I home school my DC, AMA

[ChiefWarlockOfTheWizengamot]

I home school my DC. AMA!

Note: to most of the community, it's home educate rather than home school, but the terms are used interchangeably more widely so I've used home school here.

All the groups they do I would say are diverse - they do things like Scouts and weekend sports and music clubs with children from many different backgrounds (almost all of them go to school), and I haven't got a scooby who the parents are TBH. I hate micromanaging friendships, I felt like there was a lot of that when they were at school. We also live in a street full of kids so they're also with them a lot in addition to their home educated friends. My 12 year old has autonomous friendships already - I "know" the parents of her friends in that I've spoken to them at pick up and drop off, but they're not my friends.

Yes, otherwise I wouldn't be home educating.

The council are meant to check in with us yearly but I never hear from them. I'm perfectly happy to communicate with them when they get in touch, but they don't!

Isn't this absolutely horrible for kids who are at risk of abuse? They can just be taken out of school and everyone forgets about them. It's an awful system that should have a lot more transparency and checks.

OP - how are you going to teach your kids GCSE/A-level material? Are you planning on getting tutors?

Do you not worry that your kids will be the odd ones out among their peer group?

They see other kids every day of the week apart from Wednesdays which are our downtime day. And even on Wednesdays they quite often go off and play with some of the neighbours' kids or there is an ad hoc home ed meet up somewhere.

I'm very interested in knowing will your children do GCSEs or Alevels do you think? I know they are young at the moment but (forgive my naivety) do most home educated kids sit the formal exams. And if so do you know how the results of home educated kids compare to that of kids in schools.

I'm sure it is but it's not really my responsibility to do anything about that, is it? I am quite happy to be "checked up on"; it's not my fault they don't get in touch.

Yes, as I've said up thread, we will absolutely be engaging tutors.

I certainly don't worry about them being the "odd ones out", no. I was quite frequently the "odd one out" in my own peer group and I found my own bunch of lovely misfits - and all of us went to school! TBH one of the major advantages of my DC not being at school is that so far they seem to have escaped a lot of the peer pressure that their schooled friends definitely do experience. That wasn't one of my reasons for home educating but it's certainly an advantage as far as I can see.

Yes, they will. Unfortunately I don't know the answer to either question, as there is no data on the subject. I do know that many home educating parents are dead set against exams - I'm not, because academics are very important to us - but others are.

who do the children complain to if they are not happy with the teaching staff? how do you carry out parent teacher meetings?

We talk continually about whether what I'm doing is working for them. If it isn't, we mix it up. I'm very happy to be critiqued by them!

Yep, it's fucking terrifying to think there are kids who are kept out of the formal school system under the guise of home schooling, while not being educated at all and/ or bring abused. I imagine this is one of the reasons home schooling is against the law in some countries. As a secondary teacher, I have seen a challenging and troubled kid pulled out of school. Mum said he'd be home educated, but there were serious doubts about that, as she ran her own café and did not seem remotely qualified to do it.

I would be more than happy with more oversight, believe me.

That said, it's got vanishingly little to do with the OP's situation😊

I know - I missed out a crucial last sentence, I've added this on now 😊

Do you not feel your kids are missing out in anyway of having the social element of school and forming long term friendships?

They have formed long term friendships, and they do socialise, so no, I genuinely don't feel they are missing out in that respect. I daresay if they had no friends and didn't socialise then I would feel differently.

My 12 yo in particular has more friends now than she did at school.

Do you come across a lot of very religious people and/or antivaxxers in homeschool groups?

I only know two families who home educate, both were very anti covid measures and that was the main reason for removing their children from school. They seem to be part of a large antivax homeschooling group.

I personally know two families who home educate mainly for religious reasons - one Christian and one Muslim. I also know a couple of anti vaxxers but definitely not loads, although TBH I wouldn't really have much in common with them so I can't imagine we'd be in the same social group.

I think the home ed community in general does attract that type though, it would be disingenuous of me to say otherwise.

Oh someone mentioned structure. We do "sit down" learning in the mornings and the afternoons are for activities, social stuff and project deep dives.

I think my ideal would be a few families of similar values and viewpoints (no anti Vax or religion!) getting together and forming a sort of little school, each parent taking a lesson in the subject that interests them. Is that ever possible, or are you mainly on your own / going to activity groups?

People definitely do this but I think personally I wouldn't like it, my DC and I are quite independent when it comes to learning so we like to stick to our own thing. Plus I horrify a lot of home ed parents because I want mine to take exams so I daresay we would clash!

How do you do scientific subjects that might need specialist equipment?

My DC are part of a Science club run by an ex-Science teacher who now homeschools her own DC, and she has access to lots of equipment.

Interesting - thank you for answering. I always wondered about that sort of thing.

@ChiefWarlockOfTheWizengamot do you have to pay for things like the science club? Is home educating expensive in your opinion?