Is it possible to part home ed a secondary aged child? Part school/part home ed?

[Bubble99]

Would a state school have to agree to this?

[TheodoresMummy]

I think the EO website has some useful info on flexi-schooling.

I think that it is up to the school and not the LEA, but couldn't promise.

I enquired for my DS (Primary tho) and they said that in theory they had no problem with it, but if they were full/had a waiting list they would not do it as they wouldn't be able to fill the hours he wasn't there ('cause no one else would want part-time, I suppose).

[fingerwoman]

I have read that they HAVE to do it. but like theodoresmummy says, they don't have to give your child a place at the school if they are full

[Julienoshoes]

yes in theory it is possible.

home-education.org.uk/articles-flexi-school.htm

[Bubble99]

Thanks.

How about if a child started as a full-timer and then went part-time? Would the school be able to withdraw the place?

Bit devious, of course.

I ask because the whole concept of home ed is becoming increasingly appealing (I've been lurking here for a good while.) DH and I are totally fed-up with the seemingly nonsensical curriculum prescribed by this government. DS1 is often bored and 'can't see the point of it' - number lines, anyone? And I am so sad to see my child, who loves learning, becoming so turned-off by the whole experience.

I'd need to do a lot more research before I felt that we could jump in and thought that a half/half start might help.

[Bubble99]

Must add that I am also a school governor and have immense sympathy for the many talented teachers at our school who are hemmed in by the whimsical meddling of government and their 'one size fits all' policy.

[ShrinkingViolet]

I would imagine that on a practical level it would be very difficult unless you lived right next door to the school. If you wanted your DC to do some subjects and not others, you would be limited to the school timetable as to when you were able to HE during the school day (I know obv. that an awful lot of HE happens outwith 9-4 M-F ). And if you only wanted to do certain days at school, then parts of some subjects would be missed out, which would be problematic (having seen how hard it can be for DD1 to catch up on what's been covered if she's been ill).

[emmaagain]

I think how it works is:

The Head has to agree

They get the funding for the whole child (as 'twere) and they remain responsible for the child's education.

I think this often means that you are expected to cover at home waht they do in school (but of course it takes a fraction of the time at home)

and it's usually mornings only or home on Tuesday and THursday or something, so that's why they like to keep it in step with what they are otherwise doing in the classroom, because otherwise the child misses things which are the logical link between what they did on Monday and what they'll do on Wednesday.

It's not quite the same as HE, I think it's even called something slightly different legally.

But it would still give you and the child much more freedom. and might well be a good stepping stone.

Some Heads are very resistant to the idea - you'd need to approach it in the right wide-eyed and grateful-for-all-the-wondrous-things-you-do manner probably, because otherwise, if you think about it, it automatically exposes the inherent time wasting of the school environment (with the best teachers in the world, there's still going to be all that in betweeny time of getting everyone sat down and listening with the right work book in front of them, yk?)

And the silly thing about all this is that in the olden days, when schools had more self-governance, this sort of arrangement was not unheard of at all, and the primary teachers would be able to respond to the individual needs of a child without reporting a family to a truancy officer. My mother clearly remembers the day when I was about 6.5 when my primary teacher said "gosh, do you realise she just did her first full week?" because before that I'd always be wiped out by the end of the week and need a quiet day at home on Thursday or something. I wasn't "falling behind" or struggling academically or socially, and the teacher could use her discretion, knowing that what I needed was a day off. Very much harder to do in that casual way with national curriculum, government targets for attendance etc etc etc.

[AMumInScotland]

Can I ask which parts of school you'd want and which you wouldn't? Is it to do with the subjects, or the practicalities (eg certain days to fit in with other committments), or (HErs pardon me for mentioning it) the social side?

If you feel he ought to be doing certain subjects, and you lack the confidence to cover them completely by yourself, there are lots of resources out there which would give you a half-and-half kind of HE besides flexi-schooling - Internet schools, correspondence courses, text books and workbooks, websites, software... the list goes on...

The autonomous or child-led style of HE tends to get a lot of coverage, but there are also a lot of other ways of going about it which might give you confidence that you are not "missing" important parts. And you could always move on from that to a more autonomous style once you and DS both had more of a feel for what suits you.

(No offence intended to autonomous HErs, I don't in the slightest think that you will be missing out important parts of your child's education, I just think some people find it a daunting prospect from a standing start and may find a more formal approach gives them time to get into the groove.)