Home ed my SEN child?

[NoisyShark]

Has anyone made the decision to home educate their year 10 child who was diagnosed with ADHD and waiting for Autism assessment? I tried for assessment when he was 7 was but was told he was fine as he could sit still in a doctors appointment but once he started secondary school and struggled a lot I then went back to my gp who pushed through with a referral for him. He has now started in year 10 and is really struggling, homework, class work is all just too much, attendance is now down to 55% and we are only at the end of term 1. He's had some illness so some of the attendance is genuine but he's going in late each morning and in a rut of no homework so in detentions and then isolation for not attending detentions and its a fight to get him in to school now. Is home ed the way forward?

No. What makes you think you can teach him to a good standard?

The breadth and depth of lessons at year 10 doesn't lend itself easily at all to homeschooling. They have specialized teachers for a reason.
I'd focus on getting them into school more often and support their learning at home as necessary.

As the mother of an adult Sen child, I deeply regret not home schooling him when he struggled through secondary school. We fought for an EHCP, then we fought for a SEN school placement. Unfortunately by the time we had been to tribunal to be awarded the education he was entitled to, he was so damaged by mainstream schooling that there was no coming back from it. It a familiar story for many neurodiverse children.
There are some fantastic Home Education Communities and Study Centres out there. If only I’d discovered them earlier I feel my son would have thrived in those settings.

How do you envision it working? Will you be at home with him most of the day and available to ensure he is doing the things he needs to do in order for this to actually be ‘education’ and not just lolling about at home. How self motivated and engaged is he likely to be because it’s unlikely to be successful if he’s not.
Most people are not knowledgeable enough to teach a range of subjects to GCSE level.
Online schools and tuition is a very definite possibility that can work well but will cost you money.
How likely this is to work for you and him is dependent on a large number of factors.

Since when is a child in charge? Its your job to get him to school on time and do his homework and make sure he attends or do you not want him to get a job? You are setting him up to be on benefits laying in bed all day, back in the day all children attended school or there was hell to pay,.what you are saying is you cant be arsed to gef him out of bed to school and cant be arsed to do his homework with him, these are your issues not his

I’m guessing a lot of these responses OP are from people who don’t have SEN children, life is just so different and they need a different approach. I don’t home ed but I fully sympathise as I know how hard it is to get them into school, it’s so difficult for the SEN children who don’t quite meet the criteria for SEN but also mainstream isn’t suited- do what’s best for your child OP, perhaps look into private tutoring for GCSE for English maths and science?

I would speak to the Sendco ask to get all the detentions removed and just core subjects for homework. Then see if there is a homework club he could attend where there will be support. Speak to Exams access officer and see what can be put in place.

If he is doing exams you will have to organise and pay for each one if he is home educated, will you be able to sort this out and afford it?

What support is the school already providing? What have they tried that hasn’t worked?

If DS’s attendance is 55%, is alternative provision in place?

Has an EHCNA been requested?

Personally, I wouldn’t EHE, but I would pursue further support within the system. And that doesn’t have to be within a school that can’t meet needs.

Could you afford a private online school? Eg Minerva online school has a good reputation among SEN parents I know. I think if you’re trying to home educate for GCSEs you really need outside tutoring, or you’re not going to manage to teach him everything he needs.

Are there any other schools or alternative learning provisions in your area that could work for him?

Took our year 10 son out of school and now has all of his lessons online, we use Elmtree Learning…best thing we ever did!

My dd really struggled in year 10, we worked with the school to get a solution that worked, mostly working in the school office on a laptop. I picked her up a lot (early) but she went in on time every day even if carried to the car (fortunately not heavy) and if she came out early she had to come to my work and study on the next desk, no extra leisure time etc. no reward. It improved by year 11 and she got a*’s

Also recommend the £2 tuition hub if you do decide to home educate, it’s a much more affordable way to get classes.

It sounds like he’s really struggling, and I’d explore what support the school can offer before making a final decision. Home education can work well for some children, but it also takes a lot of time and planning. I’d ask for a meeting with the SENCO and discuss an EHCP assessment if you haven’t already, so you can make an informed decision based on what he actually needs.

I work in tutoring, so bear that in mind. Before you decide on home ed, there is a step worth taking in writing, because the detention and isolation cycle you describe is exactly what the statutory attendance guidance says schools should be looking past. The DfE guidance Working together to improve school attendance tells schools to be particularly mindful of pupils with special educational needs or disabilities and to provide additional support or reasonable adjustments, and in exceptional circumstances it allows a temporary, time-limited part-time timetable where the school and parent agree it is in the child’s best interests, with a clear plan and regular review dates. So email the SENCO and head of year together, ask for a meeting, and request in that email that homework sanctions are paused as a reasonable adjustment while the autism assessment is pending, plus a short, reviewed reduced timetable to get him back in the building. Put the word adjustments in the subject line and keep a copy. If you still go the home ed route afterwards, GCSEs are sat as a private candidate through an exam centre and the entry deadline for a summer series is in February, so a Year 10 has time. Happy to answer anything else here.

When parents who sent their children to school criticise parents for considering home education, they're comparing what they imagine home ed is like versus the schooling that worked well for them and their kids. They're often not comparing to what the school is currently providing for the child in question.

At the moment, the school does not appear to be providing an adequate education for your child.

I was in the same position with my son, albeit when he was younger than yours. He wasn't learning anything at school, was spending all day on his own (literally - they sat in him a corridor alcove) and was miserable. I knew I could do a better job than the non-existent education he was getting at school so I took him out. He made friends with other home educated kids and he passed GCSEs that we paid for him to sit as a private candidate.

The friends of mine who were most supportive of the decision were all teachers, which perhaps tells you something about the current state of our schools. I'm not anti-school, though. My daughter continued at school and was happy there. But she isn't autistic and my son is. Schools always claim they can cater to autism, ADHD, etc, but it's all talk and no action in my experience (and I worked with young people with neurodevelopmental conditions for decades).

I'd recommend looking for home educators in your area so you'll have a better idea what groups are already up and running. That might help make your decision.

Best of luck.

GCSEs are sat as a private candidate through an exam centre and the entry deadline for a summer series is in February, so a Year 10 has time.

While there is still plenty of time for a current Y10 wanting to sit exams in the summer series of Y11, some exam centres who accept private candidates reach capacity well before the exam boards’ deadlines for normal time entries. Even more so if the candidate needs certain types of EAA.

I’m sorry op, it’s so obvious that many of these responses aren’t from people who have a neurodivergent child who has struggled. Your school is lacking in compassion and should not be punishing a child just because they can’t do homework and are getting behind due to poor attendance. My
child ended up in burnout after I tried to get her to school and it was a supportive, small school but she still couldn’t cope.

Op there are lots of online options? Do you know what your child needs to get to go to the next stage of education or would they home school a levels as well? In my area schools will try to force children to do more GCSEs than they need and mostly don’t offer a flexible curriculum. So kids are forced to do languages, which they may hate, and GCSEs in maths and English when perhaps there may be a functional skills course that is more suited to them. if there’s a course that your child has in mind for further education you may find that 5 or 6 GCSEs is enough yet there are no mainstream schools in my area that would allow a child to do less than 8 or 9 GCSEs.

There is time to do exams but finding an exam centre that might take into account any accommodations your child needs might be difficult but there is almost certainly a Facebook group in your area that can help with this.

Atitudes to home ed are old fashioned and I’ll informed on mn and many think schools are providing a quality education in a safe environment. I would recommend making an informed choice and looking at all the options. I read about EHE solidly for about two months before de registering my daughter and going for it. There is a reason why home ed is expanding across the UK.

@NoisyShark as a first step I'd speak to the
School about a reduced timetable.
There may be an option.where he can attend just core and favourite subjects and spend some lesson time in the support unit. A shorter day with less demand just might work.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloom%27s_2_sigma_problem