Homeschool

[Nic0714]

I am new to this and not here to be critisised. My child is in year 6 he is dyslexic cant read properly, write or spell. He cant do maths, struggles with understanding what is being said and has long term memory difficulties so what hes been taught today theres every chance he cant remember any of it tomorrow. Most of the work he does is year 3 work. He starts high school next year and i am dreading it as i feel he will not cope at all. The high school have said there wont be much support for him and he wont get half as much help as he does in primary school. Obviously i want him to give it a go for the social side of things but if he becomes withdrawn, sad, miserable then i will pull him out and homeschool him because his mental health and happiness is more important to me than his education.
Has anyone pulled their child out of high school who is dyslexic and homeschooled? How do you know what to learn them and were to get the materials from? Also do they sit GCSE's. Any info would be great. Thankyou.

I suggest you join the HEFA (home education for all) Facebook page and ask this question. You will get many more useful responses there than on MN. There will be hundreds of parents in there in your exact situation.

I HE my children (two of whom are secondary age though not dyslexic) and they are working towards a handful of GCSE’s just to get into college. They are spreading them out over a few years and won’t have them all by age 16 as is the norm in schools. Home education can be anything you want it to be. It does NOT have to replicate school and does not follow the National Curriculum or any similar age related expectations. So in that sense would really suit your son.

Thankyou for you advice :)

I don't home school but agree in general that many of the alternative secondaries do fewer subjects - so perhaps English, maths, and then other subjects that are built around their interests. Online schools are worth looking at too.

Not in UK and I am sure there are excellent home school support. I would just caution to see what is available in the school system there to help have a clear run to national qualifications.

In Ireland we have specific dyslexic support school, I am familiar with one in Dublin. It is life changing for the children who usually go for a year or longer depending on need. It has brought children from non literacy to peer level.

I would be surprised if there isn't something similar in UK system. I would also push for assessments because it doesn't sound like it's just dyslexia and an additional processing challenge?

It would just be worth getting as much support and tools before home education.

I would echo this as well. It sounds like maybe because of the lack of resources your son hasn’t been prioritised but it sounds like a really comprehensive assessment of his needs should be offered asap as this will also help you to understand how to support him?

Does your son have an EHCP?

Exactly this, if he's doing work 3 years behind the other children, he's clearly in need of one. Have a look at local secondary schools who are able support children with dyslexia (or other SEND properly) and apply to have that provision named on the ECHP.

Your English skills are not good enough for you to homeschool.

This sounds amazing. England do not have this kind of provision.

Unnecessarily rude. I can see a couple of typos but I have no idea why you assume OP is not intelligent enough to homeschool.

OP, who diagnosed him with dyslexia? Has he ever had an educational psychologist assessment him? Does he have an EHCP? If not, can you arrange a meeting with school to discuss applying for an "EHC Needs Assessment"?

I feel for you OP as my y6 child is like this, also working at year 3 and struggles with comprehension and working memory. He has an echp and is in a specialist school, I have been told he may just sit functional skills in maths rather than gcse if he stays on this trajectory.

I have no advice regarding home schooling sorry but I do encourage you to help your child find his passion and his strengths. Theres a guy on YouTube who left school as a teenager with no qualifications and he has his own successful business and is a really positive and endearing character. Alfie Odd Job his channel is called.
Obviously encourage your child and fight for as much support as possible but having an academic background isn't the be all and end all. As long as he is literate enough to get through life if he works hard he will forge his own path. Hope that came across as encouraging and not patronising x

If DS doesn’t have an EHCP, you should request an EHCNA ASAP. On their website, IPSEA has a model letter you can use.

If DS already has an EHCP, the support he needs should be detailed, specified and quantified in F. Then it must be provided and can be enforced. This would also open up other placements - special schools, mainstreams DS wouldn’t typically be offered a place in, and, if necessary, EOTIS/EOTAS.

But if you want to EHE, there’s no one way to do it. Some sit GCSEs. Some don’t. There isn’t a set curriculum you have to teach - although if DS goes on to sit GCSEs, you will need to look at the syllabus for the GCSE(s) which you can find on the exam boards’ websites. People use a variety of resources - books, tutors, online schools, forest schools, care farms, home ed groups, YouTube, online subscriptions…

We are very lucky. But to be clear not every child has the schooling they deserve. But I know most schools are doing their best to make mainstream as accessible for as many as possible.

I saw some child in my eldest class head to the dyslexia specialist school at age 8 for a year and it was life changing for them.

To be be very honest the best bit was when the child told us at assembly how it was and presented a PowerPoint on it. Seeing that child stand up and do that has everyone wiping a tear.

They explained how dyslexia for them was their three levels different in their writing versus their oral response capacity.

Specialist schools and/or ARPs (or unit/base/whatever that LA calls them) for dyslexia exist in some LAs in England. They don’t usually offer a placement just for a year but certainly for the ‘or longer’ part of @Marblesbackagain post.

I am in Ireland our education system is completely different set up.

I know you said you were in Ireland, I was just letting the pp know similar placements (not necessarily just for a year, but in-line with like you saying ‘or longer’) exist in England.

You need an EHCP before you go down the home Ed route. If you home Ed you have to at least write a yearly report showing progress and if you can't show progress they force the kid back to school. Apply for the EHCP yourself don't leave school to do it for a year 6 child they won't be bothered. As part of that process he will be assessed by an educational psychologist. If the EHCP is refused (most are) you then go to mediation and then tribunal and over 90%of tribunals go in parents favour. if you don't get the EHCP (you will if you fight for it!) you will at least have the Ed psych report to show your child has significant SEND and should not have his progress measured against national averages.

If you get the EHCP but your LA can't find a school then there is something called EOTIS which essentially is home education with a tutor and the LA fund this.

If you already have an EHCP you need to call an emergency review as clearly the support isn't enough/he needs specialist secondary school.

I home educate one child and have EOTIS for my other high need SEND child. No way could I do home Ed for high needs Sen it's very challenging and if he doesn't retain the information as you say that needs specialist ways of teaching.

Home ed all the responsibility for his education will fall on you. If you are not confident to teach multiple GCSEs then don't do it. What were your own GCSEs like? Many kids are not academic so just need to get their maths and English to get into a collage course or t levels etc. HOWEVER you are making this decision for him before you really know what his future is. It infuriates me seeing parents ruin their children's future by failing them in education. I absolutely acknowledge home Ed will be better for you son than mainstream senior school without adequate support, I know of many many home Ed families forced into home Ed because they can't face the fight with the LA for Sen provision, I just feel it should be last resort.

Another option is keep him in school/request flexi schooling. Either get him a tutor at home or use an hour each evening and a couple at the weekend to home educate around school to support him to be able to stay in school and have more options for his future. For maths I recommend whiteroseeducation they have videos then workbooks and you can work though that at home together and it won't matter if you are not a maths teacher because it's all taught in the video. You just have to watch with your child and work on it together if he's stuck you will have literally just had the explanation yourself. English is much much harder, it takes a lot of parental input or a good amount of time with a tutor (an hour a week won't cut it!). There are websites and apps you can get. If you find something interesting he can do it for fun while learning. 'The night zookeeper' is good. Twinkl is good for resources. Bbcbitesize. IXL have a certain amount fee a day. Lots of options but it's seriously hard work and personally having been forced to home educate a dyslexic Sen child under the guise of EOTIS because the LA won't educate him I say avoid it if you can. You constantly nag and tell them off for not wanting to work and it really impacts your relationship. You stress planning ways to teach always looking for new ways that might work better. He have to remain calm and not get irritated when you can't remember what you spent two hours on yesterday etc etc. SEN education for a child who struggles to retain what is taught is specialist it's a huge responsibility and maybe it will be your only option but try to get the LA to provide. Legally they have to. Read the education act and the children's act and quote it at th that they are failing their legal responsibilities and have a duty to your child

Think it's Section 20 of the children and families act 2014 you need to force them to asses go EHCP

A child or young person has special educational needs if he or she has a learning difficulty or disability which calls for special educational provision to be made for him or her.
(2)
A child of compulsory school age or a young person has a learning difficulty or disability if he or she—
(a)
has a significantly greater difficulty in learning than the majority of others of the same age, or
(b)
has a disability which prevents or hinders him or her from making use of facilities of a kind generally provided for others of the same age in mainstream schools or mainstream post-16 institutions.

This one isn't law but it's guidance so just quote it at them like law they can't exactly say legally we don't have to fuck off. https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/5a7cac22ed915d7c983bc342/specialeducationallneedscodeeof_practice.pdf

Facebook is a great place for advice on the EHCP process. There are national groups but you will likely also have a local SEND group that will be able to tell you what's available locally support wise and who to address formal complaints to with your LA etc.

If you want more information on home education look at the the website 'education otherwise' there's lots of info there and it explains the legal responsibility you have with home Ed etc

Section 20 of the Children and Families Act 2014 is only the legal definition of SEN. It is not the threshold for a EHCNA. That is set out in Section 36(8) of the Children and Families Act 2014. The legal test for an EHCNA is a) has or may have special educational needs, and b) it may be necessary for special educational provision to be made in accordance with an EHCP.

EOTIS which essentially is home education with a tutor and the LA fund this.

That is one form EOTIS/EOTAS can take. It is not what all EOTAS/EOTIS packages look like. For example, some do not have a tutor at all. EOTAS/EOTIS packages are bespoke to the individual child and their individual needs, a tutor (at home or otherwise) is not appropriate for every child or young person.

If you have to appeal you don’t have to actively partake in mediation, you only have to consider it. Parents can request a certificate and submit to SENDIST without actively partaking.

There are at least 13.
it’s a bit like saying ‘I not a great driver, but I’m going to teach my child to drive.’
But worse.

Thanks for the clarification.

You do need to quote the legal definition of SEN to get the EHCPNA though. Technically you shouldn't have to but you have to argue your child has Sen so meet criteria for assessment as the assessment criteria is "may have SEN".

you have to argue your child has Sen so meet criteria for assessment as the assessment criteria is "may have SEN".

This rather contradicts itself. You do not have to show DC has SEN like the first part of the sentence suggests. Only that they may have SEN as per the last part of your sentence.

Lots of the time, you don’t need to quote the legal definition of SEN in EHCNA requests because the first part of the test is normally the easier part to demonstrate. Where LAs dispute the legal test for an EHCNA is met, most of the time it is the second part of they claim DC don’t meet.

You could just hire a driving instructor. Just like you can hire a tutor.