Hi, my name is Socket72! Are there any people out there that do home schooling?

Socket72

I have a 13yr old son who has Autism & ADHA, he hates going to school because of the bullying he has been subjected to. The school are trying different things with him, but he really doesn't socialise at all with other children, he keeps himself to himself, but this means he has at times become a target for other kids to mock and tease him.Neither myself or my wife can home school him as he just won't respond to us, Are there any people out there that do home schooling? Any advice or directions would be greatly appreciated.

Albus_Scope

Hey there @Socket72 and welcome to the community. :)

I'm sorry to hear your son is having a rough time at school, other kids can be very cruel sometimes. We have a couple of people who home school, so I'll just move your discussion over to the education category, so more people in the know will be able to see this and hopefully offer some top support. I hope that's ok?

orangeapple57

Hey there, I'm a home educating mentor and political campaigner in England and Wales.

If you are considering home education (not it's not homeschooling as that's when you stay on a school roll and have a curriculum provided at home eg EOTAS or EOTIS) you should research first. Websites like IPSEA and special needs jungle will advise with EHCP and Sen involved, but for home ed community links and legal advice on just home education you can use either education otherwise or educational freedom websites.

Home education is the default for education in the UK and you can opt into state school provision. It's illegal to be forced to home educate (off-rolling) but that's not to say schools don't do it. Ultimately it's the parents choice on the best provision for their child and there are laws in place to help you. Only you can decide what you are comfortable with as deregisteration from school means you take full responsibility financially and to ensure a full time education suitable to the age, ability, aptitude and SEND needs is provided. There is no legal duty to inform the local authority and no legal duty to satisfy your LA that you can meet the EHCP. It's advised to respond to your LA if they name you in person on the letter, however each local authority interprets the law differently so it's crucial to check with your local home educators for support and tailored advice about the variation in LA policy.

To assure you that you won't be alone 54% of deregisterations at the moment are due to unmet EHCPs and mental health. Each area has a different number of registered home educators but there are 86 thousand registered in England as of autumn 2023 stats. So you won't struggle to find your tribe x

Socket72

Thanks for al the info, but unfortunately we are still waiting for the EHCP, there always seems to be waiting list after waiting list, we have been fighting to get things sorted for years, school seems to be inundated with children with issues, even though when we originally went to the open evening, they couldn't boost enough about all the resources they have and the size of their Senco dept, it took the school over a year just to arrange a friends circle for him, where the kids are supposed to look out for him and chat to him, but half hour every week with kids who are there just to get out of lessons, doesn't cut it for me.

orangeapple57

Ypu don't need an EHCP to home educate in fact life is easier without the annual review if I'm honest. You can apply for an EHCP whilst home educating if you intend to return to a school setting. I wouldn't hold much hope for the EHCP being honoured either due to government issues.

AutumnBreeze

I know this is an old post now, but I have recently (Since May 2024) started home educating my daughter for a number of reasons. Formal school just doesn't work for her. I think for a lot of families with children who have disabilities, autism, ADHD etc. find that mainstream schools are not working well for them, and there is a lack of provision for ECHP's and specialist education provision. In an ideal world, I think a flexi-schooling approach would work well for us, but as that isn't a possibility here atm, we've decided that home education is what works best for us.

My best advice for anyone considering it is don't think you have to replicate school at home as you really don't, nor do you have to follow the national curriculum. Learning and education can be achieved in a number of less formal ways. There are lots of home education groups on Facebook if you do a search. The very first thing I did on deregistering was find my local group(s). If you do decide to go down the home education route, take a week or two to simply spend time with your son/daughter. Learn there interests, aspirations and how they learn best. Play together, do crafts together and get them involved in household tasks (cooking, cleaning, caring for pets & relatives etc.), get out and visit museums, parks, farms/zoo's, forests, castles, religious and historical monuments, natural features (such as mountains, waterfalls, rivers etc.). This all counts as education and will break the formal structure of school and allow them to show you their true colours. Only then can you decide if a more formal or more laid-back approach will be best for your family. Home education doesn't need to look anything like school, and in your case, your son may not be responding well to you or your wife as he's in shutdown/burnout mode. Give him time and you will see a massive change in his behaviour.

The only things you need to cover officially are Maths/Numeracy and English/Literacy (Reading, Writing, spelling and basic grammar); even this can be done in a less formal way (e.g. measure out ingredients for cooking, calculate how much is needed/left over when restocking household supplies, measuring for DIY, budgeting, paying for things in the shop and calculating how much change is needed) - all counts for maths and then for the English (write a shopping list, write a letter to a friend/relative/business etc., read books etc.) All the resources you need are online if you know where to look and what to look for.

The hardest part is proving it to the local authority; so it's a good idea to keep notes and use the guidance on the education otherwise website when writing a report; again the local facebook groups are great for this.

To put this into perspective; my daughter is now 8 years old, she started primary school during the covid lockdowns, She has a chromosome deletion which shows as symptoms of Autism, ADHD, learning disabilities etc. She was badly bullied in school and her mental health was in a shocking state. We deregistered from school in mid-May 2024 (just before Whitsun Week) and she was/is behind in all areas of her education (she has a mental age of about 5/6, and appears to be working at this level in her education). It's only been a couple of months but already we are seeing a massive improvement; she's much more responsive, actually wanting to talk to us now and showing an interest in learning new things by asking us lots of questions and looking things up on the computer to teach herself (So many documentaries on Youtube and other platforms). We did try for an ECHP in 2023 but it was rejected by the local authority. Luckily I kept a copy and when I have to write a report for the authority on what we are doing, I will quote some of the key points on it to show how i'm meeting her SEN needs at home. Like you I was absolutely terrified about taking on this new challenge, especially as I have disabilities myself (Fibromyalgia, Anxiety and suspected but undiagnosed Autism) and so does my other half - it does take its toll on us, but in all honesty I can say it's been the best decision for us and my only regret is not pulling her out of school sooner.

My best advice for anyone reading this and thinking of taking on home-education yourself.

1) Do your research, don't go in blind,

2) Join your local online group(s) and bookmark the education otherwise website,

3) Remember home education doesn't have to look anything like school, learning comes in many forms and can happen anytime, any place - look for those hidden opportunities that you would never even think of and use them. (My favourite example is when we went to the local shopping mall and saw a disabled person with an assistance dog; this provided the ideal opportunity to talk about different disabilities, service dogs and what they do, how they work etc. So many people really don't have any idea on this topic at all, even less would be able to turn it into an educational opportunity. One day I would love to take my daughter to the guide dog centre (or similar services) to experience this in person, as I did as a child myself - (my grandad was blind with a guide dog, I grew up with a unique understanding of the benefits of disability assistance dogs). Use your own life experiences and knowledge and that of the people around you to promote awareness, and educate those who are simply unaware.)

4) You will experience a variety of emotions, and that's very normal, you will have good days, bad days, frustrating days. But each day is just ONE day. Use each and every opportunity no matter how small or insignificant it seems, and even on a bad day, they are still learning something.

5) Keep notes, it's easy to forget the things you have done when it comes to writing reports and communicating with the local authority, keeping notes of key things you have done together will really help.

6) Ask for help, if and when you need to.

7) You know your child best, you know what they need to succeed and thrive, YOU ARE ENOUGH.

Good luck to anyone who gives it a go.

Rachel_Scope

Hi @AutumnBreeze 😊

What a wonderfully informative post! I'm so glad that you managed to home educate and you're seeing improvements so quickly. My background is in SEN education and I completely understand the frustration of an EHCP being rejected. A lot of the time the decisions make no sense, so I'm happy that you've done the right thing for your child, as you say, you know your child best!