homeschooling

hello looking for information to start home schooling . Any resource available or guidelines.

hello I read your post and was interested in any information or tips you can give for home schooling. I hoping to start home schooling with my son who is on the spectrum and 11 years old. Is their any ready made pack I can buy which is set up with activities and daily lesson plans which would be beneficial. I would really appreciate any advice please.

thank you

Can you please advise me how many hours per day to homeschool a 9yr old and 11yr old?  Thank you

Hi I use to be a trustee for education otherwise. If your child is not happy the best thing to do is take him out . Believe me everyone goes through this thinking that will it be the right choice and will they get the right education for there child. My advice to you is chill out , take your child out for walks in the park , or a museum he will learn hands on stuff by looking and listening , not by sitting in a classroom with 4 brick walls . You start him off gently like a 10 minutes of maths , history can come under art and english , as your writing and drawing pictures or doing models of whatever that can be another 30 minutes to an hour . That is 3 lessons and you can call it quits for the day make it fun for him and you will go omg and your child wont think hes been learning because you made it fun for him. Get a few books on english , maths , reading books you know maths made easy by carol vordoman thats what I started by first  , then thats how you find out where he is . I hope this has helped you a bit but the best thing is to relax.

Hi I'm new here so don't know if I'm posting in the right place. So here it goes... Bare with me. 

My son Harry is 7, he was diagnosed with ASD at the age of 3, and later with sensory processing disorder. He is currently in mainstream school. He's an amazing boy. So funny, happy, chilled out little soul. Then there is the other side. He suffers with high anxiety levels and can go from Angel child to devil child in a second. At home we manage it quite well but school is a different matter. ive been so proud of his progress. He is as clever as the next child, in some situations above and beyond. Although sitting at a table and doing a piece of written work can cause chaos. Our problem is that he is lashing out at school. There has been 16 occasions since April. He's starting to struggle. He doesn't like school. It takes us hours of persuading him to go. To  be fair 80% of the time he's cheerful enough in school, I wouldn't say happy. We have been considering for 2 year now about putting him in a school that can meet his needs better as the staff are trying everything but nothing is working. Don't get me wrong each and every member of staff is amazing and can't do enough to help Harry.

so... We have been looking locally for schools that can help him but unless we want to travel 30miles there isn't anywhere except residential schools. Which is a definite NO!!!! 

Out next option is home schooling. This brings up many issues. How do I do it? Will it be suitable? Would I be able to provide the education he needs?!?!? It's a minefield of questions. 

Many advice or knowledge would be great fully appreciated. 

Apologies for the huge message

thanks in advance

my daughter is 12 this year and has severe autism ( scale 7/ 10) and we are finding it's becoming distressing to her to go to school. The screaming tantrums and crying is worrying us so much she also hits herself. When grace is home with me she is so content and seems so happy and thats all we want for her, can anyone give me some advise.Thankyou.

hi i home schooled 3 of my children for 7 years. Surrey is not the best place to get help ,I used to live in Wallington, moved to kent 2 years ago. Now my youngest is going to college in September. We had an LEA officer called Maria Marsh and she was so into getting everyone back into the schooling system and would play every trick in the book that I became a Trustee for Education Otherwise . I would never let them come to my home, for my children were frightened that they would be sent back to school. I always stated laws to them and if they found out my landline number or mobile I use to change that aswell . They got my number from CAMHs so be warned. I always sent written reports but apart from the hassle I got from them we enjoyed every moment of home schooling and you can get so many things out of it but the best thing of all is that your children are happy and safe .

Hello

We moved to a little bit called Larbert just outside falkirk in Scotland. Our primary is called kinnaird it is fantastic. We also have daldorch house in Ayrshire it does day pupils of high mid and low functioning levels it is also good. But we miles away from Surrey. No Google doesn't help not does asking cahms or council. What happens if you do a search for disabled/autistic units in Surrey? Have you tried calling the helpline on here. They have helped me with school problems. If I can help or answer anything else please let me know. Fingers xd hun. 

Thanks so much can i ask you where you relocated to? We are more than happy to move anywhere for the sake of his happiness but just don't know where to go..i seem to have trouble finding schools in google any ideas we are currently in surrey..

Hello heyleyh 

Sometimes they hate school because it has been such a negative influence. We had no joy at all and there were no schools we felt were trustworthy in our area so took the drastic step of relocating. The primary we found was brilliant they were in tune to his needs had picture timetables and really boosted his confidence. Now we r at high school transition which worries me. There is no help with transport and we have to adopt a suck it and see attitude as regards to mainstream high. Let him have difficulty before he will be referred to a unit. There is not enough help for mid to high functioning kids. Not at all and I understand your reservation about home schooling. I felt the same hence the drastic action. Can you talk to your cahms or look for a school further out then approach your council for transport costs. It is so hard and scary and heart breaking. Let me know how u get on? Do u have a co ordinates support plan for him? Ask your council about that too it should help if he gets back into school. Take care.

Hi i am a mum to 4 boys one whom is on the asd spectrum..well actually i think 2 more are but for now they seem to be coping with life just fine...

Ok my son has been in mainstream for 3 years and he hates its he screams and cries not to go most days (they say he has good days and bad days). However he has got out of school on 3 occasions and i can see just how anxious he is when he is there it breaks my heart.

2 weeks ago i said enough is enough and removed him from school (recommeded by a specialist school because of his mental health being effected if left in the wrong enviroment)...they have since agreed that they can not meet his needs. I have been to 3 special need schools who say they aren't the right provision and the "units" i have seen i hate...

My problem is that my son is clever but hates to work and hates to learn and i do not know what is best for him.

The thought of homeschooling scares me because i worry that i won't be giving him enough and what about when he point blank refuses to do any work?? I have his twin brother to get to school every day and his younger brother and an older brother who is doing his 2nd year of A levels.

If anyone has any advice for me it truely would be greatly receieved.

Thanks for reading my rant!

Just wanted to introduce myself as another homeschooler.   We'd actually made the decision to homeschool our sons before we had a diagnosis of ASD for both of them, so they've never been in school. As both my lads struggle a great deal with sensory defensiveness, I think that they would have found the noisiness of school very difficult - I dread to think how stressed they would have become.  They also have issues with concentration and focus - homeschooling means that we can do work in short bursts - which suits them very well. We don't follow a curriculum and are mostly led by their interests and enthusiasms - altho' we do insist on a little dull stuff like times tables now and again.

We are lucky because there are masses of home ed groups locally, and we are slowly building up a bit of a social circle.  I worry that they miss out on some of the opportunities of school (organised sport/drama for example), but hopefully we will be able to find ways to bring those things into their lives as they get older and we identify more resources.

I home educated all my children at one time but we tried school for my autistic son but it was an absolute disaster. We took him back out last year and he is just beginning to get back to his real self after having a severe anxiety episode.

Home ed has turned out to be a real life saver for him. I've just started using some Montessori methods and it has worked wonders.

Sorry for the delay.

Actually we live in the Republic of Ireland, though I am English by birth.

The legal situation here could be different.

We just went through our second comprehensive assessment by the National Education Welfare Board . . .hopefully with flying colours, though we are waiting for a copy of the report as I write.

perhaps I will feel more confident in writing a more comprehensive contribution when reassured by said report.

i would add that there have been stressful extended moments , mainly due to the widespread  Irish attitude to the reality of an autistic parent rearing an autistic child . . or likely any child actually. It has been challenging . .not so much the homeschooling, but attitudes within 'services' . . . assessment , social services responding to assessment report, a further second opinion assessment at my insistence. Then a second report which calmed social services somewhat.

In fact our experiences of the Education Welfare Board have been the most positive of all the bodies we have had dealings with.

Hi MUmchkin-Mama

The laws on homeschooling are very different in Scotland, it is not at all the same as in England, however it is very possible.

A good place to go for advice etc. is Schoolhouse, they are the scottish home education charity (you should be able to google them).

We live in East Ayrshire and have been homeschooling for about 4 years now. You don't have to follow a curriculum, you just need to make sure your child is receiving an education that is suitable and appropriate for their age and ability - and as mum you should know best what they can do.

As for socialisation- they are lots of home school activities happening, we worried about our girls not meeting other children, but now we find that they are so busy with 'social' engagements we struggle to fit the 'education' bit in :o)

If I can be of any help please get in touch

Hi munchkin-mama,

I live in England and don't know if the law is different in Scotland.  I did find a website that looks like it may help you.  It's www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2007/12/17133313/0.   

In England we don't have to follow the national curriculum or any other curriculum unless we want to.  I  know that sounds really scary but I find that the boys learn best when we follow what they are interested in or have questions about.  Another website I like is www.education-otherwise.org which has lots of information about how to get started etc.

Socialisation is something that everyone worries about to start with.  We find that the boys have more social contact with a wider range of people that they did at school.  At school they spend most of their time with children of the same age.  This never happens except at school.  My sons meet the neighbours and chat about what they are doing, if you go shopping they meet a wide range of people, a trip to the park provides another group of people to meet and understand.  I think what I am trying to say is don't worry about socialisation as long as they are getting out and about they will meet plenty of people and learn from your example of how to deal with others. 

I hope that helps.

It's all a bit daunting however the stress he goes through and we go through is getting to all of us!

Where do I buy the curriculum in Scotland or do the ed dept give us copies of it so we can follow it with the kids?

We are in an area where there is no asd clubs or support really. There are in north ayrshire but as we are in east ayrshire we have been denied access to things like the toy library with its sensory toys and other clubs they have.

I do worry about lack of socialisation for him but that ia being out weighed by he current stress of bullying at school and I fear I may lose my temper at some of the worst offenders when picking him up which would be very wrong.

Thankyou for the help.

There is a website set up by parents of kids with special needs who home educate in the UK http://www.he-special.org.uk/ 

Hi,

I am Mum to 2 boys, 1 with ASD, ADHD, Episodic Dyscontrol, Dyslexia, Dyspraxia (the list goes on) and the other with AS and PDA.  We have home schooled for nearly four years.  The eldest lasted two terms at mainstream school,  I won't go into the details but 5 chest infections, regressive behaviour and the school still thinking they were getting it right was enough for us to take a leap into the unknown.  At which point his younger brother decided one out all out (he was still in nursery at the time).

Please be aware that what I am about to say is my understanding of the law and I am just a Mum so do check that what I say applies to where in the world you are.

We took our eldest out of school by sending a letter deregistering him.  This meant that the local authority had to accept that he wasn't truanting but was being educated "other than at school" which is what the law describes home schooling as.   The law states that you have to provide a full time, efficient educations suitable to ability and any special needs. 

We did start by trying to recreate school at home but found that both boys hated it.  Since then we have become much more relaxed and we follow what the boys are interested in.  One loves history and art, the other science, maths, music and language.  There are many styles of home schooling and every family I know is different. 

If you are known to your LEA ie your child has been to LEA controlled school, then you will have to provide them with a statement of educational provision which sounds scary but there are examples on the internet, and I am happy to help, explaining what you are doing and how you will meet the child's needs.  From that point forward you can control what contact you have with the LEA.  I chose not to have home visits but to submit an annual report detailing what we have covered, this was because our eldest was scared they would send him back to school.  If you are not known to the LEA, at this time, you don't have to do anything there is no duty on you to notify them that you home school but this may change.

There aren't any pitfalls for me.  I love what we do I have learnt so much from the boys and their passions.   Currently we are exploring World War 2 and learning Russian.  I know I spend a lot of time helping the boys and dealing with them but many families I know juggle work and home schooling very successfully. 

There are many support groups both on line and locally (depending on where you live).  Whether or not you follow a curriculum or not is a matter of choice.  We don't.  I find that over a year we cover just about everything they would cover at school without a workbook in sight.  I think that we will probably continue with home schooling for the whole of both boys' education.  I don't think a school could cope with the eldest's range of need or the younger's giftness (if there is such a word).

Sorry this is so long and for any spelling mistakes.  I keep getting interrupted and then have to work out what I was saying.  Just to say I love home schooling and am very proud of both my sons.