Home Educate Depressed, Anxious Son

[becomingmadder]

Hi, my DS is 15 and in yr 11 at school. He hasn''t been in school for almost 2 years as he was initially diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue and then developed depression and was medium/high suicide risk. He has improved greatly with medication and work with Camhs but he has real issues with getting into school. As he has missed a lot and is easily exhausted the plan is that he only attends English lessons with the hope of taking GCSE Lit and Lang at some point. However it just isn't happening, his mood and ability to function went into sharp decline once September started looming and he becomes so anxious the day before each lesson he is awake all night and so isn't fit or able to go to school the next day. His Psych' says he as School Phobia. I feel that we should effectively take him out of school and home educate him with help of tutor which as 1:1 in English would equate to 1 or 2 hours a week. But would this be deemed as adequate educational provision?

It might be worth posting on the Home Ed thread.

As far as I'm aware if you home educate the legal requirement in England (not sure about Scotland, Wales, Ireland) is to provide an "adequate" education. Obviously this differs for everyone. However, if he is to take exams he will need the correct books to work from, which you should be able to purchase online. Don't forget you need to deregister him from school if you plan to home educate - just a letter to the school on his last day informing them is sufficient I believe.

Sorry if I'm stating the obvious

Definitely get over to the Home Ed board on here, where you will get a lot of good information and support.

Hi and thank you to all who offered advice. Since posting this we have found a home tutor and have the support of the Educational Welfare Officer who says she's thought for a long time that this would be best for ds but is discouraged from offering radical advice. Ds is like a weight has been lifted off him and he is confident, up beat and positive about the future. Wow

That's great news Becoming. I took my dd out of school a few years ago for over a year until I could find a place in a better school and it was the best thing I could have done. She gained a lot of confidence. I hope your son us happy. We used our time to visit lots of museums, galleries etc and had lots of nature walks

Just wanted to say that you are a very good mum to recognise that he really can't take school and needs a different approach to education. It doesn't suit everyone...