Online schools

[Spicenflavour]

Hi, my DS is currently in year 5 and we are exploring secondary school options for him. He is heavily into sports and I was thinking if online schooling might be a better option for him so he can travel for coaching/tournaments etc. without having to worry about missing school and spending ages catching up on school work. Has anyone opted for online schooling for their kids for any reason and can give me an insight into it? Pros/cons/opinions/advice all would be very welcome as its a BIG decision! Please do feel free to PM me if that is what you would prefer 🙂

You will probably get more feedback asking this on home education groups on Facebook.
I don't have experience for secondary school, but the well known ones are pricey (Wolsey/inter high etc).

Thank you, I will try those groups.

I would try 'home education UK' on Facebook 😊

Thank you. I did search and there are quite a few groups for home education so am going to join a few and get on with my research 😃

My son is in one just for years 10 and 11 will be going to physical college after that.

When we joined it was a lovely, small school with great pastoral care but it's just been eaten up by a giant school group so it will be interesting to see what that's like.

Education wise it's been great, we moved him due to bullying at it being too critical a time due to GCSEs to wait for other school. Grades have shot up.

He is lonely though but sounds as though you wouldn't have that issue.

Thank you for replying. Sorry to hear about the bullying 😔but glad to know his grades have improved!
I do worry about the loneliness aspect as although he socialises during his sports but he is an only child and I worry that home schooling might feel isolated for him as he tends to enjoy the social aspect of being in a school.
So much to consider! 😐

I wouldn't consider this unless we are talking about a child who is very gifted and likely to start competing at national level during their compulsory education. I would be thinking instead about either very sporty boarding schools who specialise in his sport, or identifying a local state or private school in the usual way and addressing the issue of absences once it becomes a problem. Having taught junior tennis players and footballers in my experience schools are pretty supportive of absence for major competitions. If it gets to the point where he is missing an unsustainable amount of school then you will need to talk to his coaches or club about tutoring on the road.

My son has on line school ,paid for by LEA through his EHCP.
he will have it for the whole of secondary and most probably Alevel .
he’s doing 5 subjects of 10 hours a week ..
he’s starting his GCSEs in September at the start of year 9 ,a couple of subjects he’s quite bright at ,so we have the flexibility to sit them early then take another subject.
10 hours may not seem a lot ,but he has one to one teaching with his own tutor per subject …it’s been very good for him ,it gives him plenty of time to peruse his own interests in between lessons