Does anyone here home educate their child?

harissa

Hope you don't mind a few questions.

As a single parent, how do you home-educate without an income? Presumably you won't be able to earn a living and be at home to teach your child, so how do you manage?

Is it compulsory to follow the national curriculum and for your child to sit SATS? If so, do you have to pay for those exams?

Do you have to be OFSTED inspected?

Thanks.

Posted on: September 20, 2008 - 1:54pm

ficurnow

Hi Harissa

have a look at this website http://www.education-otherwise.org/

I know a few people who have home-educated their children and one in particular found Education Otherwise very useful. Fi x

Posted on: September 21, 2008 - 3:19pm

harissa

Thanks Fi, I'll check that out.

I know there is a very active bunch of home educators in my area (I wonder why ;o) ) However, the people I spoke to were 2 parent families and were fairly reliant on one partner working, while the other spent time with the child. A single parent I used to know DID home educate her children but she had support from her wider family plus access to a car - both of which seemed fairly requisite!

Posted on: September 21, 2008 - 4:11pm

Anna

Parenting specialist

Hi harissa

I have just seen that Netmums have an interesting section on their website on Home Education have a look http://www.netmums.com/h/n/OLDERCHILD/education/bristol/617// at the bottom of this page there is an email address of the head of South Glous home education who will respond to you in person.

If you do get in touch, please let us know if it was helpful and what they said, as i would be interested to hear.

Posted on: September 23, 2008 - 3:17pm

nets

Hi
I have been homeschooling my daughter since yr 4, and she has now started in year 7. She has Aspergers syndrome and is a couple of years behind in her maths and English. I manage financially as I get the usual child tax credit etc but I also get Disability Living Allowance for her and carers allowance for me(although this takes the place of Income Support) but because she gets DLA I wont have to register for work like a lot of homeschoolers when their child reaches Secondary scool age.
We dont have to follow the national curriculum or SATS but if we want our child to enter for GSCE we would have to pay for the exam or college course.
I have a nice Educational Welfare Officer who visits to see how we're progressing and that my daughter is receiving an education appropriate for her level/age but by law you dont have to see her/him but u must provide evidence of some description otherwise the dept can take u to court(very rare) for the childs non attendance........just make sure u de-register the child from the school before starting!
Anyway.......we get by financially as we make use of any resources we can ie national films week(Oct) where the kids can see films 4 free and link them to the national curriculum. Hope this answers your questions!!!!!!!!
Annette

Posted on: September 24, 2008 - 9:22am

harissa

Thanks for your helpful answers. It is reassuring to know that it is possible after all!

Posted on: September 26, 2008 - 11:23am

SUEKATZ

Glad to hear your son is back at scholl Harissa. Hope everything is going well.

Posted on: October 7, 2008 - 9:05pm

harissa

Thanks!
It was parents' evening last night and his teacher commented on how impressed she is with his work, attitude and ability to make friends. My son trusts her enough to confide in her and that has made all the difference. So, for now, it looks like the issue has been resolved.

Posted on: October 15, 2008 - 1:44pm

Anna

Parenting specialist

That sounds great Harissa, well done, with your support it sounds as if your son will get through this, it is great that he has a teacher to confide in as well. Hopefully he will learn that it is always good to seek an ally within school and that you are always there for him.

Keep in touch :)

Posted on: October 16, 2008 - 2:08pm

homeedmum

i home educate my three sons ages 16, 14 & 6. They've never been to school. No, you don't have to follow the National Curriculum or sit exams if you don't want to. I wasn't a single parent when I started home educating, I believe my partner would actually go out to work to support the family (some hopes) and I ended up both home educating and working. I managed to be self employed and work my timetable around the boys and also the nature of my work meant I could actually involve them in my work as part of their education, I know most people aren't that lucky. I've always worked hard and been fairly well off in the past, now I've had to go onto income support and that has been very upsetting for me, I'm working out now how to juggle everything with about £500 per month less money coming in. There are loads of free worksheets and lesson material available though and lots of support from home ed groups.

Posted on: October 26, 2010 - 10:09am

hazeleyes

Hi homeedmum

I was just wondering what you will do when you have to switch over from IS to JSA? You won't be classed as looking for work will you? How will that all work out for you I mean.

Posted on: October 26, 2010 - 11:30am

homeedmum

I'm lucky enough to be able to do most of my work from home in the past and I'll do that again, also I can involve the boys in most of my work that's away from home, so I'm hoping to go fully self-employed again once I've got over the big changes going on right now (move to new area etc.)

Posted on: October 26, 2010 - 2:27pm