Temporary home-schooling

[scazpin]

My dd just turned 8 and is so unhappy at school. Long story, but she doesn't want to go back. I spoke to an Education Social Welfare Officer last week and he was telling me home-education is really strict and that an inspector comes in to see if I can get approved.

I thought it was my right by law if I choose to educate at home.

I have not told school yet, what do I do?

The good news is I've lost 7lbs thru the stress and upset over the last couple of weeks. I live on the Wirral, can someone help me please. x

Sigh. In my experience, Wirral Council has some funny ideas about home education which are only tangentially related to the actual law. (I'm not in the area but have supported parents over there)

You don't have to get approval either before you can start or as you go along. You write to the school and ask for your child's name to be removed from the roll because you are taking responsibility for your child's education yourself. It's called deregistering and there's lots of info about it on the internet.

edyourself.org/articles/FAQ.php

there's an email list for Liverpool/Merseyside which has people from the Wirral on if you want to get in touch with people nearby. Some come over to events in Liverpool and there are quite a few of us with children around your DD's age.

groups.yahoo.com/group/Liverpool-HEd/

Fiona's right and her page will give you the details.
local home Educators will help enormously with support and the inside info on dealing with the LA.

But I felt I had to comment

"home-education is really strict and that an inspector comes in to see if I can get approved."

is bullshit. Total and utter BULLSHIT.

It is of course what the EWO wants you to believe. Hoping you don't get advice from other home educators.

You don't need the LAs approval, you just deregister your Dd. Heck you could send the letter tomorrow morning and your child need never go back again.

The home education can be as strict or as relaxed as you like. It's your responsibility, your choice, nothing to do with the LA.
and it is ALWAYS the parents right to choose how to give information about the home education you provide.
Sure, you can have a home visit if you choose to, or you could instead choose to send in written reports and never see anyone from the LA

Agree with all the above! Don't be beaten out of it by officious people who are acting totally outside of the law. You don't need permission from anyone!

Plus you are perfectly within your rights to do it temporarily. Just deregister in the usual way and whenever you feel you want to go back, approach the school you want to attend. If they have spaces, they have to take you. They are not allowed to refuse because you took your child away. Knowing that made me much stronger when I first took DD2 out - I knew the school would still be there.

We took DD2 out temporarily when she was 8, initially just for the duration of Year 4.

She's still being home educated 5 years on, but that's another story

Thank you to everyone for all your kind comments. Will keep you posted x