A wave of illiterate “home schooled” children

I didn’t know that! No one is investigating reasons behind the absence?

I think home eduction was a sort of last resort decision, it’s certainly more common now and for lots of non issue concerns, and therefore not many will benefit from it in the long run.
whats The percentage of home educated kids completing higher education at Russell group universities ? Career paths?

YANBU. We know someone who home educates; they have 4 children. Developmentally the 3 year old is more like an 18 month old, the two middle children can’t write or read well, the eldest (9) can only write in block capitals and struggles to read handwritten words which aren’t in block caps. The Mum herself has said to me she’s not sure what to do about more in depth science and maths as it’s not her forté, and neither of the parents seem to appreciate that without top GCSE and A Level results they’re ruling their children out of the best universities and good professional jobs by extension.

They’re nice people and the children are loved and well cared for, but in addition to not being well educated they’re also not being well socialised and miss out on many normal childhood events like school plays, birthday parties, and all the enrichment that comes with school. A real shame but not much that can be done to intervene.

If the LA has refused to provide provision, is delaying or is ignoring you, have you sent a pre-action letter? Unfortunately, LAs often only take notice when parents enforce provision. As I said, yes it is difficult, just like not working/moving job is for some, but it is still a choice to EHE rather than pursue s19 provision/an EHCP.

Have you also requested an EHCNA?

We are trying to get s19 but it is incredibly hard, stressful and we have met barrier after barrier.
In the meantime my child is registered at school but having not LA provided education at all.

The only real life example I know of is a girl in my daughter's secondary school who was about 14. She had a mental age below actual age and was really struggling socially, she also had a low IQ and wasn't going to get any GCSEs even grades 1 or 2.
Her parents took her out to do basic reading, everyday maths like money and basic skills for independent living.
The girl had friends in the area so wouldn't miss out socially. For her it seemed a good choice she was much happier at home.

how do home-educators teaching gcse chemistry for example, get the practical work done and assessed?

Many do IGCSE sciences, which don’t have assessed practicals. However, some do GCSE and there are some exam centres/labs that offer the practical element. Private candidates can also do the A level science practical endorsements.

I have 2 DC with EOTAS/EOTIS rather than EHE. They have lab time as part of their packages.

For non-assessed practicals, you would be surprised at what can be done outside of a lab. For example, there is an MN’er whose DC has EOTAS/EOTIS who has done experiments requiring a bunsen burner at home. A braver woman than I am!

Sometimes it's the only choice parents have when their child has so much school trauma they are suicidal or bacuse the LA refused to meet the child's needs (SEN)

If you are thinking along the lines of working being a choice, and to an extent I agree, but it is incredibly difficult for some people to move jobs or decide not to work at all. Then EHE isn’t the only choice either. It is a valid choice, of course, but it is a choice. If DC can’t attend school, parents could pursue support through s19 provision and an EHCP. No, not easy, just like for some choosing not to work or moving job isn’t easy, but there is a route to force the LA to. Parents might decide not to pursue that, which is, of course, their prerogative, but that is a choice.

Oh we are SO excited for this!

Ooh I will keep an eye out for that, thank you, that looks right up DD's street.

There's also a new natural history GCSE coming out that looks good.
www.ocr.org.uk/news/new-gcse-to-bring-nature-climate-conservation-to-classrooms/?hsCtaTracking=f620a157-52ed-46fe-9016-5af4cba429a9%7C2b89d743-a8ed-4209-867d-3be3da2162d0

Genuine question - how do home-educators teaching gcse chemistry for example, get the practical work done and assessed?

We haven't properly started planning for the core science GCSEs yet but DD will likely take the IGCSEs due to the lack of practicals. She's currently studying the GCSE Sociology and IGCSE Environmental Management courses so will have two "soft" sciences going into it, possibly Marine Biology too if we can squeeze it in.

Oh god, I home educated my eldest, for a number of reasons, until he was 10 and went to school. The shit I saw with some of the other home educators. We did live in an area where more “alternative” people lived though.

Ds is 23 now and still in touch with some of the kids he knew back then. A lot of them don’t thank their parents for it at all.

I’ve got two younger children who went to school from reception. The thought of having to be around other home educating parents again was one of the main factors in it (and I see nothing wrong with schools anyway, that wasn’t why we home educated).

The main problem I saw time and time again is that home educating parents will not admit to their being any drawbacks and negative to it at all. There are drawbacks and negatives to everything in life, but they are all so bloody defensive and closed minded. I get why, when you home ed you are constantly barraged by eveyone, but it gets grating.

I was very open about the negatives when I was doing it.

I mean, the only time my ds was bullied was when he was home educated, by a couple of boys at a home ed group we were part of. Bullying isn’t just for school children.

Agree. Ive heard a lot of mums saying they will hs for reception. Albeit a lot of these people are trained teachers. I'm not really sure what the rationale is but think they have been put off by what they've seen in jobs.

I have never been offensive about home ed. I am supportive of home ed and would do it for my kids if the need arose. Don't tar everyone with the same brush.

I don't teach it, I facilitate learning it, and syllabuses in it for exam levels, and safety around it. We have plenty of places we can access to do experiments but when it comes to assessed work for exams it's a bit more restrictive because of costs, unless you can barter your way through.
Many take an alternative heavily theoretical IGCSE paper as an alternative.

Most (not all) of mine do the practical papers and we've used everything from science centers with independent supervisor, to a private school lab and supervising technician, and a university lab with an independent academic as supervisor. It's one of the most expensive ones to engage in.

The older ones at school couldn't take separate sciences, only a double science available, and no practical experiments even by the the teacher, just watch videos, because of safety in an environment where pupil violence was an all day every day event. (same with all practical lessons that needed the use of a craft knife, cooking knife, or soldering iron - videos only)
They stripped out the lab benches, to further increase pupil numbers and then removed lots from the curriculum because chemistry knowledge 'could be used for terrorism' purposes too and a very multi cultural intake.
A rare few could take a double science Btec, but had to travel elsewhere for any practical bits, and no A levels available, regardless of possible aptitude as double science BTEC supposedly just as good for all practical purposes. 🙄
Not a hope in hell of doing something like astronomy or marine science, or further maths etc.

The biggest problem with home schooling, in my view, is that it can be used to mask abuse. It needs regulating. There should be regular inspections and there should be no automatic right to do it. It should be permitted, under specific and very narrow circumstances, with close supervision by the Local Authority.

My home educated child has had a saturday/holiday job since the week he turned 14 - a job that he is looking into setting up his own business doing as he gets older.

Homeschooled for years - there is a raft of resources out there (some of which actually schools use like Schools spark maths)

Theres also a good deal of other families to socialise with.

We were far far far more isolated at school where by child was bullied and ostracised.

I think I make a mistake, generally of assuming everyone using Mumsnet is within a certain demographic but anyone can use Mumsnet in reality and sometimes a poster is a teenage boy and their mates all having a good laugh around the computer in pretty much the same way me and my mates used to send made up letters to Jackie magazine.

Many home edders sit Igsces, which dont have as many practical elements to them, but hold the same weight as gcses. I cant comment on them any further though, as my child isn't doing science gcses.

There are also exam centres and groups that facilitate this as well I believe if you so want to sit the raditional sciences or other practical gcses.

That's funny - all I've seen throughout this thread is people being offensive about home ed, and when we call it out, we're called defensive. I even had someone call my home environment "suffocating" for the sole reason that I'm disabled. Now you understand how this thread has felt for home educating parents!

I'll bite. What is your source for that? How did you arrive at this enlightening bit of information?

My home ed teens are in college doing A-Levels, and thriving. Please explain how being home educated through GCSE's will affect their ability to get a job post-college.

No it's not astronomy and yes, they are also doing biology, chemistry, physics. They are able to do experiments. We're quite good at networking and sniffing out helpful resources.

Partly because we don't formally properly collect statistics on children suffering physical abuse and or sexual assault in schools, especially at 'lower levels' of bullying and sexual assault, but even when they suffer broken bones from act of violence, are stabbed, shot at, raped or suffer forced sexual acts, we don't collect the information centrally, while we do for what happens in a child's home, as long as there home isn't a care home.
We don't even collect statistical information on child deaths on school premises, they are hidden within the general annual child mortality rates.

Every incident that can't be hidden is treated as an isolated incident, so we don't need statistics on unrelated incidents.

Ok, so we've established that people get very defensive if you compare school to prison

Obviously! And this kind of thing gives home edders a bad name. I don't see how comparing school to prison is any different to saying that home ed is neglectful. People who home ed are (rightly) defensive when people say that they're neglecting their kids education, or their kids won't get good results or a job. Neither are true. We don't have to be offensive about the opposite choice.

Is this science gcse astronomy by any chance? If so, my kids took that at gcse at a state school as well as chemistry, physics and biology, not instead of.
Genuine question - how do home-educators teaching gcse chemistry for example, get the practical work done and assessed?