Home ed in france

[littlebear1978]

Hi there, we are moving to France in a few years and my DS will be 9 or 10 by then. I currently home school and wondered if anyone had any info about doing this in France. We will be going to Toulouse.

I have found a few websites and groups and know that I need to register every year and I will get checked on like here in England. I know they ask you to cover certain subjects too although they don't expect you to follow the curriculum as such.

My main question is does your child have to sit an exam to check they're on track? I know if there are two unsatisfactory visits they will expect them to go back into a school.

My problem is my DS is being homeschooled as he is suspected ADHD and autism currently undiagnosed but he does not cope well in a classroom and gets very frustrated with himself and will get violent and disruptive due to anxiety. He is better one to one in an academic setting although he does get the socialising from his football team and trips out and friends outside of school and I fully intend to set up a network of friends for him in France.

I am just worried that if they ask him to sit a test he will not pass and if he is put into a school he would not cope and would be expelled again. I could not go through what I have been through here in England in a foreign country as it was a nightmare. He is much more settled now and we are all so much happier as we know how to be with him. He is learning so much more then he ever did at school!

Thanks

I don't know anything about home schooling, but Toulouse is a beautiful city and I'm very jealous. I lived there years ago and would happily live there again.

Thanks for the reply. It's very nice to hear that it's a lovely place to live. My husband has a great opportunity with work. I am excited but nervous and doing lots of research!

My dc have been home ed in France for about 7 years.

There is a lot of doom and gloom around (including from other parents in home ed groups) and a lot depends on your local inspector but from what I've seen if your dc is getting a basic formal education (as opposed to unschooling) you are unlikely to get much of a problem.

In reality they have a really hard time forcing anyone to go to school as they have to prove that the child is not likely to achieve the minimum standard by the time they are 16 - clearly a long surmise from wherever they are at 10 ish! In any case they have to give you a first year to 'establish the base' and then each subsequent year you have to prove only progress from there.

You are allowed to refuse any tests, as the inspection is only supposed to cover your instruction and not the child's performance. We have always refused tests but have welcomed them into our home to observe and converse, and the children were more than willing to show off the things that they could do, so this was not problematic.

A diagnosis could be useful in case you get an arsey inspector. They are supposed to make allowances for SEN.

In actual fact in the last 7 years we have only had about 3 inspections, if it looks in the first couple that the child is doing OK they stop bothering to do much else.

Happy to answer any questions you have, but not often on here so probably better to PM me.

I can provide you with template letters for the various formalities as well if you need them.

Thank you so much for replying. That's such valuable information. I would love to pm you but not sure how as I don't come on here too much! Please PM me though that would be lovely X

Have PM'd you.

OP what about online schooling? as long as you have good internet......

we use myonlineschooling in the UK. some of ds classmates come from France, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, UK.......