DD doesn't like school

[penguinsmarching]

DD is 8 years old, in year 3, she's been at the same school since starting nursery and she's just never really formed friendships with other children in her class. Some she's friendly with but she never plays with them, she's always wondering around alone on the playground apparently and there's a few that she really doesn't get on with. She has friends outside of school in different activities that she does and through some of my friends DC. In general she's quite shy around people does doesn't know well or feel comfortable enough with, she's very closed off at school and keeps to herself. Academically she struggles, she does better with one on one support or in a smaller group which she does have some of at school but not always and she struggles to keep up and understand when it's just the teacher standing at the front. I have considered her moving schools to a fresh start, perhaps she'd find friends there but I feel like it's more of a risk if it doesn't work out, I don't think she would enjoy being the "new girl" in a class. I think she might benefit from home education because she'd have that one on one teaching and she'd still be able to go out and do activities, so she'd still be socialising lots. She's never happy getting up and going to school, it's difficult to get her out of the house and she really enjoys her time there, I usually get a shrug when I ask her how her day was. She's always much happier during holidays and weekends. However I have to admit I don't have any experience with home education i don't know anyone who home educates or has been home educated so it would be a very new thing to us both and would need a lot of preparation

First job: get on the dreaded Facebook and search for home ed or home education and your county name, or nearest big city. There will be a local community, and that's where they will be. I use Facebook pretty much purely to facilitate home ed.

That'll get your local support and community sorted. How else can we help you? :-)

Your dd sounds like an ideal candidate for home education.

I agree with ommmward that a quick way to learn more about home ed is to go along to a local group and chat with some of the families there. That also gives you a picture of what support and activities are readily available on your doorstep in addition to the activities your dd already does.

You don't actually have to do much preparation before starting home education. You can figure it out as you go along. Hardly anyone starts off with a detailed plan and then sticks to it; even the parents who think they know exactly what they will be doing frequently end up making adaptations as they go, and that is perfectly fine and normal. (It's a bit like planning for a baby: often very different from what you imagined, and unlike the parenting experience of your friends and relatives! But you'll find your feet.)

The main thing before starting home ed is just to know that it's what you want to try in the short run. There are only a few circumstances in which it might be advisable to be more cautious before trying it out. One such circumstance is if home ed would require a major irreversible lifestyle upheaval; for example if you had to resign a job you loved in order to educate your child. Another is if your child has a place at an oversubscribed school which you really like and there is a waiting list, in which case she may not be able to get back in if home ed doesn't work out and she'd have to go to a different school. Finally, starting school or returning to school during the GCSE years is very limiting because the school system is staggeringly inflexible at that point: you wouldn't want to home ed for Y10 and then return to school in Y11, for instance.

But if none of that applies, just have a go. Tell your daughter that she can have a few terms out of school so that you and she can decide whether that is better for her than school. Given what you've told us, I bet it will make her very happy and you'll wonder why you hesitated.