Homeschooling Options in the UK

[BTBVEN]

Hi

I wondered if anyone knew how homeschooling worked in the UK? I note a large number of people on this forum are based in the US, where it seems norm to homeschool. I am not sure if that's such a popular or feasible option in the UK, but wanted to know how it would work, how do you notify local authorities, complete exams etc.


Thanks
BT

[MummyRoo]

I'm in the UK and plan to homeschool. You are right, it is not so popular but there are probably more homeschoolers than first appears. They generally use the term 'home education' rather than homeschool, though. As far as I have seen the trend in the UK is generally towards unschooling, which might be why there isn't the demand for curricula that there might otherwise be. Have a look online and you will probably find a local HE group - even Netmums has a HE chat thread - a bit tricky to follow but friendly

As far as I understand, if you haven't ever sent your child to school then you just don't apply for/accept any school place and the LEA don't need to be informed or anything. It is a bit trickier if you are trying to get out of the system, but still perfectly acceptable to do so.

Education Otherwise is my go-to reference for HE information. Here is a link to their info on the legal side of homeschooling: http://www.educationotherwise.net/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=76&Itemid=2

[IrisGranstedt]

I am very curious too. I checked on my local council website apparently you need to inform them and they will check up on you sometimes and ask about progress and syllabus.

[nuria2012]

Hi everybody,

I wonder if there is a curriculum that my LO could follow only in the subject of the English language in UK. Is it possible? Children begin to go to school at the age of three years old in Spain. I don´t think that we are able to pay a bilingual school. Perpaps we pay a native speaker twice a week. But I would find a curriculum to work with my little daughter, if possible. Now I am collecting websites with phonetics, worksheets, interactive games...

[BTBVEN]

Hi MummyRoo

Thanks for sharing the information and links with me. I looked through them briefly and saw that there was no requirement to follow any particular curriculum. What do you intend on following? Also, how does someone then appear for A levels/GCSEs etc. as presumabably that's still required for entrance to university? Is it possible to do both i.e. study at a school and home school during the summer holidays? I am trying to understand how you would get the school to recognise that the child in question is on accelerated learning path and therefore could possibly skip a grade or two due to having completed the required curriculum for that grade during the break?

Sorry for all these million questions, but I am very keen to understand the whole set-up. Also, how does one compensate for the lack of interaction with classmates etc. which is available by the formal schooling method?

Many thx
BT

[MummyRoo]

Nuria - try Reading Eggs for UK English phonics/reading practice - there were some free access codes on here recently for around 60 days trial and it is not all that expensive to subscribe. That will get your child reading at a 6-7 year old level and should be good for vocabulary etc. We use it and it is generally a hit (if a little tricky for a 3y/o to use the mouse for some games) but I'm afraid I don't have much else in the way of curriculum for language at the moment.

BTBVEN - I'm glad the links helped. I am planning a sort of Robinson-influenced Charlotte Mason curriculum with an accelerated Saxon-based maths path for the mornings and something decidedly more unschool-y for the afternoons. If that makes any sense whatsoever! Simply put around 1hour Maths/English/Russian (2nd native language) and 1/2hr Music/Foreign language (Chinese/Latin) with afternoons free for following interests/outdoors activities and wacky science/art+craft projects.

I joined my local HE yahoo group and there are often messages about groups for GCSE/A-Level classes for some subject or another (usually with much broader age ranges e.g. open to over 13s) so I expect you can find classes when you need them. I think local schools/colleges will also host independent exam submissions for a fee if you taught the material yourself. Check this out for more information: http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/DA1ADA52-166C-4AA1-9AB3-29694313FB32/0/14TakingGCSEs.pdf

Of course, if you are accelerating and don't want to send young teens to uni, there is always the OU (where you don't need any exam results when enrolling).

[BTBVEN]

Hi MummyRoo

Many thanks for this :-)

Full-time homeschooling doesn't really seem like a feasible option for us, financially as well as from my career aspiration perspective, I do want to continue having a career. However, I do want to accelerate learning and I think I will look into supplementing the school education with home-education which may in turn allow our daughter to sit for the formal exams etc. at an earlier age. The details you have shared, do help me with planning how we want to take our daughter's education forward - curriculum etc.

Best Wishes
BT

[Kerileanne99]

BT-
This is something I have checked into as we are seriously considering this for our daughter, although it is a bit more complicated as we currently live in the US- my daughter is a dual citizen and we want her to be able to at least sit her GCSEs.
Oddly enough, my first foray into the idea gave me a lovely list of great links that I have been using for the last few months-I bookmarked it and have come back to them over and over.
I am including a link:
http://uk.answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20100511053133AABjtVQ

There are actually several options, by for us an online school for expats is really likely...you still homeschool, but they get to also have interaction with other students and instructors.
WWW.Briteschool.co.UK

Also, take a good look at the Galore Park curriculum! We have several texts from them, primarily in Maths. They aredesigned to start at all levels and ages and are quite challenging. They are becoming really quite popular. They have a whole section devoted to homeschool materials for the UK with focus on GCSE mastery:) 
http://www.galorepark.co.uk/home-schoolers.html

[BTBVEN]

Hi KeriLeanne

These links are super useful, just what I was looking for :-)

I will send you a seperate private message just to exchange a few more thoughts.

Thx
BT

[nuria2012]

Thank you MummyRoo!! I´ll have a look!   

[nee1]

BTBVEN - I'm glad the links helped. I am planning a sort of Robinson-influenced Charlotte Mason curriculum with an accelerated Saxon-based maths path for the mornings and something decidedly more unschool-y for the afternoons. If that makes any sense whatsoever! Simply put around 1hour Maths/English/Russian (2nd native language) and 1/2hr Music/Foreign language (Chinese/Latin) with afternoons free for following interests/outdoors activities and wacky science/art+craft projects.

I joined my local HE yahoo group and there are often messages about groups for GCSE/A-Level classes for some subject or another (usually with much broader age ranges e.g. open to over 13s) so I expect you can find classes when you need them. I think local schools/colleges will also host independent exam submissions for a fee if you taught the material yourself. Check this out for more information: http://www.n-somerset.gov.uk/NR/rdonlyres/DA1ADA52-166C-4AA1-9AB3-29694313FB32/0/14TakingGCSEs.pdf

Of course, if you are accelerating and don't want to send young teens to uni, there is always the OU (where you don't need any exam results when enrolling).

MummyRoo,

You mentioned that if a parent is going the Open University (OU) route, no exam results are needed when enrolling. How will OU then determine if the child is at an adequate level to master the University courses? Does it mean anyone can do an OU course without any prior exam results? How will OU then ensure they have qualified students if they do not have any entry requirements? It doesn't seem very high quality to me when there are no minimum entry requirements whatsoever. Thoughts?

And if the child skips GCSEs and goes straight into Open University, will that affect job prospects later in the future? I've had to fill application forms where GCSEs results were required in those dropdown boxes. Could you explain a bit about how this all works? And please, what is the name of the yahoo group you mentioned? You said it's your local group, is there anywhere I could search for our local  yahoo group?

Thank you so much for your response.

[MummyRoo]

The OU don't insist on exam results from applicants but I think with under-18s they like to have some form of confirmation that the child is able to work at the pace/level before enrollment (remember I haven't actually done this - it is what I have gleaned from other sources and over time) but regardless they have 'starter' short courses to test the material and with Maths at least there are self-tests to check the level if you aren't sure what to apply for (and only the early level courses are open to those with no exams, I think - the later courses require you to have passed earlier courses).

Hope this clears it up a bit for you - check out their website, I'm sure you can get more concrete information from their FAQ section

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