Mandapanda Report post Posted February 18, 2010 Hi all Some of you may be aware that I deregistered Aw last autumn after about 18 mths/2 years of failing to get him to school. He is much happier and more confident now and I could see him 'puff up' when I said we expected him to take responsibility for his own education (with our guidance of course). Anyway, the Education Welfare Officer came last week to do the 'Home Circumstance Report'. This is where they come and see what sort of living environment you have and what sort of resources you have for home ed, eg. books, computer, etc. She also asked what activities he does and what friends he sees. She did not come to talk about detail of what he was learning, someone else will be coming to do that in 2-3 months time. The EWO showed me the form she had to fill in, it was about 2 1/2 pages long and much simpler than old ones I had seen. She seemed very happy with everything. This EWO came to see us just before we deregistered and Aw would not leave him room so she didn't see him at all then. What was really amazing was that Aw actually came down to see her this time and spoke to her , which just shows how much better he is feeling. He told her he reads books about Astrophysics (which confirmed what I had said to her), and that he felt better doing home education as he is not now 'under pressure' all the time. I was also able to tell her that many of his anxieties have lessened or gone away now since the pressure has been taken off him. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
cmuir Report post Posted February 18, 2010 Hi Well done you (and your son)! Caroline. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
babnye1 Report post Posted February 18, 2010 Good for you! I have thought of doing this with my son but he likes his friends at school and while that's the case, it seems important to persevere. How old is your son and how do you schedule your week? Do you work too? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Mandapanda Report post Posted February 19, 2010 Good for you! I have thought of doing this with my son but he likes his friends at school and while that's the case, it seems important to persevere. How old is your son and how do you schedule your week? Do you work too? Hi babnye1 My son is 13. I work part-time very locally, so come back at lunch times as well. To be honest we don't schedule anything. He does what is called 'unschooling' because he was School Phobic so we've had to just relax into a completely non-school environment. He learns what he wants, when he wants (I know this wouldn't work with every child) . But, to my mind more importantly, he now sits with us much more talking, discussing, and teaching us things he's learned. He's gone from being a very depressed child with many, many anxieties, back to the curious interested intellectual child he was before. It's a pleasure to be bored by him now ! I totally agree you should persevere if you can. I would never have wanted to home ed a child, and still didn't want to but had no choice. However, I knew that my son would be able to thrive doing home ed, because I've seen how he learns things when he wants to, and school had only succeeded in crushing that out of him, due to all the other things he found difficult at school. Part of his problems at school was socialising. He has one long-term friend from school who still comes round sometimes. He had a new friend at secondary who he eventually plucked up the courage to invite round, but he turned out to be even more anxious than Aw! So that didn't really work out very well. Aw had more friends when he was younger but they went to different Junior Schools, and had changed a lot by the time they were reunited at secondary, and of course had their own circle of friends by then. In hindsight I would say the school could have intervened sooner, as soon as he started having days off. I believe it would have helped if he could have gone to Pupil Support to work for some of the time to give him a break from all the noise and kids looking at him. It may be that if he'd had more support, things would never have deteriorated so much. The trouble is my son was a quite 'contained' child who didn't like to show emotion, wouldn't ask for help, and wouldn't complain about anything other kids did. When there was an incident when he allegedly 'hit' a teacher, they didn't question why it had happened when it was so out of character for him, they just wanted to exclude him. Actually he was trying to get his art picture from the teacher (who had been criticising what he had done), she pulled it away from him, his hand slipped off and 'hit' her arm. He certainly was not 'attacking' her as they initially made it sound . This was the beginning of the end for him and school. Please watch out for lots of headaches, stomach aches, etc., unusual behaviour at home or at school, becoming more withdrawn or angry. Push to get your son help as soon as possible, to make his time at school as enjoyable and productive as possible. If I'd had access to this forum when he was at Junior School our lives may have taken a very different path! Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
