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Home education

NAS72680

Hi Everyone,

Thanks in advance for reading this post.

I wanted to ask for some advice on home education. It is something that myself and my husband are considering for our 6 year old daughter. She has been in mainstream education for nearly 3 years, she is diagnosed asd with behaviours that challenge. 

Our reasoning for wanting to home educate is that we believe that the 'school life' is just to hard for her to deal with. She has dysregulations every day with them ranging from the not so big to full blown Crisis. The school have put some things in place but even requirements of her EHCP have not been met because the school can not accommodate. 

We haven't had a look at specialist schools or any other education yet because we believe that maybe she will be best at home with me and the people who know her best. There have been suggestions by her school that she attends a PRU as she is on route for permanent exclusion..I can't believe I say this as my child is 6! 

I guess I want some advice from people that have done this...are doing this to see how accessible it is and what services if any we can still access for her EHCP.

Both myself and my husband work in education and have been working with autistic children over 10+years so I don't doubt i can give her what she needs its just if it is the right route to down.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated

  • in reply to NAS85448

    Hi, thank you for getting in touch. It's nice to hear from others that home educate. We have tried to stick with school, but it's just not as accessible as we thought it would be and the environment has become more challenging.  

    We currently live in East London and are looking into the home education situation and what will be available to her when home schooled in terms of services, activities, groups etc..Have your children got EHCP's and what services are available to them? We are worried that we will lose people like SALT and CAMHS.

    I will have a look on Facebook to see what is available and if there is anyone we could connect with in our area to see what's available to her and us as a family 

  • in reply to Peter

    Thank you Peter for your response and tips. It's great to hear from someone who had been home schooled and praises it! Like you say its when she gets older that it might be a tougher choice, bit we will have to wait and see how long this lasts if we decide to do it. 

  • I home educate both my children - neither have been to school so I cannot offer advice on taking her out.  However I would highly recommend it.  I don't feel like my oldest child would have done well in school at all due to her behaviours.

    What area do you live in?  The home education community is thriving at the moment as it has become more popular.  I currently live in Cumbria now and Nottingham before that.  Both areas have had a great variety of things happening every day and also specific groups for SEN children. 

    There are a few families I have met who have taken their children out of school due to the school not being able to meet their needs.  One woman I met said that she had acquired funding for his son's home education due to the school not meeting his needs so they may be something to look into.  I could ask if she would be happy to speak with you if that is something you wanted.

    Also, there are loads of home ed groups on Facebook national and local ones.  I'm sure you would be able to find one so you can see what is happening in your area.

    Also sorry to disagree with Peter who had commented but the idea that children cannot socialise out of school is not true.  My children have loads of friends that they see regularly...as do all of the other home educated children I know.

  • my personal experience as a home schooled child who him self was threatened with exclusion etc? Homeschooling is actually a pretty good option upto the age of about 13. You need to think about how and whether to reinsert her into school when adolescence comes. I'm guessing some time between age 13 and 15.

    1. have a plan for physical education / PE. Its an important part of education too. Team sports probably aren't a good option so you'll need to think out of the box and work in the areas of her enthusiasm. If you can't get her to buy in to physical activities in the next few years it'll be imposable to maintain when she gets to 8/9+.
    2. if she's bright be aware she may race ahead in areas she enjoys. You can't stop her so, if you try to lock her into age appropriate material you'll just frustrate her. You need a plan for curriculum acceleration at home if this happens.
    3. Out side of school there is nearly no social life for kids. You need a plan to actively push her into social situations with peers. Your instinct might be to be choosy about who you connect her with but trust me you can't afford to be choosy because who she clicks with is almost chance, and the odds are not good. You need to cast her social net as wide as posable, bad influences and all. Trust me there are fewer social opportunities outside of school for kids than you think.