Advice on flexi-schooling

[rosinante]

Does anyone have any advice or experience about the best way to structure flexi-schooling for a year 5/6 child please? Does it work best to remove the child for half a term or a term, to attend on certain days of the week, or to attend for part of a majority of days? Does anyone have opinions about the advantages and disadvantages of different approaches please or any further advice about trying this for a time?

My current life means we have the opportunity to travel widely together and I have plenty of time to devote to activities at various locations in the UK and overseas. I would really like my youngest child - the only one at home now -to benefit from this but am not sure how best to approach it, especially with the school. Any advice or ideas would be gratefully received please!

It will depend entirely on the school as to what arrangement you can make. I have more info on my website here edyourself.org/search/?q=flexischooling

I think you need to consider how much consistency your child likes/needs - by this age they often have quite firm friendships in school, and like regularity in their lives. So the concept that flexi-schooling would be a "benefit" to him/her may not match up to what he/she actually values at the moment.

That doesn't mean you should always do what your child says he/she wants, you're the adult and can over-ride when you think you have good reason. But you need to work through what you think is good about flexibility vs what your child thinks about being pulled out of school in the afternoons/on Fridays/for weeks at a time.

If you do think it's good for both of you, then it really depends on how the school day/week is structured - some places focus on the basics in the morning and more varied work later in the day. So you'd probably not want to miss out on numeracy/literacy work as you'd always be helping him/her to catch up. But if the "fun" work is in the afternoons, only being in for the more mundane stuff might seems like the bad end of the deal.

Being out for a half-term would be less disruptive in some ways, specially if you were happy to keep up with things like maths workbooks during your trip - maths is the one thing that can be a problem if you miss out sections, as it tend to build up on previous work. But the school may not be able to keep a place for you for that long, if they are full.

Thank you for the useful link and for the advice Mum inScotland. It is very helpful.