You have a choice, and can home school....

[Lua]

... I hear this all the time. The question is: is that even possible these days?

What happened to home schooled kids in year 11 and 13 this year, does anyone know? Kids not at school would not have had teachers grade, right?

Is it really an option to keep some kids at home?

I think a lot of the people who speak so enthusiastically about lockdown home education have one or two primary school age children.

Older teens are a whole other ball game.

I can see why the government havent given the choice of home learning or going to school. Remember what happened in June - lots of parents kicking off not wanting their R/1/6 kids to go back because it wasn’t safe, yet by July every man and his dog were identifying as a keyworker. You’d end up with lots of deregistrations in September and the same number of re-enrolments in October. More chaos.

Err, no actually. We haven't de-registered and won't be sending our children back to school in October. Very arrogant of you.

I could not teach maths and physics so not sure how on Earth it would work with subjects you are not proficient at yourself

It is amazing how little people know about the internet.

I could not teach maths and physics so not sure how on Earth it would work with subjects you are not proficient at yourself

Teachers are taught techniques to help children learn. The subject matter isn’t that relevant. Certainly not up to GCSE anyway. I used to help an English special needs teacher with the Welsh they needed for the next lesson when I was doing my A levels.

Spare a thought for the thousands of parents in this country who have had no alternative but to home educate, not because of covid, but because of the appalling lack of SEN support.

I've had to take my kids out of school and homeschool because there is no viable alternative, unless I wanted to send my eldest to a residential school hundreds of miles away or put my youngest in a taxi for 2 hours each way to a dyslexia specialist school.

Home education is very possible and there are loads of resources available. Many children are better educated at home than they could be in a class of 30 in school where there needs are not met.

My eldest is now going to take 2 GCSE's a year early in subjects that are not available in most mainstream schools due to the restrictions on options.

He does an online learning scheme which is mainly self led but he has assignments moderated, I think that in the light of covid these marks will be used in the event that there is a situation where exams cannot be taken in the future. However given the fiasco this year I think that that will never be allowed to happen again.

@Shockingstocking Err, no actually. We haven't de-registered and won't be sending our children back to school in October. Very arrogant of you.

I hope you are prepared to be fined, then.

@Shockingstocking

Some schools have made an arrangement with the LEA that they will send work home to registered children who aren't attending school. Provided the work is completed and returned to the school no action will be taken.

Wondering where this might be? This is precisely what I would wish for. I felt it was impossible but I also thought most schools and councils will want to dissuade deregistration.

@cantdothisnow1

Home education is very possible and there are loads of resources available.

I assume you have are married and have a wage coming into the house?

What would you have done for your children if you had no financial support?

I’m so bored of people with money acting like it’s a choice everyone can make.

[quote Heistsaredumb]@cantdothisnow1

Home education is very possible and there are loads of resources available.

I assume you have are married and have a wage coming into the house?

What would you have done for your children if you had no financial support?

I’m so bored of people with money acting like it’s a choice everyone can make.[/quote]
Actually there was no choice my eldest was suicidal when he came out of school, he was trying to throw himself in front of cars. I had to give up a high paying job because it was either that or a dead child.

Plenty of single parents who don't work of children with SEN are forced into poverty / onto benefits because of the lack of provision.

It is not ALWAYS a choice.

However this is derailing the thread because this situation is clearly different from COVID.

I’m so bored of people with money acting like it’s a choice everyone can make.

In my experience plenty of home educating families have modest/below average incomes. There are plenty with money too of course.

It depends I think how the household income is built up. One person full-time, one at home means you could do it, two people full-time means you can't, even if family income is the same. Money alone is not the reason, rather hours spent working between the adults.

And @Heistsaredumb

I'm bored of people who lack the imagination to realise that not all children can be in school.

Nobody in this government actually gives a shit about whether the parents have the ability to pick up the tab for the education that the state fails to provide.

These are the forgotten children. There are thousands of them.

Obviously the success of the home ed might well depend on the parent's resources and that really is not fair.

@latticechaos

I’m so bored of people with money acting like it’s a choice everyone can make.

In my experience plenty of home educating families have modest/below average incomes. There are plenty with money too of course.

It depends I think how the household income is built up. One person full-time, one at home means you could do it, two people full-time means you can't, even if family income is the same. Money alone is not the reason, rather hours spent working between the adults.

absolutely, there are plenty of free resources out there and many parents I know manage part time jobs/ home working whilst educating at home.

Still missing the point. If you didn’t have money or a partner to share the finances, what would you have done? What if you weren’t allowed benefits because you’d left a job? Would you all starve to death?

You need money to home educate. Denying that is ridiculous.

I lack no imagination. Many children can’t be in school. But if their family has no money, what else can they do?

Don’t deny that your money makes it possible for you.

I had to give up a high paying job because it was either that or a dead child.

And this just highlights exactly my point. Could a low income single parent have done the same?

Heistsaredumb

If your child is trying to kill themself at the prospect of being at school you can't send them to school no matter your financial position.

LOTS of parents have to face this whether they are wealthy or not. They don't send their children to school because they can't go.

I'm not sure why you are being so objectionable. There is a programme on SEN education failings called 'fighting for an education' on Panorama on September 7. I suggest you watch it and you will see that this issue does not only, as you bizarrely suggest, effect the wealthy.

Not that I am wealthy or that my financial position is any of your business.

I lack no imagination. Many children can’t be in school. But if their family has no money, what else can they do?

At the point at which the decision happens the family is known to many agencies. My son was under the care of CAMHS and was know to the LA as being a child in need and he had an EHCP. There are support groups for parents on Facebook and there are charities to support families in this situation.

The child / family will probably be entitle to a social care assessment.

Home education is the last resort because all other interventions have failed. It is likely that the parent will have had to give up work before the child is withdrawn from school These things do not exist in a bubble I was at school more than I was at work or home in the months before I withdrew my son trying to make things work.

Can't

This will be an issue we face. Dd has come on incredibly well since lock down.
It's been astonishing actually and to be honest I needed more time with her and we could have brought her up to date.

Sen provison is shocking but teachers don't get trained in it, many SENCO are that in title only!

I'll be watching that program.
I fully expect to be continuing to almost homeschool dd via tutors and books brought by me.

@Alpacinoseyes

Can't

This will be an issue we face. Dd has come on incredibly well since lock down.
It's been astonishing actually and to be honest I needed more time with her and we could have brought her up to date.

Sen provison is shocking but teachers don't get trained in it, many SENCO are that in title only!

I'll be watching that program.
I fully expect to be continuing to almost homeschool dd via tutors and books brought by me.

[Flowers] it must be awful for the children who can't manage transition and the message being 'get back or you will be fined' is just dreadful, it fails to acknowledge the particular difficulties faced by SEN children.

Also if you are on Facebook I'd recommend the 'Not Fine In School' Facebook group, there is plenty of sensible advice on there.

for all of you who have children who are 'not fine in school', this is going to be a tough September for lots of families.

DH and I can't work and homeschool. Exhaustion would take us before coronavirus.

This was from an email from my daughter’s school

Shielding was paused on the 1st of August and so all children should attend school. If a child is unable to attend school because they are complying with clinical and/or public health advice we will be able to provide them with access to remote learning materials to replicate the content that they would have been covering in school. We will require a copy of the official shielding letter issued by the medical professional which states your child's need to shield.

It doesn’t sound as if you can take your child out of school without a valid medical reason which has to be verified by a medical professional

@Alex50

This was from an email from my daughter’s school

Shielding was paused on the 1st of August and so all children should attend school. If a child is unable to attend school because they are complying with clinical and/or public health advice we will be able to provide them with access to remote learning materials to replicate the content that they would have been covering in school. We will require a copy of the official shielding letter issued by the medical professional which states your child's need to shield.

It doesn’t sound as if you can take your child out of school without a valid medical reason which has to be verified by a medical professional

You can take them out of school permanently with a deregistration letter.

If you don't deregister you risk a fine.

The problem with children with SEN as it is often mental health that causes the inability to attend, due to the fact that the provision is unsuitable. Many doctors are sadly, unwilling, to say that it is medically necessary for a child to be off school, although I have had experience of CAMHS writing to schools to say that a break is required.

A break without the gap in provision being plugged will however exacerbate the problem for children with SEN and mental health problems which is why the Lockdown will disproportionately effect them.

Interesting to see you suddenly have lots of info, Alex.