13 year old dd

[PooFlower]

I have just started home educating my year nine, age 13 daughter. She has missed most of year nine due to anxiety and phobias. She is also awaiting ADHD assessment.
We have tried following the national curriculum this week using various online websites but it hasn't gone as well as I hoped.
She finds it impossible to sit and write and will not attempt any difficult maths such as equations or algebra.
Has anyone chosen to do functional skills instead of GCSE. I think she might find functional English and maths easier. She enjoys regular, every day maths and is quite good at it.
She is quite bright but finds it impossible to focus and concentrate at times.
I am also looking at open learn courses for her. She is very interested in animals, nature and the environment.
We will also be doing life skills, cookery, and art. She is also interested in hair and make up.
Does this sound okay? And will it be considered an acceptable education by the LEA.
In an ideal world I would like her to do GCSEs but I just don't think she could cope with them at the moment.
I would be grateful for any advice.

Suitable education is for you to define, really. It needs to be what is suitable for her - so that sounds good. The nice thing is that with home ed, you can always alter course when needed.

Sounds fab! We do a lot of life skills, also art (lots of different media), cookery, animal husbandry and riding, sport-y outside stuff... much more important to help your daughter discover her strengths and secret superpowers, so that she'll thrive as an adult, rather than trying to follow the national curriculum (which was designed by committee for the "average") - you can make a brilliant bespoke education for her!!!

That sounds perfect to me. I think it's very sensible to aim for what feels right to you, and what helps your daughter to feel relaxed and engaged with learning.

Now that your daughter is out of school, I think you'll be delighted to discover just how completely you and she are in charge. Nobody can dictate to you about which qualification she does, or when, or whether she does any at all. You can put out of your mind any distractions about what someone else, who doesn't know her, might think she should be doing. You don't have to look over your shoulder. Look only at her.

As for what the LA would find suitable, if you tell them what you have told us and give some examples of how she learns, this should be fine. Even if the LA didn't agree with the detail of what you are doing, to be honest, the law is very much on your side, so they probably wouldn't take any action. If it did go to court, the judge is highly likely to find in your favour provided you stick up for yourself, provide some information, and make a sensible argument. The court cases which the LAs win tend to be those where the parents feel so intimidated by the process that they decide to send their children to school, or don't turn up in court on the day. So it really isn't something you need to lose sleep over.