To disagree with JSP re Home schooling debate on Loose Women

[Stickladylove88]

Don't normally watch Loose Women but caught a bit of it today. They were discussing home schooling - Stacey Solomon decided to home school her children after the school system didn't work out for them.

Janet Street Porter was very critical of this saying that children need to learn to be resilient and shouldn't be removed from schooling because it's a bit difficult. They need to be prepared for the real world not in a bubble. She said that we don't improve the state school system by withdrawing our children from it, parents need to take an active role in improving it.

I personally feel a little bit that home schooling is a last resort and needs to be monitored so that children are being educated properly in the same way that schools are monitored. However, parents should always have the right to do it, the school system doesn't work for every child and I'm not sure it makes a child more resilient being stuck in a situation where they're miserable and powerless for years on end. I think the government have far more power than parents to make the state school system better. Do others agree or is JSP onto something?

Don't want this to be a home school bashing thread, I respect whatever choices a parent makes.

[ShitAtScarbble]

I'm not sure Janet Street Porter is an expert in anything - least of all the complex issue of home schooling v State education.

I think parents should do what they believe is right for their children and I don't think it's anyone's business to spout off about that. Also - Loose Women is absolute drivel!

[QuaintDuck]

YANBU

1. It's Loose Women

1. it's JSP

HTH

[BarrenFieldofFucks]

I'm not getting into this again, but my one comment would be that it is far from a last resort for many. It isn't a reaction to school for a lot of home edders, but a positive choice. Many don't go to school at all.

I have nothing against the idea of registration per se (bearing in mind the only kids who are 'under the radar' are those who have never been to school in the first place) but would be wary as it is the thin end of the wedge. Many local authorities overstep and cannot be trusted to implement fairly. Will registration lead to monitoring? And who decides what is appropriate or not? Given the diverse number of children involved, we can agree that one curriculum and approach won't work.

[AutumnCrow]

Janet Street-Porter has clearly got no experience of the state Academy system, the overwhelming failure of that privatised state system to meet the needs of children with ASD and other additional needs, and the massive financial and legal pressures on today's ordinary parents to pay the rent &bills and have their children in some sort of full-time education.

[SneakyGremlins]

@QuaintDuck

Nothing to add to that really

[Italiangreyhound]

100% agree with ShitAtScarbble "I'm not sure Janet Street Porter is an expert in anything - least of all the complex issue of home schooling v State education."

I am not sure what right JSP has to pontificate on home schooling.

I could not do it, it is tough. But if a parent feels it is right for their child, that is their school.

The government, not parents, could make schools better. They are not doing so, so cannot complain if parents choose to home school.

[Babyhumps]

It is far from a last resort for many. It isn't a reaction to school for a lot of home edders, but a positive choice. Many don't go to school at all.

This, with bells on.

We decided to HE for this very reason and are fiercely passionate not only about our own choice but also that it always remains a positive option for any parent/child. It makes my blood boil that people like JSP think they have any right to dictate how people should live their lives. If the state education system is f**d, it is not down to parents to sort it out. Stupid bloody woman 😠

[user1493413286]

The education system is a one size fits all approach; there isn’t the funding for much else and that doesn’t suit everyone.
And I don’t think forcing children who are unhappy or aren’t enjoying learning to stay in school does build resilience. Unfortunately most parents don’t have a choice in this though

[Hadenoughofitall441]

That women has an opinion on absolutley everything. Can’t stand her. She just infuriates me. I wouldn’t take what she says to heart it’s all bullshit.

[HoozThatGirl]

I don't think the registration idea should pose any problem for people who are genuinely educating their own children. It's aimed at protecting children who are not being educated or are in illegal schools. Those kinds of parents won't be on MN.

[ShitAtScarbble]

That women has an opinion on absolutley everything

I mean - to be absolutely fair here - she's paid to be an opinionated gobshite and she's totally taken the remit to heart!
I'd have thought most people would realise this and not even bother watching her or her silly program - but if they insist on doing so then it would be wise to resist the urge to take seriously a single word they say!

[Foxyloxy1plus1]

I agree that for some children, home schooling is the most appropriate option and a positive choice in those circumstances.

It depends on the reasons for making that choice. There was a programme recently on TV about home schooling and it was apparent that experiences vary widely. Obviously, extremes were chosen for the purposes of the programme, but I think it’s necessary to offer some structured learning experiences and I believe there are now lots of orgsnisations that help and support parents who home school. I think that not expecting their children to develop their learning experience is doing them a disservice, although I imagine that isn’t the norm.

Schools are regulated and inspected and required to meet certain standards. That doesn’t apply to home schooling and maybe there should be some form of monitoring to ensure that home schooled children are getting the best experience they can.

I know that parents of children with SEND have found the education system less than helpful in meeting individual need and have chosen to home school. Similarly, children with poor experiences, or those subjected to unresolved bullying may be best placed to be schooled at home.

I like the fact that JSP speaks her mind, although I often disagree with her views and her strident way of putting them forward sometimes. I think that she has a point in that children need to develop resilience, but I don’t think that subjecting them to an inappropriate or unhelpful setting is right either.

There are those who regard Stacey Solomon as a reality TV personality and not much more. I think that she is an intelligent and perceptive person and best places to know what she feels is right for her sons.

[dadshere]

Homeschooling needs to be much more regulated than it is now. Many children are homeschooled by whack-a-doodle parents with either low intelligence or weird religious beliefs. This is child abuse. The kids have little chance of fitting into society after this treatment and perpetuate the cycle.

[Bottomplasters]

I’m struggling to understand how Stacy Solomon home eds. are you not meant to be at home?

Can someone else do it?

[BertrandRussell]

“I’m struggling to understand how Stacy Solomon home eds. are you not meant to be at home?“

Presumably her children have other relations?

[SpannerD]

The problem with saying home ed needs to be monitored in order to make sure 'its the best' would be

A) who decides what is best?
B) what happens if its not the best? They go to school? Is every school 100% the best? If not that seems dumb. Are the kids then therefore confiscated? Parents sent to prison?

Better to let parents do the parenting and SWs step in, regardless of education strategy, if abuse is detected.

Some kids will be unhappy with their parents' home ed choices just as some kids will be unhappy with school. Thats just the way the cookie crumbles in a world where we, not the state, parent our children.

[QuaintDuck]

JSP falls into the category of " opinions are like arseholes, everyone has one and most people stink"

[clairemcnam]

In general I agree with you. But I have also read adults who are HS complaining that their parents took them out of school after minor bullying incidents and they wish in retrospect they had never told their parents about these incidents.
That will be the exception, but yes there will be kids taken out of school wrongly, just as there are kids of chaotic parents who say they are HS to avoid being taken to court for not sending their kids to school.
I know now there will be comments about how - my DC was close to suicide when I took them out after horrendous bullying. And yes most parents HS either as a positive choice or because of horrendous bullying, or because school can not meet their SEN kids needs. But there are always outliers as well.

[agnurse]

Actually the evidence is showing that homeschooled children are usually just as well socialized, if not better socialized, than children in public school, and that they often perform better on standardized tests.

Realistically, public school reduces education to the lowest common denominator. In many respects it's a glorified holding pen. For many children this isn't the ideal learning environment.

As far as parents' qualifications, the reality is that you do not need to be a rocket scientist to educate your children. I have a master's degree in nursing. I teach students to give medications that could KILL someone if they were given improperly. Yet I'm not qualified to teach Grade 1 science or health because I'm not a "professional educator".

[clairemcnam]

And I thought the proposal is simply that all kids who are HE are registered. That is it. So LA knows which kids are being HE.

[Kolo]

What do home eders do about exams? GCSEs and ALevels? How do results compare to schools?

The state school system really won’t improve if kids keep leaving, but it’s not the individual parents responsibility to fix the education system. That would be the governments job. The gvt don’t really care about it, though. The crisis schools are in at the moment, I don’t blame any parent for deciding a different option is better.

[clairemcnam]

agnurse There is no such evidence. Studies in this country are self selecting.

[LilQueenie]

Schools are over crowded, bullying is allowed to continue. Home schooling lets the child be educated in a way that helps them. Its tailored to their individual needs. I think that is way better than state school.

[ALittleBitofVitriol]

It's very easy to criticize and implore other parents to sacrifice their children for the greater good.

As with most home ed discussions, sounds like there were a lot of unchecked assumptions going on.

UDHR 26
(3) Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.

[AGnu]

We home educate for a myriad of reasons. It was clear to us that it was the best option for DC1 before they reached school age so we didn't sign them up. My DC socialise with a much wider variety of people over the course of a week than any of my friends' schooled DC. They're in home-ed groups, Beavers, music lessons & out in the "real world" - they're far from sheltered. They have to deal with bullying from other children, the difference is that I'm on hand to talk through how to respond. Not every time though - they go places without me! They also get the chance to socialise with people of all ages. DC1 particularly is developing his own friendships with adults who I know enough to trust them, but aren't my friends - they're his.

My main concern about the suggested register is what will be done with it. There's no point in having a list unless they're planning on doing something with it. If they want to check they're receiving a suitable education, who decides what's suitable? My DC don't fit the school mould but I recently got one of them doing past SATs papers to check how they're doing. They