Documentary on BBC3 featuring HE - did you watch it?

[LauraIngallsWilder]

here

I havent watched it yet - but Im not getting vibes that HE will be positively portrayed.

more details here

[lolapoppins]

Watching it now on I player...don't think it is really going to help the HE cause is it? A girl with religious parents into heavy discipline, not encouraged to socialise, very lonley. So, all the things that people think HE families are about.

Dear oh dear.

[FlamingoBingo]

I do wish HE (and all other unconventional lilfestyle choices) would not be portrayed so negatively in the media.

The media need to take far more responsibility for bullying and stigmatisation - makes me so

[nickschick]

Somebody said to me I cant believe your so ermmm normal and you home educate .......

[lolapoppins]

nickschcik, I have had that said as well. Als, the classic "I didn't even know you were religious!"

[nickschick]

Well we are catholic too and people say - ohhh what does the priest say??? like I have to ask for permission!!

Mind you though ds3 is preparing for his first holy communion and he has to go to 'classes' at night ,the lady who teaches them is a retired head teacher (back from the day when teaching was a passion) and she said to me I dont know anybody else who home educates but by God youre getting it right!!! i was very very proud .

[WhatDidISayRoy]

just watched the first few mins, and switched off. very neg for the HE world and we have enough of that going on!

[lolapoppins]

Nickschick - "back from the day when teaching was a passion" that is how we speak about the lovely tutor ds has for Maths/Englsih twice a week. She is in her 70s and is such a wonderful teacher, still full of passion and enthusiasm for her students with a large amount of patience and humour thrown in. She the only one ds has ever responded to, he adores her.

It is such a shame that the only things you see on TV (or in most of the media) portray home educators as a bunch of weirdos who don't want thier kids to experince the outide world, or as a bunch of feckless hippies. I would love to see a programme about HE from the perspective of most of the 'normal' HE families I know.

[nickschick]

Lola those teachers are few and far between ...its not that im against schooling in actual fact im a NNEB myself ,just that our experiences have really left us feeling this is the best option.

I think if we were to be filmed there would be a surge of people interested/wanting to try home ed themselves......and of course the powers that be dont want that,so we are always portrayed negatively.

[loveandlight]

I agree with nickschick one hundred per cent as to why we're potrayed in a negative light.

I also believe there is a lot of jealousy towards us as well. How dare we have minds of our own and refuse to be controlled by the state! Even worse, we are encouraging our children to have minds of their own. Now that is really bad. No wonder we keep being threatened with social services!

[LauraIngallsWilder]

Hi all

I was amazed by just how little socialising she did up until the programme and then how much she apparently does now

Odd that they didnt encourage/allow her to be more sociable earlier.

I was also amazed by the contrast between no gun toys at home yet taekwondo - kicks to the head - is encouraged. I found that odd personally!

Also surely there must be some socialising opportunities with the other local JWs, although it was obvious she isnt keen on being a JW.

I know JWs arent keen on socialising with non JWs but as the parents are happy for her to socialise now, how come absolutely no involvement in HE groups for the past three years of HE - seems like a missed opportunity

[juuule]

I didn't think the programme showed much out of the ordinary. I groaned when it first started but as it went on, I wasn't sure how any negative comments by the voice-over were relevant to home-ed.

The programme didn't say how long the girl had been home-ed although I got the impression that it was around 3y.

We don't know if she preferred to keep her own company up to this point.

The fact that she was so confident with her peers and was articulate to the cameras could be interpreted as it being a good thing that her parents had withdrawn her from a school where she was bullied.

The concerns that the parents had for her going out with friends isn't that unusual for a lot of parents with their eldest child. But the parents seemed to be overcoming their own feelings in order to help their daughter.

The mother was also accepting of her daughter's sexuality.

It seemed to me that they were trying to accommodate their child's changing needs.

I'm not sure what the aim of the programme was but if it was to put down HE and religious belief, I don't think it worked very well.

[QOFEisinatizz]

I watched this last night and tbh I am a little confused as to the point the programme was trying to make.

I mean, it wasn't that bad really. They were obviously loving parents - ok, a little strict but aware of that and trying to find ways to let go as she grew older. TBH she had far more freedom than I ever had as a 13 year old, and seemed to have a genuinely good relationship with her parents.

Like juuule says, if the intention was to show HE and JW in a bad light it didn't succeed very well.

[lolapoppins]

The trouble is, people who are saying it wasnt that bad are seeing it from the perspective of being home educators themselves, or thinking that HE is ok.

The majority of people I have met think everyone who does HE has a screw loose. They would have watched the first few mins, thought 'what a bunch of nutters' and switched off with all their pre conceptions still in place and even more re inforced.

[Litchick]

Don't you think, though, it was more a programe about a young woman discovering herself and her sexuality, and her parents letting go?
Megan just happened to be home educated.

I actually found it quite uplifting.

[LauraIngallsWilder]

I agree with you litchick - it was all about her discovering who she wanted to be.
HE was a side issue

[Litchick]

I'm sure Megan would have been experiencing the same difficulties if she were schooled, given she was a lesbian teenager in a strict christian household.

To be fair to her parents, in particular the Mum, they were aware that they had not given her enough opportunity for independence and were dealing with it.
And they hadn't chosen HE, specifically to exclude her from the outside world, she was pulled out of school because she was bullied.

I thought the Mum was pretty self aware, actually. And Megan seemed happier by the end and had met a nice bunch who seemed happy to include her. All good.