Home Educating

[vicmike]

Hi this is my first post. I am considering home educating my 14 year old son who should be starting year 10 in September. I have been doing loads of research but really don't know where to start. Can anyone give me advise on what books are good to use, any websites that are helpful, just any information would be great. Thank you

There is a Home Ed board on here - would you like to move this thread there?

If you are looking of specific info about exams, exam prep, exam orientated curriculum etc from an HE perspective this wiki is fab.

he-exams.wikia.com/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki

Very nice yahoo group too. Very helpful.

Thank you atomik what a useful website

Hi vicmike!

Bit of an overview:

Your son doesn't have to do exams at all (my daughter isn't, not at the moment anyway). Most HE teens do do qualifications of some sort, most often IGCSEs because those are exam-based so there's no need to find someone to validate coursework.

If he does do exams, he can do any number of them, in whichever subjects he likes, at any age. Home educated kids typically spread them out over several years, often starting with their strongest or the most straightforward subjects. So there is a lot of flexibility compared with school.

You'd need to identify an exam centre or centres which will allow him to sit the exams as a private candidate. This can be tricky. Some people say it is the hardest part of the whole process! Join the Yahoo group which Atomik mentioned, plus your local Facebook or Yahoo home ed group, and keep your ear to the ground. Eventually it will all start making sense!

Even though you may want to start familiarising yourself with the exam process in case your son wants to do one or two next spring, he doesn't have to start studying right away. He might benefit from a break from academic work, especially if he had a rough time at school. Most parents recommend relaxing and letting him do whatever interests him and makes him happy, academic or not. There's no hurry. There's no class with which he has to "keep up", and no such thing as falling behind.

Thank you for your help Saracen. I think I'm gonna go ahead and home educate. My son is a lot happier already. It's just knowing the right books and resources to use but hopefully I'll get it sorted. Definitely gonna go with IGCSEs

It is completely possibly to HE during the GCSE years and it is something that we might consider when the time comes. Do make sure you look into timings though...

We have friends who did HE from the early years and originally they were going to eschew formal qualifications. However their kids had academic ambitions and wanted to go to uni so - to be able to opt into that part of the education system via 6th form college - they had to do a min of 5 GCSEs in a single year.

This may be irrelevant to you but it is worth bearing in mind if you are bothered about higher education and want to avoid having to pay for A levels and/or prefer to have your child in with a similar aged uni cohort.

Good luck!