Considering Home School for my 14 yr old DD

[Mumof2teen]

Hi

My 14 year old DD is deeply unhappy at school she finds its stressful and is anxious about it. She is not doing very well and feels intimidated in class.

The school has been great and supportive. We have had early help involvement in the past (due to depression and anxiety) but she refuses to engage in any extra help offered.

The school environment is making her unhappy and to top it off her best friend is moving away from the area.

Its a struggle getting her to school most of the time - i think things are going to get really rough for her - she is stressing now about going back next week.

Shes asked me about homeschooling and I contacted the council who told me the process and I am looking at the pro's and con's and looking for experiences.

Its a massive decision that could affect her future and I need to be sure I can give her the adequate level of education. I am concerned how it will impact in getting a college place or job.

I do work full time but work from home.

Can anyone offer any insight or give me some links to groups or websites that can help ?

thank you

Home schooling can be great..however if your full time working you could do with tutors both irl and online. Its not realistic to give a quality education without full attention

Also get in touch with an igcse provider for costs of exams

Is there any chance school could offer a part timetable, maybe for core subjects and have tutors etc for other GCSEs?

Thank you for your replies - I will talk to the School on Monday to see if there is anything they can offer.

This is the best place to gather information about educating at GCSE level www.he-exams.wikia.org/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki and the associated Facebook group is excellent. There are many distance learning options if you wanted to go that route. But do your research as they are not cheap and it is perfectly possible to study at GCSE level from the syllabus and the textbook. We do a mix of group classes with other home edders, distance learning and going it alone.
Contact your local group via Facebook, you may find they have group tutorials and hopefully they'll be able to advise on local exam centres.

On the cost front the providers you find online the cost is usually just for the course. In most cases you still need to find an exam centre that allows external candidates and cover exam costs which vary by centre. The exam wiki, the linked Facebook group and your local group are first places to go for info.

Thank you very much

We home educated our daughter for similar reasons and similar age. although nervous at first about our decision, it has been the best thing for her. We used Interhigh and it has been a great experience for us. She's currently in the middle of iGCSEs. The downside is the fees for sitting as a private candidate at an exam centre but it's such a lovely centre and feels very relaxed.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

There are some online schools you could look at. I've just signed my 14 year old son up to Camebridge Online. Live lessons online with teachers and students from all over the world, lessons are also recorded so if she misses any she can watch another time. They offer a free trial, my son took a few days off school and logged on and loved the lessons and teachers. Its a risk with GCSEs but he was so unhappy at a bricks and morter school I had to do something...

Thank you all very much
Just a quick update for you - we had a meeting with the school and they are doing all they can. She is really not happy and has not been settled since the beginning.

I had a talk with her about homeschooling and I think that would be the last resort - we are going to try and change school first.

She has expressed a wish of changing to a school just outside of our area and after discussions with the school we have sent in an application.

If this is refused i think its homeschooling.

Thank you all again for your input and feedback :)