HE during Y6 then back to flul-time school for secondary... has this worked out for anyone?

[OuiOuiMonAmi]

DS1 wasn't coping with primary so we took him out in Y6, gave him time to chill out and relax and then hoped he would go into Y7 ok - which he did. Everyone at the time said that HE would just make him worse - he'd get used to being at home and then would find it even harder to go back to full-time school. I also worried about this myself and was far from convinced that it would work but we got so desperate that we just had to try. It worked out brilliant and the break gave him time to relax and he started secondary with no problems.

However, do you think this is unusual? We are now in the same boat with DS2 and I'm doubting myself again - maybe the luck we had with DS1 was just that... luck. Is it more likely that he'll find secodnary even harder after being HE'd?

(I'm perfectly happy to HE at primary level but not happy to do it at secondary).

In my ideal world Id homeschool each child for year 6. Its such a pointless year with so much SATS pressure. Id planned to go travelling and "worldschool." But money etc have proved otherwise!!

Id still be up for it though. You may find you dint entirely fit the homeschool or the school camp though. Where I am the homeschoolers I know seem very anti school. Religiously so. And may be suspicious of you joining just fir a year and not see why youd return to secondary.

Id so do it though! And secondary is a completely new start.

In my ideal world Id homeschool each child for year 6. Its such a pointless year with so much SATS pressure.

We're very lucky that our primary is very low-key with SATs, so I'm not overly-bothered about that.

Good point about not fitting into either camp - with DS1 we didn't really do any HE groups but I did feel that was a mistake at the time.

Ours has sats based homework every week and their lessons become very english and maths focussed. They technically dont pressure them but I feel home ed would be better! I genuinely dont for most of the rest of their education (for my kids - i know its different for those that dont fit the mold.)

So year 6 has always been the year Id choose! You can have such a broad education! If you dont do groups though I think mine would get lonely and lose put on daily peer interaction/learning. But it wpuld be such fun!

Home education for Y6 only is a moderately popular option in my area. There aren't huge numbers of people doing it, but nobody would raise any eyebrows. I do live in an area with a very mobile population, however, so there are many families doing HE short-term for all sorts of reasons. They are well accepted. They do have to be prepared to put up with a certain amount of anti-school rhetoric, however: some home educating parents find HE groups are just about the only place they can express these views freely.

In most areas with a significant home ed population, there will be subgroups with different outlooks, so if you don't feel you fit in, keep looking and you may well find people you get on with.

We home educated ds for years 5 and 6 and he went to school in year 7 with no problems - well, just the usual transition issues.

I’m not sure what experiences year 6 provides that would make year 7 easier? For us, the transition issues were getting used to 3 lots of homework a night, remembering to pack his bag with the right equipment, catching the bus and not leaving his bag on the bus etc! All that would have been new anyway even if he’d been at primary for year 6.

We let ds follow his natural rhythm when home educated ie get up at 9.30 every morning. Getting out the door at 7 was a struggle all year 7 - still is in year 8 - but I think it would be anyway. He’s naturally an owl.

Is there anything specific you’re worried about?

I've been involved in home-ed for 20 years now and there have always been plenty of HE kids who went into secondary at Yr 7 with no problems, regardless of whether they'd been to primary school or not. When I say "no problems", obviously it's always an adjustment process and the first half-term to full term is frequently challenging, but nearly all get past that. I think you get all the disadvantages of school up front in a way - adjusting to the early mornings, the timetable, the new buildings, a load of people - but the potential advantages come later when you're more settled in. So, be prepared for the first term to be tough, but otherwise- why would you expect just one year out of primary to make it hard for someone to go to secondary school?

I’m not sure what experiences year 6 provides that would make year 7 easier?

why would you expect just one year out of primary to make it hard for someone to go to secondary school?

Because DS2 struggles to be away from us, I worry whether being at home with me will make him get used to it and so he'll find the separation even harder. With DS1, everyone told us this but my thinking was that he just needed time to destress and not be forced to be away from us - that it would give him more time to mature and he'd then be happier to separate from us in his own time. I was right and this worked perfectly. But I keep having this nagging worry that what if everyone is right about making it worse and it was just a fluke that it worked with DS1?

It's lovely to hear of other stories where HE kids transitioned successfully - that really does help; thanks so much

I understand a bit better now, but I still don’t think it can make things worse. I think you need to be clear to him that he can’t do home ed for secondary so he understands that.

But it sounds to me like if he’s going to struggle at secondary he will anyway - I can’t see that a difficult year 6 will help in any way. So maybe just view it as a chance for him to have a break, a breather for all of you before year 7.

And potentially, it may be a chance to improve his confidence before secondary. We used to take ds to various home ed events and groups where often he didn’t know anyone. And even the regular group we met up with did different events and visits, which involved new places and new adults/leaders. He was willing to do those things as we were there with him.

I think that really helped him when it came to starting secondary - other kids were worried about the new building, new teachers, unfamiliar children etc but none of that fazed him. He told me he was used to mixing with different people.

Good luck, I hope it works out well!

But it sounds to me like if he’s going to struggle at secondary he will anyway - I can’t see that a difficult year 6 will help in any way. So maybe just view it as a chance for him to have a break, a breather for all of you before year 7.

Yes, that's a very good way of looking at it.