To think that homeschooling (without additional needs) is selfish?

It is harder work for them to do their post 16 work alongside GCSEs. That’s something their peers will not be doing, giving them more time for socialisation and a deeper understanding of their post 16 course.

and it’s not about families doing what suits them it’s about whether or not you believe it always suits the child in question. And having homeschooling parents flippantly say “well they can just do GCSEs alongside their gnvq” doesn’t really give that vibe.

I know two people who home educate their children.

family 1- home education was almost certainly started selfishly after they experienced a tragic loss and I think the mum found it too anxiety provoking for the children to be at school. But, they’re doing an amazing job. The children have a good education. The only downside for this is their children only meet very similar children to them, and even though the eldest are teens all socialising/ interacting is done through mum with a parent present. I think it’ll be tough when they get jobs/ go to college etc and meet a wider range.

The other family who home educate is due to mum’s neurodiversity. At least one of their 7 children has asked to go to school but they won’t allow it. There are no GCSEs being done and they are very insular. Two of the boys do scouts but that’s it.

It’s a very small sample but I think the problem with home ed vs school is that at least with school there is a curriculum, some are better than others but the children do get an expected education. With home ed it’s purely down to the parents, many are amazing but some are not.

I’m just coming to the end of my daughter’s compulsory schooling. If I knew then what I know now, and I was in the same financial position, I’d have homeschooled her.

Why does it matter to you? Let families do what suits them. Why is your way the best way? Why is your process superior, as long as they all end up in the same place? Personally I find this kind of rigidity is often indicative of a controlling and unimaginative nature. I’d hate to be like that. I really like that there’s other options. Kids at college are all having the same opportunities even if they are doing their GCSEs a year or two later. To assert that they are having a lesser experience because they should have “banked” them a few years earlier makes no sense. They’re all doing something different, it sounds like you think that for them to all have the best experience they need to be doing exactly the same thing in exactly the same way, which is quite odd I think.

I know someone who homeschools for a couple of different reasons. Her older children did terribly at secondary school due to the bad social environment in school in the council estate she lived in, and faced bullying. Secondly she has an abnormal/ nocturnal sleep cycle and the school doesn't provide buses to get them there in the morning.

Except they’re not really saying that are they? Given that the premise of this thread is so negative towards home ed they’re explaining why it’s unreasonable to use GCSEs as evidence that Home Ed is inferior when many mainstream schooled children don’t get them either. Lack of access to GCSEs has been repeatedly cited as a direct and accepted negative issue with home education when we can see by the evidence offered on this thread that it isn’t at all.

We home ed our youngest, the school he previously attended agreed that this was probably the best option for him. Our other 2 are doing well in school / college.

I would like to point out that the people who are vocal online about home ed are the people who are choosing to draw attention to themselves, so you will find more attention seekers.

Most of the home ed parents that I know are quietly getting on with planning learning, keeping track of progress, organising social meet ups, recommending tutors or groups. Pretty much all of this happens in side groups from the main facebook group.

The groups that share everything online tend to be quite militant spaces that most people avoid. We aren't looking to change the world, just provide an environment in which our children can learn.

It’s also the attitude of “they can just do them at college at 16 alongside another course” right so your children have been removed from school where they could’ve done their GCSEs, kept at home and now they’ve hit 16 formal education is fine after all and the children themselves can take on some accelerated education programme by doing their basic GCSEs alongside their course? Meanwhile their peers banked them a year ago and have the luxury of focusing purely on the post 16 course?!

I think your statement is sweeping and I am pro home ed generally.

But im joining in to say if a child is capable of getting 4 or 5 gcses, I strongly suggest parents should let them do so, not say some schools dont achieve that so I dont need to.

We are in the position of looking for college post 16 for a child without 4 or 5 gcses and his options are incredibly limited. He has no choice over this, but to chose to put him in this position would have been horrid.

Of course life isn't over, but would you really want to do have to travel further, to do a course in a subject you have no interest in, at a lower level than you are capable of, for a year before being able access the ones you did want. Which is the reality we are facing.

You’re aware that ‘the grammar sector’ doesn’t exist in most of the UK?

I think you’re wrong to use one sweeping generalisation for all homeschoolers. It can be amazing and absolutely the right thing for many young people. It can also be terrible if it’s done badly. I’ve seen examples from both ends of the scale.
I’d actually love to see homeschooling become a much more recognised part of our education system with some schools being given funding to run homeschool hubs that offered advice, support, online sessions and drop in social groups or practical lessons. I’d also like to see parents being able to access some sort of grant to make homeschooling more financially viable. The flip side of that is that I would also like to see some sort of accountability where parents needed to be able to talk through their plans for their child’s education and show that there was some sort of longer term plan in place for them.

I think this is a huge sweeping statement. HE for me encompasses a vast spectrum of qualities and motivations ranging from parents who want to support children with SEND to parents whose children struggle socially to parents with anti-establishment politics to some who are just dropouts who can’t be arsed getting their children out of bed and claim they have “complex needs”.

When it’s done properly and resourced properly it is often far better than a standard comprehensive education. For children with SEND at the moment it’s often a no brainer.

The big problem I have is that as its so easy to deregister children and there is so little scrutiny post deregistration, the system has no way to tell the difference between different approaches.

So a parent with a chaotic lifestyle who just can’t see the point of school and convinces themselves children learn maths by going to the shop and counting the change from a packet of Doritos is treated exactly the same way as a parent who is providing hours of well crafted instruction on a broad curriculum.

I was responding to the posts on this thread from PP who were saying it's fine if home schooled kids don't get GCSEs as not every school child gets them, as if it's a race to the bottom.

You don’t know what you’re talking about OP. My DC were home ed until 16. Did GCSEs at home then went to school for 6th form. All three went to Oxford or Cambridge. I know many other home ed kids who’ve gone to Oxbridge and other great universities. None of us are spouting about it on SM though!

My dc were home ed all the way through. My now adult ds has said that an unwillingness to homeschool dc would be a relationship breaker for him with a potential partner, as he cannot imagine being forced to go to school all their lives, and that all his friends who go to school hate it and wish they didn't have to. He does very well socially, academically and professionally.

We sacrificed a lot career and free time wise to be able to home ed them, so I don't really think that it was a more selfish move than dumping them in the local school, but then others would disagree.

I think you are incredibly judgemental and you clearly have little experience of homeschoolers. For your information they vary and you can’t bunch them all together, who knew! 🙄
I’ve known a lot of teachers and while some are good, particularly at primary level some are not the brightest stars in the firmament. Well educated, well motivated parents can easily do a much better job including making sure their children are enjoying abundant opportunities for socialising. Done well home schooling is far superior to our state education in my opinion.

Presumably it's a similar spread to schooled children - some home schooled children are very high achieving, some are average, some do just as well as children in school.
Is there any evidence that home schooled children are doing worse than similar school children?
Especially as there are going to be a much higher percentage of children with SEN or who have been traumatised or failed by the education system amongst home educated children.

YABU
“Many state schools are anything but great! I don’t think that keeping kids at home is the answer though”
that’s your opinion and if you/your kids are happy that’s great. It doesn’t mean home education is a bad idea just because you are not keen on the idea.
Nor is it ok for SEN kids but not suitable for ids without additonal needs.

School or home education , either choice is a good one depending on the circumstances. For some school is a bad choice for some home ed is a bad choice. Nor does either choice need to be permanent.

My kids were both home educated for 10-12 years each. Both went to uni. Both are doing brilliantly now.
What other families choose to do isn’t any of your business. I can see no reason why their choice impacts on you.

I would have homeschooled if I hadn’t become a single parent needing to work full time.

I had quiet, studious children who were totally overpowered by the disruptive, vocal ones within the classroom. I don’t think children can learn well in disruptive and sometimes violent environments and I believe they would have got better passes at GCSE if they’d learned the content at home one to one. Teachers are great but I think they are pushed very hard by some pupils whose needs don’t fit mainstream learning. At home this wouldn’t happen.

But should home school kids really be aspiring to match the outcomes of the children at the absolute bottom of the school system?

I see a lack of aspiration being very common for home schooled kids.

It also seems very lonely, the recent AMA described a child who was doing independent learning all morning while their parents worked, which sounds pretty depressing.

All the teachers or ex-teachers I know send their kids to school.

I haven’t read every post but it feels like there are a lot of generalisations about homeschooling. In my experience it is like anything else in this world, you can get the good, the bad, the scary and downright excellent m. I would say there are schools that could be described in the same four ways (and many more).

My DD is 15 and homeschooled. No reason other than she wanted to be. Before Covid she was in a lovely prep school that felt like it fell off the pages of Enid Blyton but she had enjoyed being home over lockdown, wanted to give it a try and put up a strong argument. We spend more on tutors, activities and taxi’s (to get her to said activities) than we used to spend on school fees. She has 3-4 hours 121 tuition in core subjects plus a selection of other lessons ranging from history to creative art (where she made a onesie for the dog last term! 🤣). She took a GCSE this year, which was 2 years early, and passed with a very solid grade. We are especially happy as we have discovered “modular iGCSEs” because it means we can spread her other 10(ish) over the next 2 years to reduce the number of exams in a single sitting. I think the number of GCSE exams out teens sit in 2 months is unreasonable but that’s just my opinion.

”But what about socialisation?” I hear you ask! Well, she represents the county in her main sport, she also participates weekly in 4 other sports, she is a young leader with Cubs, an Explorer Scout and getting some qualification by helping out/teach at the local stables. She is also a junior watersports instructor which is paid employment (we have the permits) and has a great group of friends including a boyfriend who goes to the uber selective boys school near us.

I also know of a family who consider baking qualifies as a maths lesson for a 15 year old with no SEN.

I am not saying either way is typical homeschooling but you cannot just make a general statement like you have. (And yes I do know how privileged DD is, but so does she and she is grateful for her opportunities)

Have you seen just how violent and rubbish some schools are?

Im a teacher who is planning to flexi-school my children as of next year because of the state of education in schools where I live. I will have them home 2 days a week and I know that in those 2 days I will very easily be able to cover what they would in 5 days in school, and more. My only reasoning for sending them to school would be because I think that the structure and routine is important, experiences like school shows, etc. I used to worry about socialisation if I was to home school full time but I dont anymore because they have tons of friends before even starting school.

I do agree to an extent that there are some home-schooling parents who dont have the knowledge of children's learning to be able to educate their children well, but most I have met are very educated themselves and have done lots of study to the point that some know more about children's learning and development than many of the teachers I have worked with.

Some home schooled children do functional skills maths or English , some school children do functional skills maths or English

It’s better for some kids. Not all kids can achieve well in a mainstream environment - with or without additional needs. You sound very rigid in your thought processes and/or like a bit of a narrow minded snob tbh.

And absolutely no one is saying that it’s the best or preferred way, it’s just another way. I personally am only refuting your assertions that its all over for 16 year olds if they don’t get their Maths & English GCSE passes at the end of year 11.