I home educate - my DS has never been to school - AMA

[OvertheUnicornRainbow]

My DS is almost 13, always been home-educated and is thriving. Ask me anything

Please name some x, y and z methods of teaching, aside from Montessori, for any subject at secondary level.

OvertheUnicorn,

I think that within the totality of the HE community there is both a lower possibility and a higher possibility of neglect (or other forms of harm, including emotional abuse), depending on the family and the reasons behind HE.

There are very many who HE very well, for the best of reasons, and with extremely good regard to all their children's welfare. These are the HEers you know, and would fall (generally) under the 'low probability of neglect' - though tbh what goes on behind gleaming facades can be unexpected)

There are others who may HE unwillingly, for example after the appalling practice of some - often older - children being 'off rolled' by schools due to effect on results or SEN. These are sometimes children who are anyway disaffected and at risk of exploitation and abuse (e.g. through recruitment into county lines etc).

There are families who HE for cultural / religious reasons (for example GRT = Gypsy Roma Traveller, groups where girls in particular - depending on the specific family or group - are often removed from school at a young age). It may also include some more extreme or isolated sects, where the treatment of children does not always conform to what would be seen as 'the norm' for safeguarding in the wider society.

There are also some families who deliberately cut themselves off from all forms of authority, including healthcare and education, as it is seen to be interference from the state. Lack of access to standard medical, dental etc treatment, and the often very isolated nature of such families, might make some forms of neglect somewhat more likely.

Hi devlesko, lovely to see you! Would you say that your family is the norm, in that education - in college, including GCSEs etc seems to be becoming more the norm in the wider GRT community? Total removal from education, for girls, at the end of primary was absolutely universal in the locality I was based in, but i appreciate that was some years ago and it may be changing.

This thread does make it apparent that those who have been teachers for many years can be so wedded to the idea that there is only one way to educate children.

I haven’t given the same seminar or even the same lecture in two decades. All my teaching adapts to what is happening in the classroom. I only ever repeated lessons when I was a novice teacher.

Also I am not too sure if you understand the different between school which is a medium for providing education and educational strategies which are not tied to the medium through which they are being delivered. An educational strategy that, for examples uses unsolvable maths problems to teach children how to explore a mathematical problem (identify dead ends, find alternative paths, redefine the parameters and even question the goal) is an educational method that can be delivered via school, the home, distance learning, etc.

@booboostwo - not sure you are quizzing me! My point was you use what is effective for your individual child.

Lots of merhods for secondary - Maths for example.
You could choose the Maths Enhancement programme based primairily on Hugarian methods.
Maths no problem - a mastery Singaporean method
Math- U-See is based on manipulatives.

And obviously loads more.

@Booboostwo - what would you use and why?

@cantkeepawayforever - yes, that's true. I realised what GRT meant after I asked! Interesting to hear about it. Thanks for the insight @Devlesko!

that's quite right safeguarding is everyone's business. Home-ed DC have lots of people around them that could potentially raise safeguarding issues as pointed out that applies to the HE children you know because they are part of groups, classes and activities but the reality of a totally unregulated HE is that Home-eder have absolutely no obligation to send their children to those types of things. While most HE is done with good intentions the lack of any real oversight gives those with bad intention somewhere to hide.

We all tend to regards what we know/experience as normal and until our horizons broaden it can be difficult for children to evaluate their upbringing. I know someone who had a violent, aggressive father and she says it was only at secondary school age when she saw her friends talking and laughing with their dads that she realised that it's not "normal" to be scared of your parent, her normal yes but not everyone's. There are children that are home schooled that won't have daily meet ups and weekly classes and jolly theatre trips because their parents don't have the money or the resources or the education themselves or even the inclination and they will know nothing of school but what they have been told (which in that situation will almost certainly be negative) so they are unlikely to be in a position to evaluate for themselves whether school would be a better fit for them or not. There should be a system that gives them a voice and ensures that they themselves are aware that the world extends beyond the views of their parents.

@whattheother2cats - and that is the role of an EWO/EHE team. Families like that can be found more easily if there was less negative feeling. Most home-ed families including those on low income do pop up somewhere. Of course not absolutely all. I do find it odd that people can be so 'under the radar' - if a DC has their birth registered but is not registered at a state school - they are either at private school, home educated or a child missing education.

But people move around. The Government does not keep a national register of people. So quite easy for a child to be deliberately under the radar.

And why would anyone look for these kids? There is no register of HE children so no need for anyone to know who they are. HE local authority teams have been decimated. I doubt any have time to find children being deliberately kept under the radar.

@janemaster - it's true they don't have the resources to maintain a register or oversee all home-ed families. They don't even have time to see the families that actually ask for help. At the moment they waste a lot of rescources door-stopping individual families.

They have no legal authority to have a register of HE families. It is not just about resources.

I don’t home educate, that is my point! I have no beef against home education but very few of the home educators I have come across are decent teachers.

Yes I know there are many methods to teach maths. My point is that if I were to teach maths I would have to start by familiarizing myself with the main methods, reading the literature on their advantages/weaknesses, reading up on how they fit different kinds of students before I even tried any on my DC. After I had tried teaching them I would have my own view on how this method fit the needs of the particular student and I would find it very easy to write a couple of paragraphs on all this.

So my worry is that no one person can do all this work, to the depth required for all topics in secondary, and secondly that people who take on the task of teaching at home do a superficial job like listing maths programs they had googled without really knowing anything about them.

I am a philosopher and use the Socratic method of the elenchus. There is no fixed curriculum in philosophy because learning facts is pretty useless, the students have to learn to reason. We do this by exposing them to good and bad arguments, but not as information, rather we get the students to reason their way to the conclusion by asking them questions that provoke them to think of the next step. I this were a genuine question I would happily point you to my teacher resources which help teachers figure out how to do this, but I suspect that you are not really interested, you are merely deflecting.

@janemaster - yes, I know that - I'm just saying they lack the resources to do it.

@Booboostwo - I'm very interested, actually. I'm always researching different methods. My son studies philosophy so that is of particular interest to me. I know about all those Maths programmes as I've used them. It's not that hard to do the research as you suggest. And over time you get to learn what suits your DC. But of course you don't need to do it all for yourself as you can use outside help. You asked me for some methods to learn a secondary subject and I obliged - not sure why you have a problem with that!

So, when my boy was little for Maths - we used Montessori methods. Lots of hands on stuff. This linked in with Singapore maths and alongside for extra practice we used MEP. Now he studies the GCSE curriculum for Maths (EdExcel I think). He uses Khan Academy to learn about topics more indepth. We use Ed Place for assessment and fill gaps with MEP.

@Booboostwo - we use lots of other things aside like Life of Fred and Maths adventure books. We have lots of Maths reference books. We also have a really interesting book called 'This is not a Maths books' which explores Maths through Art.

@Booboostwo - the difference between a class is I only have to research what will suit my DC. I've not got to think what may suit a class of 30 who I don't really know and how they learn. I would have to be look at different learning styles and differentation. I don't need to do that for just my DS.

I will Pm you the link. Let me know if you find it useful.

@Boobostwo - thank you.

@OvertheUnicornRainbow I’ve a couple of questions for you. I’ve tried to skim read the thread but apologies if I’ve missed a similar answer. I have a ds who may one day be home/flexi-schooled due to additional needs/mental health. And two who thrive at at school. My biggest concern with home Ed is the lack of group work, particularly with non-enthusiastic peers. This imo is an important life skill for many jobs.

How much of his time does your ds spend in group work with other home schoolers etc?

Does your ds ever have to work with people that he doesn’t get on with?

Thanks

Don't know if it has been asked yet. But where in country are you? Which county/city?

I live in the 3rd biggest city in Scotland and we have 2 museums and a Science Centre (that you have to pay for).

Even taking into account going on a quiet Tuesday and having the place to yourself, it wouldn’t entertain even the most curious child for many weeks.

We have a maths tutor for my 16 year old DD. We pay £35 for an hour a week for maths tuition. Doing that for different subjects would be unsustainable.

I work in admissions for a local council (I should do my own AMA at some point) and people who home educate are usually (but not always)

a) religious to the point where they don't want their child exposing to other ideas (i.e. Exclusive Plymouth Brethren)
b) protesting that they haven't been given the school of their choice by keeping the child off school and assuming it places the LA under pressure (answer: it doesn't - it makes us happy that there's one less pupil to place, but we WILL pass your details on to our colleagues elsewhere to check the child is actually being educated
c) concerned about some aspect of education, that it's not wide enough and concentrates on attainment rather than learning; or (we have a few of these) that there are "too many immigrants/non-believers in the class" - though usually these come under b) and they want a mythically all white/all people of their religion school.

Which of these do you fall under, or none at all ?

@teapotter - my DS does a Maths and English class where there is some group work in each 2hr class. The Science class is all group work - 2hrs too. He also does 4hrs of Art a week - which is a mix of group and individual work - but more individual work. He is also doing a STEM workshop at the moment which is another 3hrs of group work. He also spends time working on a project with friends and learning Japanese with a friend. He learns team work at Scouts too.

It is true home-ed DC tend to be more enthusiastic and he doesn't have to deal with disruption and bad behaviour. But overal he works with a wide range of DC so does deal with some he doesn't neccesarily get on with. His 2 best friends are in English and 1 in Maths so I think he probably works with them a lot. I'm not sure how it relates to school - I remember mainly working with my friends in my class - I don't really remember working with people I didn't get on with.