'I took my anxious daughter out of school - now she is thriving'

Millie-Rae, 11, is now being taught at home

A mum took her daughter out of school because of her anxiety - and said she is now thriving being taught at home.

Seana-lee May, 30, has been home-schooling her daughter Millie-Rae full-time since September last year. The mum-of-three, 30, originally took her 11-year-old out of school during the Covid pandemic.

Millie-Rae was then home-schooled for a year until high school. But when she went back, she attended school for just five days before refusing to go in.

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She was 'kicking and screaming and refusing to go', Seana-lee said. She decided that home-schooling full-time was the only option for her daughter and has been teaching her ever since.

Seana-lee said that Millie-Rae is performing better in every aspect of her education and doesn't think she will send her back into the mainstream school system. She gives her daughter three, one-hour lessons between 9am and 12pm before a one-hour lunch break, then another one-hour lesson between 1pm and 2pm.

The mum from Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, said: "Ever since she started school she had a period of kicking and screaming. She would refuse to go to school and she was falling behind.

"When it came to high school she was so excited to go back to school but it lasted five days. She started kicking and screaming and refusing to go."

Millie-Rae left school during the pandemic as Seana-lee was concerned about the virus. She is one of 5,330 children in Wales not being taught in school.

Millie-Rae was home-schooled for a year before she started high school. Seana-lee said: "I tried working with the school but they weren't responding so I decided to take her out of the school system.

"I am single parent so it can be hard to juggle everything but I know that Millie-Rae is happy and she is learning. She likes the fact learning is one on one. If she doesn't understand something I will try and explain it in a different way."

When she started high school in September 2023, Millie-Rae lasted five days before she would refuse to go in. Seana-lee said even during those five days, Millie-Rae would throw tantrums and get sent home.

She said: "Her behaviour was really bad, she was snappy and irritable. She would cry a lot and the last day she was sent home with a bad tummy.

"I tried to explain to the school that she was probably just trying to get out of school but they still send her home 30 minutes before the end of the day."

Millie-Rae has recently been referred by a GP for ADHD investigations as she struggled to concentrate and being in a large classroom. Seana-lee said: "She struggles in a classroom environment, she needs someone to sit with her and explain things.

"It was overwhelming for Millie-Rae, she does struggle. If someone said something she doesn't like she is not one to brush it off - she will take it to heart.

"She will often sit and swing back and forth on her chair but I am not bothered what she is doing as long as she is learning."

Seana-lee said that Millie-Rae is 'thriving' in every aspect of her education. She said: "She is flourishing she is performing so much better than she would be in a mainstream system.

"I am really happy with how she is doing. In every aspect of her life she is performing better, she is very confident.

"The home educator from the council will come out every six months to check on Millie-Rae and she is very happy with how she is doing."

Seana-lee said that she would also like to pull her younger daughter Lottie, aged six, out of school as she struggles to socialise but she thinks pulling her out will make that worse. Seana-lee said: "I just don't like the way the schools are at the minute.

"They are far too strict and teachers do not get enough time to spend with children. It is the social aspect with Lottie, if I were to pull her out, which I would like to, I don't think she would join a group or a social club."

Despite not being in the mainstream school system, Seana-lee said that Millie-Rea socialised more than she ever did at school.

She said: "She still goes out to see her friends, she attends drama club and goes to the youth club. In fact, she goes out more now she is being home-schooled than she ever was in school."

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