Is it realistic for me to homeschool?

[Katerina384]

A bit of background- I have recently moved to the UK and am having a nightmare of a time trying to find school places for DD1, who should be going into year 3 in September, and DD2, who should be going into year 2. I also have a DS almost 4 whom I can't get a nursery place for, and am 6 months pregnant with DC4. I am newly a single parent- DH left and went back to his home country a few weeks ago. I work from home and will be doing so right up until my due date (November). I don't drive and can't afford to learn- I'm very strained financially at the moment.

After weeks of waiting I've finally been offered a place at a school 4 miles away and a 50 minute ish bus journey away for DD1 and a place at a school 7 miles away and 2 hours on the bus The LEA say the only free transport they can offer is on the bus, the journeys are awful IMO and undoable, particularly both DDs at once with a newborn and DS in tow. I am appealing and have a thread on this in Primary Education.

The reality is I may well be in the position of not having school places for one or both DDs and having to homeschool come September. DDs speak very little English, so most homeschooling material will be inaccessible for them for the time being. Up until November I will still be working from home 4 days a week and will have DS at home too, and after November I won't be working but will have a newborn who is obviously going to take up a lot of my time and energy.

It has been suggested to me on my other thread that I homeschool, but I can't see how we could possibly make this work even short term. Does this seem the case to you or do you think it could work out?

Thank you.

personaly i would keep nagging your local education dept for places at the most local school. Can your health visitor help with this? You can also ring Education and ask to meet with an Education Welfare Officer for advice. If you are in a Flying Start area they should help too.
You say you have not been here long and English is not your children's first language, contact the LEA again and ask to liaise with someone regarding EAL or similar, your children's needs should be prioritised as they need to learn English if you intend staying in the UK; EAL should help you with this.
I also encourage you to seek out others for whom EAL and particularly other mums local to you. These websites are really useful but they cant provide a cuppa and maybe a hug...and i imagine you could do with that! I wish you good luck with the school hunt, dont give in and accept far-away schools because you will never get a transfer. Stick out for your local school, the ONLY reason they can give you for refusing a place is that they legally have NO places, remember that.

What sort of local support network do you have? Any family? Local teens you know? That sort of thing makes a difference to how easy it is to cope as a single working parent until the school places nearby come up.

I'd say the absolutely best thing you could do for your children is total immersion in UK culture - playing at the park and with neighbours' children and so on (and yes, perhaps home ed groups). That will mean that when they DO go to school, they'll have a head start on the language, which is crucial. It doesn't matter At All if children take six months or longer off formal academic work at this age IMO.

There is a yahoo support group for single home educating parents - someone will be along soon with a link I expect!

I read your thread on home ed board does sound like impossible situation regarding schools.

are you from uk? do you have any family or freinds here.
could you move to better area where there are more schools if you work from home.

your work-is it easy to do with kids at home?
could you do any work when they in bed.

i think many home ed people dont do that many hours of lessons at that age.

I think they young and home ed even for a short time would be preferable to 7miles trip between schools.

i would get them to watch english cartoons.
go to park
join some groups.
what about church and sunday school that ma help

boardie girls idea sounds good as must be support with language.

This is unrelated to home education, but have you had benefits check done on what you may be entitled to as a (self-employed/working from home?) single parent who is currently pregnant, and whose youngest child is still only 3.

If you weren't working, you could get Income Support on the grounds of being a lone parent and help with rent/mortgage and council tax. The rules will change in the next few years but you will be in a relatively protected group until your youngest is 5.

Alternatively you could be eligible for Working Tax Credit either for employment of 16 hours a week or for self-employment (not sure what category "working from home" comes into)

One caveat: I'm not sure of the position if you have recently moved to the UK but sounds as though you have moved back and that you have British nationality?

I have more about the benefit system and home educating single parents here edyourself.org/articles/hesfes2012workshopsingleparents.php

As far as home ed goes, I think you may end up keeping your children out of school for period while you continue to lobby for a place at a nearer school, which is one of the reasons why people do home educate (in law there isn't " a distinction between real home education" and "temporary home education", there's just school and "education otherwise than at school")