Home Schooling

I can fully understand why your GS is happier in a small setting - I am governor to a tiny village primary and the children and staff all function like a family where there is warmth, caring and sense of inclusion for all.

I question the wisdom of inflicting large schools and classes on small children at all, ever, anywhere.

Agree Mishap

I think home schooling can and does work. However, there can be many obstacles to overcome. Sometimes there can be a great resistance from the child to sit and complete lessons taught by their parents and this could lead to conflict. I think one of the main issues is that the child could miss out on peer friendships. It can be difficult to find other children during the normal school day to share time with. I did consider home schooling for my children but I know I couldn't possibly teach at secondary school level so my child would have to attend secondary school later on and that may well be more terrifying if they had not learnt resilience at primary school.
I would say part time school, part home school is a great compromise. I do think that the voice and opinions of the child should be heard as a decision to home school is a major one affecting the child enormously.

Good luck jendurham. Your grandson sounds a brave little boy. Hope all goes well for him.

I think the biggest disadvantage of homes schooling for younger children is the lack of social skill development. Mostly families manage to teach the basic skills and now with internet it is easier to research and find activities to support learning and develop good cognitive skills. Once children have the core skills and know how to learn then older kids, as long as they have the motivation can achieve well.
What is missing is being part of a group/society, sharing, listening to others ideas, extending ideas with conversation with peers etc etc. For some children, particularly those on the autistic spectrum this is an uphill if not impossible struggle but should not be ignored. The Autistic Society should be able to offer help and guidance about how to help a child manage their obsessions, fixations and worries so they minimise the impact they may have on his/her life rather than embedding them further.
Good luck to all those who are helping to home school. I home school my DGCs every weekend! Best of both worlds!

Gillybob, my grandson managed okay in primary school. He is now year seven, at a school of 1400 pupils. That's the problem. The friends he had at primary school are all in different classes, so it's impossible to see them at school. He sees them out of school. They are very protective of him in normal situations, but not here. He is actually in a small nurture group, but it's the thinking of what he has to go past to get to lessons that upsets him, and the fear of always being late.
His parents sent him to that school because he would have to go on a bus to any other school. He has ASD.
We have spent today sorting out the books, and educational games we have, so we do not duplicate things. Got sidetracked because we came across some photos of his great great great grandparents in one of the boxes. It's okay, it's still half term here.
Going to Shildon tomorrow, as he loves trains, and it's the 75th anniversary of the Mallard's speed record, so all six A4 engines are going to be there. His dad can teach him all the engineering terms.

Oh I see durhamjen My DGC are all still in primary (the eldest is year 3) so not quite the same, I agree.

I am glad to hear that he sees his friends outside of school as I don't think it does any child, any good to only have adult company. The buddies scheme at my DGC's school is excellent my GD's have made some wonderful new friends because of it. I would imagine much harder to implement in a large school though. I know what you mean about getting side tracked. We love getting the photo box out and can spend ages going through the old ones.
I saw the Mallard's on TV the other evening. Apparently enthusiasts are coming from all over the world. I am doing my half term duty on Thursday, Friday and Saturday this week. I think we are going to Beamish (their favourite place) on one of the days.

Have a lovely time.

But, Penstemmon, it's only other people who think that ASD children should be part of a group/society. I said earlier, he is part of a football team made up of boys who would not be part of the normal school team, but who wanted to play football. This is their second season.
He plays on the xbox with headphones and a mike. One of his friends lives over the road to me, and his dad said how good it is to hear them laughing together. Last night, I was at his house and he was playing with two other friends, and we could join in the fun, even though they were not in the room.
His mother is taking him and his sister to swimming classes every day this week, so he meets other people there. He also does Parkruns; he's very fast. He talks to people there his own age and with similar levels of fitness and interests.
What's the point of sending him to school for social skills when the other kids will not talk to him? Or when they do, tell him he should not tell his parents he loves them. He takes everything literally.

Gillybob, if you go to the picnic field just before Pockerley Manor at Beamish, that's where my husband's seat is. Good views. You can see right over to the farm, over the fields, as well as the old railway.
We are going to be using Beamish quite a lot for my grandson's education. They have just changed the farm so it's a second world war farm, with 1930's furniture, etc.
The good thing about Beamish for someone with ASD is that you can go round in the same way every time and then just add things in. It's also only about ten minutes drive.
By the time he's old enough, we hope they do apprenticeships there.

Good for you Jen. I think he is going to be a very happy little boy with the varied home schooling you are all going to provide. It makes me sad to think of a child wandering around alone at play/break time and I wish children were taught to be more inclusive. The trouble with my grandson would be discipline. He is much more likely to do what he is told at school than at home. We have to work hard at that but he is much younger (Infants)

Durhamjen I was not suggesting that school was the only solution. I do think it is important to enable , as obviously appears the case with your DGS, all children to make positive social interactions. I do not think it serves ASD kids well to not 'train' them to manage social interaction as best their particular needs allow. It makes life easier for them. I have worked with many children with AS disorders ..some had little awareness that others existed whereas other children were able to learn to participate and join in small groups and enjoyed the interaction. One rule does not fit all.

Penstemmon, it's strange but my grandson has no problem interacting with grownups. They all say what a fantastic boy he is, how grown up and polite. Teachers love him, always have done, but they cannot protect him all the time.
Hopefully, by the time he is older, those of his own age who are not so nice to him, and others, will be more grown up and polite themselves.
Once you leave school, you interact with people of a variety of ages and interests. It's only in the educational environment that you are thrust together with people your own age.
However, his chronological age is not necessarily the same as his ability and aptitude. That varied depending on the subject.
Even with trains, he will have a very interesting conversation with the driver of the Mallard, about the brakes, etc., because he has a train simulator and has learnt all the parts, then come home and watch Thomas. Then ask you what grin means , or what chuckle means.
Children with ASD are definitely individual.
I never understood when a teacher how I was expected to teach each child according to his/her ability and aptitude, in a class of 30+ for an hour at a time.

durhamjen All children are individuals.

When I was HT at one school we shared the building with a school for children with ASD. The kids from both schools had opportunity to mix and this was beneficial to both groups. The kids in 'my' school learned to value and appreciate the particular needs and gifts that their peers 'next door' had and respected them. The kids with ASD got to join in activities that they could manage and benefited from that in a class of 6 children with significant ASD they could not.

On one occasion a girl from the school 'next door' with significant ASD needs whirled naked into our school assembly. The kids all sat quietly and one of the older children stood up, took the girls hand and took her back to her school. Sometimes mixing breaks down barriers and grows understanding.

Durhamjen meant to say it is fairly common that children with ASD often do get on better with adults because generally the adult accommodates the child's particular needs whereas his peer will just treat him like any other kid and not tolerate his idiosyncracies, often a need to have things done in a particular way or talk on a topic that does not interest the other child. The frequent inability to 'play' is a big barrier for children with ASD in school.

Durhamjen Your DGS's story sounds just like mine. However my DD and her husband have managed to keep him in school, he is now in his last year. It has been a struggle for him and them, but he has received extra support at school. His condition has improved as he has got older, but he still has issues and his solitary existence still fills me with sadness.

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