I home educate my DC AMA

[PsycheEros]

They are 8 and 6. The 6 year old has never been to school, the 8 year old was pulled out in reception. Fire away!

1. we can offer a suitable course to every candidate, however we often find that home educate4d students will not accept the courses offered to them, as they want other courses that they dont fullfill the entry requirements for, or even come anywhere near close.
2. The home educated students I am talking about often dont get anywhere near finishing a course of taking exams, or even starting a course in many cases
3. Its a sixth form, we expel disruptive pupils.

You are missing the point, the students I am concerned about are the ones that turn up confident that they can walk onto the A level courses of their choice, ( sometimes with masses of top grade GCSEs) and are shocked, totally devastated not to be offered a place on A levels. They are simply not qualified.

We test applicants too, especially if they are refugees, etc, who may have been educated in their home country, but not sat formal exams. YOu can get onto A level courses if you show in depth knowledge and understanding of the subjects, even without exams, but many HE students cant do this either.

You get a student who wants to do subject X, for example, who got A in GCSE subject X in year 8, but has not studied it since. Firstly, we wouldn't accept A if it was taken alone, or in a 2 or 3, because top grades are easy in those circumstances, and dont show that the candidate can handle the work load. And secondly, we dont take someone who has nothing to show for that subject in the last couple of years. And thirdly, we don't take someone who fails the on the spot assessment.

This is where the home educated students fall down, getting onto the course in the first place - they are not going to be accepted onto a course they are unlikely to cope with.

If the student is still 16, we might offer a level 2 course, with the option of moving onto a level 3 course a year later, but firstly, some wont accept that, and secondly, some are already 17, so this is not an option.

But like I said, some are fine. We get hundreds of applicants from home educated students. We accept some, and some of those doe really well, but some struggle with school life, even if they are academically capable, and qualified.

We accept some, and some of those doe really well, but some struggle with school life, even if they are academically capable, and qualified.

I struggled with school life, and I spent 13 years at school.

Home ed is much more accurate and home school perpetuates unhelpful myths that some sort of solitary 'school' is going on at home. I think it's reasonable to push for the more accurate term to be used. It's not home school - that term makes no sense and the government, if they're using it, should know better!

"struggle" as in we have to ask them to leave because of their behaviour. If you were there 13 years, you presumably were not asked to leave.

"struggle" as in we have to ask them to leave because of their behaviour. If you were there 13 years, you presumably were not asked to leave.

No, I was ignored as I was quiet and well behaved, so no one knew how unhappy I was.

Well the government and organisations within the EHE community do use homeschooling, so it is hardly incorrect for people to use that term, which was my point.

Sadly, I think this is all too common. Many DC are said to be ‘fine’ in school when they are anything but.

I guarantee if DS1 had stayed in school he'd have been one of these children. As far as his teachers were concerned he was "absolutely fine" because he was reading, writing and doing maths at the appropriate level and because he was not disruptive in class.

DS2 is a little more apt to kick off and refuse to concentrate if unhappy so he'd likely have had more of a tendency to the disruptive.

You didn't answer my questions. I was asking about the students in your sixth form college. It seems you would rather take pot shots at home educated children.

A quick search has shown that you have stated elsewhere on threads that you often do not cover all the curriculum, sometimes because disruptive pupils make it impossible to do so. You expect students to study through the gaps in their own time. A bit of home ed going on there but without the support! I must say, you are leaving behind struggling/disadvantaged children who won't have tutors, parental support and study skills to get them through when you do that. This is exactly why some parents decide they can do better for their child.

I highly doubt you have hundreds of applicants who are home educated. I would also disagree that lots of children take GCSEs early, or that it's easy to get a top grade when taking exams in stages. Your remarks don't add up. Based on your comments about your own standards of teaching, I would consider that I could do better for my child and contribute to home educated, were I ever to have the misfortune of encountering your college.

Fortunately many universities have a completely different attitude to home educated children and their often considerable qualifications.

would continue to

It is completely normal, and expected for students to cover part of the curriculum independently at GCSE, and that is down mostly to the fact that the spec is too big for the timetable.

That has nothing to do with what I am saying about the problems that home educated children have trying to integrate into the sixth form, which is what I am talking about here

some home educated students do really well, but many dont. That is the concern.

Bit like schooled children really then!

I come across it often.

The only reason DS3 didn’t fall into that group is because we fought for an excellent EHCP otherwise I think he would have. He’s academically able and autistic with anxiety and significant sensory needs which results in him being a perfectionist and people pleaser, internalising distress. In contrast, DS1 couldn’t cope in school and it was clear to all. He now has EOTAS.

I would put money on the fact that more children leave traditional schooling without good grades, with their mental health in tatters than those who have been home educated.

Perhaps if the education system in this country bucked its ideas up and accepted that a one size fits all model doesn't work then you might have an argument.

Don't let this thread be derailed by Nimbo - she's popped up on other threads to spout absolute nonsense about the hundreds and thousands of formerly home ed sixth formers she personally has encountered.

@PsycheEros it's interesting to read your typical home ed day because it's so different from ours. Similarly there was a previous home ed AMA from a mum with high achieving dds who'd got grade 9 GCSEs and were off out horse riding and fencing every day which is also a million miles from our experience
Home educators are such a diverse group and such a large proportion are disabled or ND children who are home educated from necessity rather than choice.
Even the difference between living in a big city with thousands of HE children and living in a small town with maybe 10-15 HE families.

Oh definitely. I would say the majority of home educators I know IRL describe themselves as unschoolers, with the exception of a few, ourselves included. It wouldn't suit us at all.

I love the idea of unschooling but I think my child would definitely watch 12 hours of youtube a day

Why do you have such a problem with this - it is not home school and the government are hardly an authority on it since they are specialising in education at school. No one British within the home ed community would call it home school. Interhigh is not within the home ed community.

This is what people assume home educated kids are doing I think 🤣

I feel like you can't really win in many people's eyes with home ed. Your kids are either intellectually stunted or socially stunted, or both! And it doesn't matter what learning or socialisation opportunities you offer them, it will still always be inferior to classroom based learning and socialisation. Which is a bizarre nd narrow minded way to think really.

I agree that some home educating parents do a pretty crappy job, but are we going to sit here and pretend that many schools don't do likewise?!

I actually don't think it really matters either way but I know it's contentious in the home ed community.

I was pointing out that many (including the government and online schools some EHEing use) do use the terms interchangeably so it is hardly surprising that some in the general population use homeschool. I didn’t say those in the HE population do, I was talking about the population as a whole.

I think online schools which are used by some EHEing are part of the community. It’s fine if you don’t agree with that, after all not everyone agrees.

@FloatingBean where are the government referring to home education as home schooling? The legal term here is home education and that’s what’s referred to in laws related to it. Local Authorities have home education teams, not home schooling teams. Yes some private companies selling to many countries use home schooling, but it’s really not the correct term here

I home educated my daughter (in the states) till she turned 13 and her teenaged-ness got in the way. She started seventh grade mid year and completed eighth grade (middle school) before we moved to the UK.

The UK school system and classroom dynamics were a large learning curve for her, but she rolled with the punches and will sit her A levels in a few weeks. She is predicted three A*s; today she firmed with the University of Birmingham to study Palaeontology and Geology.

Both of us attribute the lion's share of her positive attitude toward learning to home schooling.

Read the link in my very first post. It is there. Regardless of the legal terms used if some official bodies such as the government are using the term homeschooling it is hardly surprising some of the general population also do.