Had enough

Hi all, just an update have finally taken the plunge, ds was going through hell tryin to attend a mainstream primary school with no support. We've fought and fought, gone to tribunal-I even wrote to Ed Balls -he passed the letter to someone else to answer.

I was signed off work with stress , ds a wreck, his attendance was down to 50%. Headmaster says he wont be able to cope with secondary school-but wont go against the LEA to get him a statement..

Anyway, Thursday was a nightmare-" I cant do it mummy, its too hard.." lots of tears and then I thought what am I doing to my child? Sent the letter off Friday to de-register him and within days I'm living with a different child. I realise that home education isnt for everyone but if that's what's right for ds then that's wots gonna happen. Brave words, anybody got a caravan for when my house gets re-possessed?

Any advice, websites etc would be appreciated, have a lovely Christmas, Marion

Congratulations!

You had the courage to do the right thing. Join the club.

Where do you start? This is the daunting feeling every HE parent faces shortly after they have withdrawn their child from school. Some get impulsive and buy every school textbook in the land and expect their child to knuckle down to studying from them for at least 6 hours a day. Don't fall for this move because it never works out right.

Your son needs a cooling off period. He has endured lots of stress and trauma at school and needs time to unwind. The HE community sometimes calls this cooling off period unschooling. Please avoid pressuring your son into doing any work or studying for the next month or two. Allow him to have his life to himself and do what he likes so long as it isn't watching television or playing video games all day every day.

Children learn most effectively when they are studying what interests them. You will probably find you son reading books of his choice or looking at internet sites that have little to do with school work. Don't fall into the trap of thinking he isn't learning and he is wasting his time. Let you son follow his interests without worrying about the National Curriculum.

Thank you, I couldn't put him through it anymore so had no choice really. We're not doing anything at the moment just cos that's what feels right so I'm glad to hear about the "unschooling" and that my instincts might actually be right! Thanks for replying have a lovely Christmas, Maz

I also recommend an unschooling period. My parents did not approve of an unschooling period at all when I was HE after being expelled from secondary school. They expected me to get on with school work immediately.

We did live in a caravan for a while after I took my son out of harm's way and sold the house to fund homeschool. Best 3 months we'd had in years. Sometimes the biggest choices are the easiest ones; especially if the alternative is allowing your child to go into 'meltdown'. I have a website that outlines my take on stuff : ' aspergersolution.com. ' From the feedback it has helped some people. I used to be a secondary school teacher so its a case of gamekeeper turned poacher. Best of luck.
Kevin