I home educate my 3 children

[LilyTuesday]

As the subject title says! I have found myself answering lots of questions over the years, once people find out we home Ed our children… but they are probably being polite and not saying how they really feel about the idea of choosing to never send a child to school…. So AMA if you’ve ever been curious!

@Nimbostratus100

I have never head such a load of made up codswallop as what you have spouted on this thread 😂

The ridiculous facts and figures you've thrown out to try and validate what you're saying. And acting as if you're the only one who has any experience in education on this site. You have an agenda and it's laughable what you're saying. You're making a bit of a fool of yourself tbh.

Any credible argument you may have been trying to make has been totally lost in your made up nonsense.

TBF, maths skills do drop off, which is why some universities require maths qualifications to have been achieved no more than two academic years prior to entry, and for maths courses gap years are often not recommended.

You clearly, clearly don't have the knowledge you're claiming to have. No one could - you're talking in a fantasy land . I don't know why you think home educating parents wouldn't know if you're talking bollocks. They would have first hand experience of getting kids to university etc (which you don't, it's obvious). What you're saying is laughably and demonstrably untrue to any home educating parent.

I don't think it's impossible you're an educator. Sadly. Very sadly. But you're in no position to educate anyone here and really should aim higher when it comes to covering your syllabus material. Stop blaming disruptive children and get some classroom control. Stop creating a system where the kids who have rich parents and no additional needs can cover the gaps in your teaching. And stop pretending that 90 percent of home educated kids are disruptive when they return to the classroom. Unless you're making a habit of persecuting them and interpreting the results creatively, it's just fiction at this point.

Tbf, the poster in question will not have met multiple maths geniuses who took their exams early then faffed around climbing trees for two years before A Level. It just doesn't happen. Pure bollocks.

"For example, some of my Muslim friends share a tutor and their kids study together several half-days a week. They also dip into the more general sports groups, museum visits, etc alongside the wider home ed community. Likewise, there are Christian study groups and groups for Christians to socialise with like-minded families, and those kids also participate in the mainstream activities."

Some of these tip over into informal schools without the regulation and oversight of schools.

And there is often misinformation such as that kids get into university without qualifications. When you look into individual cases they have always got into university by completing access courses. Access courses are aimed at bright young people who failed to meet their potential. It is hardly an advert for home education.

A neighbour of mine home schooled her children. Her DS did his GCSEs over a few years so he didn’t have the pressure of doing them all in one exam period (sat in 3 summer exam periods). He did really well and was very ambitious.

He then started his A levels, he couldn’t cope with the workload as he was used to a good mix of academics and recreational activities. He then spread his A levels out and gave up his university dreams.

Is this a concern?

"bright young people who failed to meet their potential" may be how you define people who use the Access scheme. Some of us would describe the scheme as an alternative route into higher education for adults who lack the usual qualifications. In my worldview, taking a different route does not always connote failure.

One of my children went to university without having done the usual qualifications (and no, it wasn't via Access! but I grant you that many courses wouldn't accept Candidates without either Access or Level 3 courses). I don't consider that an indication that their education was deficient. It was just different. They're doing very well in their course.

I'm not really sure what problem you're trying to highlight here

Some young people do GCSEs and A Levels and go to university.
Some do an access course and go to university.
If they want to go to university, and then they do go to university, what's the issue?

One could argue that the fact that this course exists is a bad advert for the education system given that so many leave school without reaching their potential.

The Access diploma website states There is no such thing as a typical Access to HE student. Our Access to HE Diplomas are taken by students of all ages and backgrounds.

Personally I think it’s a great thing to have an alternative route to HE that is open to anyone who for whatever reason wants to make use of it.

How can you afford to not work?

Why does it matter if someone does an access course to get in to uni?

University isn't the be all and end all.

And you can spread it out as well.

I don’t really see a concern? He decided that uni wasn’t for him after all and changed his A levels around so they were still achievable for him and presumably is now a functioning adult who will be able to go back to education at any point in life if he chooses. I actually think it’s quite a positive thing to know your own capabilities and to adjust your plans to suit them.

It wouldn’t be a concern for me. Without knowing the young person concerned it’s impossible to say why the a-level courses weren’t for him. One of my schooled dc can’t cope with a full timetable, not because they aren’t used to it but because of individual needs.

If they decided uni wasn’t for them, that isn’t a concern for me and as others have said the option is still open to them in future.

It’s about finding the path for them, not achieving a certain outcome.

I think the op said she does work.

Plenty of home educating parents do.

I work flexibly and part time from home. It’s easier to balance with home Ed than with school tbh.

in the past I didn’t work and dh did. We made financial sacrifices to do what was right for our family and lived quite frugally.

Teachers really haven't covered themselves in glory on this thread. Awful to see the deep seated biases that can't not seep into teaching practice. The disdain shown to knowledgeable parents and the dismissing of their children is sickening tbh. Of course most teachers aren't like that but what has been on display here is most unedifying.

I wonder/hope Nimbostratus is not really a teacher. It's clear to anyone in the know that the figures/information she's sharing are utter bullshit. I would have hoped too that that anyone with these attitudes would have been weeded out of teaching long ago. I'm pleased to say the teachers I meet are pretty fab and do care. On the whole it's a systematic problem - schools are set up as 19th century factories and the world has moved on. We need people that question the status quo, AI will soon be able to do pretty much everything else.

I agree that university isn’t everything but this young man was so full of hope that he could become a vet - he had the right GCSE grades, he took the correct A levels, he had plenty of work experience but not being able to cope with all levels in one put him in a poor position and he gave up on his dream . I also realise it’s a highly competitive course so he may have been rejected anyway.

You're right - most young people who want to become vets don't make it. I'm not sure why you are assuming the problem was home ed. I'd be inclined to think he probably got closer than he would have done otherwise as it's very typical to see driven, self motivated home ed children who work academically towards a vocational goal. But not everyone is going to make it. Did he manage to find a plan b that worked for him? That's important information. Also, was he originally pulled out of school because additional needs made it difficult to cope?

@Cloudhoppingdancer his family are part of a small religious community who are against sending their children to school. His mum said he couldn’t cope with the workload of 3 A levels because it was too intense compared to what he was used too, many children who have just finished GCSEs feel the same as the jump is large but for him even larger as he was used to working at a slower pace. Perhaps if he had taken the standard route of all GCSEs in year 11 and then A levels he would have met his goal or perhaps not. He’s actually ended up in a fantastic job in a totally different field!

It limits their options at university and means it all takes longer. You can not usually get on a university access course until you are 19, which means the earliest you can go to university is 20.
And it means their home education has not taught them what is necessary and the state sector us having to make up the gap.

So he has big dreams, was one of the many who didn't make it but he has managed to find a job he likes and which challenges him? That flexibility sounds like a really good advertisement for home ed to me. School so often makes children feel like human doings not beings with only one right way to succeed. It's good to realise there are many ways to have a fulfilling life and failure doesn't define you. It's really hard for home ed parents when so many children fail, mess up and have to rethink without anyone blaming the fact that they went to school, yet the moment a home ed child doesn't highly achieve it is considered an indictment of their education.

You're wrong about access to education courses being a last ditch manoeuver and wrong that home ed children over use them. It's not the case and doesn't have the impact you're claiming.

So what's the rush? What's wrong with going to uni at 20 when a person is more mature and sure of themselves. Seems like a good thing.

The state sector having to make up the gap? Are you having a laugh? Read it back to yourself. If the kids have been home educated, the parents have saved the state 13 years of education - and you're moaning about some kids wanting to do a two year access course. Some serious lack of critical thinking - don't tell me you're a teacher too. I despair .

Home educated children often enter the state sector in their later teens, 14-18, to do GCSEs, Alevels, BTecs or other qualifications. I'm not sure what the problem is. Why does it matter if you go to university at 20? I started my degree in my mid 20s.
There isn't a strict timetable for education like there is with school. One of the benefits of HE is having more time to develop and follow your own interests, and move on at the right time for the individual.