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Home ed

Find advice from other parents on our Homeschool forum. You may also find our round up of the best online learning resources useful.

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Original poster

Reason for HE.

17 replies

richmal · 07/09/2012 09:46

Has anyone decided to HE because their child was G&T and no longer learning much at school?

Dd is sociable and loves school, but wants to HE because she wants to learn. She's now y5 and I'm thinking of doing HE for about a year. I would want her to go back for y7.

I've tried speaking to the school and the bottom line is nothing is going to change and dd is not as bright as I think. However, she does well in tests.

At home we seem to cover things which she'll then do years later at school.

Has anyone else home educated for this reason?

OP posts:

Colleger · 07/09/2012 12:27

I did it when my boys were 5 and 7 and sent them back on scholarships a year later. Sending them back was the worst mistake of my life and they now know less than they did at that age and we only did 30-60 mins of formal work a day back then.

lindy20 · 07/09/2012 18:54

whats G and T

streakybacon · 07/09/2012 19:13

Not solely for G&T reasons, no. Ds was on the G&T register but we removed him primarily because of unmet SENs (autism and ADHD). But had we left him there he would have slipped a long way back because he was disengaging at a rapid rate, becoming increasingly aggressive and unable to cope with the environment. I'm convinced that he would have ended up struggling to get his basic 5 Cs and above, despite being academically very able, as he wouldn't have had the capacity to learn with his head as screwed as it was.

I have to say though, it makes you wonder what the tests are for if the school is telling you that despite scores, she's still not that capable .

Original poster

richmal · 07/09/2012 21:08

Thanks for your replies.

Colleger, I'm hoping she gets into grammar as I don't feel confident to educate beyond this and I feel it will be right for her.

Lindy, it's gifted and talented. It's not a term I'm very fond of as it seems to take no account of how much the child has been taught at home being a big part in their ability.

I think dd is also slipping, in that she is not progressing much. What's more she's beginning to notice.

It's a big step to take her out of school, but I think I will.

OP posts:

catnipkitty · 07/09/2012 21:21

Hi
DD1 age 8.5 isn't 'G and T' as such, but bright and quick at picking up new concepts and information. She was SO bored at school (she left halfway thru yr3). I talked to her teacher a couple of times but realised that nothing would change - she basically spent alot of the day waiting for other kids to finish work/understand things plus hated the disruption from the 'challenging' children. School just didn't do anything for her and she has truly blossomed since leaving. The best thing I ever did

morethanpotatoprints · 07/09/2012 21:27

Hi Richmal.

Ironically dd was on G&T register for music . This was the main reason we decided to H ed.However, we weren't told about the register until the day she left.
I think if schools aren't able to provide the education your dc need or want you should consider this option.
I'm not sure I could send her back into a system that had proved to be inadequate though.

streakybacon · 08/09/2012 07:06

richmal, is your daughter on the school's G&T register? If so, I'm surprised that the school is saying that she's not as bright as you think. It doesn't fit.

Bear in mind though that G&T is only in relation to the school, and the top whatever% will be on the register. But that doesn't mean that those children are academically elite nationally as it varies from school to school. The highest achieving pupils in an underperforming school in a poorer catchment area wouldn't be at the same level as G&T pupils at a high performing school elsewhere. Realistically, G&T doesn't mean much outside of the individual school.

Original poster

richmal · 08/09/2012 17:59

Streakybacon, yes, she is on the G&T register. It doesn't mean much. She got 140 on their VR and NVR test because she got 100% on both. In year 2 parents' evening I was given an example of the sort of maths questions she could not do, so asked her on the way back home and she could. I'm now told by her maths teacher that she finds the work challenging, but by her that she finds the work easy. It's all done on teacher assessment. It's not that her teachers are not fantastic. It's just the system with 30+ in a class. I don't want to spend the next year of my daughter's education arguing my point. I'd rather just get on and do it myself.

Really I wondered if this was a common problem or extremely rare as a reason to HE

OP posts:

morethanpotatoprints · 08/09/2012 21:47

Richmal.

I can see where you are coming from and whilst I agree with streakybacon about different schools etc, some children would be clearly gifted or talented or both whichever school they attended.
I doubt if there was a school that at this time could offer the education dd so desperately says she wants, for this reason we are H.ed
She was a level 8 in music at 8.5. Maybe one day a specialist music school may be the way forward and is an option, but for now we are all happy.
I think the most important thing to ask yourself is what will your dc gain from it? Will they be happy? What about friends etc? If you intend to rejoin the system how will you do this and what do you want to achieve.
I do think that the label of G&T isn't always required as so many on the register don't gain anything from it. I know my dd is talented just because she is and a label isn't required.

streakybacon · 09/09/2012 07:02

Do you think a year and a half out would be enough? What's the secondary school like that she'd go to - do you think she'd be challenged there? It sounds as though the current school is waffling as to why they aren't pushing her - I suspect they don't have the resources but that's no excuse for not encouraging a bright pupil. I wouldn't be feeling confident that they'd be willing to support her and I'd want to consider other options, but if you intend her to go back to school for Y7 you'd need to look at what's available and find a placement that suits her needs, otherwise going it alone might be your best route.

TyrannosaurusBex · 09/09/2012 14:49

I have just started HEing my 8yr old DD1 who had a disastrous Y2 and never came back from it having been top of the class previously. DD2 (age 6) is still at school, way ahead of rest of class and was supposed to be going up to KS2 for some classes this term, but apathetic Y2 teacher (same as DD1's) hasn't sorted it out. She has already been in tears this week at teacher's methods, and we were told at last parents' evening not to push her as she would only have to wait for rest of class.

DH and I have agreed to review our HE progress with DD1 at Xmas, I'm hoping that DD2 will be able to HE too from that point, as I cannot see this teacher doing her any good whatsoever.

streakybacon · 09/09/2012 15:11

So much for differentiation .

morethanpotatoprints · 09/09/2012 21:11

Streaky
Totally agree, and what really annoys me is its not too difficult to do. I have been looking for differentiated spelling lists and wo did I find a good one. It is on a schools website and covers every week every term y3 to y6 and differentiates for 4 groups. What a school. Not only to produce this in first place but to make it available on their website. Why can't all schools do things like this?

Colleger · 09/09/2012 21:28

I know many kids at grammar school who are gifted and they are bored rigid!

streakybacon · 10/09/2012 06:55

morethan I'd imagine quite a few schools are capable of differentiating with easily organised subjects like spelling - it's just a range of different lists after all. But I expect it's harder to plan for more complex work like projects, essays, science experiments. I'm not really surprised about this because teachers are overworked and have way too much admin to get through which doesn't leave much time for lesson planning to this extent. What I DO object to is the claim that full differentiation exists and we're misled into believing that individual children's needs will be catered for, when in fact it rarely happens in practice.

TyrannosaurusBex · 10/09/2012 07:19

It makes me really angry. So many children are being failed.

Jojoba1986 · 18/09/2012 00:39

I'm planning to HE for this same reason... Sort of...! Both DH & I were bright at school (he's certainly G&T & I'm probably borderline!) but neither of us were really pushed by our schools. His dad made sure he studied a lot but I just muddled along being ignored by the teachers in favour of the more attention seeking children & having 'could do better if she tried harder' being written on my annual reports! When I hit comp I really went downhill - I went from getting 98% in a maths test in yr7 to averaging about 60% within a year. This wasn't because I couldn't have done better but simply because I got lost in the system! It's all very well telling a child they could do better if they tried but that's not helpful if nobody is going to actually support said child if they do try!
Sorry, rant over! That's my HE motivation - I want to make sure my DCn do as well as they can & have someone to notice if they struggle!

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