I was home educated until I was 16, AMA

[Sardinesandmangochutney]

What the title says.... I’ve noticed previous AMAs from the point of view of the parent, I thought it might be interesting to have one from the other side, as it were 🙂

@Sardinesandmangochutney 😂
I’d totally watch it ! I’m fascinated by home edding. I’d love to have the confidence to home ed my two

Did it limit whoever home educated you in their own career?

@Boscoismyspiritanimal so many people say that I’m starting to think my parents must have been some sort of super confident aliens lol

@Auntyfannybaws I think it may have done yes; it’s true that the main educator could have been further up in their profession if they’d been full time, and I do really appreciate that sacrifice despite the fact I didn’t ask for it particularly (not that I wanted to go to school)

@Sardinesandmangochutney that can be your next username- ‘superconfidentaliendaughter’

Haha maybe!

What do your parents do for a living? Do they have any prior experience in teaching? What are their educational backgrounds?

@MadameJosephine
Both my parents work in universities, both have masters degrees, neither have any teaching experience.

Bump

Did you grow up in a large city?

Did all your home ed-ed friends go on to university, jobs etc? Did they all get qualifications?

Oh wow! Exciting thread. Will put some questions later in the day.

One more question!

What do you think are the biggest myths/misunderstandings about hone education/home educated children/teens?

@MrsNotNice glad you like it 🙂

Aargh @AnotherColdTea I just typed a long answer and it’s gone! I’ll try again and hope it doesn’t appear twice. I grew up in a small town, but within an hour of a big city for museum trips etc. It did mean that meet-ups could be a bit of a trek.
It’s a self-selecting group really, because the ones I’m still in touch with are mostly either musicians with a minimal qualifications audition based path, or students following the path of formal qualifications as those are the ones I was friends with as a teenager. However, everyone I know is either in education or working, with at least the 5 GCSEs including English and Maths afaik. I think in the 80s you could get into uni from home education with no formal qualifications, since they were almost impossible to get and home educators were very rare, but now it is very possible, if expensive, to get GCSEs and A levels from home/ using a tutor so a lack of qualifications would be a serious handicap.

Biggest misconceptions.... that we have no friends, that we stay in the house all day every day, that we will be unable to adapt to timetabled formal education/ work (I used to feel insulted as a teenager when peers told me that I couldn’t possibly cope at college “because you can’t just do what you like you know, you have to go to lessons on time” ; I was already organising myself to fit my studies around various set activities etc), that we are all either super nerdy and “clever” or have significant SEN when in reality there are plenty of lovely people studying at a fairly standard level and socialising like other teenagers

Woo it worked!

Hi OP, how many hours did you study every day? And if you didn't understand something, who would you ask for help first?

Glad to see a positive home ed story. It's illegal where I live but it would have been very helpful when I was in my teens and so mentally ill I couldn't actually attend school in a frequent enough basis to actually learn.

@InTropicalTrumpsLand I'm sorry to hear about your not being well, I hope you are getting on better now 🙂
Hours of study very much depends on how old I was at the time - there were lots of things e.g. telling the time, reading, counting money that when I was little I didn't know were studying so it's hard to quantify. For GCSEs I would usually start work around 8am, work until lunch time with a break mid morning, then do a couple more hours after lunch before heading out for some exercise, then I would chill out/ read/ practice music. Except in exam time when I would be revising as much as possible much like any teenager aiming for top grades

Whoops missed a question. If I didn't understand something who I asked would depend on the topic, but usually an older sibling / whichever parent was around at the time