been educated for several months.I know that there isn't one curriculum, but there is certainly a lot of overlap that could be covered.

Did you read my previous point mentioning Massolit?

The trouble is, that you could end up teaching history topics, or English texts and they would be the wrong ones. That really is a big issue. Science and maths syllabuses are more homogenous. It wasn't meant to be narky, just a reason why what you suggest is problematic.

I have never come across anything decent for English language myself.

I’m an English teacher and is has been incredibly difficult to teach remotely during this period.

For GCSE I strongly recommend Mr Bruff on YouTube, although that is just lecture style presentations without any exercises to complete. For KS3 and 4 Seneca is a great tool. It “teaches” in small chunks and then checks understand with a variety of question types afterwards. I teach in an SEMH school and my students love it. It’s short, snappy and, whilst they probably wouldn’t say it was exciting, it isn’t too boring! Oh, and it’s mostly free (you can upgrade to premium but I’ve never bothered).

@Piggywaspushed
Sorry, yes, sure you didn't mean it in that way. Dangers of message boards I guess. I have just checked out Massolit. It looks very good, not sure if it's at too high a level for my just turned 13-year-old but will have a look - especially the lectures on Gothic Literature. Thanks for that x

Schools who have subscriptions to Seneca and Massolit can also share with the pupils, so should be cost free.

@Blueemeraldagain
It's funny you should say that about English as its the hardest subject to help my son with of all the subjects. My son is bilingual the non-english language has become the dominant language. For this reason, he's a little behind and spellings are always a massive effort. Since September we've done loads of Grammar, spelling work, PEEL paragraphs, essay writing, intro to Shakespeare, Gothic literature, Comprehension and loads of reading of age-appropriate books. He did a 6 week transactional course in speech writing, writing to persuade etc. He's just done a 1000 word piece of flash fiction. I've spent so much time and effort on this topic and still feel like I have no clue if I am doing enough and feel like I am jumping about all over the place.I did English Lit up to A-Level but my goodness, I reckon it is the hardest subject of all to teach a child. I long for the day when I can hand him over to a proper English teacher - I'll get a tutor in if need be. In comparison, we've managed ok with Maths, Science, Geography and History.

I just had a look at Massolit, thanks Piggy. Unfortunately the school isn't signed up so I'm not sure I can register to have a look for my DC doing Edexcel English.

@TW2013
We were supposed to be moving to Leicestershire in June but then Covid-19 happened and our new moving date in November. I contacted North West Leicestershire council and they said I can't apply until we're here and they were full for his year (this was in January). The school is a 5-10 minute walk from where we will be living, the other school, which does have places is a bus ride away. I'm so hoping he can get into the school that is within walking distance. He has asthma so I don't really want him to use Public Transport. Also, we don't know a single person in the area so it would be nice to be at a school near to where we live so that he can make friends. I'm trying not to think about it but I've been expecting to have to take it to appeal when we get there. I've been home educating since September due to an operation, this was supposed to prepare him for our June move back to the UK and entry into school in September. He will have been educated at home for 15 months by the time he gets to the UK which isn't ideal, but what can I do?

Yes, it is a problem with Massolit. I wish more schools knew about it, and could afford it, which is an issue with state education and funding.

I don't work for them by the way! I just think it is amazing!

I am a music teacher and remote teaching has been a challenge. Thankfully there are many online resources and for GCSE there are excellent websites which guide students through specific parts of the specification. The one I use also divides by exam board specification. I'm not sure there is the need to create more resources but rather become aware and use the ones that are there.

[quote confusedandold]@Lougle

We use Conquer Maths as it teaches the subject before attempting the questions. It also marks it and you get a report, as a parent, of the results. I can print off a report for say KS3 and it will show me what areas have been covered, what the grades were, what areas he was struggling with. It's excellent.

Where is really seems to be lacking is for English, History and Geography.[/quote]
The difference is that with maths you either get the question right or wrong. There are no grey areas for interpretation. I don't see how that would work as well for the other subjects.

I knew from your OP exactly which science course you were talking about and pretty sure about the IT one too as they are what my DS (currently at GCSE level) has been using for several years.

For other subjects I would recommend checking out Humanatees. They have put quite a bit of their content for KS2 on YouTube for free, but even their KS3/GCSE stuff is very reasonably priced. My DD is doing her history GCSE with them but they also cover geography, RE and more diverse stuff like mythology and philosophy.

For English DD is doing a Catherine Mooney course. It isn't online at all, more like an old fashioned correspondence course (but by email) but she is getting on great with it and combined with a Home Ed book club for lit, I feel we have the curriculum well covered.

I haven’t used their courses but Dreaming Spires for English looks good. Don’t think it fits neatly into the national curriculum but that’s not a bad thing in my book

We have used & enjoyed Brave Writer for English (again not aligned with the NC).

The difference is that with maths you either get the question right or wrong. There are no grey areas for interpretation. I don't see how that would work as well for the other subjects.

Yes, but it's not marked that way. Even if you write down the right answer in a GCSE paper, you won't get full marks if you've not put down the working. Conversely, you can pass GCSE without getting a single question "right" if you pick up enough "workings" marks on every question. So, it's not as black & white as you think.

Online Maths marking is also problematic for the same reason. The computer can only mark "right" or "wrong" - it can't award marks for workings as you only put in your final answer. So, it unrealistic compared to the GCSE itself.

Facts re history, English, etc., are easier for online learning as the computer could easily be set up to answer multiple choice questions on the core facts such as Shakespearian quotes, dates, "who's who" in literature, spelling & grammar etc. Yes, of course, it can't mark an essay, but you need to know some facts to write the essay in the first place.

So, each subject has it's challenges, pros and cons.

I’m an English teacher and would say that good English teaching is about eliciting responses rather than imparting information. Tricky to do in prerecorded PowerPoints.

@badbadbunny you don't get marks in GCSE history for getting facts and dates right . It's a skills based subject. Obviously you need the knowledge but the what you do with it and skills of interpretation and source work that are the real things being assessed

This is good. Thanks for the science links. We home educate too. Agree that it would be nice to have the whole curriculum in one place. We used to use my online schooling. It was good in some ways, we could choose the classes we wanted, cancel with a month's notice, unlike others. But the quality of teaching was variable, some brilliant, others not so good, for my kids anyway, I know other people's experiences might be different. When teachers were off sick, often they were not replaced. We could watch the video catch up lessons, but if I was going to do that I wouldnt be paying the premium for live lessons.

@Badbadbunny
The comment about Conquer Maths was in response to another poster who mentioned Hegarty maths. I'm not really looking for an online quiz, I create my own for Facts on Quizlets or looking for something that marks work as I appreciate this isn't really appropriate for the humanities except for facts.

I'll give an example. For English, I am running all over the place grabbing resources from all different sources. Twinkl, CGP books, Collins books, Literacy Planet, short online tutorials etc. There was one tutor I used who got it just right, but she only does a couple of topics. I signed up for 6 week tutorial classes for my son on 'Transactional Writing' It was a six-week course and one week covered speech writing, another week persuasive writing etc. The lesson was on zoom with a PowerPoint. We didn't watch live but she emailed the PowerPoint and recording and there is homework at the end for the parent to mark (not ideal but life isn't ideal at the moment). We did another course on Gothic Literature.
I just thought it would be great if there was an online resource where the major English topics were covered. So voiced over Powerpoints and worksheets for say Gothic Literature, Intro to Shakespeare, Poetry, perhaps a text like Lord of the flies, age-appropriate lessons with worksheets or directions to related work in a particular textbook that can be sourced from Amazon. All of this under one roof, instead of flying around across many different providers, watching youtube videos to see if they're appropriate. I'd be willing to pay yearly subs for this. There could be two tiers so for a higher cost you can sent in work to be marked periodically.

As I've said in previous posts, I'm not talking about this being a solution for school children but for those parents that are having to withdraw their children from school, will no longer have help from school and can't afford £3k a child for Interhigh or the like.

For example, I am having to teach my children until the end of the calendar year. I spend soooo much time going through resources trying to work out what is appropriate and what isn't, there are lots of resources out there but a lot is very good.

The Science Course if excellent. It links in with CGP books. The teacher doesn't mark it, it's down to the parent to oversee and check but it gives parents a framework to work by.

I know several parents back in the UK who are pulling their children from school due to vulnerable family members. They won't get any support from school and they can't afford online school - they are on their own. They will hopefully not be long term homeschoolers, it is a temporary measure. They also differ from most homeschoolers in the sense that they want to keep their child in line with the curriculum so that can return with things get back to normality. They are homeschooling out of necessity, not choice and need some low-cost resources. As I've mentioned above, there are a ton of resources online but the quality is variable. To be able to subscribe to a resource as I've mentioned for History, Geography and English would be a godsend.

I think it is a time for people with entrepreneurial spirit to get busy.

Thanks for sharing resources/opinions all, this has been very interesting.

[quote Duvetday8]@badbadbunny you don't get marks in GCSE history for getting facts and dates right . It's a skills based subject. Obviously you need the knowledge but the what you do with it and skills of interpretation and source work that are the real things being assessed[/quote]
Yes, but you still need to know the basics. They may not be specifically asking "who did what" or "what date did xyz happen" but you need to have some knowledge to write about. Even when they give you a piece of information, to get the top marks, you need to relate information given to other knowledge to put it into context etc.

Such as a random question from the 2018 GCSE paper

"Explain why the Nazis were able to reduce unemployment in Germany in the years 1933-39."

You need to know some information/facts to answer that don't you as it didn't relate to any source material provided in the exam!

@youwereagoodcakeclyde
It would be fabulous if an English, History, Science, and Geography teacher got together to formulate something so that it had a common look and feel to it. It would be lovely for example when studying a topic if there were suggestions of books or films that relate to the topic.

I'm a member of lots of homeschooling groups and what is apparent to me is just how many UK children are being homeschooled, not due to choice but because of bullying, poor mental health, or special educational needs that can't be met. There are thousands of parents around the country trying to get their children's qualifications while trying to work and keep a roof over their heads. There is no financial support and they even have to pay for GCSE exams as a private candidate. I find the latter appalling. I think that all under 19's should be permitted to sit GCSE's as a private candidate and it will be funded by the Government. I find it appalling that a child has had to be pulled from school due to bullying, the parents have then had to educate them with no financial help only to be met with the biggest kick in the teeth at they now have to pay a couple of hundred pounds a time to sit GCSE exams.

There are also children out there on school waiting lists or children that are off school due to long term ill-health. If one good thing can come out of this pandemic it's that more thought will be given to alternative methods of teaching so that the children mentioned are not forgotten and cast to one side.