Home educated 14-18 year olds

[nappyaddict]

Did they do GCSEs, A levels etc? If so, where? Did you have to pay for them to take them if not in a school? Did they go to uni?

bump.

Have a 16 year old who has just been through home ed.

Yes, she did GCSEs. Some were IGCSEs as GCSEs are hard to access with the coursework/ controlled assessment. She will have 10 when she gets her results this summer. We did them in chunks of 3 or 4 a year from Year 9. You do have to pay for them. We were lucky in that we paid exam fee only which is around £35 per GCSE but some places charge £100 or more to cover their invigilation.

She is off to college to do A levels. They accepted her on drama A level even though she didn't have the GCSE - something they say they don't do! They just auditioned her and then accepted her immediately. I know a few people who have got on to courses which supposedly demand certain qualifications, even though they haven't got them.

Have a 19 year old who is off to college in August to take an access course then will, hopefully, go on to uni. He has AS and has spent the last year doing a preparatory course for AS teens at another college to ease him back into dealing with people etc. All he needed to do for the new course was show them some of his work and sit a basic numeracy test. I think he was helped by fabulous references from his tutors on the transition course, though.

Also have a 15 year old, who will be applying for college in the next couple of years to do some qualis. He will probably start with a general education course because he has no school record to show what level he is working at. he will go on from there.

Did they do GCSEs, A levels etc?
If they want to.
Some HE young people have used the OU or other courses-ASDAN is another qualification route that comes to mind to go onto FE College, level 3 courses. Some HE young people have done their whole degree through the OU route-although changes to funding of the OU make that unlikely in the future.
Others have used life experiences to get themselves jobs, and some have gone onto college later with no GCSEs/A levels and have done Level 3 courses there.

If so, where?
some use distance learning courses, some go into FE colleges post 16 and do them for free.

Did you have to pay for them to take them if not in a school?
not if you use the FE college, yes if you use distance learning packages. Occasional enlightened LAs (ok I only know of one) offer a limited number of GCSEs to HE youngsters free of charge.
Fiona Nicholson's website has a page about doing exams and there is another website for HE families wishing to know about qualifications which has an affiliated useful email support group

Did they go to uni?
I now know literally hundreds of formally autonomously home educated young people who are doing well in employment, self employment or university. The majority have gone to Uni and done very well indeed. All types of courses, the ones who immediately come to mind are doing Maths, IT, Law, Classics, Medicine, Music, Art, Psychology, Philosophy, Sociology and Social Policy, Economics and Veterinary Science.

Our three are currently doing Music, Art and Psychology at Uni level. One did GCSEs/A levels at FE College, one did an OU starter course and used that as evidence of ability to get onto a Level 3 course at FE College and one didn't do any qualifications, used life experience to get a job and then went into FE college adult education at level 3 too.

Anything else you need to know OP?

Thanks for the informative post :) Your child that did GCSEs and A levels at a FE college, how old were they when they started the GCSE and A level courses? And there was no charge you say?

one of my children did GCSEs aged 17. he wasn't ready at 16. No charge.

We have just reregistered our two 15 years. We have had to pay for the IGCSs. I've paid for RE and English Lit. I'm trying to cobble together the resouces for them to do English IGCSE - eek. I probably could have sourced the other subjects but was a bit nervous.

On the GCSE subject. Does anybody know of a GCSE level qual in music, I know its early days yet but know dd will be ready about 12 years old, if not before. Really wanted a qual rather than gr6 and theory, but have tried Igcse and it says its not available to private entries.

What is the problem with Grade 6 and Music Theory? IMHO, they have more value than GCSE and they are also considered for uni entrance. If your DD is aiming for music college, I'd have thought ABRSM or Trinity would be more useful.

SDeuchars.
I don't think theres anything wrong with the grades and theory but just in case she changed her mind when she was older a GCSE would be good, do you think? I do agree about the music college though and she will do the grades as well. She is currently only working towards gr3 on violin but singing not done any exams but does gr5 songs. Piano and sax are coming on nicely and as dh is teaching her sax she should be quite good by age 11. Hence the thought of GCSE.
I had temporarily forgotten about the UCAS points though, of course. Thank you.

Thanks, Betelguese.
At present music is her life, but I am always aware this could change and one day she may need as many GCSE's as she can get, and as music has been a large part of her life it would seem silly not to do this if she needed to.
Chances are she won't need it as she is a determined little dd, hence the H.ed. She just won our Local Young Musician Of The Year (voice). She is only 8 and some candidates were 19. She's not so hot with other her other instruments though, lol.

I guess i can see point doing english, maths ,scence then letting them decide on interests as most courses, professions require c grade in those 3 and then whe applying to uni its all how many points you can accrue to egt entry to course unless maybe doing something practical like art/music or sport.

The international bac looks fab but unsure if can do that via home ed route.

i think 13 is a lot i would aim for 5-6.

but least if you homeschool and childs bright you could stagger rhe gcses over 2-3years at pace to suit child rather than 13 in year 11.

well done more than enough prints your daughter sounds like shes doing fab.

can i ask what age you started with music.

im pretty weak at music can play musical instruments badly.
recorder and keyboard, crap at singing.

at school never got music lessons single parent family mum said no yet my younnger sister got a flute.

want to give opportunity to my kids.

youngest age 6 , 7 in feb.
the primary she goes too doenst start music option until juniors,
did think about private piano but problem is we dont have space for piano at home and ideally needs one to practice on.

guess we could choose keyboard but my sister says thats not as good.

my idea was start with piano keyboard at home
then in school she can do 1instrument.

she wants to do guitar or violin.
guess one string be good
but she also mentions the flute think sax be far cooler.

I guess if child really loves music its finding the time to fit them all in.

Mam.

Our dd started music lessons (violin at 6). We have not had much joy regarding music at school, also not starting till year 5. She is 8 now and plays 4 instruments all at different levels. Private lessons can be expensive but if you can find a good teacher they are worth their weight in gold. We are lucky as dh is a pro musician and can do alot with her. I can play clarinet (not one of her instruments) and help with theory to gr5. My dd plays sax but not much yet as she is still small.
Mam get in touch with your local music service from the LEA, most I have heard are accessible to H.ed as well as schooled kids. They will have a music centre or definitely provision for lessons in most instruments. I say go for it whole heartedly. I know of many none musical parents whose dcs are really good. You can be as focussed as you like, thats the good thing about music, dd is adamant she wants to do this as a career and has her sights set on world domination. She is not so confident in other ways though, music is our main reason for H.ed

thanks I dont think she be next sarah brightman but want to give her the chance to start learning .thats why was thinking piano/keyboard this year privatly and starting one other in year 3 i think they can start here.

I never got the chance and sister did.

i think older you get learning gets harder.

i did unsucessfully try learn guitar.

thinking keyboard and guitar for xmas-im sure i regert it being in 3bed new build but think its good to work towards something like her gym and badges but want to get even mix of extra activitities

good luck with the home ed sounds like could be good solution for you.

Thanks Mam.

You don't know when talent will strike. We really didn't think dd would be a good singer, she was ok on violin and has just got a merit at gr2. Even when people kept telling us and the fact we are a musical family we still didn't believe it. So you never know Mam, you could be looking at the new Sarah Brightman an you'd never know.

Feeling very guilty for hijacking this thread as it is for 14-18 year olds so I better say something, having taught part of this age group.

At the college where I worked (couple of years ago now) if a student didn't have a full level 3 in a subject the fees were waived. I do think this was for post 16 though.
The level 2 equivalent to GCSE in English and Maths is offered free at the same age. I can't help with pre 16 though I'm afraid. I'm not even sure if these are still offered but certainly worth a try.

My dd has just finished GCSE maths at college evening class starting when she was 15. There was no charge. She was offered a place to do A levels at the same time (Sept 2011), but decided she wanted to concentrate on the Maths and her OU course, and do A levels when she was the same age as the others rather than standing out because she was younger. She is starting tomorrow at college for her A levels, as she is now 16 there is no charge.

She had previously done 2 GCSEs facilitated by a local school, and 2 IGCSEs taken as an independent candidate. We had to pay £25 to the local school, and about £115 each for the independent exams.

Just popping up to say hello, new home edder here. Watching this thread for clues!