Home schooling A-levels (self-teaching?!)

[squirrelspatchcock]

Looking for advice on home schooling for a-levels. My dd has stayed on at her school for 6th form but is very unhappy and is asking to be home schooled. I can't decide if that's crazy and she just needs to get on with it, or if I need to be more open minded to the possibility. I know nothing about how this could potentially work, obviously I can't teach her. Any advice/opinions would be appreciated!

My dd used oxbridgehomelearning for her a levels due to ill health. No lectures she just works through it on her own and hands in assignments that are marked. Not cheap but works if self motivated

If you can't teach her and don't have the time/knowledge, and won't hire tutors, it's a recipe for disaster. Her teaching herself really isn't the answer

To share our experience
DD did her A levels at college but then changed her mind about what degree she wanted to do so had a gap year and studied Biology Independently.
She got a D, she had never even had a C so it was a real shock for her and her knowledge of the subject was actually excellent.
On doing some research (including some feedback from a couple of very helpful MNetters who taught Biology A level) it seems that there is a very very precise way of answering questions in the exam - so 2 words that mean exactly the same could gain you/lose you marks and one person said that if anyone chose to self teach an A level Sciences were one of the worst. Its like passing a driving test rather than being able to drive apparently. I was told that A level teaching is around how to pass the exam rather than about understanding the subject
So If you do decide to take this route you really need to focus on exam technique

We used this lot, absolutely useless

Thanks for your insights, I really appreciate it. If I understand correctly the option is to use an online 'school' such as oxbridgehomelearning to provide some structure and feedback to self-motivated learning, or hire tutors. It sounds like something to be avoided if I can!

My daughter did this and we regret it

she went back to sixth form

first be very careful, a lot of these providers are absolute scammers

second, it’s extremely hard even if self motivated

Self study is rarely successful at a level.

Most people studying outside of a physical school or college either use an online provider or tutors.

Exam technique and knowing the types of questions make a big difference to grades and she needs someone to guide her who is familiar with these.

If you can afford I know several families who have used Kings Interhigh https://kingsinterhigh.co.uk/a-levels-online/

Yes, if a straight A highly motivated and hard working student like my DD can get a D when only doing 1 A level and self studying I would say its very very difficult.
Oxbridge sent her some materials and marked it and also entered her for the exams (but messed it up and she almost couldn't take them) but were no real help at all

Could your DD transfer to a college - even night school would work better than self teaching.

One of my students dropped out due to anxiety and self- taught the last three months of the course. She got an E (re- marked to D). I wouldn't advise this.

Doing A levels through home education isn't very common, even among dedicated home ed teens. They usually go to college for A levels after doing GCSEs independently.

However, that isn't to say that your daughter wouldn't be best off to leave sixth form. What is it she dislikes about that environment? Does she definitely want to do A levels? What are her ambitions? Maybe a different qualification or a break from education would be a better route for her.

Where is the teaching amongst all this online provision? My DS went to a 6th form college and whilst there was a huge amount of self-study, the teachers were so important to his knowledge and understanding of the subjects. And they were also experts in exam technique, which is also very important.

Have you looked at college options OP or other local schools?

My friend's son is retaking his A levels using home study platforms, but he knows how much work is required as has done A levels before and still has his old textbooks/notes. It has been a rocky start, but she has got him tutors for each subject and he is using online study platforms for the content.

Are their any colleges near you? Some of DD's friends didn't stay on at school for 6th form as they didn't want a school environment.

There is a college about 30mins by train which is purely 16-18 year olds and does a wide range of qualifications including A Levels. Completely different atmosphere and treated like students rather than children.

It's a comparatively long journey but the right fit for some.

Could you research and see if there is anywhere like that in your area?

I did an A level as a bit of a hobby through the National Extension College (came out of the same stable as the Open University many years ago).

Basically, there was no teaching as such. I learned from PDFs and worked through questions and exercises. Assistance was available for revision techniques, but it cost extra and wasn't provided as part of the package. There were chat rooms, but they were very sparsely populated. The tutors marked the essays and gave feedback but when pushed further were somewhat resistant to give more than was absolutely necessary.

Obviously it was just a hobby for me and I loved it. But I think that a YP would have to be very self motivated to come through it with great success.

I’d be exploring why she is unhappy before agreeing to her leaving. My DD wanted to leave but had no idea what else she could do. I said she needed to be in college or working, dossing about at home wasn’t an option. She changed courses, going to a 6th form college, did a BTEC, went to uni, got a degree and is now a very successful higher earner.

I'm curious to know if teens who self-studied for GCSEs are the ones who go to college/school for A levels described here? If they're home-educated/self study during secondary school years are they suddenly fine with being in a school setting for A levels?

My kid self-studied along with some tutoring for her GCSEs and did well. So I think she should be fine with the same method for A level... That said, home ed/self study alone doesn't work if there's no EXAM-related self study, I think. It's all so focused on using the right terminology and so on, which is why that aspect is so important. Our plan is for her to explore the subject matter herself to begin with and then pay for online classes/tutoring to ensure she gets that all important exam-related learning too.

Of the many HE teens I’ve known over the years and who I’ve known of, the vast majority who progress from home ed (I)GCSE to A level do A levels at college. It’s rare to do them at home because the academic level is such a jump up.

Some of the reasons for preferring HE at secondary are less relevant at college, meaning that many kids who disliked or couldn’t cope with school are okay at college. Sure, it’s a big change, but as one young formerly HE woman said on an “Ask me anything” style panel at a home ed camp, “Many things in life are big changes. Why wouldn’t we be able to cope with a big change?”

Some young people can’t cope with college, for example because of major mental health problems. Most such teens I know simply don’t do A levels at all because they don’t think they’d manage without the support provided at college.

I know just a few kids who’ve done A levels from home. All were very bright and found the pace of college too slow.

That's so interesting. I always felt that more of A level study was done without teacher guidance/classes in comparison to GCSEs. A bit like university is more about you studying/researching on your own compared to A level. At least it was for me.

My kids were in school until just a little over a year ago, so they've experienced enough of it to know how it is (and it wasn't bad either, we switched because of logistics more than anything). I don't think the oldest would suffer at sixth form college and she did apply and get in to a couple. In the end, though, she wanted to study on her own terms and travel, too. I wonder if she might change her mind... she seems to be loving it at the moment but who knows?!

To counteract all the negativity, I have a good friend whose daughter has been home ed from the start. She did 3 Science A Levels from home, no tutors as far as I know, and got A star/A/B. Her Mum did the same A Levels (I think) so was obviously more able to help than if she'd done humanities. I understand that she covered the content pretty quickly so she was then able to focus on exam technique/practice. She's now happy at uni on a healthcare course.

My son went to school officially, but his attendance was appalling, especially in year 13. There were lots of reasons for this but in March of year 13 he decided he'd better start teaching himself the content! Admittedly this wasn't in sciences (3 social sciences actually) but he just about got through the content, with little time for exam practice. He got two Bs and a very high C, mainly because he wasn't fast enough and didn't finish any papers. Had he given himself time to do lots of exam practice, in exam conditions, I think he would have got As.

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