How Home Schooling Works
Home schooling is something that any parent can decide to do for their child and as such they do not have to be qualified as a teacher to embark on a course of Home Schooling. You can teach your child at home or in any other residence without keeping school hours or indeed teaching the National Curriculum. That said, the government recommends that anyone wishing to teach their child from home, does so with the understanding that they should receive an level of education that will enable sufficient aptitude in later years.
If your child is already in full time education within the confines of a school you do not have to inform your Local Education Authority of your intent to teach your child from home but it is wise to do so. You DO however, need to inform the headteacher that you are removing the child from their school.
Your LEA need to be satisfied that your child is receiving a satisfactory standard of education in the home and may ask to see evidence of this and details of what – you are teaching your child.
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If the LEA considers that you are not providing your child with an adequate education, they may intervene and offer assistance/guidance. At any meeting held between you as the parent and the LEA, a timetable of further meetings and level of contact should be agreed.
You do not have to allow the LEA access to your home, you can choose to provide them with examples of your child’s work at home or choose to meet with them at another venue, for example their offices. It is worth pointing out that the LEA not only has a duty of care to the children within its boundaries but also their parents as well.
Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.
If Home Schooling does not Work
If – for any reason – the LEA considers that you as a parent are not providing a sufficient education for your child from home after further assistance/guidance has been offered, then they may seek to have your child returned to full time education within a school in their district. This is normally done by the LEA issuing a notice on the parent, which requires them to prove beyond any doubt that their child is being taught to an acceptable standard.
If you as the parent fail to reply to this notice or indeed cannot prove that you are providing your child with a sufficient level of teaching then the LEA can move to issue what is known as a ‘School Attendance Order’ (SAO).
It is also worth noting that if you should decide to teach your child from home there are no means of financial assistance offered by Central Government or your Local Education Authority. Should you decide to teach your child at home the impetus is on you to make sure they have all the textbooks, materials and resources they need.
Most LEAs however do provide support and guidance on how to go about embarking on a course of home schooling but it is worth pointing out that this guidance and support is limited to the level of resources available locally and is not necessary representative of the schooling system as a whole.
He was very negative,when I told h my daughter would be happier at home learning home schooling.he said he didn't support this
But I would like to homeschool her, I've already written to her headmistress saying I would like to with draw her from school immediately. But I would like to know how much notice I would need to give to her school? Thank you.
His mum said nothing to me throughout any of this going on until after she removed him. She already has a 2 year old daughter and due another baby anyday now. He has been home schooled for about 2 months now and tells us most weeks he hasn't done any schooling (even some weeks says he's looked after his sister instead). His mum has told me to stop asking how much work he's doing and to trust her. She isn't doing sit down teaching or certain subjects but letting him choose something he's interested in himself like a volcano or a ship etc. She has even said it will be my sons choice if he goes to secondary school. Any ideas on what I can do as I am worried sick?
She takes a lot of stress from this and can't concentrate
And how much will it cost approximately?
Since becoming a mother my views on parenting styles and education have changed radically. I really believe it is the mother who knows what is best for her children, even more than the father, if she is the one who spends all her time with them. It is a very difficult thing to do, home educating. In our hyper-controlling society, it is very difficult to have faith in children, to give them love and freedom and time and wait for the results, sometimes years. However I think the potential benefits are so huge, it is worth the effort.
If you are interested in understanding her point of view on education, I can recommend some reading. John Taylor Gatto, Dumbing us Down - for why schools are not the best places to learn, in fact the opposite why they are places where independent thought and creativity are worn down. I am truly the biggest fan of John Holt, an inspiring teacher who devoted many years to finding ways of doing the job better, only to finally conclude that the best thing was to educate your own. His might be the best place to start because you can go along with him, how to get the best out of education... to realising why you cannot get good results - in terms of creating wise, self-motivated, self-knowing, independent, morally responsible, socially adept young adults.
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