Can I afford to home Ed? Is there funding??

[BringWine]

Am weighing up options here - in an ideal world my husband would homeschool our 3 (2 of which are sen) as he is a teacher looking to leave mainstream education, but we just can't live on only my salary. Are there bursaries or premiums you can get towards the child's education? After all, the school wouldn't be getting the funding anymore. Is it expensive to get access to all the things you need?

Do they have EHCPs

Ive heard that sometimes you can get interhigh or other online schools named on an EHCP and the fees paid for

Not yet, the next stage in our (hopefully) eventual diagnosis is for a specialist to observe them at school to assess for autism. I've heard the waiting list for this is very long, which is v frustrating. Are the online services very dear?

The direct costs of HE can be whatever you make them. There are plenty of free and cheap resources, and it is possible to provide an excellent education very very cheaply. Of course, families who can afford it will find educational items they want to spend their money on, from tutors and horse riding lessons to tours of China, but you don't have to do that. Where it can get more expensive is at the exam stage, as you have to pay for exam entries, and many teens like to have help with exam preparation through tutor groups or online schools. Some kids do some GCSEs at college, which is free, but colleges are unlikely to offer the full range of subjects your children might want if they have an academic bent. Returning to school at 14 for exams is another possibility.

Some families get some funding for home education via EHCPs, but I understand that it's quite a battle to secure it.

The main issue you are likely to face is the loss of your husband's income. That is far and away the greatest expense in home education. Have you looked at the benefits to which your family would be entitled? Some two-parent families manage to boost their income by working different shifts or doing some work from home: could your dh pick up some work tutoring, marking exams etc?

How old are the kids - do they need someone at home with them all the time? Would they do okay in a childcare setting; for example, with a childminder for a few days a week to enable your dh to work part-time? How flexible is your own job - could you look after the kids part of the week while he does some work?

When I mentioned childcare, I should have observed also that your children will need far fewer hours of direct instruction than they did at school. Home education is much more efficient. It's highly unlikely that your dh would feel the need to teach them from 9-3 five days a week. (In fact, he doesn't necessarily need to "teach" them at all, as there are other ways of learning, but that is a different topic!)

For this reason, if you use a childminder part-time, you don't need to find someone who will do lessons with them. You'd just need someone who can keep them safe and happy, like in the school holidays.

Oh really? I thought it was a legal thing that you have to show the child is in education 8.30-3pm everyday like they would be at school. I guess it makes sense that without the need to control 30 kids, learning can be more efficient. Are you ofsted'd if you home Ed? Are there any supervisory bodies that keep an eye on you?
I work 4 days a week and there may be scope to drop down to 3 later in the year, so it is possible DH could supply teach/tutor on my days off. The kids are 9,7 and 5 atm. The 9yr old is a real high flyer, in fact I almost feel the school could challenge him more. The younger 2 with sen are bright but they struggle socially, like so badly, it completely overshadows any academic progress they may be making.
I have heard of flexi-schooling, where the children still attend a mainstream school part-time. Is that a difficult thing to initiate??