Vaguely considering Home Ed for Yr7 onwards

[TerrificEchidnaSpikes]

This is more of a 'thinking out loud' post, basically we are not happy with any of the secondary school options around us. DTDs are in Yr5 and very happy at their primary school, so they will definitely be staying on until they finish Yr6.

Yr7 onwards is looking like a big problem - overall, secondary provision in our city is either (a) good schools, tiny catchment, massively oversubscribed; (b) good schools, religious, massively oversubscribed; (c) bad schools, small catchment, massively oversubscribed; (d) really terrible schools, so bad that despite lack of school places in the city they are undersubscribed. We are not religious so no chance of (b), and are out of catchment for all (a) and (c). We are ironically in catchment for a (d) school, which obviously doesn't actually need a catchment area because they admit all applicants.

I think I would be able to deliver - on paper - an education in most subjects and I've seen that we can get online courses and curricula to ensure all the theory is covered. But I am concerned about specialist facilities/equipment/group/practical work for subjects like science or DT. Obviously we can't really provide stuff like that at home.

What do other secondary Home Edders do?

We focus on what we can do rather than what we can't. So we do a lot of practical science (more than my eldest who went to school did). Yes there are some we can't do but there are loads we can (some that wouldn't be practical in school because of group size or difficulty in going outdoors - we take advantage of environment), so we do those and watch YouTube or Bitesize clips of others. We also do things like attend workshops at Science Centres and lectures, we go to events like the New Scientist Live.

Oops hit return too soon.
D&T my eldest hated and my youngest has little interest in so not been an issue for us not having a workroom. They can cook, build flatpack furniture and do basic DIY. Lifeskills. If he wanted more I would approach agencies that have the facilities to see if they could offer workshops.
What he is interested in is history, politics, art... We do a lot of trips to the theatre, museums, galleries etc far, far more than school can offer.
Home Ed isn't perfect, particularly if what you want is to replicate school there are some things which are difficult, costly or although some home elders struggle to admit it impossible to replicate. However there are lots of opportunities to take advantage of if you home ed that school just can't offer in the same quantity or breadth.
It's a mindset thing to me. Home ed isn't school don't tie yourself in knots worrying about offering what school can. Focus on what your children need/want and what you can offer in response.

science - we use Mystery Science at the moment. Absolutely brilliant (with hands on work, too). There are science groups who team up and have a tutor, too.

DT - not of interest to my lot at the moment; we focus on other things (there are plenty of opportunities in our area, if they wanted to take them)

:)

Thanks for those suggestions, really helpful to get my head around it. Especially like the idea of looking at what we can do!

I am in a similar position - nothing really to do with the schools available, but I think that my DD1 has a personality that would benefit more from being home educated than in school. She would definitely prefer it! Although what DD2 would have to say about it is another story entirely - I could end up with the two of them, which would actually be more convenient, but I think that DD2 would actively like being in school for secondary as she loves school now.

I'm pretty confident about my ability to cover everything for her, academically. We have the financial resources for tutors for languages and maths in the later years. DH and I both have very strong backgrounds in history and literature, and are very politically and economically well informed.

On the other hand, when you consider my loss of earnings for that period (I wouldn't give up work entirely - I work from home anyway) - would private make more sense economically? A school with the small classes that DD1 would flourish in? That's where I'm struggling, really.

Can you weigh that up too @terrificEchidnaSpikes ?

If private is £15k x 2 plus about 2 - 4k in extras, and you are faced with a choice of working outside the home for those 6 years and going with a great private vs home education, which is the better choice for your children, do you think?

astoundedgoat, I have known a few people who chose HE over private secondary in similar circumstances and found HE cheaper. You may be able to continue working more hours than you think, especially if you are in a financial position to outsource some of your child's education. You could consider online school, private tutors in person or by Skype, or the weekly tutor-led study groups for HE kids which are available in many areas.

Home educated children typically spend far fewer hours on formal education than children at school, as home ed is more efficient due to the one-to-one attention, focus on the child's interests, and tailoring the level to exactly what the child needs. So you don't need to get your child to sit down and "work" for six hours a day.

You'll probably want to get your kids out to do things. If you happen to be lucky enough to live in an area with good public transport then they can do some things on their own. If your earnings are good, you could employ someone to take them out for you while you are working. For instance, I used to pay home educating childminders to take my older child out to home ed groups, museums, parks etc along with their kids. When she was a teen, she in turn worked as a part-time babysitter ferrying home ed children around to their activities by bus while their parents worked.

I think you may have to experiment to get a feel for exactly how it would work for your family and how much of your time and attention they will need. Some areas have more going on than others, some kids are more needy than others, some jobs require more focus than others...

Be aware that if they do IGCSE exams, that involves significant amounts of your time to arrange. That can't be outsourced easily. Which exams should they sit and where, and how should they prepare for them? Should they do some at a local college? What alternative qualifications are worth exploring, and will they meet the entry requirements to get onto the next stage of education? Often every subject needs to be researched and tackled separately. It seems to me that parents find it helpful to have a year or two of home ed under their belt already by that stage in order to be familiar with the exam landscape and well networked with other local home ed parents. You will want to budget extra time to deal with this when your children are 14 or so. It isn't difficult as such, but it is complicated and time-consuming.

I currently work part-time and if we home ed, I'll probably drop my hours further and switch to more WFH, rather than stop working entirely. Private school is definitely an option, there are several suitable ones within reach of us and we can definitely afford it particularly if I work full-time.

I honestly can't decide which would be a better option for my DDs. They love school and are doing great (at their current school, obviously we are not optimistic with the secondary scenario). But at the same time I think we could provide them with a good home education and we love the ethos and flexibility.

It's the ethos and flexibility that really appeal to me too.

If they enjoy school and the social side it is worth looking into local home education. If there is a thriving local scene it might make home ed feel fat more doable, if on the other side there is nothing around you it might make private school a better option.