Online Schooling, could this be the answer to my prayers?

[imnotforty]

My ds has just started at secondary school. He has emotional problems, dyspraxia and possibly aspergers. He has always struggled with school, he seems to be targeted and picked on and it is making his life a misery.

Since he has started at secondary, a boy from primary school has been calling him names and despite me going into the school, this wasn't nipped in the bud and now most of year 7 are joining in. He has been attacked twice by a boy he doesn't even know. The antagonist from primary seems to be stepping up a gear and is even getting his younger brother to pass on nasty messages through my dd.

After having him sobbing all evening and saying he wants to go to another school, I have decided to keep him home until after half term.

I have been looking at online schools and I just wondered if this might be the answer to our problems. Money is obviously a consideration as I'm a single parent and i'm on a tight budget.

Also if i withdraw him from school, I assume that support from outside agencies will be withdrawn and I will be on my own.

Any advice would be great. TIA.

hi, im sorry to hear your son is having such a bad time at school.

I hope that having him home this week will make take away some of his worries so that he can relax and feel happier in himself.

If your son is becoming ill from what is going on at school then I would suggest going to your Gp and explaining this. If a child misses 3 weeks of school (think i have that right) due to illness, stress and anxiety, the LEA is legally obliged to provide medical tuition, minimum of 5 hours a week.

If you went through this option this could give you support in tuition for your son in the short term, whilst you clarify in your own mind whether you want to home educate. If you wanted to do this then DO NOT send in a deregistration letter, as the support will go.

If you have fully made up your mind then send in a deregistration letter and then take some time to unschool, have fun, pretend its a holiday, let your son relax and enjoy what he likes doing.

online schools are very good and can work well for a child that likes structure, my son who is 16 has aspergers, it didnt work for him, yet my daughter who is 13 also has aspergers loves it, she goes to interhigh.

How does your son like to learn? is he a practical child where he likes to be doing things hands on like woodwork, crafts, baking, arts, or does he like to feel like he is being taught?does he want to be part of a class still? if he likes the idea of being at a school still then yes a internet school could work for him.

You know your son the best. Best of luck!

thank you mum. he seems to enjoy the lessons, apart from the other kids. I'm not sure I have the confidence to go it alone, I thought that online schooling might be a happy medium.

I am fairly competent at practical stuff as is his dad, so id feel comfortable with that.

I haven't rung the school yet to say he won't be in, I can't face it.

You need to ring the school and tell them he is off due to stress at the moment, otherwise you are going to have them phoning and asking why he isnt there, you dont need to give anymore reasons than that for now. You can then give yourselves this week and next (half term) to come up with a plan.

If you want to know anything about interhigh, I would be happy to help :-)

It might be good insurance policy to get a sick note from your GP so your son is signed off and not regarded as truanting. This could also help if it came to trying to get the school funding transferred to pay for a home tutor for a while (rare but possible) Alternatively you could make applications to different schools. Or you could ask for his name to be taken off the school roll because you are home educating. There's a single parent yahoo support group I can give you details if you are interested?

Me again. After numerous meetings with the school and moving lesson groups etc etc, my ds went back to school after half term and things appeared to have settled down.

However, his behaviour at home has deteriorated and after an incident on Friday and another one yesterday, he is at home again and not wanting to go to school.

I am exhausted by all of this and ds obviously is as well. I feel that I have done everything I can and maybe it is time to accept that school does not work for ds.

I really need to consider my options now but I'm scared and stressed. I've looked at some of the online schooling options and Interhigh seems to be the clearest website, I really need some advice from someone with more experience though. Anyone?

My DS did two years at Interhigh, and it worked well for him. But he hadn't had any problems with ordinary school, it was just a practical choice for us at the time.

There's certainly less chance for bullying and other "negative" interaction, as they are not haning round between classes etc in the same way. And during class time the teacher can pull them up if there's any disruption.

I'd say the main thing is that Interhigh really provides a set of academic subjects, taught by subject specialists. It's a limitation in that they can't do practical subjects, but OTOH you have time outside the classes to do that sort of stuff. They also try to have opportunities for a "common room" and for other shared activities, but that's not a complete replacement for interacting with other DC. But when the interaction has been the problem, some time just being able to do the academics, settle down, and then maybe then find other activities to interact in later would maybe work well for him.

we have friends outside of school and he has just joined a kick boxing class, I'vegot 3 other kids so always someone around.

god, how do I decide?

It's always tricky! Do you see any real prospect of his current school improving? Do you see any real prospect of another school working out, if he made a direct switch?

If not, then I think some form of home education, at least for a while till he can get his confidence back, would be a good option.

But whether an online school is the right option I also don't know.... You could just take 6 months to let him do other kinds of things, not specific academic subjects, to help him develop his general skills. Or let him try self-study with workbooks etc. Online schools are a relatively expensive option. We used one because it was for years 10 & 11, and it seemed a practical way to study for exams. But at the start of secondary school you don't need to be thinking about that, there's plenty of time.

Maybe a separate thread would help, to ask what people do for HE with a boy his age? Then you might feel you have more options apart from online school.

to be honest, I think he isn't suited to school, he is really struggling with the social side.

thank you for your help, maybe I will start another thread.