I'm a radical unschooler AMA

[OutOfControlSpirals]

I'm a radical unschooling mum, which basically means I've taken the principals of unschooling, where a child is free to learn what they want, when they want, and applied it to every aspect of our lives. So my children have the same freedoms that I do when it comes to eating/sleeping/learning etc.

tabitha

My dd primary teachers were qualified in pottery, Drama, History, English and a number of other subjects.
They had GCSE's like many other people, none were subject specific.
it was even worse for our older kids, they let anyone be a teacher these days.
There are some wonderful teachers though, but not necessary to have subject specific knowledge in a school setting or not.
In case you haven't noticed teachers are leaving in their droves, some schools are having to manage without subject specific teachers.

Despite your reasoning you sound quite jealous of the OP

They spend more time with teacher than you tabatha and normally I wouldn’t say something so nasty but you’ve got your head so far up your arse you can see anything but your own shit way of life.
Do you think a teacher spends the whole 60 minute lesson on teaching?

Tabatha your children spend the majority of their waking hours either in the school system or studying for the school system. The system is doing a large chunk of child rearing for you

Our state education system closes more doors, for more students, year on year.

Can’t argue there. I got to do 2 modern languages all the way through high school. My son’s about to start high school and he’ll only be able to do 1.

Our state education system closes more doors

Agree, often it does. They used to have a system whereby kids placed in the lower set could only take the lower set GCSE and get a C as the highest grade. How utterly ridiculous to limit a child like that. I hope it’s changed in recent years.

I don’t have an issue with Home ed, I don’t have an issue with hair.
I take issue with children unable to make informed choices because they are too young, deciding not to sleep adaquate amounts and eat rubbish. This has an impact on their health and development.
The op doesn’t want to answer to this. It’s interesting if this was a different poster with a different context everyone would be shouting neglect.
But dressed up as some cool liberal parenting style it’s suddenly ok?

outofcontrol and in her case drama club/dance club/music practice/the million other things she does. At least you’re teaching her to be disrespectful and rude to anyone who does things differently though, that’s great parenting.

It hasn't grand - if anything, it's got worse, in that respect.

Oh dear. Maybe I will be looking it to homeschooling then!

I visit schools regularly, of all types, and across the country

You visit them. I've worked in them (secondary mostly, but across all ages actually) for twenty years. Believe me when I tell you I know what schools are like- positives and negatives.

And gilly, honestly I'd be delighted if you could point me towards any of my posts which have suggested that I am jealous of the OP. Bloody hell. I'm astounded at that to be honest.

green why do you think my way of life is "shit"? Can you elaborate?

Whilst I think the op is slightly batshit here I will defend her hair washing. My kids have never had their hair shampooed as it’s basically unessessary prepuberty, bar yacky stuff getting stuck in obviously which I spot clean. Their hair is gorgeous. The no-poo movement is pretty popular too. Water in the shower is fine for us and a brushing.

@ommmward I don't think that anyone should be told how to educate their children (from preschool up).

I do think there should be some monitoring out there. To monitor the children who are 'home educated' but actually in extreme religious schools, the children being 'home educated' but are being isolated and abused like the mumsnetters who posted on the old thread.

I don't have the answers on what the monitoring would look like because I just don't know. I don't want to cause home educators problems, I just want more safeguards for children at risk.

redrun

What context do you think would have people shouting 'neglect'? What do you think is being 'dressed up' here? Where do you see that the OP's children aren't sleeping enough? (they are sleeping at different times - but that's not the same thing) And do your kids never eat 'rubbish'? Or in fact, when they do, do you make sure the rest of their diet is balanced to compensate?

I'm having a really hard time believing any of this is true. It seems like a rather goady topic and you're being extra goady by cherry picking the questions.

If this is for real then I haven't changed my mind on homeschooling. I still think it's bloody weird and I don't understand why you wouldn't want to leave your children's education in the hands of trained professionals. Something that doesn't sit right with me is the hypocritical hypothetical that if your children came to you and asked to drink alcohol you wouldn't let them - clearly this is the responsible thing to do, but it contradicts your entire method of the kids do as adults do and there are no rules.

I don't understand how your children will be able to pursue a professional career if they don't have the right qualifications to back it up.

I'm also struggling to see a child saying "mother dearest, it appears it's been 6 months since my last dental check up, please make an appointment for me lest my teeth rot from all the chocolate I'm allowed to eat whenever I want but in moderation".

Idk, something smells incredibly fishy about this whole charade.

So are those arguing that the "system is doing it all for me" and thus I am a shit parent etc etc suggesting that all parents should down tools and keep our children at home, let all the schools close and raise all our children in the way the OP suggests?

I don’t think your life is shit. If it works for you then it’s the best life ever but it’s infuriating that you refuse to see that it’s not the best life for everyone and refusing to see that education takes many forms.
Most teachers home educate because of how the school system is, so either you’ve spent twenty years in a very privileged area or twenty years ignoring the extreme lack of education they provide

Believe me when I tell you I know what schools are like- positives and negatives

Me too. You might think that your job title gives you a special insight; but in fact, to a certain extent, it puts you in a bubble - cf KS2 SATs.

No tabatha people are suggesting you stop being a horrible person just because someone doesn’t make the same choices you do

Redrunbluerun - they do sleep, of course they do. When they are tired. And then they wake up when they have had enough sleep. Its just not dictated by an alarm clock. If my kid goes to bed at midnight, they'll sleep till at least 10. Most of their activities start after 3pm so its not an issue

Honestly, tabitha - your first post makes it really difficult for me to take anything you say seriously after that.

Posters seem to have stopped asking OP questions a long time ago....

Multi- if someone came on and said ‘my ex husband fed the kids noodles every night and has no bed time; so they’re up at midnight’ people would be calling neglect.
Call it some funky parenting style and it’s suddenly not?

I will continue to have a bed time routine which allows my children 10 hours of restorative sleep, crucial for their development.
I won’t let them pick their food- and they will eat nutritious meals and fruit and veg. Crucial for their health and physical and mental development.

Yeah, it's gone full-on bunfight

You sound a bit anxious redrun. Are you ok....?

iknowits so many different reasons from bullying, anxiety, special needs to some who work in media and don’t have time.