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

@Frokni - I'm in the South East
@BathshebaKnickerStickers - most people just go to a museum for a day - not a few weeks! Lukily we have much more than 3 things that we can easily access. Tuition is expensive! It's a shame you need that on top of school.

Says 'Ask me anything' 31 pages on this thread. Any answers?

I've just found 2.
As a teacher it's always a challenge when a home-schooled child is enrolled at our school in Year 10, so that their parents don't have to fork out for their GCSE entries.
The examples I've worked with in the past have been unhappy in school and have not achieved well at GCSE.

@riceuten - thank you for the interesting question. If I had to choose one I'd say c. As in concerned that school wouldn't fit my autistic DS. I would say about half of all home edders I know do so because of SEN. So I think that should be a seperate category. I've come across the odd religious home-ed family and know they often stick together but there is not a lot of them. B - I wouldn't come across as they aren't home educators. Never come across the 'too many immigrants' thing. I would say most people have some concern about school. They feel it wouldn't be the best thing for their child and they can provide better. I would imagine your sample of home-edders is very skewed. In what circumstance do yo see them?

@simiisme - any answers?! You're a teacher - I assume you can read? I've spent a hell of a lot of my time giving answers, thank you! The MN classic 'did you mean to be so rude?' comes to mind!

Goodness riceuten I’m fascinated that sn doesn’t feature at all in your list, given that so many children with sn end up being hole schooled.

Presumably people don’t actually have to give a reason - most would surely just send the template de registration letter announcing home Ed that you see on the HE sites. So for many kids you wouldn’t actually be told a reason?

Hole schooled - fab auto correct!! Should be HE

@simiisme - that's a shame they were unhappy. I've known a few home-ed kids go to school but not in Y10.

@Onceuponatimethen - holed schooled - makes me think of Holes!

@OvertheUnicornRainbow I complete various statutory returns, so I perhaps see more of this client group than some. And yes, ASD pupils form a good proportion of home educated children, and they are perhaps the people I can understand the most undertaking this route. I can assure you all the other categories I outĺined exist.

Does c incorporate the parents who don't like the system, are generally vegan, anti vax and judge anyone not like this. That seems to be the case for the HE families round here.

I once accidentally went to soft play at the time of a HE meet up. The children were aged 3-10 and absolutely ran wild. I've never seen soft play like it. The older ones were literally shoving younger children out of the way, kicking each other and shouting. Meanwhile the parents sat there doing nothing. The social skills in the children were definitely lacking.

OP I'm really interested in how you HE. I work in mainstream school and would probably HE my children if they struggled to cope due to ASD or similar. I don't know how we'd afford it but you've opened my eyes to HE being not as restrictive.

Just wanted to say hi and that I'm giving serious consideration to home schooling my eldest also for SEN reasons. Both of my boys are autistic, however the youngest seems to be coping. My eldest however, aged 8, is taking more and more to self harm as a coping mechanism. After multiple meetings with school, both parties have suggested the idea of home schooling. I do have a slight advantage in that I'm a qualified teacher having taught primary, and also Geography and RE to A-level, but I still fear not fully providing for my son despite knowing it would help his anxiety in the present. Hats off to those of you who do it and make a success of it. I'm waiting to see how the remainder of this year goes.... Fingers crossed!

Sorry, I didn’t actually have a question there. What I meant to say is that your timeline seems to imply that museum trips are a regular occurrence and a major part of your son’s learning. I was trying to think what the experience my children, or home educated children in my city could have. Our art gallery has just opened after a 5 year long refit and before it was shit when it had on offer in terms of exhibitions changed about once every 6 months.

Our maritime museum has a very small exhibition space which puts on special events sometimes.

Our science centre has an entry fee so not really sustainable for families every week. It’s also being refitted at the moment so is in a temp location, so obviously not working to full capacity at the moment.

So an interested and engaged child could probably spend half a day at each of 3 venues, but probably not visit again for 4 months because that would be the next time the exhibition changed. And that would work only if you had a child interested in both art and maritime things..!

Can I ask where you are based in the country that you have different museums with exhibits that change frequently enough for these quiet Tuesday morning museum trips are frequent enough for it to be a major part of your son’s education.

Sorry before the art gallery was SHUT not SHIT..! It’s actually lovely..!

We home Ed our 2 daughters and they both have special needs , they’ve learnt more in home Ed setting than they ever did in school . Schools are underfunded or that’s what they continually say when asked whey they can’t provide provisions etc , they are not allowed to be as creative as they should be don’t get enough self care and everyday life skills and no where near enough time outside in the fresh air being free to explore and express themselves

Hi Surfer25 I'm so sorry to hear your experience was so negative and has a lasting effect on your life.
I home educate my teenage daughter, we do 3 monthly reviews on her choices, likes, dislikes etc. She goes to all types of sessions with peers her own age, both independently and with myself and other families we get on with. I just wanted to let you know that there are thousands of us making sure our children dont grow up to feel they have missed out. In fact, for most families I have come across in the past 2 yrs it's the total opposite.
Much love xx

I was homeschooled until I was ready to take A levels. It was the absolute worst thing my parents could have done. They were both teachers and as I was quite intelligent they thought I would progress better being taught at home. I went to lots of activities which just made me more conscious of not having a proper peer group. My DC are all at wonderful independent schools which we make huge sacrifices to afford as I would never want them to grow up feeling like I did. I eventually made good friends at uni and have a great job and family now but it took me a very long time to feel anything like ‘normal’. Please think carefully about doing this for your children. My parents were loving and meant well but it was the worst thing they could have done for me. I have achieved in spite of, not because of, my home education.

@BathshebaKnickerStickers I am in West Yorkshire, Leeds, Wakefield, Bradford plus several close towns towns have museums and galleries. If we fancy going a little further we can easily get to York, Hull, Sheffield and so on.

I am a private music teacher. At present l have been entrusted with the musical education of a homeschooled family. They are really lovely people and totally committed to the best possible education and experiences for their children. One of their children is the most talented pianist l have taught in a 35 year career.

We have a sports thing near us who have a home shool session once a week. Its certainly more wild! The cafe ownder dreads it... There's a subset within homeschooling who ideologically dont want to impose rules on their children/say no. I mixed with a few of these types when mine were small and I was thinking of homeschooling and it is one of the things that put me off. Lovely lovely people but almost competitive in their worthiness !

@riceuten - I know they exist but are reasonabley rare. Of course you wouldn't come across the average home-edder much.
@Hercwasonaroll - I know some vegan, anti-vaccine home ed families and I'd put them under c. However they aren't judgemental - not to me anyway! It's strange about the children not having social skills at a soft play! Most DC go to soft play as toddlers before any go to school! I do across some families who have pulled a DC from school because the school can't deal with their behaviour. Those DC have struggled in social groups - some have got better - some not. But of course that doesn't explain your experience - it sounds awful! We are not all like that!

Of course it is only a subset and not all homeschoolers wtc. But there's definitely a group who never would have schooled as ideologically it goes along with their parenting style.

@Thesearmsofmine - I think in that respect we are hampered by Scottish geography.

I know there are quite a number of homeschooling families out of the city and a lot further afield - the problem with a large part of Scotland is that these opportunities physically cannot be open to a lot of rural or highland children

@BathshebaKnickerStickers - we're in the South East. We've not explored all the museums/galleries etc available to us. That sounds awful where you are! And that's a city?! Even our local small art gallery changes it's exhibition every 6 weeks! As I explained as well as our nice quiet visits the DC do a lot of workshops/activities/lectures etc. at these places. There is a huge amount available.

@Blueskiesdazzleme - why did you not have a proper peer group? Did you not have friends? Did you want to go to school?