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

@RevIMJolly - best child with the best life That's a pretty high accolade!!

@Meltedicicle - thanks for your experience and I will have a look at the video!
@janemaster - my DD is the type of DC that would do well anywhere. I think she would have done well with home-ed but I think school is great for her. She enjoys being around her friends for 6 hours 5 days a week, she enjoys joining in with group sport, choir, school plays - and she can do all those things (and many more) all under one roof. I think it depends why they are HE - if they are just fighting for the right school they probably won't be involved but we have certainly had DC whose parents were HEing until they got a school place. I would imagine those who decide they really want to HE would be involved with the community - however I think I only know one person who was taken to court - but I suppose a lot of people would keep quiet about it.

One comment that hasn't been addressed much is that some children are school refusers. So HE may not be an active choice, so much as the consequence of extended school refusal. I don't know what options there would be other than HE if there is a threat of prosecution if a non-attender, but it does mean that sometimes HE is the least worst option, not the preferred option.

@AspergersMum - I know of Christian home-edders - they stick together and do their own groups etc. but I often meet them at certain classes or park meets etc. I agree there are lots of different groups but overall we do get to meet a very diverse group even if some you might not meet up with as much. But it is true to say my DS's best friend's families are more like us than not.

@YgritteSnow - I agree about not knowing any home-edders til I started! I think home-ed is such a different culture to the norm and something most people know little or nothing about - it can be quite hard to explain to non-home edders. One thing I find is home-ed DC seem to learn a lot easier than schooled peers but it is something you have to see to believe, really!

@rabblemum - thanks for your thoughts. My DS has plenty of friends for teenage fun and mixes with those of a very diverse nature. Oh, but I didn't 'get' him a social life - he did it himself.

Your comment about only being good at what the parent is is interesting. I definitely influence my DS with things I like. But he has developed his own interests too. I think if only the parent teaches them then their education could be more skewed but their are ways to mitigate that. However round here your hand would have been bitten off to run a workshop! Even the young DC have various things run for them by different adults.

If you live somewhere with a lot of HE, I don't know how you cannot know some.

@YgritteSnow - same here. HE parents always joke that socialisation is always bandied around by home-edders when it is the thing they worry about the least. The problem is fitting all the socialising in!

Re: only good at what the parent is interested in.

I isn’t have any clue about computer science and zero interest in it - my child did and learned all sorts around computer science. Khan academy, raspberry pi resources, online Scratch resources, YouTube videos, coding books....just a few of the resources used.

Oh, and computer programming club.

@janemaster - I would be quite cautious about regulation just due to such lack of understanding from many councils. However if done in a sensible to balance oversight/freedom I'm not totally against. However, it would be a hell of a lot of work and currently there's just not enough funding of EHE teams to make this something they could even think about doing. I think their best bet is to find ways to work smarter in HE communities.

My son became quite scared of the world so when he didn’t have to go to school he didn’t mix at all.

I have some quite “lefty”, extreme politics, I do worry my son only gets my views but I did tell him to discuss his own views and explore his own politics.

I found some local homeschoolers a bit odd and overprotective.

My son is now doing well and The Princes Trust. He spent some of his time looking up the history of punk and hip hop, so tonight he’s off to photograph some bands. He also knows lots about the Second World War, cars and geography.

Hi
We home educated all 5 children.
Two are now gas safe qualified engineers, one a female, one in the car trade enjoying great success, beating all targets and top salesman in a major franchise. One is a stay at home Mum with a two year old that is very bright. The youngest was home educated until she was 8. At that point the wife left us all to go and live in Australia. The 8 year old had to go to school, where she was bullied mercilessly. She is the only one with issues.
These were most likely brought about by the wife abandoning her/us, however the school was only interested in attendance, and although they classified her as ‘gifted and intelligent’ they treated her very badly, her anxiety increased to a point of her thinking of suicide as the only way out. thankfully she has got over that, for now!
Yes, home schooling isn’t for everyone, but neither is school.

@AspergersMum - a valid point about not coming across those that don't socialise that much. But like you, you do tend to find them at a park for instance during school time.

@LaLaLandIsNoFun - I do find it strange how some people think the parent has to know everything in order to teach the DC. As an adult if I want to learn something I don't have a parent to teach me - I use all the resources available. DC can do that too.

@Rabblemum - what does the Princes trust do?

@Hobbington1 - I'm so sorry to hear about your DD. I hope she is doing much better now.

en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Prince's_Trust The Princes Trust was set up to help young people get back into society. My son is on the 12 week course. The course includes work experience, a residential and community work. My son loved going to Dartmoor and found a talent for rock climbing.

Thanks to everyone who's posted it has been very interesting and I've reflected a lot on my DC's education. Just to be clear I don't claim this is everyone's experience of home-ed - but it is ours and the experience of many in our communityand beyond.

I'm trying to think of the disadvantages to home-ed.

1. It is very labour intensive in that at least initially the parents are organising everything and working out how their DC learns.
2. In the younger years you do have to stay at all the groups etc with your DC so takes a lot of time.

3.It can take time to find the groups/activities/classes that suit your DC.

1. There can be quite a bit of travel involved.
2. Extra costs like paying for exams etc.

One of the main advantages to school as you get a lot all under one roof - but the problem is if one part doesn't work for your DC you can't just easily deal with it like you can with home-ed. Luckily my DD is doing really well and her school is great - we've not really had any big issues.

@Rabblemum - that sounds amazing! Thanks for the link. We are looking at Duke of Edinburgh too.

Unfortunately kids can’t do it until they’re 16. My son is 17, he’s bright but doesn’t suit conventional learning. He was quite isolated and lost confidence but The Princes Trust has been great.

Ok, that’s offensive. I had to take my son out of school and for many parents homeschool is the only option.