Home education & Exams

[FionaJNicholson]

With GCSE results out today, I've just published a Report on Home Education and Exams edyourself.org/articles/examsreport.php based on case studies from home educating parents and analysing the support given by local authorities.

I've managed to find 1 in 5 local councils who offer some help in finding somewhere to sit exams.

I've also put up a page of Frequently Asked Questions on Home Education and Exams edyourself.org/articles/examsfaq.php covering the following:

How can we study for GCSEs at home?
My daughter is currently in school and is half way through GCSEs. If she starts being home educated, can she go back into school just to take the exams?
Once he starts being home educated, what happens to the Controlled Assessments my son has done in school?
What is the deadline for signing up with an Exam Centre?
Do all the exams have to be taken in June?
If my son doesn't do any GCSEs while he is home educated, can he catch up with exams at College later? How much does it cost to do exams?
Do you have a list of exam centres?
Do you have a list of tutors?
Is there any way I could share the cost of a tutor?
I've contacted the schools on the list from AQA/Edexcel/NEC but none of them will let my son take his exams. Can you help?
Can my daughter start taking exams early?
My son will need extra time in his exam and he will need to use a keyboard. Who do I talk to about this?
Is there a package we can buy which covers everything we need for the exam?
My daughter is currently home educated but we'd like her to enrol for the last year just to take exams. How do we go about this?
Can my daughter attend school part-time just to take exams in certain subjects?
My son is 15. Can he go to college early to do GCSEs?
How do home educators take AS and A Levels as external candidates?

Thanks so much for the info, Fiona
DD is 11 and we are just starting to HE, but this is something I have given a lot of thought to.
I will be saving the links to browse at leisure later.

Fiona.
Many thanks for this, my dd is only 8 but I am keeping this for later as quite often little changes in terms of provision. We might be back to O' levels by then, lol.
I am also interested in a couple of subjects taken as young as 9/10 so thank you again.

Sorry I expect it's bad form to reply to my own post but...

I do have some case studies on my website in response to an earlier request, but
I'd be happy to put up more.

If you'd like to take part, please could you have a look at the questions here
and then use the contact form on my website to send your answers.

(The contact form looks as though it's only a little box but it does expand as
you keep typing)

edyourself.org/articles/examshomeedexp.php
edyourself.org/contact

These are the questions
edyourself.org/articles/examshomeedexp.php#questions

How did you get started?
At what stage in the process did you begin looking for an exam centre?
Did you receive help with any aspect of taking exams outside the system?
What advice was most helpful at the time?
Did you approach your local authority for help and if so, what was your
experience?
How many exams did you/your child take?
Was the candidate 16 when he/she sat exams?
Did you have difficulty finding somewhere to sit exams?
Did you ask FE colleges/Adult Learning Centres?
Did you find the process expensive?
What were your main areas of expenditure: textbooks/student laptop/tutor/exam
fees/correspondence course/exam centre fees/other?
Looking back, is there anything you wish you had done differently?
Do you need exams in order to access further education at 16?