Thread: Qualifications

I hope you don't mind me asking, but do kids that are educated at home work towards GCSE's etc when they are older?

I am just curious, I know very little about HE.

They can do, but it is not considered essential. It is up to the child (and parent) really, I guess. Universities are often happy to accept Home Educated children without GCSEs or A levels if they can show some sort of portfolio of work which reaches an acceptable standard, I understand.

Sorry it's taken so long for me to reply bobinog - only just noticed this.

I'm leaving my girls to decide for themselves whether they want to go down the GCSE route. dd1, who is almost 13, has decided she wants to sit some, so I have initially ordered two distance learning courses - Maths and English - from Oxford Learning. They have a home education section now, specifically geared towards HEd children. She will be able to take as long as she needs to work through the course, however they have said that if she spends 4 hours a week on the coursework, she will be ready to sit an exam in 6mths!!!! They supply details of exam centres locally and we make arrangements for her to sit them when she is ready.

Can't see dd2 going for GCSEs though... she is more artistic than academic. Time will tell for dd3 and dd4. I'll be interested to see what routes they all take.

Hi, hope you don't mind me asking another q's - do the distance learning courses cost alot?

The Oxford site is here.
Looks like each GCSE course costs around £305.
And of course I guess you would need to pay to sit the exam on top of that, but I am not sure if any of the expense would be subsidised?
Or if you could use the course for more than 1 child?

Fiona