Bath Home Education

My son started secondary school in Sept 2005.  Five months later I decided to educate him at home. The primary reason for the decision was his increasing emotional distress with the rigidity of the rhythm and structure of secondary school life and the negative impact it was having on his overall health and well-being and on the quality of family life.  The decision was made after months of unsuccessfully trying to establish a constructive partnership with the school. 

Why did I choose to educate my child out of school? 

Because I felt that

• the school was unable to provide an aspie-friendly environment
• school staff was not aware of the particular needs of my child
• the school wasn't prepared to take my knowledge and perspective as a parent into account 
• my son was expected to fit into existing routines and structures with distressing results
• important skills like communication and emotional literacy weren't included in the curriculum
• my son would flourish better at home! 

If you're new to Education Other Than At School, one of the first things you need to be aware is that

Education is legally compulsory - schooling is not!

I'm not going to tell you all about home-based education because there are already lots of great sites out there.  If you want to find out more, spend some time checking the HE Info Links and then get in touch with families who have taken the responsibility to educate their children themselves. 

This site includes information about educational events in Bath and further afield and lots of links to other great sites. 

I've heard that some years ago Bath had a very active and thriving Home-Ed community and that there was a lot going on.  Unfortunately this doesn't seem to be the case anymore: although there are lots of us around, we don't seem to be coming together. 

With this in mind I started an online email group for local Home-Educating families - by joining and participating you'll help create a virtual space where we can get to know each other and share our learning journeys.  So please do join in and help get this going!  You'll be most welcome!