To disagree with home ed

Home edding doesn't have to mean the kids only hear your world view.

My town has a huge home ed community. Lots of outings, meet ups, trips, group learning and activities, eg a Spanish group, a coding club, a yoga class, etc.

There are also so many opportunities for home learning online as well if you don't have as large a community locally.

Kids mixing with lots of different families and ages.

I think it's important we keep the parental right to choose our children's educations. State schools leave a lot to be desired in some areas.

Well being checks can be made if safeguarding is a concern.

I did home ed as a temporary measure for one of my kids a while back and would do the same again if I needed to. Whatever option is best for my child's needs is the option I'd choose, and I don't want that choice taken away from me.

If you don't agree with it, don't do it💁🏻‍♀️

leave other people to make their own decisions.

I most definitely agree OP

People are welcome to home educate their kids if they feel up to it but honestly, myself & DH couldn’t imagine anything worse than doing this to our kids

Also, how would you go to work & earn a living? You know, to pay the bills and all that

Sadly I know a home Ed family like this where the children average ten hours a day screen time! Massively overweight and fast food is ubered for lunch. The mother (who is an educator herself) refuses to teach them herself - for some unknown reason.

Her kids were harassing my child to play online all throughout the day. Obviously my child was busy with actual work or lessons but it was sad to hear the other children so bored.

The mother tells everyone what a wonderful job she is doing teaching them and it is mind boggling. I had to cut contact.

I know someone who's child struggled at nursery so she decided to home educate him. Plus the subsequent 3 other children. None of them have ever attended school. Eldest is now 16, no qualifications or social skills. Spends all his time at home or occasionally walking the dog. Never allowed out on his own, always with the family. Its a horrible situation.

If state schooling was as good as it should be then there wouldn't be nearly the rise in HE that there is.

Schools are a relatively modern phenomenon and fail thousands of children every year so it is just as reasonable for someone to be 'against state schooling' as it is for you to be against home education.

Home Educators are not calling for a ban on schools so what gives anyone the right to say HE should be banned when it pre-dates school by centuries and is the default education.

My DC were HE up to and including GCSE level and all now have A levels and good jobs. Oh and plenty of friends of all ages and hobbies! I wouldn't put a child in most state secondaries if you paid me and that should always remain my choice.

I think you don’t know what home ed is . I’ve recently been to a graduation party of a kid who was home Ed with my son (24 ) he graduated medicine , his sister is a solicitor too . Unless people are doing it wrong there is no reason for any child to be unprepared for real life .

There will be a lot of this going on I’m sure and who is regulating this???

My home educated child has had three play dates with kids from her old school in the past fortnight. One stole from her (and when caught admitted she has taken things from our home every time she comes). One used racist language and the third one was homophobic against a child from the class.

I have never experienced any of these behaviours from home educated children we mix with.

So beware when wanting your children to experience a range of perspectives as not all opinions are wholesome!

I know 3 families that home school. 2 of them openly admit that their children now spend all day playing video games.
I wish I was joking.

I decided not to home educate my children because if I had, they would have only received my perspective on the world.
Going to school lets them know that there are other perspectives- which is a good thing!

For children who are at risk of abuse yes, but not for many children who live in safe and nurturing homes.

My SEN daughter wanted to kill herself aged 9. She isn’t missing out on socialising, she didn’t have a single friend all through school, because we attend many home ed groups.

She has thrived in home education, admittedly because I have thrown the time, money, and resources needed at it. Our education system is broken and is not fit for purpose, especially when it comes to SEN children.

This is not the life I would have chosen, but we play the hand that we are dealt.

Regarding safeguarding - my daughter sees doctors, dentists, tutors, therapists, the list goes on. Are those concerned about safeguarding just as concerned for all of the children aged 0-5 who are at home all day with parents before they start school, or do we just become “concerned” when they are of school age?

I'm a qualified teacher and I home educate my children. We have a blast every day.

I now wonder how the tiny, one form entry inner city school my kids went to provides an adequate education. One teacher for 28 kids: some of them feral, a fair few with behavioural problems or additional needs.

They may spend 6-7 hours at school but the time spent learning is much, much less.

I will be sending my kids back to mainstream but I think it will pale in comparison to our home Ed. Journey.

I home educate.
He's just turned 14, has some gcses and has just been accepted into college 2 years early, he has an active social life and spends summers travelling the country with me vending at various events and festivals among lots of other things. He is SEN but not behavioral, home ed was the best thing for him academically and socially.

I know many successful home educators who genuinely do a great job, however I have seen some shocking things and often despair at the community and the way they approach certain behaviours, ideas and opportunities.

I'm currently pregnant with my second and have no intention to home educate unless it's the best thing for them.

The issue is that the curriculum is incredibly fast paced now so lots of children get left behind with the lack of resources in schools. Children having SEN or mental health issues caused by school are not 'extreme cases'. My DC cope well in school ATM but would have sunk in their previous school. And three children in my DCs reception class have already sunk at other schools before moving here!

I agree that home schooling doesn't work with some attitudes and some parents are failing their DC. But other DC that struggled at school are now thriving at home. Plenty of parents home schooling bring in a lot of support with tutors and external resources, most aren't just going it alone.

Yes totally agree not everyone could afford it or dedicate the time we do to it. It would also not work with children of various ages. All the same, in our case it works and I know of other families who follow the same framework for home ed, so it isn’t all worksheets and lowly educated hippies fancying themselves as teacher!

If kids are being bullied, I can see why parents would do this. And some of my kids' classes were led by non-qualified teachers, and a few admitted to the kids they really didn't know what they were doing. I have massive respect for teachers, but the government disrespects them-their union said they try to get more experienced teachers out because they want cheaper staff, and they have to spend a lot of time dealing with stuff that isn't teaching these days, eg changing nappies/dealing with spats and emails from parents.I wouldn't want to take my kids out of school because they need to learn to socialise and work with others, but I won't blame any parent who homeschools until the government tried to get well qualified, experienced teachers for all students.

Goodness, how do parents manage to teach their children to walk, talk and all those other skills they develop in those first few years?

We have homeschooled for nearly a year. Granted we can afford to pay out for tutors, group learning and lots of extra curricular activities but my child has thrived and far outgrown the peers she was plodding along beside for years.

For example, today she had private tutor in maths, a small group class for English and she and I did comprehension based on Shakespeare and Ancient Greek myths. We did a further hour together on maths and we watched some videos about the science behind fire (the fire triangle etc) as the topic came up. We will work on this some more tomorrow.

She then went to an RE class this evening with kids from her old school.

Oh and she had time to spare in the day and so went on a bike ride and got fresh air. She’s as fit as a fiddle but I’ve noticed a lot of kids get chubby towards the latter part of primary as they spend too much time sat down!

Home Education is so multi faceted. I see why people would down-speak it if they are not in the position to provide the same level of education for their kids. But different strokes for different folks! I know women who don’t even like spending the weekends with their kids, let alone the weekdays too.

The only home Ed child I know is at home because his mum (asd) had a terrible time at school herself and didn’t want that for her child. It’s a shame. There chatty and outgoing but lonely. We nearly had to hone Ed our asd (very high achieving) child as they couldn’t cope with the boisterous, ill disciplined, violent mainstream state school. Mainstream Private proved perfect though.