Blimey! Thanks, Moya. What did you teach, btw? I have a nice collection of teacher friends for potential consulting with if we get stuck or run into problems. :¬D
I'm thinking of homeschooling my son (currently 10) and am very interested in how to get them through GCSE so would love to continue seeing your updates on how you manage. Many thanks for uploading this!
Thanks. I'm quite interested to see how I'll manage it too! Ha ha ha! Thanks so much and all the best of luck with your home-ed journey if you chose to take it. x
Of course you must already know your child won’t need ten GCSEs 3-5 is plenty depending if they are going to college or continuing home school until 19. The open university is amazing for older children , you should be able to do the small coursed with the ou from 12 I believe. The IGCSE option is worth a look it’s done through Oxford university but is for children and worth a google. As a former teaching assistant I can promise you that at most schools children only get around 2 hours of good learning done in the school so keep that in mind. My daughter learned so much more at home. Even some you tube channels count as learning time like smarter every day, you should be able to find a home school group on face book or maybe through your county council. You can do this and it’s not like you can’t reverse your decision later if you wish so you have nothing to loose and everything to gain.
Subscribe to channel ➡ ua-cam.com/users/ImoandIzzy?sub_confirmation+1 Update - we're now using Corbett Maths, which is a free online resource, and have a maths tutor on an ad-hock basis. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Imo and Izzy Vlogs I am in yr 10 and homeschooling through GCSE. How our you doing the science practicals? Are u doing it in a school or with a tutor. We are really struggling with what to do the practices. Any advice would be very helpful
Hello! Welcome to year 10! 😁 Thanks for stopping by to visit our channel. Homeschoolers tend to do the iGCSE science exams which are 100% exam based, so there are no practicals to be done as part of the assessments. You can get away with just memorising the core practicals and regurgitating this in the exam if you chose to. There are TONNES of videos of these core practicals on UA-cam, which you can search by exam board, and 'GCSE' to make sure they are the same - and cross ref with your own textbook. These videos will bring the practicals to life for you better than just reading about them and make them more memorable. I would recommend searching these out and finding the ones you most enjoy/understand and put them in a playlist for yourself so you can come back to them for revision and watch them over and over to really get them in your head. I think some of the practicals are easier to do at home than others - like, there was one in biology involving chopping potatoes into different sized cubes and soaking them in saltwater and weighing them before and after. That sort of thing you can do at home. For other ones, you might be able to buy some bits and bobs off Amazon to do at home. It kind of depends on your budget. We used Southwest Science school for science, which was about £100 for the whole two-year course and included two-way contact with the tutors via a private Facebook group for students and parents. They do get back to you pretty quickly with answers if you're stuck. We literally JUST diverted to college now, after a year of home-edding ks4 so have dropped science, as she changed courses! I was intending to buy some bits and bobs for some of the practicals where possible, but I never quite got as far as making my shopping list for this, or deciding what we would or wouldn't do, but that's something you could think about. Thanks again for getting in touch and I wish you all the best for your home-ed journey! ~Imo
Wow so impressed!! So much dedication that I'm sure will be reflected in Izzy's hard work and great GCSE results. No matter what her grades turn out to be you have taught her the most important thing.... to be hardworking and that will stay with her for the rest of her life. Getting quite emotional about how hard you two work together. My granddaughter is studying for 11+ and has a block on not being good enough at Maths. When I spoke to her yesterday I remembered how rubbish I was at maths until I got the most fab. teacher who took the time to make sure I understood. This was a game changer for me! I've decided to subscribe to Conquer Maths for her as I am sure it will help. She and her mum will look at it later. Thank you so much for sharing this information and all your hard work - Lin xx
Aww, thanks so much! I think there are other options other than Conquer Maths out there, too, so it might be worth having a look and doing a bit of comparing to see which would suit her the best. We haven’t looked around THAT much. We did IXL for years. There’s also Khan Academy which is a free one and the BBC Bitesize website might also be a massive help, plus the maths videos in the BBC Teach UA-cam playlist filtered by her key stage. Thanks again for watching.
i really hope i can get my gcses, i’m homeschooled and want to study animal conservation and biology at college in order to be an animal biologist! i’m very behind in my work but i have two years to frantically sort everything out and TRY to pass a science gcse which is so important to have if you’re going into the animal science field of work! i don’t have a clue if i’m gonna be able to do it, but i’m gonna give it a good go 😂👍🏼
Yey! That’s the spirit! Have you seen the study-tuber channels? UnJaded Jade, Eve Bennet, Ruby Granger and more. They’re past GCSE age now, but they did a ton of videos on self-study for those including science, so those are in their back catalogues. Also, Primrose Kitten has loads of exam-board specific videos for many subjects including science. She’s a teacher rather than student, but worth watching too. Good luck!
Thank you for doing this video - just signed my daughter up for Conquer Maths! You have helped her to feel confident about doing year 11 GCSE at home (and me as a parent lol) :-)
Aw! Thanks! I hope you enjoy it as much as we have. Home educators have more of a facilitator role than an all-knowing specialist teacher role. We learn alongside our children, the plus side being that we get our education all over again! I just put out a video last night about getting stuck on maths as it happens, don't be put off, though! I've decided I need to go back to sitting with her as she does her maths for a bit, so when she gets stuck, I'll know where she's at. Good luck and have fun! x
We've had a better few days at maths now - it's been challenging and we've spent a bit of extra time on it, but feels great to finally get it cracked so it's unexpectedly rewarding. Have you been home-edding long?
I came across you channel by accident and I so glad that I did. I have a 12 years old daughter and she just started being home educated. Your content is so useful. Thank you for the amazing content.
Aw, thanks so much. I’m sorry to say that we are no longer home educating as my daughter has finally gone to college halfway through and switched over to a BTEC with four GCSEs plus continuing with maths and English. However, we did vlog all the way through last year and there’s a whole load of playlists if you’re interested in following what we did last year. If you look in my playlists section you’ll find homeschooling playlists - they are broken down by month. I hope that help and I hope you enjoy your home ed journey.
I-GCSE through Oxford university is an option but if your children can wait until they are 19 it’s so much more straightforward, my daughter passed level 1 and 2 in two week and has city and guild maths and English 1 and 2 GCSE equivalency. We were lucky a found an independent college that allowed students to sit the tests when they were ready but my daughter had completed everything and she set the test and it’s done.
Thanks! GCSEs are scary uncharted territory for me. I can't find much else on UA-cam about the actual nitty gritty of home-edding key stage 4, so I thought I'd better have a go at documenting it. Then people can use it to help them decide whether it would suit them or not. I'll pop over to see you on your channel when I get a spare moment. Thanks again for stopping by, Imo. x
Hey there! Wow 8years of homeschooling that’s amazing! My boys are in year 7 and 9 This is fantastic I love your folder you really worked hard. I’m not organised at all so I’m nervous about home educating but I think it’s right fit our family. Thankyou very much for sharing x
A shame about the college funding for the continued studies, Izzy seemed to love it. I'm sure the GCSE is going to be a big commitment for you and a challenge worthy of your ability. Great organization you have. Who knew biology could be so tasty! Best wishes for this school year.
Thanks so much, Tina and Norm. I was really daunted at first, but feeling a lot more confident and even actually really excited about it, now. We've done two weeks and both enjoyed it and managed to keep on top of things... so far!
Loved your comments about thinking about school (but not for long!) Just starting out our home ed journey, my eldest has just turned CSA. I wish you all the best!! X
OOooh, I hope you have as much fun as we have. It's been rich, diverse and rewarding. It has its ups and downs but I haven't ever regretted it. Thanks for stopping by. :¬D x
Izzy should watch the video of the Brazilian songwriter Toquinho . His song "Aquarela"is perfect to go over shapes ,colors and seasons. Also she should also know that the longest word in English is "Smiles"....(Between the first and last "S" , there's a "Mile"...) Boa Sorte...!
I very nearly home ed Brendan but he got in to the local autistic unit and thankfully it was really the best thing for him. Now doing A levels which I never thought he would ever do. My nephew has just started his home ed journey at 4 years old. A friends spent the last year getting her son through his first set of GCSEs. Really the most important is just maths and English. That's really the only thing that they NEED under their belt
I have a home-ed Mum friend who home-edded some of her children, but not all, who had a similar experience with an autistic teen of hers. They found him a special autistic unit and he really thrived in that environment. Thanks, Worm's Eye! x
Hello Imo, I've been looking for homeschooling families in the UK and I came across this video. I'll be watching every single one of your videos to learn from you. Thank you so much. I'm from wales too and I'm really happy to families homeschooling here. My children are still under 2 but I'm so excited to start this journey. Thanks for all your videos ❤️💐🌼
Aww thanks so much! I've actually finished home-edding now. This is quite an old video and my daughter is now in college. I did home-ed for 9 years though and I don't regret a minute of it. I do still have some homeschool related playlists on my channel - they were vlogs that included homeschooling as part of our days, rather than specifically just about homeschooling. I'll tell you who's pretty good on homeschooling in the UK on UA-cam - Home Educating the Mad Lads channel ua-cam.com/channels/AYjczlyuqrD-1YgE9t4quA.html she's really down to Earth and tells it like it is! And also Home Education Journey UK ua-cam.com/users/HomeEducationJourneyUK she's very good at showing activities and things. She has an Instagram as well. I expect there are others. I found they were mostly American when I searched UA-cam for home ed vlogs when I started out. I still loved them, though and found them useful and inspiring. Good luck and I hope you enjoy it. x
@@PlanetImo thank you so much for your thorough response. I'll definitely check them all. Good luck for you and your daughter on your journeys. You're such a sweet angel 😇💐❤️
😁 I was aiming for age 40+ but actually people of all ages seem to watch, including quite a few kids! The more the merrier I say! Everyone is welcome. Thanks so much for watching.
Enjoyed this, my youngest turns 13 next month, he's my last home ed child, so was keen to see the resources that you shared. Coffee is definitely one of this home ed mum perks. The pizza was such a fab idea. Best of luck with the journey
Thanks! I'm finding maths by far the most challenging. I thought I would anyway, but I'm seriously considering outsourcing that one sooner than I previously envisaged.
@@PlanetImo It is going to be the subject I struggle with. I was never very good at it. I think if we can do a mix of self-led, me joining in and then a tutor group, we will muddle through it lol.
I know! It was crazy. Those France vlogs took extra long to edit because of all the live music footage and very particular cuts and syncing up the visuals precisely to the audio and all that... ironically the home-ed videos do better than the music ones and take a fraction of the time to edit.
I’m want to start homeschooling and I’m in year 10 I have had big gaps of learning through out my life and I want to put my head down and get my GCSEs but I don’t know what you do or how you even start home schooling will I even get the same GCSEs as if I were in a school ?
I totally understand, I thought about sending my little guy back to school but it just won't work, he does better at home and I have a bit more help this term. His grades are better now then public school. I commend you, 8 years keep up the great work. :o)
Hi I wanted to ask can I do homeschool for free apart from the books oart I don’t have much money to pay for the private tutor and online classes but are there enough things on school online available for free? Also I’m in year eleven just started today and I cannot cope I felt like was gonna kill myself it was orrible
Oh dear. So sorry to hear you had a bad first day back. I know some home-educators use text books alone, and some do very well. I am told you can access past papers complete with marking schemes for free online and past papers are an excellent way to hone your skills in those last months before the exams. I would recommend looking on Facebook to find groups to join about home education. There are loads of them, including ones specially for home-edding GCSE level, and some are even specific to the subject. You'll probably need to answer some filter questions to join the groups. In my experience, they usually welcome non-home-educators who are researching it, with a view to giving it a go. They are great forums for asking questions about anything to do with home ed, including resources, etc. I don't know where you live, but here in Wales (and presumably England?) home-educators who are not registered in a school have to sit GCSE exams as external candidates - and this is where the cost mounts up. Less and less exam centres are accepting external candidates where I live and those that remain seem to be costing anywhere upwards of £180 per subject to sit exams. You need to register for exams around January time to make sure you're all booked in, or you miss the slot. Home-edders tend to study iGCSEs, or at least GCSEs that do NOT contain coursework as there's no way for external candidates to have coursework marked, as far as I'm aware. They are 100% exam based. You could look on the Edexcel or AQA exam board websites for the exam specs. This may mean, for you, if you're dropping out half way through the course, changing exam syllabus and therefore there MIGHT be a difference in course content? Exam board websites also list exam centres where you can book to sit exams, should you decide to go ahead. They weren't that up to date last time I tried, and when I rang around local colleges, I did find some that weren't listed on the exam board websites, so it could be worth ringing around. Alternatively, if you are really struggling, I know here in Wales, sometimes if students are having really severe difficulty, i.e. suffering from anxiety etc, schools do sometimes fund that student to switch to a more practical based course in a tertiary college. It might be worth chatting to your form tutor about that if you feel like you're at crisis point with it. I'm sure it varies from area to area, so I really don't know if that would work or not. Oh - and I recommend watching these channels for help with GCSE study - but you'll need to look at their older videos from a few years ago when they were studying GCSEs, as they're in Uni and older now: Ruby Granger, UnJaded Jade, Jack Edwards, Eve Bennett. Primrose Kitten is a teacher-tuber with a whole ton of free on-line lessons on her channel. And Corbett maths website contains free maths videos, worksheets and answer sheets. But thanks for watching and I wish you all the best for the coming year. Good luck and thanks again for watching. ~Imo
After watching your video, I was inspired to homeschool my 11 year old through his GCSE's. But I am very confused on how to tackle this. I was thinking of covering 2/3 subjects at a time, English, Science and Maths for the first 2 years, getting my son to sit his exams early. Then the following years focus on other subjects. I don't think I'd be able to focus on all the subjects at the same time. Also, I've read on the Internet people discussing which examining boards are best. From your experience, what would you suggest, AQA, Edexel etc. Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated.
Hello! So sorry - I've only just seen this. We didn't actually get as far as sitting the GCSEs as my daughter diverted to the original college course that she wanted to do after 12 months. I don't know exactly what to recommend about exam boards other than I selected them based on the associated text books available or what courses were available. For example: Catherine Mooney only did Edexcel; Southwest Science school only did Edexcel, too. For the maths we chose WJEC because it was our regional one and Iz did think she would do the maths numeracy option that I don't think was an option for the other exam boards. For history we chose AQA because it didn't have any coursework - which is essential, as far as I know, for external candidates. I don't THINK you can get coursework marked normally as an external candidate so you have to go the 100% exam route. This is why the iGCSEs are favoured by home edders. We also chose AQA because I compared the text books of that and Edexcel and felt my daughter would find the AQA more accessible and enjoyable. I hope that was of some use! Thanks so much for watching. Imo
Hiiii and thanks for sharing so much of what you have been using etc..it's been so informative....what did u use for Izzy when she was 12 in terms of material/ curriculum ?
Hiiii again Imo....any curriculum ideas welcome ;-) Also....I spoke to Catherine Mooney and told her that you have recommended her courses on UA-cam and she was very thankful to you xx
OMGosh - sorry I didn't answer this earlier - I've been trying to rack my brains to remember! 😂 Let's have a think... Hm. Conquer Maths for maths, I think? Or was it IXL? We transitioned from one to the other at some point. I THINK she was using the Nessy spelling website for spelling then? That was an annual subscription one because she really struggled with phonics and spelling until quite late on. Still does, really. We didn't use a packaged curriculum for English but I looked up on line what the curriculum was and followed it using a variety of workbooks including Scholastic and Collins. Some WH Smiths own ones, too? Possibly some Andrew Brodie... although that might have been the year before. Also BBC BITESIZE and any other resources I could get my hands on. Sometimes I'd make my own worksheets or find free ones on line to print off. History - she actually did an iGCSE class once a week with home educators for fun because she loved history, so that was Edexcel. For science and geography, I read up on what was on the curriculum and did a lot of strategically chosen read-alouds from the library, also Horrible Geography and Horrible Science books, watched lots of documentaries on those themes, scheduled days out on those themes, just basically doing it in a way that she enjoyed and engaged with as she wasn't naturally interested in either. She didn't really put pen-to-paper too much with those topics. We did practical stuff at home and did a lot of hands on stuff in Techniquest and went to science theatre shows, etc. RE - just had lots of conversations about different beliefs, watched videos about different religions and customs, read books aloud, visited different places of worship etc. I didn't look at the curriculum for that. We're not religious, so that was more about respect and understanding for others. PE - well - she went to lots of classes like swimming lessons, gymnastics, dance, etc. Several per week. IT - not a huge amount, but basically did the odd project building spreadsheets and producing graphs and pie charts in XL here and there and made sure she could use Word, and send and receive emails. She's more tech savy than me, so I didn't feel it was an issue. That's all I can remember off the top of my head? Hope that helps! Imo x
10 out of 10 to Lincoln for managing to find something relate-able in this very esoteric, topic-specific video. 😂😂 Thanks, Lincoln! Most appreciated! x
I'm in year 10 and became home schooled a couple weeks ago because of corona and how they don't wear masks in classrooms, I use online stuff like Edplace but it has certain assignments that take 10-15 minutes sometimes 5 and have to do an hour of Maths and English it gets annoying because I have to do like 8 assignments to stretch it out to an hour, Any idea how I can do it better? I had 6 months off because of corona and its really put me behind and all the subjects are hard so it's frustrating 😤 I don't know what exactly I should do
Thanks for watching, David. We've been using Corbett Maths free video lessons with printable worksheets and answers sheets. We got a maths tutor who drew us up a scheme of work based on Corbett Maths. My daughter worked her way through the list and flagged up any questions she got really stuck on and once she had enough for about an hour's worth of tuition, we gave the tutor a call and she came over and did an hour. She costs £27 an hour, so we didn't have her every week as it was too expensive, but we didn't need to, as the Corbett Maths work was very easy to learn from without a tutor. What exam board and paper are you aiming for? We're in Wales and doing WJEC, but I think the scheme of work will vary according to which exam board you're doing and also, I don't know if this is the case for other exam boards, but here in Wales you sit either Foundation (goes up to a D grade), intermediate (goes up to a B) or higher (goes up to an A*). Also, we have the option of doing maths numeracy, instead of maths, which covers less topics. Depending on what you want to do, that might be an alternative option? Like, if you were going into the arts, maths numeracy might be enough to get onto the next course up, but not if you wanted to do a more mathsy career. I would make sure you're learning the right stuff for your exam board. Thanks again for watching and good luck!
@@PlanetImo I'm not sure what I want to do, I've been thinking about it a lot and should come to a conclusion soon. Thank you for the help I appreciate it a lot also love your videos keep it up.
Hello! I was supposed to go into year 9 but am lagging behind on my studies because of family related reasons( I am thinking of suggesting homeschooling as an option to my parents but I don’t think it’s something they would even consider if I don’t give them concrete information on what homeschooling consists of and how to switch over but I can’t seem to find resources answering some of my specific questions( Could I maybe ask some of them?
Sure. You’re welcome to ask them here in the comments section. I haven’t been home-edding for over a year now and I know things can change but I’ll answer what I can. It might be worth you having a look down the comments section to see if I’ve already answered the questions elsewhere as I have had people asking the same things over the years. Bare with me if I don’t answer straight away as I’m quite busy atm and don’t always get to all my comments and the home ed ones can require a bit of time to respond to. Thanks for watching.
Well, I had 5 children and they are all adults now. The first two children I decided to home school. The other three I sent to school. They all have done well in their lives. Perhaps a little social stigma for the homeschooled ones. That's because back in the 80's, home teaching was relatively new. Everyone thought I was going to destroy my children.
I think many people still think it now... well done to you home-edding back then. We don't know we're born these days with all the information we need at our fingertips via the internet and more home-ed social groups than we can possibly fit into our weeks. You are among many of my youtuber buddies who have told me they home-schooled or were home-schooled! x
@@PlanetImo I believe that the children that have been homeschooled are actually far above the traditionally schooled children. They are sooo much smarter.
Awww, thank you. Actually, no we didn't see them through to the bitter end - we did a whole year of it but Izzy switched over to the college course that she had wanted to do originally. She's really enjoying it, but of course, the irony is, she's done months of it at home on line! I did vlog that year of home ed, although not daily - but I put all the home-schooling GCSE vlogs into playlists - including by month, if you are curious. They'll be in the playlists section of my channel page. Thanks again for watching and good luck. x
Hi, ignor my logo,Vis my son's one for his gaming chanel, just want to ask was it difficult to set up sitting on exam ? How did you find it ? Are examination boards easy to deal with ?
Thanks so much for stopping by! I rang around all the colleges within travelling distance to check which ones would accept external candidates and double check they would be able to provide the sitting for our particular exam specifications. The exam board websites do have lists of exam centres on them, but I found they were out of date when I did my big ring-around. You probably know this, but external candidates need to do exams that are 100% exam based as coursework and practicals are too hard to get marked as an external candidate. You could try checking with your LEA - I know ours would offer maths and English sittings but we still had to pay for it ourselves. If we had done English with them, we could have opted for WJEC exam board which involved coursework. You need to opt for the iGCSE exams or exams that are entirely exam based - for example, Izzy's AQA history curriculum was a normal GCSE but did not involve coursework. As it happens, Izzy has now diverted to college as of this September, so is no longer studying at home. We didn't get as far as booking in exams. However, I am told this website is very useful for all that sort of thing: he-exams.wikia.org/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki Thanks again for stopping by and i wish you well with your home-ed journey. Imo
Hey Can you help me out with something i dropped out of school in year 10 corona problems im studying with the right exam boards now at home but i found out that for science theres practicals so im going to do igcse for science only and my other subjects they will still have the same exam board is this bad and should i change all my subjects to igcse? Also i have 5 months left to do my gcse and ive only started studying now i dont have enough time to finish the whole book should i be using a different strategy?
Hello! Are your exam sittings booked in with the exam centre? We didn’t actually end up doing GCSEs as home edders. We studied for a year and then she switched to a college for year 11. I remember that we needed to get booked in with the exam centre early in the year though, so I’m wondering if your exam boards are already set up? I don’t know if you can switch once they’re booked, but you could try it? I know anything with coursework was a no-go for external candidates so needed to be iGCSE. I might be a bit out of touch now though, as I haven’t home-edded for a year and a half or so and I know things change. Sorry I wasn’t more help but good luck and thanks for watching.
@@PlanetImo Sorry for my random comment but i noticed you said your daughter didn’t sit GCSEs in the end as a home edder and went college instead. I’m just wondering how you both went about getting her into college without doing GCSEs because I’m currently home educated in year 11 but not doing exams because of cost and it’s worrying about me as I’m constantly thinking about my future, I’m up late just worrying about it and seeing if anyone has been in a similar situation before. I’ve looked into going to college as a home edder without any formal qualifications but haven’t found much on it I’m very stuck.
Hello! Not by law, no. Mine wanted to do them as she had a particular college course in mind that she wanted to do that required 5 C's or above incl maths and English. Actually, she's switched to college now at yr 11 to do a vocational BTEC Level 2 (equivalent to 4 GCSES in the subject area she wants to do for a career) plus maths and English GCSE. We had to self fund this though - as the LEA were not prepared to pay the fees (we're talking about £3750 for the year - so cripplingly expensive, be warned!). If she had waited 1 year and gone to tertiary college at 16 she could have had the course funded automatically - so that might be an option for you? Though I don't know if they could go straight in at GCSE level without a formal level 1 qualification. You could check the entry requirements in a college prospectus. Colleges all seem to vary when it comes to taking pre-16s. It might be worth you checking with your local authority and local colleges about that if you didn't want to to tackle the exams yourself? None of our local colleges would accept pre-16s, so mine's travelling out of catchment. Apparently this website is great for exam info: he-exams.wikia.org/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki So, no, they don't have to do exams by law, but they might need them as an academic pathways into careers or higher education, but they could do them whenever they/you like. I think they get about three years' worth of govt funding for tertiary college/sixth form but I'm not sure? If you decide to let them hold off and do them at college age 16+ I would check in advance with the college that funding will be available for the duration. I hope that was helpful. Please ask more questions if you have any. Thanks so much for watching.
Hey there! My daughter is 16 and currently going to sixth form (first year) but we're considering transitioning into homeschooling but I have no idea where to begin, im a newly single mother so we're trying to be money conscious, her dream is to go to university but her life in sixth form is no longer suitable due to chronic anxiety and PCOS but her school isn't flexible, any tips on where to begin to ensure she can still go to uni? Many thanks!:)
Aw sorry to hear that. And sorry it took me so long to reply - I wanted to give it some proper thought. I’ve been out of home-edding for the last two and a half years now and am a bit out of touch with the latest home ed stuff. Are you wanting to home-ed A level? I can’t say I know anything about that level - courses/costs/exam sittings as an external candidate etc. Would a tertiary college be a less stressful option? I’m wondering if they have facilities for students who need a bit of extra chilling out space. I have known if that here in South Wales. There are Facebook groups aplenty on, well, Facebook, for home educators and prospective home educators. They’re a great place to ask specific questions and the members are usually very fast to swoop in with answers and reassurance. I’d be surprised if there weren’t groups for A level/level three. TBC….
There are possibly home-ed groups that meet up in person near you, so you might be able to arrange to visit one with or without your daughter to chat to home educators who may be able to advise. I don’t know if it’s still up and running but there’s an organisation called ‘Education Otherwise’ that has a useful website full of info and always listed the in-person groups around the UK. TBC…
There are access courses that can be done to get uni-ready - I think through the universities themselves? Not sure. Maybe through tertiary colleges? I know that adults with no A levels can do a year of access course at unis first and then apply to do the degree.
What about OU (Open University) for an access course? I don’t know if they do them but you could check… and I’ve heard in the past that they reduce fees for low income families. Speaking of which, I know families can stay longer on tax credits if their child remains in full time education prior to university. Once it’s uni, it stops. I think it might go up to age 20? But home education counts as education from that point of view. In wales, anyway. You could check if that’s relevant. I mention it because it would obviously help a lot with costs of tutors/online courses etc.
Hello! Thanks for stopping by. I haven’t been home edding for a few years now and have got a bit out of touch with things but there are a tonne of home education groups on Facebook that you can join and post questions on. I find other home educators are very passionate on the topic and always very helpful. There’s a Home Ed UK group I think? But so, so many more and lots of regional ones. Also, Education Otherwise is an organisation that can offer advice and support. They have a website. Good luck! X
Hi, I just wondered if there is any other way in homeschooling learning to get resources/courses as the £100 and above are quite pricey, btw love your vids! X
I do know people who have tackled the GCSEs entirely from textbooks alone and have been pretty successful. I bet if I was more experienced I would have been happier to take that route.
@@CM-bm9sw Ah! Same as mine. Yes - you could just use the textbooks. The exam specs are always on the exam board websites so you can check what is to be covered - which is basically everything in the textbook for the specific exam board and course. Course content does vary a bit between exam boards, so definitely get the right books. Free online sites to use are BBC GCSE Bitesize - which you can set up an account with an add your own specific courses and exam boards to. Have a rummage - it's great! BBC Teach UA-cam channel has a good many relevant videos on it, labeled/categorized by the course name and level. Khan Academy is also a great free resource. I haven't used it much because Izzy didn't like it, which is frustrating because I think it's a very good one. I've heard you can download exam marking schemes from the internet. I haven't tried this yet. Good luck and nice to meet you!
The BBC Bitesize website is a good free one that covers many many subjects, as is Khan Academy. The BBC Teach UA-cam channel is also very good and covers lots of curriculum areas. We've used Conquer Maths for years, though now switching to a text book. I've heard lots of good things about Ed Place!
Thanks so much for watching. I recommend looking up groups for home educators on Facebook - they usually welcome prospective home educators into the groups so you can ask questions etc. There are all sorts of groups for different sorts of home-ed. Education Otherwise has a website full of useful information. What did you have in mind specifically? Age/subject etc. If you could narrow it down a bit for me that might help me to come up with some helpful suggestions. Nice to meet you! 😊
A good question. Parents do not need to be qualified teachers or have any qualifications to home educate at this point in time, but it is a massive job to do, and it doesn't suit every family's circumstances. Thank you so much for watching and commenting. Good luck!
Any way i could contact you on phone or skype or have a one on one conversation i have a lot of questions for my brother he is also planning to give his GCSE, any possibility to contact you please?
Hi, Limon. Thanks for getting in touch. You're welcome to send me a DM on Facebook or Instagram (links in video description) with a list of your specific questions and I'll be happy to tackle them one by one as I get a bit of time to look at them. If you don't mind them being on a public forum, you could alternatively post them here in the comments section, which can be helpful for others in the same situation, with the same questions. In the meantime, you could have a look at the Education Otherwise website and also search for Facebook groups for home educators, as there are loads and loads of these and they usually will accept new members who are looking into home education. You can post questions there and members tend to be very good at answering questions with great enthusiasm. Thanks for watching and I look forward to your questions.
How do you deal with areas where there is a formula for exam success? IE, my son had tutor support in lots of areas due to him being registered blind. For example, in History, at both GSCE and A Level it became apparent that there is a method to passing the exams to achieve the maximum marks - its not enough to answer the question, it has to be answered in a certain way. If I had not supported my son during those lessons I would never have known this. In short kids can loose marks by not answering in a specific way even though they know all the information. Any ideas? Do you get any additional tutor support just for marking and feedback?
Hi Emma! Thanks so much for dropping by and watching and leaving a comment. In answer to your question, I think I have inadvertently developed a pretty good idea about exam technique over the years I've been home-edding... in pretty much all the courses we follow, exam strategies are included, but it's something I continue to research, as we go along, as it's obviously highly relevant. I wouldn't mind betting there are a load of how-to videos on it on UA-cam. We've been watching a few already. I have no idea if they teach this in school or not these days.... though I presume they do, as it seems to be included in all the workbooks that we've bought and schools are all about league tables and getting as a high a pass rate as possible. I don't remember doing it myself in school, but that was many decades ago, and I assume things have moved on since then. As mentioned in this video, we currently have a remote tutor for both the Englishes who gives feedback on assignments. In the past, we've had tutors in person in group settings plus, for a while we kind of had one by email for two subjects, who would set assignments by email each week and then mark them with feedback, also by email. It's certainly my intention to do a tonne of extra research into this nearer the exams, alongside revision technique, but we're already doing practice papers for science to start getting into the swing of things. I wouldn't mind betting we get a lot on exam technique through the Southwest Science School online courses we are doing. Early indications would suggest so. Since making this video, we've also got a tutor for maths, just on an ad-hock basis, who will also help with exam technique nearer the time. Thanks again for dropping by and it's nice to meet you. Imo x
Hello! Thanks for watching. At the point I made this video, she had been home ed for years and years and had a good life with it with so many friends and regular evening and weekend classes. She particularly wanted to go to college to do a vocational course that was not an option in school. The funding was turned down so once the choice was down to carry on as we are or drop all the meetups with her firmly established home ed peer group and start completely afresh with a new crowd it seemed more stable to carry on as we were. We were all set up for it at home anyway. Being home-ed does free up extra time to focus on personal interests and she was/is the sort of child to do this and spend many hours engrossed in her own interests. It would have seemed a crying shame to stop her/limit her from doing this in exchange for two years of school. As it happens, she started college back this September (I had to self-fund - argh!). The irony being, of course, that she's now mostly having to study it at home along with the rest of the population. But she's still loving the course. Izzy suffers from very severe eczema and school just wasn't really an option, in my opinion. She did attempt it but rarely managed a whole week as she would just deteriorate so quickly without one on one care and a flexible schedule to accommodate her ups and dows. She came out around age 6. Once she turned 14ish it became better managed with medication. I hope that answers your questions. Thanks again for watching.
Self funded, I'm afraid. There's no funding for home education in the UK for elective home education, sadly. This was quite a few years ago, now. My daughter is in university now. Thanks, so much for watching.
As a retired secondary school teacher I'm dead impressed by what you two are doing.
Blimey! Thanks, Moya. What did you teach, btw? I have a nice collection of teacher friends for potential consulting with if we get stuck or run into problems. :¬D
@@PlanetImo Design and Technology and Computing. If I can help in any way let me know.
I'm thinking of homeschooling my son (currently 10) and am very interested in how to get them through GCSE so would love to continue seeing your updates on how you manage. Many thanks for uploading this!
Thanks. I'm quite interested to see how I'll manage it too! Ha ha ha! Thanks so much and all the best of luck with your home-ed journey if you chose to take it. x
Of course you must already know your child won’t need ten GCSEs 3-5 is plenty depending if they are going to college or continuing home school until 19. The open university is amazing for older children , you should be able to do the small coursed with the ou from 12 I believe. The IGCSE option is worth a look it’s done through Oxford university but is for children and worth a google. As a former teaching assistant I can promise you that at most schools children only get around 2 hours of good learning done in the school so keep that in mind. My daughter learned so much more at home. Even some you tube channels count as learning time like smarter every day, you should be able to find a home school group on face book or maybe through your county council. You can do this and it’s not like you can’t reverse your decision later if you wish so you have nothing to loose and everything to gain.
Subscribe to channel ➡ ua-cam.com/users/ImoandIzzy?sub_confirmation+1
Update - we're now using Corbett Maths, which is a free online resource, and have a maths tutor on an ad-hock basis. Thanks so much for stopping by!
Imo and Izzy Vlogs I have the IPHONE:11pro
Imo and Izzy Vlogs I am in yr 10 and homeschooling through GCSE. How our you doing the science practicals? Are u doing it in a school or with a tutor. We are really struggling with what to do the practices. Any advice would be very helpful
Hello! Welcome to year 10! 😁 Thanks for stopping by to visit our channel. Homeschoolers tend to do the iGCSE science exams which are 100% exam based, so there are no practicals to be done as part of the assessments. You can get away with just memorising the core practicals and regurgitating this in the exam if you chose to. There are TONNES of videos of these core practicals on UA-cam, which you can search by exam board, and 'GCSE' to make sure they are the same - and cross ref with your own textbook. These videos will bring the practicals to life for you better than just reading about them and make them more memorable. I would recommend searching these out and finding the ones you most enjoy/understand and put them in a playlist for yourself so you can come back to them for revision and watch them over and over to really get them in your head.
I think some of the practicals are easier to do at home than others - like, there was one in biology involving chopping potatoes into different sized cubes and soaking them in saltwater and weighing them before and after. That sort of thing you can do at home. For other ones, you might be able to buy some bits and bobs off Amazon to do at home. It kind of depends on your budget. We used Southwest Science school for science, which was about £100 for the whole two-year course and included two-way contact with the tutors via a private Facebook group for students and parents. They do get back to you pretty quickly with answers if you're stuck.
We literally JUST diverted to college now, after a year of home-edding ks4 so have dropped science, as she changed courses! I was intending to buy some bits and bobs for some of the practicals where possible, but I never quite got as far as making my shopping list for this, or deciding what we would or wouldn't do, but that's something you could think about.
Thanks again for getting in touch and I wish you all the best for your home-ed journey! ~Imo
Wow so impressed!! So much dedication that I'm sure will be reflected in Izzy's hard work and great GCSE results. No matter what her grades turn out to be you have taught her the most important thing.... to be hardworking and that will stay with her for the rest of her life. Getting quite emotional about how hard you two work together. My granddaughter is studying for 11+ and has a block on not being good enough at Maths. When I spoke to her yesterday I remembered how rubbish I was at maths until I got the most fab. teacher who took the time to make sure I understood. This was a game changer for me! I've decided to subscribe to Conquer Maths for her as I am sure it will help. She and her mum will look at it later. Thank you so much for sharing this information and all your hard work - Lin xx
Aww, thanks so much! I think there are other options other than Conquer Maths out there, too, so it might be worth having a look and doing a bit of comparing to see which would suit her the best. We haven’t looked around THAT much. We did IXL for years. There’s also Khan Academy which is a free one and the BBC Bitesize website might also be a massive help, plus the maths videos in the BBC Teach UA-cam playlist filtered by her key stage. Thanks again for watching.
I have just started (today) homeschooling long term (not because of the Coronavirus) and I’m in year 9. Any tips for GCSE
Hello! So sorry - I managed to miss/lose this comment! Did you have any particular questions? Sorry about that, Esme!
All we can say is wow. Your dedication and drive along with Izzy's commitment is amazing 😎
Thanks. Only two more years of intense.... they're young for such a short time in the grand scheme of things.
i really hope i can get my gcses, i’m homeschooled and want to study animal conservation and biology at college in order to be an animal biologist! i’m very behind in my work but i have two years to frantically sort everything out and TRY to pass a science gcse which is so important to have if you’re going into the animal science field of work! i don’t have a clue if i’m gonna be able to do it, but i’m gonna give it a good go 😂👍🏼
Yey! That’s the spirit! Have you seen the study-tuber channels? UnJaded Jade, Eve Bennet, Ruby Granger and more. They’re past GCSE age now, but they did a ton of videos on self-study for those including science, so those are in their back catalogues. Also, Primrose Kitten has loads of exam-board specific videos for many subjects including science. She’s a teacher rather than student, but worth watching too. Good luck!
Thank you for doing this video - just signed my daughter up for Conquer Maths!
You have helped her to feel confident about doing year 11 GCSE at home (and me as a parent lol) :-)
Aw! Thanks! I hope you enjoy it as much as we have. Home educators have more of a facilitator role than an all-knowing specialist teacher role. We learn alongside our children, the plus side being that we get our education all over again! I just put out a video last night about getting stuck on maths as it happens, don't be put off, though! I've decided I need to go back to sitting with her as she does her maths for a bit, so when she gets stuck, I'll know where she's at. Good luck and have fun! x
@@PlanetImo That's exactly what I have had to do lol. I will definitely watch that video in a bit :-) Thanks x
We've had a better few days at maths now - it's been challenging and we've spent a bit of extra time on it, but feels great to finally get it cracked so it's unexpectedly rewarding. Have you been home-edding long?
@@PlanetImo good stuff. No only since June and it's been a real baptism of fire lol. We're getting there though :-)
Hats off to what you have been doing for Izzy and likewise it’s a testament to Izzy’s commitment too! Great to hear what you’ve done to date 😎👍
Aw, thanks, guys! x
I came across you channel by accident and I so glad that I did. I have a 12 years old daughter and she just started being home educated. Your content is so useful. Thank you for the amazing content.
Aw, thanks so much. I’m sorry to say that we are no longer home educating as my daughter has finally gone to college halfway through and switched over to a BTEC with four GCSEs plus continuing with maths and English. However, we did vlog all the way through last year and there’s a whole load of playlists if you’re interested in following what we did last year. If you look in my playlists section you’ll find homeschooling playlists - they are broken down by month. I hope that help and I hope you enjoy your home ed journey.
Thanks a lot for this ! I am thinking of home schooling my children. 10 and 13 years old. Honestly I am very impressed by how you are doing this.
Thanks so much, and thanks so much for watching.
I-GCSE through Oxford university is an option but if your children can wait until they are 19 it’s so much more straightforward, my daughter passed level 1 and 2 in two week and has city and guild maths and English 1 and 2 GCSE equivalency. We were lucky a found an independent college that allowed students to sit the tests when they were ready but my daughter had completed everything and she set the test and it’s done.
Great video 😊 our children aren’t quite at GCSE age yet but it’s great to hear a little about what we might have to come!
Thanks! GCSEs are scary uncharted territory for me. I can't find much else on UA-cam about the actual nitty gritty of home-edding key stage 4, so I thought I'd better have a go at documenting it. Then people can use it to help them decide whether it would suit them or not. I'll pop over to see you on your channel when I get a spare moment. Thanks again for stopping by, Imo. x
Hey there! Wow 8years of homeschooling that’s amazing! My boys are in year 7 and 9 This is fantastic I love your folder you really worked hard. I’m not organised at all so I’m nervous about home educating but I think it’s right fit our family. Thankyou very much for sharing x
A shame about the college funding for the continued studies, Izzy seemed to love it. I'm sure the GCSE is going to be a big commitment for you and a challenge worthy of your ability. Great organization you have. Who knew biology could be so tasty! Best wishes for this school year.
Thanks so much, Tina and Norm. I was really daunted at first, but feeling a lot more confident and even actually really excited about it, now. We've done two weeks and both enjoyed it and managed to keep on top of things... so far!
Home Ed specific yes but very interesting - you explain it all very well
Aw, thanks. I think I can be a bit yawn-inducing to the non-homeschool people once I get on this topic....
Loved your comments about thinking about school (but not for long!) Just starting out our home ed journey, my eldest has just turned CSA. I wish you all the best!! X
OOooh, I hope you have as much fun as we have. It's been rich, diverse and rewarding. It has its ups and downs but I haven't ever regretted it. Thanks for stopping by. :¬D x
Izzy should watch the video of the Brazilian songwriter Toquinho . His song "Aquarela"is perfect to go over shapes ,colors and seasons. Also she should also know that the longest word in English is "Smiles"....(Between the first and last "S" , there's a "Mile"...) Boa Sorte...!
Ah! Thanks for the top tip and that's a good joke about the longest word. I'll have to make a mental note of that for use during my gigs.
I very nearly home ed Brendan but he got in to the local autistic unit and thankfully it was really the best thing for him. Now doing A levels which I never thought he would ever do. My nephew has just started his home ed journey at 4 years old. A friends spent the last year getting her son through his first set of GCSEs. Really the most important is just maths and English. That's really the only thing that they NEED under their belt
I have a home-ed Mum friend who home-edded some of her children, but not all, who had a similar experience with an autistic teen of hers. They found him a special autistic unit and he really thrived in that environment. Thanks, Worm's Eye! x
Hello Imo, I've been looking for homeschooling families in the UK and I came across this video. I'll be watching every single one of your videos to learn from you. Thank you so much. I'm from wales too and I'm really happy to families homeschooling here. My children are still under 2 but I'm so excited to start this journey. Thanks for all your videos ❤️💐🌼
Aww thanks so much! I've actually finished home-edding now. This is quite an old video and my daughter is now in college. I did home-ed for 9 years though and I don't regret a minute of it. I do still have some homeschool related playlists on my channel - they were vlogs that included homeschooling as part of our days, rather than specifically just about homeschooling. I'll tell you who's pretty good on homeschooling in the UK on UA-cam - Home Educating the Mad Lads channel ua-cam.com/channels/AYjczlyuqrD-1YgE9t4quA.html she's really down to Earth and tells it like it is! And also Home Education Journey UK ua-cam.com/users/HomeEducationJourneyUK she's very good at showing activities and things. She has an Instagram as well. I expect there are others. I found they were mostly American when I searched UA-cam for home ed vlogs when I started out. I still loved them, though and found them useful and inspiring. Good luck and I hope you enjoy it. x
@@PlanetImo thank you so much for your thorough response. I'll definitely check them all. Good luck for you and your daughter on your journeys. You're such a sweet angel 😇💐❤️
Randomly found this channel, pretty sure i'm not the target audience at all but I find your vids quite enjoyable lol, nice work
😁 I was aiming for age 40+ but actually people of all ages seem to watch, including quite a few kids! The more the merrier I say! Everyone is welcome. Thanks so much for watching.
@@PlanetImo That's great to hear, I hope you enjoy making them as much as we do watching :)
Enjoyed this, my youngest turns 13 next month, he's my last home ed child, so was keen to see the resources that you shared. Coffee is definitely one of this home ed mum perks. The pizza was such a fab idea. Best of luck with the journey
Thanks! I'm finding maths by far the most challenging. I thought I would anyway, but I'm seriously considering outsourcing that one sooner than I previously envisaged.
@@PlanetImo It is going to be the subject I struggle with. I was never very good at it. I think if we can do a mix of self-led, me joining in and then a tutor group, we will muddle through it lol.
Good to see the new house again! Feels like we only saw a bit of it before you jetted off to France :)
I know! It was crazy. Those France vlogs took extra long to edit because of all the live music footage and very particular cuts and syncing up the visuals precisely to the audio and all that... ironically the home-ed videos do better than the music ones and take a fraction of the time to edit.
I’m want to start homeschooling and I’m in year 10 I have had big gaps of learning through out my life and I want to put my head down and get my GCSEs but I don’t know what you do or how you even start home schooling will I even get the same GCSEs as if I were in a school ?
So sorry! I've only just seen this! Are you still needing info on this or has the moment passed? So sorry I missed this comment!
@@PlanetImo please help me same situation
I totally understand, I thought about sending my little guy back to school but it just won't work, he does better at home and I have a bit more help this term. His grades are better now then public school. I commend you, 8 years keep up the great work. :o)
Sounds great. How old is he? Do you also have just the one?
@@PlanetImo just the one and 4th grade. 😃
Ahh! I think that's year 3, in British.... 7 yrs old?
@@PlanetImo he's 9. I think it's key 2??
Or is it primary 4 lol so confusing to me lol
Super video my frien! Thanks for sharing your info! Blessings to you! ❤
Thanks. x
What a fantastic idea to make representations of cells out of pizza. Might have a party around that idea.
Hee hee hee! You can have a cell-ebration.
Imo and Izzy back together vlogging again! Just like old times! :)
Mm. She's not always in the mood to be on camera, which is fair enough... if a little frustrating!
LOVE your videos I've picked up so many tips and tricks on here 😊
Aw, thank you so much!
Hi I wanted to ask can I do homeschool for free apart from the books oart I don’t have much money to pay for the private tutor and online classes but are there enough things on school online available for free? Also I’m in year eleven just started today and I cannot cope I felt like was gonna kill myself it was orrible
Oh dear. So sorry to hear you had a bad first day back. I know some home-educators use text books alone, and some do very well. I am told you can access past papers complete with marking schemes for free online and past papers are an excellent way to hone your skills in those last months before the exams.
I would recommend looking on Facebook to find groups to join about home education. There are loads of them, including ones specially for home-edding GCSE level, and some are even specific to the subject. You'll probably need to answer some filter questions to join the groups. In my experience, they usually welcome non-home-educators who are researching it, with a view to giving it a go. They are great forums for asking questions about anything to do with home ed, including resources, etc.
I don't know where you live, but here in Wales (and presumably England?) home-educators who are not registered in a school have to sit GCSE exams as external candidates - and this is where the cost mounts up. Less and less exam centres are accepting external candidates where I live and those that remain seem to be costing anywhere upwards of £180 per subject to sit exams. You need to register for exams around January time to make sure you're all booked in, or you miss the slot.
Home-edders tend to study iGCSEs, or at least GCSEs that do NOT contain coursework as there's no way for external candidates to have coursework marked, as far as I'm aware. They are 100% exam based. You could look on the Edexcel or AQA exam board websites for the exam specs. This may mean, for you, if you're dropping out half way through the course, changing exam syllabus and therefore there MIGHT be a difference in course content? Exam board websites also list exam centres where you can book to sit exams, should you decide to go ahead. They weren't that up to date last time I tried, and when I rang around local colleges, I did find some that weren't listed on the exam board websites, so it could be worth ringing around.
Alternatively, if you are really struggling, I know here in Wales, sometimes if students are having really severe difficulty, i.e. suffering from anxiety etc, schools do sometimes fund that student to switch to a more practical based course in a tertiary college. It might be worth chatting to your form tutor about that if you feel like you're at crisis point with it. I'm sure it varies from area to area, so I really don't know if that would work or not.
Oh - and I recommend watching these channels for help with GCSE study - but you'll need to look at their older videos from a few years ago when they were studying GCSEs, as they're in Uni and older now: Ruby Granger, UnJaded Jade, Jack Edwards, Eve Bennett. Primrose Kitten is a teacher-tuber with a whole ton of free on-line lessons on her channel. And Corbett maths website contains free maths videos, worksheets and answer sheets.
But thanks for watching and I wish you all the best for the coming year. Good luck and thanks again for watching. ~Imo
Imo and Izzy Vlogs he I want to say the most annoying thing we have come back from school a dude has a case of covid and our school has shut down 😂😂
After watching your video, I was inspired to homeschool my 11 year old through his GCSE's. But I am very confused on how to tackle this. I was thinking of covering 2/3 subjects at a time, English, Science and Maths for the first 2 years, getting my son to sit his exams early. Then the following years focus on other subjects. I don't think I'd be able to focus on all the subjects at the same time.
Also, I've read on the Internet people discussing which examining boards are best. From your experience, what would you suggest, AQA, Edexel etc. Any advice or guidance would be much appreciated.
Hello! So sorry - I've only just seen this. We didn't actually get as far as sitting the GCSEs as my daughter diverted to the original college course that she wanted to do after 12 months. I don't know exactly what to recommend about exam boards other than I selected them based on the associated text books available or what courses were available. For example: Catherine Mooney only did Edexcel; Southwest Science school only did Edexcel, too. For the maths we chose WJEC because it was our regional one and Iz did think she would do the maths numeracy option that I don't think was an option for the other exam boards. For history we chose AQA because it didn't have any coursework - which is essential, as far as I know, for external candidates. I don't THINK you can get coursework marked normally as an external candidate so you have to go the 100% exam route. This is why the iGCSEs are favoured by home edders. We also chose AQA because I compared the text books of that and Edexcel and felt my daughter would find the AQA more accessible and enjoyable. I hope that was of some use! Thanks so much for watching. Imo
@@PlanetImo Yes, thank you for replying. I appreciate your suggestions. I think I need to do some research now!
Hiiii and thanks for sharing so much of what you have been using etc..it's been so informative....what did u use for Izzy when she was 12 in terms of material/ curriculum ?
Hiiii again Imo....any curriculum ideas welcome ;-)
Also....I spoke to Catherine Mooney and told her that you have recommended her courses on UA-cam and she was very thankful to you xx
OMGosh - sorry I didn't answer this earlier - I've been trying to rack my brains to remember! 😂
Let's have a think...
Hm. Conquer Maths for maths, I think? Or was it IXL? We transitioned from one to the other at some point.
I THINK she was using the Nessy spelling website for spelling then? That was an annual subscription one because she really struggled with phonics and spelling until quite late on. Still does, really.
We didn't use a packaged curriculum for English but I looked up on line what the curriculum was and followed it using a variety of workbooks including Scholastic and Collins. Some WH Smiths own ones, too? Possibly some Andrew Brodie... although that might have been the year before. Also BBC BITESIZE and any other resources I could get my hands on. Sometimes I'd make my own worksheets or find free ones on line to print off.
History - she actually did an iGCSE class once a week with home educators for fun because she loved history, so that was Edexcel.
For science and geography, I read up on what was on the curriculum and did a lot of strategically chosen read-alouds from the library, also Horrible Geography and Horrible Science books, watched lots of documentaries on those themes, scheduled days out on those themes, just basically doing it in a way that she enjoyed and engaged with as she wasn't naturally interested in either. She didn't really put pen-to-paper too much with those topics. We did practical stuff at home and did a lot of hands on stuff in Techniquest and went to science theatre shows, etc.
RE - just had lots of conversations about different beliefs, watched videos about different religions and customs, read books aloud, visited different places of worship etc. I didn't look at the curriculum for that. We're not religious, so that was more about respect and understanding for others.
PE - well - she went to lots of classes like swimming lessons, gymnastics, dance, etc. Several per week.
IT - not a huge amount, but basically did the odd project building spreadsheets and producing graphs and pie charts in XL here and there and made sure she could use Word, and send and receive emails. She's more tech savy than me, so I didn't feel it was an issue.
That's all I can remember off the top of my head? Hope that helps! Imo x
Aw bless her. Well, we were really grateful for her curriculum, too!
Great vlog guy's nice to see you both on camera. Potato Cakes look good 🙂
Izzy loves those. A pity you couldn’t smell them after all.
Great video! Help with physics here.
Thanks.
I'm currently wearing a jacket that looks identical to the one you're wearing in this video lol
10 out of 10 to Lincoln for managing to find something relate-able in this very esoteric, topic-specific video. 😂😂 Thanks, Lincoln! Most appreciated! x
You got this Imo - no doubt our end 😎😍
Thanks. Nothing like a bit of external reassurance! Most appreciated.
I'm in year 10 and became home schooled a couple weeks ago because of corona and how they don't wear masks in classrooms,
I use online stuff like Edplace but it has certain assignments that take 10-15 minutes sometimes 5 and have to do an hour of Maths and English it gets annoying because I have to do like 8 assignments to stretch it out to an hour,
Any idea how I can do it better?
I had 6 months off because of corona and its really put me behind and all the subjects are hard so it's frustrating 😤 I don't know what exactly I should do
Thanks for watching, David. We've been using Corbett Maths free video lessons with printable worksheets and answers sheets. We got a maths tutor who drew us up a scheme of work based on Corbett Maths. My daughter worked her way through the list and flagged up any questions she got really stuck on and once she had enough for about an hour's worth of tuition, we gave the tutor a call and she came over and did an hour. She costs £27 an hour, so we didn't have her every week as it was too expensive, but we didn't need to, as the Corbett Maths work was very easy to learn from without a tutor.
What exam board and paper are you aiming for? We're in Wales and doing WJEC, but I think the scheme of work will vary according to which exam board you're doing and also, I don't know if this is the case for other exam boards, but here in Wales you sit either Foundation (goes up to a D grade), intermediate (goes up to a B) or higher (goes up to an A*). Also, we have the option of doing maths numeracy, instead of maths, which covers less topics. Depending on what you want to do, that might be an alternative option? Like, if you were going into the arts, maths numeracy might be enough to get onto the next course up, but not if you wanted to do a more mathsy career.
I would make sure you're learning the right stuff for your exam board.
Thanks again for watching and good luck!
@@PlanetImo I'm not sure what I want to do, I've been thinking about it a lot and should come to a conclusion soon. Thank you for the help I appreciate it a lot also love your videos keep it up.
Hello! I was supposed to go into year 9 but am lagging behind on my studies because of family related reasons( I am thinking of suggesting homeschooling as an option to my parents but I don’t think it’s something they would even consider if I don’t give them concrete information on what homeschooling consists of and how to switch over but I can’t seem to find resources answering some of my specific questions( Could I maybe ask some of them?
Sure. You’re welcome to ask them here in the comments section. I haven’t been home-edding for over a year now and I know things can change but I’ll answer what I can. It might be worth you having a look down the comments section to see if I’ve already answered the questions elsewhere as I have had people asking the same things over the years. Bare with me if I don’t answer straight away as I’m quite busy atm and don’t always get to all my comments and the home ed ones can require a bit of time to respond to. Thanks for watching.
Love the mug, horrible histories is iconic
It certainly is - we love it! We got those mugs from Home Bargains years ago and love them. Thanks so much for watching.
Well, I had 5 children and they are all adults now. The first two children I decided to home school. The other three I sent to school. They all have done well in their lives. Perhaps a little social stigma for the homeschooled ones. That's because back in the 80's, home teaching was relatively new. Everyone thought I was going to destroy my children.
I think many people still think it now... well done to you home-edding back then. We don't know we're born these days with all the information we need at our fingertips via the internet and more home-ed social groups than we can possibly fit into our weeks. You are among many of my youtuber buddies who have told me they home-schooled or were home-schooled! x
@@PlanetImo I believe that the children that have been homeschooled are actually far above the traditionally schooled children. They are sooo much smarter.
This has been so helpful. How did it go?Did you do the exams in the end? Thank you!!!
Awww, thank you. Actually, no we didn't see them through to the bitter end - we did a whole year of it but Izzy switched over to the college course that she had wanted to do originally. She's really enjoying it, but of course, the irony is, she's done months of it at home on line! I did vlog that year of home ed, although not daily - but I put all the home-schooling GCSE vlogs into playlists - including by month, if you are curious. They'll be in the playlists section of my channel page. Thanks again for watching and good luck. x
I'll never look at a pizza the sam way again - next time I'm eating a piece of pepperoni I'll think I'm eating mitochondria! LOL
You never know - it may help you with your respiration!
Hi, ignor my logo,Vis my son's one for his gaming chanel, just want to ask was it difficult to set up sitting on exam ? How did you find it ? Are examination boards easy to deal with ?
Thanks so much for stopping by! I rang around all the colleges within travelling distance to check which ones would accept external candidates and double check they would be able to provide the sitting for our particular exam specifications. The exam board websites do have lists of exam centres on them, but I found they were out of date when I did my big ring-around. You probably know this, but external candidates need to do exams that are 100% exam based as coursework and practicals are too hard to get marked as an external candidate. You could try checking with your LEA - I know ours would offer maths and English sittings but we still had to pay for it ourselves. If we had done English with them, we could have opted for WJEC exam board which involved coursework. You need to opt for the iGCSE exams or exams that are entirely exam based - for example, Izzy's AQA history curriculum was a normal GCSE but did not involve coursework.
As it happens, Izzy has now diverted to college as of this September, so is no longer studying at home. We didn't get as far as booking in exams. However, I am told this website is very useful for all that sort of thing: he-exams.wikia.org/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki
Thanks again for stopping by and i wish you well with your home-ed journey. Imo
Hey Can you help me out with something i dropped out of school in year 10 corona problems im studying with the right exam boards now at home but i found out that for science theres practicals so im going to do igcse for science only and my other subjects they will still have the same exam board is this bad and should i change all my subjects to igcse? Also i have 5 months left to do my gcse and ive only started studying now i dont have enough time to finish the whole book should i be using a different strategy?
Hello! Are your exam sittings booked in with the exam centre? We didn’t actually end up doing GCSEs as home edders. We studied for a year and then she switched to a college for year 11. I remember that we needed to get booked in with the exam centre early in the year though, so I’m wondering if your exam boards are already set up? I don’t know if you can switch once they’re booked, but you could try it? I know anything with coursework was a no-go for external candidates so needed to be iGCSE. I might be a bit out of touch now though, as I haven’t home-edded for a year and a half or so and I know things change. Sorry I wasn’t more help but good luck and thanks for watching.
@@PlanetImo Sorry for my random comment but i noticed you said your daughter didn’t sit GCSEs in the end as a home edder and went college instead. I’m just wondering how you both went about getting her into college without doing GCSEs because I’m currently home educated in year 11 but not doing exams because of cost and it’s worrying about me as I’m constantly thinking about my future, I’m up late just worrying about it and seeing if anyone has been in a similar situation before. I’ve looked into going to college as a home edder without any formal qualifications but haven’t found much on it I’m very stuck.
This is quite a huge decision but I'm sure you guys will be able to handle it
Thanks, Evan.
Wow , this is great . I need some help !
Hi I'm thinking of homeschooling my two teens. Do they have to tale exams by law it's so unclear on google
Hello! Not by law, no. Mine wanted to do them as she had a particular college course in mind that she wanted to do that required 5 C's or above incl maths and English. Actually, she's switched to college now at yr 11 to do a vocational BTEC Level 2 (equivalent to 4 GCSES in the subject area she wants to do for a career) plus maths and English GCSE. We had to self fund this though - as the LEA were not prepared to pay the fees (we're talking about £3750 for the year - so cripplingly expensive, be warned!). If she had waited 1 year and gone to tertiary college at 16 she could have had the course funded automatically - so that might be an option for you? Though I don't know if they could go straight in at GCSE level without a formal level 1 qualification. You could check the entry requirements in a college prospectus. Colleges all seem to vary when it comes to taking pre-16s. It might be worth you checking with your local authority and local colleges about that if you didn't want to to tackle the exams yourself? None of our local colleges would accept pre-16s, so mine's travelling out of catchment.
Apparently this website is great for exam info:
he-exams.wikia.org/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki
So, no, they don't have to do exams by law, but they might need them as an academic pathways into careers or higher education, but they could do them whenever they/you like. I think they get about three years' worth of govt funding for tertiary college/sixth form but I'm not sure? If you decide to let them hold off and do them at college age 16+ I would check in advance with the college that funding will be available for the duration.
I hope that was helpful. Please ask more questions if you have any. Thanks so much for watching.
Hey there! My daughter is 16 and currently going to sixth form (first year) but we're considering transitioning into homeschooling but I have no idea where to begin, im a newly single mother so we're trying to be money conscious, her dream is to go to university but her life in sixth form is no longer suitable due to chronic anxiety and PCOS but her school isn't flexible, any tips on where to begin to ensure she can still go to uni? Many thanks!:)
Aw sorry to hear that. And sorry it took me so long to reply - I wanted to give it some proper thought. I’ve been out of home-edding for the last two and a half years now and am a bit out of touch with the latest home ed stuff. Are you wanting to home-ed A level? I can’t say I know anything about that level - courses/costs/exam sittings as an external candidate etc. Would a tertiary college be a less stressful option? I’m wondering if they have facilities for students who need a bit of extra chilling out space. I have known if that here in South Wales. There are Facebook groups aplenty on, well, Facebook, for home educators and prospective home educators. They’re a great place to ask specific questions and the members are usually very fast to swoop in with answers and reassurance. I’d be surprised if there weren’t groups for A level/level three. TBC….
There are possibly home-ed groups that meet up in person near you, so you might be able to arrange to visit one with or without your daughter to chat to home educators who may be able to advise.
I don’t know if it’s still up and running but there’s an organisation called ‘Education Otherwise’ that has a useful website full of info and always listed the in-person groups around the UK. TBC…
There are access courses that can be done to get uni-ready - I think through the universities themselves? Not sure. Maybe through tertiary colleges? I know that adults with no A levels can do a year of access course at unis first and then apply to do the degree.
What about OU (Open University) for an access course? I don’t know if they do them but you could check… and I’ve heard in the past that they reduce fees for low income families. Speaking of which, I know families can stay longer on tax credits if their child remains in full time education prior to university. Once it’s uni, it stops. I think it might go up to age 20? But home education counts as education from that point of view. In wales, anyway. You could check if that’s relevant. I mention it because it would obviously help a lot with costs of tutors/online courses etc.
Sorry for all the instalments - I was worried about my phone crashing and having to redo it all. Good luck, and thanks for watching!
Love this, it's so interesting! How old is Izzy now? X
Hellooo! She is 14. x
Hi Imo, I am about to start homeschooling, my Year 9 boy, would love some advise
Hello! Thanks for stopping by. I haven’t been home edding for a few years now and have got a bit out of touch with things but there are a tonne of home education groups on Facebook that you can join and post questions on. I find other home educators are very passionate on the topic and always very helpful. There’s a Home Ed UK group I think? But so, so many more and lots of regional ones. Also, Education Otherwise is an organisation that can offer advice and support. They have a website. Good luck! X
Hi, I just wondered if there is any other way in homeschooling learning to get resources/courses as the £100 and above are quite pricey, btw love your vids! X
Thanks so much! Yes - you don’t need to spend that much on courses. What age range are you thinking of specifically?
I do know people who have tackled the GCSEs entirely from textbooks alone and have been pretty successful. I bet if I was more experienced I would have been happier to take that route.
Imo and Izzy Vlogs between the ages of 14-16, thanks for getting back to me :)
@@CM-bm9sw Ah! Same as mine. Yes - you could just use the textbooks. The exam specs are always on the exam board websites so you can check what is to be covered - which is basically everything in the textbook for the specific exam board and course. Course content does vary a bit between exam boards, so definitely get the right books. Free online sites to use are BBC GCSE Bitesize - which you can set up an account with an add your own specific courses and exam boards to. Have a rummage - it's great! BBC Teach UA-cam channel has a good many relevant videos on it, labeled/categorized by the course name and level. Khan Academy is also a great free resource. I haven't used it much because Izzy didn't like it, which is frustrating because I think it's a very good one. I've heard you can download exam marking schemes from the internet. I haven't tried this yet. Good luck and nice to meet you!
Imo and Izzy Vlogs thanks so much this is very helpful! Honestly you are such a lovely person :)
Difficult decision! Either way seems quite expensive, but you've chosen the way that suits you both.
I know - bit of a shock to the wallet! Ouch. Thanks, Collin. x
I'm a home Ed student (year 9) and really struggling for reasorces any tips x
Hello! Nice to meet you. Which ones are you using already? Just so I don't list things you already know about...
@@PlanetImo thanks for your response. I already use worksheets I can find online, edplace, conquer maths and lots of different textbooks
The BBC Bitesize website is a good free one that covers many many subjects, as is Khan Academy. The BBC Teach UA-cam channel is also very good and covers lots of curriculum areas. We've used Conquer Maths for years, though now switching to a text book. I've heard lots of good things about Ed Place!
I tend to mention resources as I go along as they come up in our homeschooling vlogs. ~Imo x
@@PlanetImo thank you so much just wanted to ask as I've just recently found your channel and love it😊
Not something you hear every day.... I have slightly singed my Endoplasmic reticulum🤣🤣🤦♀️
Ouch!
I don't suppose you can feel pain that small can you? There aren't any nerves in cells from what we've understood...
@@PlanetImo lol. I'm sure it's not good for you though 🤣
Probably not! 🌡
Is there any tips of where to get work and help for home schooling I'm thinking about doing it
Thanks so much for watching. I recommend looking up groups for home educators on Facebook - they usually welcome prospective home educators into the groups so you can ask questions etc. There are all sorts of groups for different sorts of home-ed. Education Otherwise has a website full of useful information. What did you have in mind specifically? Age/subject etc. If you could narrow it down a bit for me that might help me to come up with some helpful suggestions. Nice to meet you! 😊
Yum potato cakes - we love them too Iz 😍😎
Izzy was delighted to hear this.
Homeschooling a teen!!!! WOW. Hope the last half of your summer was epic.
You, too! Lovely to see you. x
Can I still homeschool while my parents are uneducated?
A good question. Parents do not need to be qualified teachers or have any qualifications to home educate at this point in time, but it is a massive job to do, and it doesn't suit every family's circumstances. Thank you so much for watching and commenting. Good luck!
Thanks for this question. I don’t think I am well educated to home school. This is my biggest concern
Any way i could contact you on phone or skype or have a one on one conversation i have a lot of questions for my brother he is also planning to give his GCSE, any possibility to contact you please?
Hi, Limon. Thanks for getting in touch. You're welcome to send me a DM on Facebook or Instagram (links in video description) with a list of your specific questions and I'll be happy to tackle them one by one as I get a bit of time to look at them.
If you don't mind them being on a public forum, you could alternatively post them here in the comments section, which can be helpful for others in the same situation, with the same questions.
In the meantime, you could have a look at the Education Otherwise website and also search for Facebook groups for home educators, as there are loads and loads of these and they usually will accept new members who are looking into home education. You can post questions there and members tend to be very good at answering questions with great enthusiasm. Thanks for watching and I look forward to your questions.
Your doing great
Thanks, Pawel, and thanks again for all the lovely comments.
Amazing
Thanks
How do you deal with areas where there is a formula for exam success? IE, my son had tutor support in lots of areas due to him being registered blind. For example, in History, at both GSCE and A Level it became apparent that there is a method to passing the exams to achieve the maximum marks - its not enough to answer the question, it has to be answered in a certain way. If I had not supported my son during those lessons I would never have known this. In short kids can loose marks by not answering in a specific way even though they know all the information. Any ideas? Do you get any additional tutor support just for marking and feedback?
Hi Emma! Thanks so much for dropping by and watching and leaving a comment.
In answer to your question, I think I have inadvertently developed a pretty good idea about exam technique over the years I've been home-edding... in pretty much all the courses we follow, exam strategies are included, but it's something I continue to research, as we go along, as it's obviously highly relevant. I wouldn't mind betting there are a load of how-to videos on it on UA-cam. We've been watching a few already. I have no idea if they teach this in school or not these days.... though I presume they do, as it seems to be included in all the workbooks that we've bought and schools are all about league tables and getting as a high a pass rate as possible. I don't remember doing it myself in school, but that was many decades ago, and I assume things have moved on since then.
As mentioned in this video, we currently have a remote tutor for both the Englishes who gives feedback on assignments. In the past, we've had tutors in person in group settings plus, for a while we kind of had one by email for two subjects, who would set assignments by email each week and then mark them with feedback, also by email.
It's certainly my intention to do a tonne of extra research into this nearer the exams, alongside revision technique, but we're already doing practice papers for science to start getting into the swing of things. I wouldn't mind betting we get a lot on exam technique through the Southwest Science School online courses we are doing. Early indications would suggest so.
Since making this video, we've also got a tutor for maths, just on an ad-hock basis, who will also help with exam technique nearer the time.
Thanks again for dropping by and it's nice to meet you. Imo x
Hi There! If you can advice me an easier way to send my drawings to you, cause it’s been a bit difficult
Do you have a smart phone?
Imo and Izzy Vlogs I have
Imo and Izzy Vlogs: I have IPhone 11pro..
Please may I ask why school is such a no np and why she was homeschooled in the first place if this is not too rude? Xx
Hello! Thanks for watching. At the point I made this video, she had been home ed for years and years and had a good life with it with so many friends and regular evening and weekend classes. She particularly wanted to go to college to do a vocational course that was not an option in school. The funding was turned down so once the choice was down to carry on as we are or drop all the meetups with her firmly established home ed peer group and start completely afresh with a new crowd it seemed more stable to carry on as we were. We were all set up for it at home anyway.
Being home-ed does free up extra time to focus on personal interests and she was/is the sort of child to do this and spend many hours engrossed in her own interests. It would have seemed a crying shame to stop her/limit her from doing this in exchange for two years of school.
As it happens, she started college back this September (I had to self-fund - argh!). The irony being, of course, that she's now mostly having to study it at home along with the rest of the population. But she's still loving the course.
Izzy suffers from very severe eczema and school just wasn't really an option, in my opinion. She did attempt it but rarely managed a whole week as she would just deteriorate so quickly without one on one care and a flexible schedule to accommodate her ups and dows. She came out around age 6. Once she turned 14ish it became better managed with medication. I hope that answers your questions. Thanks again for watching.
How are you funding this?
Self funded, I'm afraid. There's no funding for home education in the UK for elective home education, sadly. This was quite a few years ago, now. My daughter is in university now. Thanks, so much for watching.
@@PlanetImo wow you got your daughter to university that is amazing!!!! I hope you are proud of yourself
Bye!
Not forever, I hope!
Great
Cheers. x
Cell pizzas, wow. School was never that much fun for me.
Aw.... we are quite doingy when it comes to school if we can, so that suited our style quite well.
There's actually a new app you can download where you can smell youtube videos
nah just kidding :)
Ha ha ha!
Amazing
Thanks!