Em I'm going to the dentist tomorrow too. Hoping that last week's sugar cravings and 3am bowls of cereal haven't done too much damage!
Girlie your poor brother, he's going to be out of action for a while isn't he? Good that he has family to look after him.
Ipso I honestly don't know the answer to your question! The biggest advantage I can see of independent schools is smaller class sizes which mean much more individual support for children than we could ever give.
Having said that I work in a very nurturing school with a strong pastoral ethos and a superb SEN dept so there are state schools around that fit the bill.
I can see pros and cons of each and of home ed. I love the idea of home ed but I imagine it must be pretty exhausting researching and planning resources for all the subjects! At least at school we mainly teach to our specialisms and can reuse resources/whole lessons with different classes.
I think the best thing would be to visit lots of schools, talk to staff, parents and students (if possible) and see what seems best.
Think we have really screwed up with DD. We thought we'd start talking a bit about what will happen when the babies come to prepare her a bit. She's just focussed on mummy being in hospital and is really upset. She woke up crying this morning and saying she doesn't want mummy to go without her and she didn't want to go to nursery, more tears. Fortunately her key worker is amazing and got her through the door with big cuddles and kind words.
I feel awful, wish we'd never mentioned it. She's been excited about the babies until now and I think she's going to keep worrying now. I don't know whether to mention it again or not.