home ed - advice for friend

[ElaineBenes]

Hi there,

A friend of mine is thinking of home eding her 14 year old dd (Year 9). Her daughter has some emotional and behavioural difficulties for various reasons which makes it difficult to cope at school but she is very clever and does well academically.

However, my friend is a single mum in quite a high pressured career so she won't be around during the day to supervise. I also wonder if it's a good idea at this point of her schooling to start home eding just before they start really studying for GCSEs. She mentioned some companies which provide support for IGCSEs but they seem to be marketing something and only showing the positives mainly. Her dd is motivated but she's still only 14.

Any advice I can give my friend? And websites which outline both the advantages and disadvantages?

Thanks

There is a thread here with lots of websites about home education
which includes links to the webpage all about taking exams and that lnks to a email support list for HE families interested in finding out about taking qualifications.

or if you or she sends me an email on this email addy I'll arrange to talk on the phone, and answer her questions if it would help

It seems to me that if your friend finds the best way to meet her daughter's emotional needs, the academic side will fall into place. Depending what the girl's mental health needs are, being alone for much of the time could be hard on her - but possibly no harder than being at school, where presumably she isn't getting what she needs either.

If your friend isn't willing and able to put her career on hold for the next few years, perhaps she could look into finding one or more people who could provide her dd with companionship and supervision during the day - not necessarily all day every day but just to be a friendly presence from time to time. Grandparent or elderly neighbour perhaps, or a parent with young children who could make use of a teenaged "mother's help", or a childminder/nanny (home educating or otherwise). This person could just be there for company rather than to help with academics.

I'm a childminder who home eds her ds (12). Once he settled to the new routine, he has become a fantastic help. He just mucks in and I wonder what I did without him around. He is great company for me too when I only have littlelies to talk to all day (though some are brilliant talkers). So childminding, even for part of the time will give both parties companionship. Even with out planning to offer any formal education, a childminder would be offering lots of "education" without even trying: PSHE(we constantly talk about/model this for children), PE(all those playgrounds - who can resist), childcare(she won't fail to pick up lots of aspects of baby/todder care), socialising(everyone from the dustman to museum staff to other childminders), lifeskills (she will be living in the outside world rather than an institution) and she may be inspired by all the trips to museums/the outdoors to follow her own lines of investigation=autonomous learning.

The only down side I can see is that in a thriving childminder's household there may not be much scope for a formal (or quiet) study space - at least there isn't in my small house. The joy of childminders is that each one is very different so you can find one to match.