Where to start?

[DitzyBrown]

I'm currently in the process of starting to deregister my 12 year old son from year 8 in high school. He's been constantly bullied since starting year 7 and this year it's become physical. The school have dealt with it, I personally feel, quite well however my poor son's confidence has taken a real nose dive. Due to where we live the only other high school would be a bus ride away and he point blank refuses to get on a bus. Had a long talk today with school after another incident happened on Monday and spoke with an education officer and have concluded it'd be best to home school for the foreseeable until we can get his confidence back up and find another means of getting to another school. School have been supportive and have given me all the numbers/people I need to talk to/what I need to do so I shall be doing that this week.
My question is it seems a bit of a minefield. What resources do people use to home school a year 8+ child please? I've looked online at buying set curriculums but there's so many I just want the best for him. He's extremely bright but his education's suffered the past 2 years as he's been fearing what other children and going to do next etc so want to really try get him up to where he was before. We've already got a cosy office that houses our computer/printer/books etc so would just like peoples opinions please on the best way forward so I can go into any meetings knowing how I'm going to school him if that makes sense. Thank you in advance

We HE our DD who is equivalent to Yr8 and DS who would be yr 5. DD has just chosen a handful of subjects that interest her, and we've bought the CGP KS3 books and workbooks from WH Smiths. We also use BBC Bitesize, YouTube, Twinkl, TeachIt English and Khan Academy.

DD wants to do GCSEs in a lot fewer subjects than would have done at school but tou could look at Interhigh, or Wolsey Hall, or other curriculum providers if you want. They are a bit pricey though.

Hello and welcome! Your plan of giving your son some time off school to get his confidence back sounds like a great one. Freedom from fear will make a huge difference to his well-being and he is likely to make big strides educationally without that hanging over him.

I'm glad the school has been supportive about your decision. However, I'm not convinced they have been giving you the correct information about getting started. Schools (and Local Authorities for that matter) often don't give out accurate information about home education, which isn't their area of expertise.

If you are in Scotland then you need the consent of the LA to withdraw a child from school, but it doesn't sound like you are. Likewise, children who are at special schools need the LA's consent, though this is meant to be a formality to ensure continuity. There are a few other circumstances in which you might not be able to just withdraw a child from school, including in some cases if there is involvement from Social Care or if the child is the subject of a court order with respect to their education.

If none of that applies to you, then you don't have to contact anyone except the school. You can deregister your son from school simply by sending the school a correctly-worded letter. There is no notice period, and you don't need anybody's permission. You are not required to attend any meetings, and you don't have to have a plan in place ahead of time.

Which country are you in?

The usual advice for a child who has just come out of school, especially after a traumatic time there, is to take some time to relax and recover without any enforced academic work. Let your son follow his interests, whatever those may be. Meanwhile, you can watch him and find out more about how he learns best. Does he get enthused about specific topics? Does he like to discuss them, or to write about them, or does he just quietly do things and think about them? What time of day is he at his best and ready to focus?

That also buys you some time to read about and discuss the different approaches which other people use to home educate. It's amazing what a wide variety of ways there are to learn! You can chat with us here, read websites, and meet other local parents in your area. At any rate, I'd recommend making contact with local home ed families. They might be organising outings and activities you'd like. After your son's experiences of bullying, he might prefer to avoid groups of children for a while, which is perfectly fine. Local HE people will also be able to suggest interesting places to go in your area, resources, and home ed discounts. For example, you may be entitled to the "educational rate" at some attractions such as museums. Talking to other home ed parents can be very reassuring in general. Home education looks very different from school. It takes a while to get used to it and realise that you don't have to do it like school!

When it comes to curricula, most parents advise that you don't rush into spending money at the outset. Let this be a time of exploration. See what materials you can borrow or get on free trial or cheaply. Other parents in your area will be able to show you what they use.

If you spend a lot of money early on, you may feel stuck with your expensive mistake if it doesn't suit. This can lead to tears as you try to chivvy your child into carrying on with something which isn't right for him. There are many options. You don't have to get it right first time. Try things for a while and if they aren't working or if you see something better, don't hesitate to drop them in favour of another method.

School need plans. They invest heavily in training and in resources. Once they've chosen a curriculum, they can't chuck the whole thing in the bin and go with a different one the next month. Home educators can be far more flexible and responsive to the needs of their individual children. You can easily adapt as you go along, as you see what your son enjoys and what makes sense to him.

I know almost nobody who chose a curriculum at the outset, decided just how they were going to home educate, and then continued with exactly that plan for years. There's no need to worry about getting it wrong, any more than you'd stress about the possibility of choosing the wrong library books. When browsing at the library, you just have a guess about which books you think you'll like. Maybe you ask friends for suggestions. Once you've got your books home, if they don't appeal to you after all, you don't have to read them to the end. Just take them back and choose different ones!