Home-Learning Courses
Wanting a more practical, hands-on and environmentally aware education for our children, we, from the start, opted to home-educate. This led to us registering as a school, then as a Cambridge International exam centre and finally providing distance learning courses, especially in "green" subjects, to other home-learners. This we have been doing for over 25 years, the enterprise having now been taken over by our son, Joe and his wife, Meg. For information on courses for 11-14 year olds and International GCSE s see: www.homeeducationspecialists.org.uk
Parents come to home education for many different reasons. For some, it is a life-style choice but for others it may be because their child has suffered bullying, or is physically unable to attend school or simply is not benefiting from a school environment. Our courses, therefore, cover the learning a child would encounter in school but can be experienced, instead, in their own home and at their own pace.
For 11-14 year olds, we offer home-learning courses in Maths, English, Science and History. For 14-16 year olds we can provide Cambridge International GCSEs in ten different subjects. We are espeically proud of offering IGCSE Environmental Management and Marine Science. These two courses cover topics of immense concern to many young people, examining how the natural world on land and sea should work; how humans have utilised and often exploited the natural world before examining strategies for "saving the world." These are courses are of equal interest to adults wanting to gain additional qualifications.
Marine Science is a brand new IGCSE from Cambridge and an absolute must for anyone interested in sea life. This course is of particular significance to lovers of Scilly, with its dependence on the sea. Here, too, are opportunities for first-hand experience by going diving beneath the ocean, observing the seabed in the glass bottomed boat, swimming with the seals or going on guided walks, spotting seabirds.
The course ranges over the diversity of life in our oceans, from leatherback turtles to delicate corals, exploring the amazing wonders of the deep. The great global conveyor belt, why the alignment of the moon and the sun affect our tides, how whales navigate - all are part of this fascinating study. We explore this vast eco system and examine the impact we have on it as we harvest its fish and seaweed, plunder its mineral wealth, exploit it for our leisure activities and utilise it as the world’s giant dustbin. We consider how we could, instead, protect this dynamic environment, so essential to dealing with the big issues of our day, like global warming.
The course consists of 15 tutor marked assignments and involves some 100-150 hours of study.Exams can be taken at a number of mainland exam centres. Cost £275
www.homeeducationspecialists.org.uk
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