Back to School Struggle

"How do I prepare my child to go back to school?" It's a question I regularly get asked. Or "I've been home-schooling for x months, for x years, forever... Is my child even able to go to school?"

These are important questions to ask and they can be daunting for parents, carers and educators of home-schooled children. As a tutor of home-educated children as well as a class teacher who's helped home-ed children integrate into school, I've seen cases of what works and others of what could have been done better. And so, I've put together a list of things you might like to think about, to discuss and to ask the future teacher before sending your child back into school. The aim: to help make that transition more smooth and positive for you and your child.

Leader Boards and Ability Groups

The first thing to be aware of is the use of rankings, leader boards and ability groups within many schools. Your child may be accustomed to being 'top of the class' simply because they are the only one in the class. There was no competition. Or, in a smaller group of home-schooled children, they likely didn't feel the pressure of having 'a top set' and 'a bottom set'. It's worth having a conversation with them about the new dynamics they may encounter - that they may be put in a set or group, it may be 'the bottom set', or 'reds', or 'circles' or whatever name is given to it. It can be immensely demoralising to experience sets for the first time. And so it helps for you to reassure your child that they have worked hard to get to this point, that learning is about curiosity, hard work and never giving up, and that the same applies at school. The principles that underpin your home-ed journey continue into school. The actual set means nothing about who they are as an individual; it's more so a way for teachers to identify what each student needs to work on next.

Gaps in Knowledge

Schools have a syllabus that they follow and it's often quite rigid - certain topics and skills are covered at particular times in the year. It's likely there are things that you've been focusing on at home that they haven't covered at school. Equally, it's likely that they've covered things in school that either you've skated over briefly or not covered at all. This applies to techniques and methods too - Maths processes are taught in particular ways (such as how to solve column multiplications).

In addition, there may be certain practices that the school has, such as Sports Day or Dress Up Day, or references to trips, performances or experiences that the class has had.

Your child needs to be prepared to:

1. Have gaps in knowledge that other students don't have - likely in every subject there will be things they haven't covered and will need to ask about

2. Hear references to stories, topics, experiences and trips that happened before they joined the school or whilst they were being home-educated

3. Do things slightly differently. Schools have particular ways of approaching learning - such as a technique to solve column multiplication - that may be different to how they learnt it at home

Homework!

Home-ed homework can look quite different to school homework. I mean, all home-ed work is done at home, so technically it's all homework! You may have to pace yourselves to the new routine of homework set by the school.

Uniform

This isn't always a problem and in fact, a lot of home-ed children look forward to the excitement and seriousness of a school uniform. But it's definitely something to prepare for - making sure uniforms are washed, ironed and ready for the morning rush.

Less Talk, More Work

For many home-ed children, the joy of learning includes the joy of asking questions, discussing and following related topics down unchartered territory. In a classroom, there's less time for such discussions, a more focused approach to each topic and definitely no room for taking offshoot paths towards unusual ideas. There will likely be an LO (Learning Objective), WALT (We Are Learning To) or another acronym that indicates a focused lesson plan with a focused outcome. No more broad, hour-long discussions and ponderings.

And to add to this, they'll need to raise their hand whenever they want to ask a question or contribute a thought in class. It can take some getting used to.

Questions to ask the new teacher

Whilst this is by no means exhaustive, here are some questions you might like to ask the new class teacher or head of year, ahead of your child starting back at school:

1. What books are you studying (English) / what textbooks are you following (all subjects)?

This will allow you to access the material their peers have been studying and look at it together before joining the lessons.

2. What are the reward/consequence systems in place?

This will allow your child to prepare for the language used around behaviour and expectations and to know what is expected, how rewards are given and how consequences are meted out.

3. What sort of homework is expected? How often? How much?

This is key for both your child and you. They need to know how to manage their time at home and you need to know how to support them with that. Also, some schools have communication books that they send home and expect parents/carers to sign or comment in. There can be expectations from you, as the parent, regarding homework support and communication with the school.

Take a deep breath and relax - it'll be fine

At the end of the day, it's good to remember that millions of children around the UK go to school every day. Most parents and carers have learnt what to do by trial and error. There will likely be little hiccups along the way, as there are for most people. And this is an exciting time for everyone. Going back to school is a move that you've decided to take. Schools aren't that scary and in fact, they can provide amazing experiences, memorable moments and inspiring opportunities for your child (and for you, too). It's an exciting new step for you both - an opportunity to continue the learning journey in a new way. Try to relax, stay positive and remember that if you forget anything, it's not the end of the world.

You can always chase up and ask tomorrow.