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Home ed

Find advice from other parents on our Homeschool forum. You may also find our round up of the best online learning resources useful.

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Original poster

online schools and interhigh

19 replies

wellbuggerme · 17/06/2019 14:15

ds is currently year 7 (just turned 12) and is high functioning ASD. Since year 5 he has struggled at mainstream.....
Main issues are other kids teasing etc because of his ASD and being different, plus ds KNOWS it and as he has commented ( I want to be like the others" etc). Struggles with noisey distubance from background chatter etc in a class of 28, finds it very hard to concentrate "get my thoughts out". Doesn`t get on with PE / drama particulary!

Im wondering about interhigh..... so any parents of ASD / SEN out there using an online school? looking at interhigh and the core subjects, what exactly do they do as in lessons? how long is a school day? I wouldnt be bothering with music for example!

OP posts:

ineedaknittedhat · 30/06/2019 01:57

My ds2 is at Interhigh. They do the usual core subjects. They usually finish their lessons just after lunch, but ds2 has had some afternoon lessons this year.

Original poster

wellbuggerme · 30/06/2019 15:29

the big lecture style classes: are they for all subjects? which ones? are these interactive? how does this work? ds will be doing year 8 sept.

OP posts:

ineedaknittedhat · 02/07/2019 08:55

I'll get the details from him after I've had a sleep following my nightshift 👍

Original poster

wellbuggerme · 02/07/2019 09:39

thankyou!

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mardenrt14 · 02/07/2019 09:48

They just have a timetable for lessons so log in and out as necessary throughout the day. They have a morning tutorial which just about everyone misses. It's a bit like skype/facetime although they can't see each other or the teacher. The teacher talks and then students either talk on the microphone or text. You have to "put your hand up" - you can't just randomly talk. They have slides from the lesson that you can print out or refer to in the library. Homework is posted on line and you submit it online. Very easy to just log on to lessons and not participate/pay attention.

Subjects are just core ones. But I think you can do something like computer gaming and maybe a few others. They do iGCSEs and A levels. One of my DC "went" there for 1.5 years. I would not recommend it. I think there are better ones out there but it might suit your DC if they are motivated. Message me if you want more details.

Original poster

wellbuggerme · 02/07/2019 10:15

were looking at my online schooling. the interhigh "masterclasses" thing puts us off. with ds asd his current school isnt working. he did a taster (joined in a standard class) last week and got on well.

but dont want to write off interhigh straight away. dh is a teacher at a secondary and knows/ has accsess to more rescourses for dt, ict etc anyway. Ill be be sat with ds for class time anyway as he needs a TA at school to keep him focussed/ on task . so no pretending here lol!

OP posts:

Original poster

wellbuggerme · 02/07/2019 10:18

we really dont give a rats arse about drama/ art/ music tbh. he isnt that way inclined and they`d br dropped like a hot brick yr 9/10 options! instead we would look at photography for example as he likes that and has a bit of a thing for it.

i mean drama??? what a waste of an hour!

OP posts:

DameCelia · 02/07/2019 10:18

Have you looked at Cambridge Homeschool Online?
Tiny classes and the teacher is on the screen so the pupils can see them.

Original poster

wellbuggerme · 02/07/2019 10:20

they can see the teacher on MOS and interhigh. does cambridge use adobe thingy? (ive forgotten its full name). ill take a look.

OP posts:

Original poster

wellbuggerme · 02/07/2019 10:25

too expensive! plus teaching subjects we dont really want..... we want ds to do french. we are in the middle of planning a move due to dh having a new teaching post sept. in the area were in now ds has been doing german. where were going (when we sell this house grrr) its french. so ds will be doing french and that means if he wants to try "proper" school after the move hell be able to re intergrate. if that makes sense.

OP posts:

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer · 02/07/2019 10:25

My home ed 12 year old does two online classes. One is a small group history class (probably 8 or 9 of them plus the teacher) and the other is computer science, which is about an average class size. Both of them over a Skype style connection. Interhigh can work for some dc, but there are plenty of other options out there as well.

Original poster

wellbuggerme · 02/07/2019 10:27

adobe connect is what MOS use and dh when he`s given online training himself (he moonlights for AQA lol).

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pingster · 02/07/2019 10:29

My daughter did interhigh for a term as she was struggling socially at school and was really miserable. I was really impressed with how the classes worked. They are fairly small (even the larger core ones) and plenty of opportunity for interaction with the teachers and smaller group work. She really liked it and academically I was happy with it. She didn’t have very many lessons each day and times varied so she’d have big breaks in the day but that was a good opportunity to get homework done. On Fridays she only had one lesson at about 4pm which was awkward timing but being online means you can join from anywhere - on one occasion we went away for the weekend and she did the lesson in the car! She was really good at motivating herself and joining every lesson and getting on with homework in her own time. It might not have worked so well if she wasn’t.

mardenrt14 · 02/07/2019 10:55

They can't see the teacher at IH, only hear them. There were a lot of technical problems, people logging in and out, losing connection constantly. Personally I think science is the big problem with online schools. I'm a secondary school teacher as well and between me and DH, we got our DC through GCSEs, not Interhigh. In hindsight, we should have just stuck to that. My friend's DD is also overseas and she is using Wolsley House. She really rates it but her DD is extremely bright and motivated.

ColdTattyWaitingForSummer · 02/07/2019 10:58

he-exams.wikia.org/wiki/CorrespondenceCourses
This might be helpful as it has experiences and reviews of different options.

Original poster

wellbuggerme · 02/07/2019 12:30

cant see the teacher at interhigh???? MOS we see the teacher, they cant see us ! plenty to think about there. does interhigh use adobe connect?

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ineedaknittedhat · 03/07/2019 13:46

I'll get ds to type his opinion 😁

ineedaknittedhat · 03/07/2019 13:53

The lessons consist of 2 varieties. The lead lesson and the follow lesson. The lead lesson is a group of students in a kind of virtual classroom, listening to a teacher work through a PowerPoint, such as one on the french revolution for history. The lessons are quiet, as the only person speaking is the teacher and the volume is adjustable on headphones. You can type in messages either to the rest of the class or directly to the teacher, if you wanted to ask questions. The lessons are from 40 minutes to 1 hour long, and you tend to have 3 or 4 lessons a day. I go to interhigh and I really enjoy it. It's much easier to cope with the noise when only the teacher is speaking and you can write down notes at your own pace.

ineedaknittedhat · 03/07/2019 13:56

You can see the teacher at interhigh, but not all ds says.

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