Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

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.

Home schooling

3 replies

Garryja · 26/11/2024 10:54

Hi this is Dad here not Mum, looking for some advice / support / comfort as we start to home educate our youngest who has beeb gradually dropping out from school over the last 18 months. Sorry for long note but it feels like I need to share our story.

She, like me, has asperger and adhd so noise is a problem. She also feels isolated from the pupils and teachers.and because she has got behind in most lessons, now it is leading into a problem with just over 18 months to go until gcses. She is crying not wanting to go into school and hiding, sometimes not turning up to lessons.

I suffered the same thing at the same age at school.and wished somebody had rescued me - so I am rescuing her.

So we've taken her out of school as first step. Ive met with head of year and explained everything and I have got her private tutors for Monday to Thursday. This is Day 2 and all that seems to be going well so far.

Problem now is (looking forwards) how to socialise her - is there anything that either mumsnet or other sites offer as some form of meetup potentially once a week / month to keep her connected. Saturdays may be better because of logistics, not really sure what Im asking for or if anything exists but reaching out for your kind help.

OP posts:
AllYearsAround · 26/11/2024 11:46

Find your local home ed Facebook group - it will probably be your county or nearest city eg Kent Home Educators or Home Education Canterbury
That's the best way to meet local families.

Also these websites are useful
https://educationalfreedom.org.uk/
https://he-exams.fandom.com/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki

Educational Freedom

Free Home Education information and support in the UK

https://educationalfreedom.org.uk

BestZebbie · 26/11/2024 12:15

Seconding local facebook groups for meet-ups - they may also lead to a more restricted whatsapp or google group with specific details of local classes etc, and once you get to know other home ed families in person you start to make friends and can arrange other things between yourselves. It can take some time because to start with you might feel you see different people each week, but they will begin to recur!

Don't overlook 'normal' extra curricular groups with schooled children like Guiding, parkour, drama, LEGO Club etc. Community centres often have clubs and youth groups. An environment of 25 kids that is overwhelming when it is all day everyday can often be dealt with for just 90 minutes once or twice a week.

Stay in contact with any existing friends, at least at first. You might have to do all the running.

Outschool has some 'classes' that are specifically just social opportunities for home ed and/or ND children - they will live too far away to become 'friends you can go into town with', but can be another string to the interaction bow, especially if the group is focused around a common interest so they can become her {Taylor Swift/Warrior Cats/Pokemon} friends.

If she likes Minecraft then there are dedicated servers run by home ed parents just for home ed children and moderated to keep them safe, which can be yet another way to have very low-pressure chat with peers available on a take-it-or-leave it basis.

If she likes horses and you want to include equine experience into home ed then it is very possible to develop an entire social life based around helping out at a local stable.

If she is a bit younger, then forest schools are often actually more for free play/socialisation than studying to be the next Bear Grylls (and it gets you all out of the house) - look for dog-whistle words like 'child-led' and 'autonomy' to find the ND-skewed fully play-based ones.

Garryja · 26/11/2024 15:01

Many thanks will start to investigate

OP posts:
New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread