Stop homeschooling your children.

I'm not talking about the greatest minds, I'm talking about ordinary people at home. Lots of women.

And a bit worrying (eeek 😂) you think Plato lived a hundred years ago!!

I completely agree with you that there are lots of factors involved in weighing up a situation as to the best option for educating your DC.

My youngest goes to school and sometimes I have a pang of guilt over not giving her what her brother had. But I have fought to get her in the best school to meet her needs, most days she is happy and I know it would be much harder for me in my current situation to home educate. Overall the best thing for us all is for her to attend school.

@WatermelonWaveclub thank you, that’s interesting. I don’t think it would work for me but interesting to see how people make it work.

@Anonymous2025

Why? I don’t think it’s the best option for either of us. My daughter is (generally) happy at school and doing well and has good friendships and I think she struggle to self motivate at home.

I am a single parent, my job is extremely high pressure and I basically can’t take any time away from it between 6am and about 7pm and I am in the office three days a week. I wouldn’t be able to set work or assess it, wouldn’t have time to plan lessons or go anywhere during the day.

If she was struggling socially or academically or being bullied it would be a different matter but I’m not going to heap more stress and disruption on myself if there’s no need.

I can see lots of scenarios where HE is the best option but I don’t think it should be assumed to be the best option by default in all scenarios.

@Thepeopleversuswork
You'd find a way to make it work if you had to or wanted to.

What happened in lockdown to many, isn't what happens with HE. Few would expect to continue their current job that fitted around school hours, while providing quality HE, though it's possible for some. Home ed childminders exist, quite often bringing their own children with them.
Generally people I know take advantage of no longer having to be tied to school attendance to work differently as well as educate differently.

For us, I was stuck with lots of legal action early on, and dealing with a damaged Dc, so subbed out most work for weeks to get us stable. I'm self employed and moved how I did everything and shifted the emphasis of my business to create more flexibility and a more child friendly working environment.

I also took them working with me as we figured things out. Previously they'd accompanied me at times as a treat only for the more exiting end of things.
We developed a nice sleeper vehicle with everything needed to provide internet facilities and run computers, engaged sitters, and I drove while they slept.

TBH it was all very messy at first but we found our grooves. Unconventional but enjoyed by all.

We became less mobile in order to be in the right places to access much needed practical equipment as exams beckoned. For A levels they were expected to behave like the young adults they where, and generally choose to come with me and earn money when not studying
Disability's changed what industry I now work in. With DGc's I'm either WFH or they come to my creative work spaces, and we work alongside each other.

People sort out whatever works for them. Some examples:
Two teacher friends share a job and child share, and top up incomes by tutoring both school and H/E children.

A couple do shift patterns with time off, with a housekeeper filling in.

H/E Au pairs do well improve their MFL's and international swapsies are a thing.

Another LP works nights and her DD stays with us and others to give them both support.

One in a prime location, has converted their home and air B&B's the bottom half.

Several separated mums with 50/50 care, mainly work while Dc's are at Dads.

One LP of 4, WFH as an online school tutor. Another teaches piano and violin mainly from home, Another wfh at night here for a different time zone, and another is a carer looking after a severely disabled child who benefits from her children being around.

I covered this earlier in two posts. Our school with the best reputation have a 50% pass rate (4+) for English and maths and there was a comment on the Ofsted report that 60% enter the school with reading level below expected.

Why ? Nobody is saying it’s easy , but it’s 100% doable . My daughter does her work next to me while I work from home. she only does 30 m at a time before going to do something else and then goes back to it . If she needs help or prompting I will stop for a few minutes to help. I think it’s a bit like working from home with kids , some have nil issues doing it while others are incapable of doing it .

Happy to answer genuine questions 😊

There were many different ways home ed parents were able to work. Some examples I knew of:
A midwife worked night shifts while her husband was home
A lady who worked full time from home - her mother mainly took her DD to her classes, groups, trips etc and she did when she could.
A couple worked 4 days each and their DC went to classes on the day they both worked
A teacher did tutoring after school
A waitress worked Fri-Sun when her DC were with their dad
A parent earned their living running home ed classes
A parent used a home ed childminder while they worked
As a nurse I worked 3 long days and my DS was either with his dad or another home school mum that I swapped childcare with

Naturally as they become older they become more independent and do their own thing more too.

Homeschooling in Covid is nothing like home education. I did it with my DD who was at school and it was awful! I had no idea where she was with her subjects whereas with my DS I knew inside out. So it made it much harder as a starting point. We were expected to do Oak Academy which didn't suit her learning style. And we couldn't get out and about to classes and groups and go on trips and meet up places.

I only know of one home ed parent who doesn't work at all. Others I know either have two parents working full time - either flexibly from home or doing opposite shifts - or one parent full time and the other part time. Or one parent working part time.
It would be challenging for a single parent to work full time and home educate but could be done by using childcare or a home ed club/co-op during working hours and focussing on 1:1 education on their days off.
I have one full day that I fully devote to 1:1 stuff with my children, as does their dad, and they have 1 day they go to their grandparents and do learning there. Other days they do some independent/semi-independent stuff, do some clubs and classes, and have a day with a childminder.

32.5 hours are state school opening hours.
There's no firm definition of a full time education, but most LAs take it to mean around 18 hours a week.

They have flexible jobs, or both parents work part time, or only one parent works, or they have home ed adjacent jobs, or they wfh… I don’t work but I could fit it in around HE if I needed to.

@WatermelonWaveclub

And it's such a myth home ed parents don't work. Ime most do.

Out of genuine interest, not point scoring, how does this work?

I work FT (well actually way more than full time). I genuinely cannot fathom how anyone could manage to educate their children properly at home alongside a full time job? I tried this during lockdown (as did many parents) and it nearly broke me. I just don’t understand how you can combine the supervision and oversight needed to set a syllabus, set objectives and measure progress alongside a full time job.

I don’t particularly want to HE and my daughter is doing Ok at school but I am flummoxed as to what I would do if the need arose.

The unique concern with HE is that DCs are always at home, giving greater opportunity for abuse, if an older member of the family, or an acquaintance, is abusing a child.

1. You say you work for a LA and that you are familiar with home education, but you think that home educated children are "always at home". Are you not aware that that's not the case? You really think that home educated children don't go out?

1. Many schooled children are abused at home or at school.

1. Pre-scoolers don't have a teacher keeping an eye on them either.

I absolutely wouldn't want my 15yr olds alone all day everyday, but at that age I was busy all day raising my own children, and looking after a household, so I wouldn't think getting on with studying was beyond a 15yr olds ability.
I don't want to see a return to the good old bad old days, but infantilising capable teenagers doesn't help them either.

While few HE's are that interested in what the government says it wants schools to do, the 32.5 hours a week isn't core activities. It is a minimum core week expectation for schools (not including 16-19 or SEN schools etc) to put an end to schools closing more than one half day weekly, to save money/ deal with staff shortages/ create planning time etc. It's not 32.5 hrs of activities.

The 32.5 hour minimum core week includes everything each day from the official start of the school day to the official end of the school day and includes registration, assemblies, lunch times, all other breaks, non teaching classroom time, moving between classes and buildings, changing for/ in some cases traveling to external fields, for PE, as well as teaching time and any compulsory 'enrichment' activities.
The complexities of school timetabling for 1000+ children are why home educators and online schools are able to do much more or go deeper, in a shorter time scale.

At 15 my boy was really independent. He would go to his classes and groups by himself. He went to college. He'd study in the library with his friends. He'd be perfectly capable of getting on with work at home if he so wished. He had support and facilitation by parents as much as he needed but it was not needed as much as when he was younger. Essentially he got on with his own life.

And it's such a myth home ed parents don't work. Ime most do.

@DragonFly98 because most 15 year olds would be doing homework (school kids do not just learn 9-3 either), socialising, doing sports and afterschool activities. And few schools do 9-3 in England anyway. The government has said children should have 32.5 hours a week of core activities.
If your child does not do family days out at the weekend or afterschool activities, then yes she can learn during this time.
But I do not think it is okay to leave a 15 year old to get on with work alone every day.

Full time so approximately 40 hours a week. A week has 168 hours, out of those hours the average 15 year old is awake for 105 hours, that leaves 65 hours a week with the parents and that's assuming the parents work the same hours. Additionally a 15 year old does not need direct supervision for every hour of their home education.
Do you really believe home education means sitting withyour child 9-3 Monday to Friday?

I agree, and would add:
What can be done to assist those feeling pushed to leave, who'd like to remain in the state school system and ensure their Dc's are actually getting an education?

and what more can be done to assist those who have left and are struggling to HE well, or who have low expectations of what an adequate education is?

@Elleherd

You’re right that the OP is goady. It is divisive (what subject isn’t these days!).

What we all should be concerned about as parents is WHY so many people are home educating their DC today. Why it is the fastest growing form of education and no longer on the fringes.

@pentagonisapentagon perhaps you could suggest some reasons why you think it is becoming so popular rather than telling people what to do?

There is a two pronged attack on parents rights regarding their Dc's education. Attempting to put private schools where many state school refugees flourish, out of the reach of those parents who currently sacrifice lots to afford educational sanctuary, with the argument being these parents will then be forced to improve dire state schools themselves, if they can't get Dc's into functioning ones.

Combined with frequent attacks on the legal right of parents to provide alternative education to those who need or choose it.

The falling birth rate, closing schools, and hounding of those who aren't uber rich wanting a decent education for their Dcs and can't get it in their local state schools is political. The timing of this goady divisive Op, doesn't surprise me.

Two of my HEd Dc's have gone on to be teacher/technical tutor. We are not anti school. We are anti the disastrous results of school failure, and have discovered how well an alternative can work, and are happy there.
Just like many parents on MN, my teacher Dc's aren't prepared to be part of many failing schools, because they care about actual education not box ticking. They are both sought after and happy in their careers and can choose where they work.

The worse a school is (not just talking behavior) the harder it is for them to get decent teachers, the more temptation to employ cheaper ECT's, HLTAs, and cover supervisors, and the more temptation to off roll/managed move the difficult, low attending, low achievers, expensive SEN, and disabled, to make it look and work better for the rest, and the more parents jump before being pushed.

If you suggest ideas you’re usually shot down because of funding, short staffing, behaviour of children (vicious circle - address the issues, behaviour is likely to improve).

The answer is having a government that responds to the problems, invests in education and works to improve it, not just try to add more and more pressure which is destroying it. But who is there in UK politics that could possibly change this? Fucked if I know, I honestly don’t know if I can vote for any of the abysmal candidates representing UK politics right now!

And many of us wonder how degree educated people end up believing there is only one effective way to learn for exam level qualifications. It is as much of a mystery to us how education has given some such narrow vision, as our breadth of vision is to you.

So, most of us don't think we are qualified to teach our Dc's. Many found the views of many schools and school parents during lockdown,and how to educate, concerning.
We do think we are able to facilitate our Dc's education, and many of us have been proved very right.

Secondly, because when you are choosing between a child being killed in order to try and get a not great free state education, (or for many a child's MH irrevocably damaged) you don't have time on your side to campaign for change in the hope some other parent and child might benefit from your campaigning in the future.

If you are degree educated you must have a basic understanding of maths and time spans, and can't be unaware of how long attempting to get change through campaigning takes.
Voting with ones feet, is what has finally started to make people realize how bad the situation is for so many. No one cared until they needed HE children back to support falling birth rates and closing schools.

I’ve said this so many times on here but you do not ‘teach’ your child in HE.

You facilitate the learning. It’s not like school. It’s not a case of fill the empty vessel (the child) with information. My children are self-led learners. I only provide the resources and means for them to learn what they want/need to learn. We don’t replicate school at home. We don’t do 8/9 different subjects separately. They learn in an organic and unforced way. So to give an example one of my dc is learning to code. They have online classes with an expert. During a lesson the other day they were doing something that required her to learn ‘mean, mode and median’ (a mathematical concept) so we looked it up and learnt it together. We don’t separate maths off into a little box. We learn it as we go.

You can literally learn anything at all today online. My children learn via books, online classes, YouTube, Google as well as though life itself. Another example they learn about different biomes, land use etc (geography) on our travels, using maps and experiencing real life geographical features. They have learned coordinates in 3 dimensions via Minecraft. They dissected a dead magpie at forest school the other day. I could give so many more examples.

It’s difficult for some people to wrap their heads around this way of learning. I find it’s especially hard for those who have gone down the traditionally academic path (as I did! I’m a teacher). It took me a while to ‘deschool’ my mindset but now I see how children/people truly learn.