messymind
When our ds was deregistered the head teacher of the high school, asked "what about the National Curriculum?" and when I told him we didn't have to follow it, he said "Oh for the pleasure of teaching a child what he wants to learn!"
I have heard similar sentiments many times over from teachers since then.
Remember too that SATS are meant to test the teachers and the school-NOT the child. They are actually of no use to the child.
I remember being surprised as well, when I realised that you actually need 11 years of schooling to do GCSEs, you don't need GCSEs to do A levels and you don't actually need A levels to get into University.
Our eldest went to FE college post 16 and did two GCSEs on one day a week.
He used those two GCSEs to get into another FE college where he did A levels (and did very well.)
Our daughters have chosen to go a different route-and would certainly ask why would anyone want a child to be restricted to things only covered by the NC?
At 18 our daughter got herself the job she wanted, with a very well known national organisation, without any GCSEs/A levels. Instead her CV listed her life experiences as including working 20 hrs a week in a small retail outlet and managing it whilst she was there, working for a mobile internet company developing mobile internet sites for some well known names, helping to run workshops for women who have been victims of domestic violence, co-chairing the launch of a new dyslexia charity with a well known dyslexia expert from the USA and spending two long summers sailing around the British Isles helping to crew the boat, navigate and look after three young children,
Now she is working a at a job she loves and saving for her Competent Crew sailing certificate.
Our younger daughter is 15 now. She left school aged 8 unable to read or spell a single word-not even her own name.
Now she can read and spell very well indeed-the same cannot be said of the schooled peers in the remedial class that she left behind.
Each day we follow whatever her current interests are. Right now we are choosing another OU course, looking at "Tall Ships" sailing options, focusing on geography/longitude and latitude, and philosophy. All of this is her choice.
We are looking at a maths course on managing finances. Managing her diary is also a focus, as she needs to fit her education around the gigs that are being booked, as she sings with band, meaning she also travels a lot around the country.
There are also five or six HE camps and other festivals to fit in this summer too!
She has a small budget to manage herself to fund travelling expenses and clothes for performances etc, which she often spends shopping on ebay for a bargain, altering her outfits as necessary.
She now travels independently around the country, managing train and bus time tables on her own, as the guys in the band we all formerly home educated, but are now at college and live about 80 miles away from us.
Travelling independently was not something I ever imagined she would be able to do, when I was told she would need one to one support all through her schooling years.
She enjoys being on MSN-again very helpful in helping her to learn to read and spell without pressure-both of which she does very well and she is very adept at IT skills too now.
And of course I haven't touched on all of the educational content of all of the purposive conversations we have every day, again conversations usually instigated by dd2 and answering whatever needs she has at that time.
Yesterday's conversations included, the voting system in the UK, local and national Government and proportional representation-all very topical at the moment.
We have also be discussing further conservation issues, veganism and dietary needs and how this can impact the environment.
She also has a continuing interest in the root and language base of words and so have been researching with dictionaries, a thesaurus and the internet. A lot of English Idiom has come up too so we have been researching and discussing that too!
She also really enjoys philosophy and we have just arranged to hold a philosophy debating evening at one of the home ed holidays we are booked to go on.
Last year at the same camp, we did lots of kayaking, cycling, treasure trails and one evening the kids organised a complete "Master Chef" programme themselves without any adult input!
There was lots of wild garlic and young nettles, so the six teams of two people could cook any two course meals as long as they used those two ingredients.
They filmed the whole thing and my dd was the commere. They had judges and they also filmed commercial breaks! The whole thing was brilliant!
Mt dd also lead a group of teens locally to pitch for funding for their dram project last summer.
They got £1500 and designed their costumes and had them made, designed and built their props and recorded the music and performed twice at Malvern Street theatre and twice at Hereford World Conservation day. You can see their picture at the bottom of our local HE website
I don't think our children are unusual in the home ed teens that we know-and we know literally hundreds now.
I know of a home educated young person who is at Oxford doing Law, having bypassed GCSEs/A levels altogether and going straight for an OU course to use as evidence of his ability to study at the required level.
Another friend was 'invited to apply' to a university to do a Paediatric Nursing degree after attending the open days and chatting to the tutors. She too had gone the OU route. Others use the OU to complete their degrees and avoid university debts altogether.
Another mom on this forum, has a son who did do GCSE and A levels -at his own pace-and is now the youngest person ever to do a PhD in medical research at his University.
I do think it is true that our youngsters are likely to 'think outside the box' more than others perhaps.
I know young people who have joined circus schools and some who have successfully started their own business.
If you are interested in the work of Alan Thomas there is an article to keep you going until you get the copy of his latest book, comparing informal and formal home education
and also the last chapter of his previous book "Educating Children at home" can be found on the EO website:A Different Kind of Education
I also like another article from the EO website: Organic Structure by Ian Wild.
hth