Home Ed for GCSE History - advice would be appreciated!

[GettinTrimmer]

Ds's school did offer both History and Geography, but for reasons I can't fathom at the moment, nobody has been offered both subjects. He has Media Studies, which I think looks interesting, but ds feels it's not really of much value to him.

He has a love of history, his day off school today due to teachers strike and he is watching a programme about the history of oil production! I am thinking of home ed. I did history A Level years ago, and I very much enjoy the subject - I am thinking of paying for a qualified history teacher to tutor him for a couple of hours per week, and I will need to look at how to structure/teach/challenge him (teachers are the experts!) and in the mix is the change of GCSEs.

Any advice welcome.

Have you asked if/how he could do both. How old is your ds? Media Studies is a bit dull for an academic child.

It is very simple to get hold of the syllabus and cover it yourselves, I doubt you'd need a tutor for GCSE History.

You are in a better position than many home educators, as you have an inriad to a school where your child could sit the exam. If you go for the same exam board that the school are using, it should be very straightforward.

Exam centres and entry are the most problematic things for HE families, get that sorted early and you'll have no problems.

It's much more interesting being taught by someone who knows the topic and can give you the ins and outs than just reading the textbook though. Id still go for a tutor in this instance (I loved my history tutors, you could ask them a question about anything it seemed and they had a real feel for the period etc.)

However have you considered knock on effect on other subjects/time etc. You want a good set of grades rather than extra grades usually.

My academic child is really enjoying Media Studies GCSE..........

A lot of schools offer either Geography or History- I don't really understand why.

How many GCSEs is he doing?

A lot of schools offer one or the other to fulfill the EBacc requirements or a humanities.

My dd is at a comp has chosen Geography and History. She's good at maths too so I wouldn't be surprised if she chose social sciences at A Level and uni like I did.

I have a son doing Media Studies and he doesn't find it dull at all.

Peoples re very snobby about Media Studies. I was myself until I had a child doing it.

Ds's PE teacher said that he loves the couple of weeks leading up to the BTec Sports Science deadlines because it's the only time he's higher up the staff room pecking order than the Media studies teacher!

I thought he'd chosen Media Studies? It was other posters who were questioning it's value/interest.

For various timetabling reasons I was unable to do History (O level as it was it back then). Whilst I would have preferred to have the 4 or 5 lessons a week in History rather than Biology, it has never been a drawback to my enjoyment of history. Not everything we enjoy or do has to have a qualification to validate its worth. I'd encourage his reading etc without the hassle of adding to his exam workload in 2 years time. With the reformed GCSE where everything is down to the final exam, I'm not sure that you will be doing him any favours.

Bertrand he chose Media Studies, it seemed out of the other options it would interest him more, as he had no interest in anything else, he doesn't like arty subjects or music. They have to do an option on game shows for 2018 exam announced by AQA, he doesn't watch them, but other aspects such as magazine journalism, advertising etc could be interesting. we've spoken before when I posted trying to get my head round this EBacc stuff! He's doing EBacc (6 subjects), RE, Geography and Media Studies.

NeedAScarf He needs Geography as he is very keen on nature/conservation, may consider that for a career. But who knows, they can change their mind, I just feel have to go with what you enjoy as well.

Have quite a bit of finding out to do...exam board, syllabus, amount of time to spend on it etc..I'm going to let my ds decide. Thanks for replies all.

I spoke to him about how he feels about having extra work and he said he will go with it Ladymuck but I do agree with what you're saying we don't necessarily need qualifications.

I also think that, whilst there's nothing wrong with looking into studying for and sitting the GCSE in history privately, I would consider just leaving it as a formal arrangement and letting him self-study the topics he's interested in, as he is today.

Most schools will let you take A level history without the GCSE - providing he does well in English/RE etc, and the media studies will help develop the critical thinking skills which are used at A level. Why don't you ask school if the A level is an option without the GCSE and then at least his future options aren't limited. Geography is much harder at A level without the GCSE.

Have you actually considered asking the school if they could exceptionally sit both? DD wanted to do PE as an 11th GCSEs but she was told she couldn't. Then at the start of year 11, she was told that she could sit it but would need to study for it independently, although her teacher said she would give her some extra tuition after class once a week. DD did it and she got an A at both mock exams she did and is pretty sure she'll get an A.

I've very pleased that the school changed their mind and in the end encouraged her to do it.