Homeschooling

[Enjoyingthejourney]

Hi, I was wondering if there were any homeschoolers on this site. I am considering homeschooling my son instead of him joining year 6 next year. He is currently in yr5 and en route to sitting the 11plus. I have always lacked the courage to take the home-school route but was just talking to him today and he seems quite taken by the idea too. Has anyone else on here done this for year 6?

[PettswoodFiona]

We did this to some degree, DD finished Y6 at Easter and we home schooled for the last term of Y6. For us as DD is an only child it wasn't practical to do for any longer. DD really wanted to do it and that was a key factor. It was great for that one term as we knew which senior school DD would be attending, we could focus on things you couldn't traditionally do in a classroom as well as keeping up the basics of Maths and English. It was a really great time but did take a lot of planning and using up a lot of my leave. DH runs his own business so was more flexible than I was but I didn't feel it was fair to leave it all to him and I couldn't give up my job or take a sabbatical. DD still attended Guides and her sporting activities at the weekend and met up with some ex-school friends but she did find it isolating by the end. In that short space of time we got two visits from the council education authorities to check we were really home educating and showed them our schedules and materials we were using. They also checked with her secondary school that she had genuinely started there so it was a bit invasive but I appreciate their reasons for doing the investigations so didn't mind.

[kenyancowgirl]

We flexi-schooled for the whole of Y6. Basically my son went to school 4 days a week and one day a week he was homeschooled. This meant that he still kept up the social side - and the "school" based work, but we had a day a week together to do all manner of things (charity work, cooking, art projects, visiting museums etc). We were inspected by the LA as well.

[salsa]

We flexi-schooled for the whole of Y6. Basically my son went to school 4 days a week and one day a week he was homeschooled. This meant that he still kept up the social side - and the "school" based work, but we had a day a week together to do all manner of things (charity work, cooking, art projects, visiting museums etc). We were inspected by the LA as well.

Flexi-schooled? How interesting! I didn't realise you could do that.

[kenyancowgirl]

Not many people do as it is not exactly a scheme trumpeted from the rooftops. It is usually used with summer born reception age kids who aren't ready for full weeks. As your child is still "on roll" you have to get the head's permission, and they can refuse with no reason, so they have to be on side. In our case, the head had let us down big time, and the LA were aware, as were the school governors so permission was given. It also involved lots of meetings with the Y6 teacher, as they needed to be fully involved so that new topics were started when he was in etc - the Y6 teacher was cautious at first but after the first term was amazed at how well it worked - open communication was the key. We were forced into it - I didn't want to do it but felt I had no choice and my son desperately wanted to do it too.

[salsa]

I see. It seems it takes a lot of organisation. Good for you and the school.

[Blitz]

I was at a safeguarding meeting earlier this term in Essex. The subject came up of children being taken off school rolls because parents withdraw them from private schools by giving 'one term notice.' Parents were not required to let the school know where the child would continue their education and usually, 'We are moving to Dubai' or 'We can't afford the fees so will be going to x primary school' would suffice. Under new safeguarding rules all children leaving a school roll have to be reported to the LEA.

One private school, which has an extremely high 11 plus success rate, mentioned that they have many families that withdraw their children in Y6, often for the final term under the premise that they are going to homeschool the child. They often lose 6 children each summer. To me this is purely about saving school fees and now the child has a Grammar school place the school has served its purpose. If the child had a place at a non-selective school state school or a feeder private school for secondary education would they do the same?

It is a shame that children miss out on the final term of Y6. At many schools this is the best term of their whole school career with school journeys, the Y6 play and moving-on celebrations.

[salsa]

I was at a safeguarding meeting earlier this term in Essex. The subject came up of children being taken off school rolls because parents withdraw them from private schools by giving 'one term notice.' Parents were not required to let the school where the child would continue their education and usually, 'We are moving to Dubai' or 'We can't afford the fees so will be going to x primary school' would suffice. Under new safeguarding rules all children leaving a school roll have to be reported to the LEA.

One private school, which has an extremely high 11 plus success rate, mentioned that they have many families that withdraw their children in Y6, often for the final term under the premise that they are going to homeschool the child. They often lose 6 children each summer. To me this is purely about saving school fees and now the child has a Grammar school place the school has served its purpose. If the child had a place at a non-selective school state school or a feeder private school for secondary education would they do the same?

It is a shame that children miss out on the final term of Y6. At many schools this is the best term of their whole school career with school journeys, the Y6 play and moving-on celebrations.

I understand. At our local state primary they focus on SATS and after that it's all partying, going on trips, preparing their concert and play. School is fun again!

However, if you've made sacrifices to have your children at a private school, I can see how it may be necessary to stop going.

Having said that, going abroad can be very enriching to one's education.

[ToadMum]

Under new safeguarding rules all children leaving a school roll have to be reported to the LEA.

Gosh, I can see that one going down well in some circles... Not

[Yamin151]

Under new safeguarding rules all children leaving a school roll have to be reported to the LEA.

Gosh, I can see that one going down well in some circles... Not

As a home educator I see no problem in children leaving school role being notified to LEA - after all, to stop the rare tragedies that do happen, those of us who are perfectly fine would not resent being asked. However, I fully support that unless there is reason to believe there is a safeguarding issue, home educators are under no obligation to receive visits or do anything more to 'prove' what education they are providing other than writing a response to a letter asserting that they are providing an education suitable to the child's ability, age and needs. No home educator has to agree to a visit from the LEA, like some kind of inspection, and this is right, so oong as no safeguarding issue suspected.