Home Ed, where to start?

[Iamthecatsmother]

Hello, I'm tentatively considering home educating my DS - he's 12 and has just started secondary school. It's not going well, he's being bullied already. He has ASD, he's a gentle soul, quite naive and very sweet. He's a bright lad. School has always been a challenge but the last half term has been awful. I'm going to try to sort it out but would I be mad to consider home ed for DS given that he has ASD? Where do you even start?

My friend home educated her teen DD, who had a terrible time at school but is now happy and doing really well at uni. She found a few local groups through Facebook. Good luck.

I'm afraid I don't have the experience to give you the full advice you need, but certainly it's a common reason for home educating. It's likely to improve your sons wellbeing and confidence. If you find the academic side daunting and can afford it, Interhigh offers online schooling. Might be worth cross posting in SEN as I believe a few of the regulars there HE.

Certainly not mad, and certainly not uncommon.
The first thing to do is find your local group (Facebook usually) and get along to meet some local home educators. Much easier to answer questions in the flesh.
The academic side is the easy bit and doesn't have to cost a lot at all. There are many excellent resources out there now, many free or with group/HE discounts. Take your time don't worry about it for at least 6months and take the time to find routines and resources (try free trials and ask for recommendations) that work for you.
The social side is often harder with older ones, but most areas have some activities and if you ask on groups people will meet up one to one. You can choose to socialize in a way that works for him and have the freedom to retreat when needed.
Good luck.

My pal home eds her two girls. She regularly meets with other hone educators through Facebook too, and she attends events/classes that places hold days/events specifically for home educators. Her girls are younger but she writes a column about it if this is helpful in any way? standardissuemagazine.com/page/4/?s=hey%21+teachers%21

I've started to home ed my 14 year old son, and I'm thinking of signing him up to the Little Arthur correspondence course. Just asking if anyone has any experience of their courses or if they recommend using another course? Also if he is following a correspondence course will he also benefit / need a tutor? Any advice is welcome, I've joined a local home ed group but on the whole the children are either younger, or not doing any correspondence courses. I wanted to look at him following a course as I don't feel confident enough to follow our own program, also the Little Arthur school will get him IGCSE ready, and he can sit the exam with them.