Thread: New Home Educator

Hi everyone, I thought I'd better introduce myself and our situation. I'm 27, and have just married my partner of 8 years Pete, who is 35. When we met we had a son each from a previous relationship, and we've since had a daughter together. We got custody of my husbands son two years ago as his birth mum wasn't doing a very good job(long story!)

Anyway, the reason I'm in this forum is I've had to start home schooling my almost 14 yr old stepson Ryan as of last week, as we’ve been backed into a corner and don’t really have much choice.

We had to go to Ryan's school last week for a meeting with the deputy head, as he got quite badly beaten up by some boys on the school football team that were bullying him before half term. They don't want him to play for the team(he was recently picked as a substitute), and have been making their feelings very well known for about a year. Last time it got physical, Ryan's form tutor took three days to even contact us about it, and when she did she was rude to me, and then nothing was done to rectify it. It's got much worse now, and apparently the boys will be put into isolation and excluded for a week, but then what? I don't feel we should be giving them a third chance to try and sort it out. At what cost? What if the beating is more severe next time? The deputy was trying the force Ryan to say he was coming back into school, and he stood up for himself and said he was too scared and he won't be coming back. My main concern is that if we give it another chance, and six months down the line we end up in this situation again and have to move him then, he will have even less time to settle down before his exams start. We have said enough is enough, and pulled him out.

I called a school a few miles away and he has a lot of friends already there as he has played for the local football club for two years, and most of his team mates attend the school. His friend who lives locally also goes there. Sadly, the school called me and they have no places. I called another school, same answer.
Soooo, we have no choice. It will cost us a fair amount of money to get him through his GCSE's, but it’ll be worth it. If a space comes up at a later date, we’ll get him back into school I guess. I think he'll do really well with one on one attention. He's a high achiever at school, but his classes are so disruptive that nothing ever gets done. He told me yesterday that they haven't done any work in his science class for at least a year!

We've really enjoyed it so far and I'm finding it really rewarding. He said he learnt more in his first day at home than he normally does in a week at school.

Sorry to hear about your situation and I hope everything works out for you and Ryan. If I can be of any help with any books please get in touch. IF you know what you are looking for I can get them at a discounted price even if they aren't on my website.
Good Luck!