I currently Home Educate, Flexi School and School Educate my 3 children - AMA

[homeschoolED]

As the title says, I have one child in full time school, one child who is flexi schooled (part time in school and part time home educated) and one child in full time home education.

If you have any questions, ask away!

Thanks @homeschoolED interesting to read an example breakdown of a day. I realise home ed won’t necessarily follow the standard 9-3 but thought home ed kids should still get the same amount of education time even if it happens at different times or weekends even. Glad your middle child is having some formal teaching/ tutoring online. The issue I sometimes have with homeschooling is the lack of regulation and consistency. Some parents will offer quality provision and others will basically opt out of even basic learning or kids will be limited to parents’ own knowledge.

That’s a shame about your local school. I really wish education and the teaching profession were more valued in this country. Is that where your eldest goes? I know some kids are just more adaptable and still do well in less than ideal settings.

The actual education time of the school week is a lot shorter than the 30 hours they are physically in the building - taking registers, lining up, moving between classrooms, packing/unpacking bags, waiting for other children to finish, dealing with disruptive behaviour etc etc
So you can cover a lot more in a lot less time 1:1 or in a small group of 4 bright, motivated, interested children compared to a class of 30 bored kids.

Yes that’s true about actual teaching hours, though I do think a lot of those in between parts are part of a child’s learning and socialisation too.
Small classes are definitely a pro and that can be seen in schools too. But if a whole class of 30 kids are bored then I think the teachers doing something wrong.

I definitely don't blame teachers for systemic problems! They don't choose the curriculum or exam system.

Does your ( and your dhs ) employers know that you are home educating ? Are you actually saying that when you wfh you are doing both at the same time?

I find the idea of homeschooling very interesting so i have a few questions if that's ok

Do you do unschooling, follow the curriculum or something in between?

Does the child at school full time choose to be there?

Do any of the children feel jealous of each other/wish they could do what one of the others is doing?

Do you teach the same subject to the 2 children together or is it all individual lessons?

What happens with homeschooling when they get to gcse age? Do they take gcse's? Go to college or just stop lessons?

Honestly, 9-3 5x a week of one to one tuition would be far too intense, and frankly unnecessary.

When you the move the behaviour management, moving about, prepping for tasks, breaks, registration, administrative matters etc, the estimate is that a child spends about 3.5-4 hours a day learning.

Obviously that work is tailored for the whole class, which may mean some tasks are entirely pointless from a learning perspective for some kids. And for some kids it may go over their head and again be pointless because it's too advanced. I know teachers try to avoid this but frankly it's unrealistic in a class of 30.

Doing research on this, 4 hours in a class is about equivalent to 1 hour of 1 to 1 tuition. Obviously that comes with the caveat that the home learning needs to be well tailored, thought out and interactive, not just watching stuff on TV and then doing a worksheet, whilst you do the laundry or something, as that's no better than school.

One is self employed and can do what they like, the other is almost entirely on calls/in meetings while wfh so doesn't do any educating while working. Obviously a secondary child doesn't need constant supervision in the way a toddler would.

Very true, and interestingly when local authorities provide EOTAS (education outside of school for children who can't attend) the government/law considers 5 hours a week to be the minimum amount of 1:1 tuition they need to provide to be considered a suitable education. Most EOTAS packages are around 12-15 hours a week.

We're kind of semi structured I would say, we do follow national curriculum for maths and use national curriculum resources for science and history but are more interest-led.

All children have all options available to them so no jealousy.

GCSEs - there's no laws or rules about whether kids take exams so it's up to the preferences and circumstances of each child and families. Compulsory school age is up to the June of the school year the child turns 16 so technically that's when 'home education' ends.
Our child will probably do some GCSEs at home and some at a local college that has a provision for home educated 14-16 year olds to take 2-3 GCSEs. They are also studying some vocational courses.

We don't really take on a 'teacher' role but more facilitate learning opportunities, so our set up isn't really sitting down for a lesson.
Sometimes the kids interests align enough that they do a trip or workshop together and we often read the same books or watch the same documentaries, but generally one might be doing Stonehenge and the other Henry VII, or one learning Japanese and the other pottery.

the government/law considers 5 hours a week to be the minimum amount of 1:1 tuition they need to provide to be considered a suitable education.

You might be interested to know this actually isn’t the case. It is a myth LAs like to perpetuate and would like parents to believe because it saves them money. Just like they like parents to believe it only covers core subjects.

Alternative provision under section 19 of the Education Act 1996 for those unable to attend school must be a suitable, full-time education unless it is one of the small minority of cases where full time in any form is not appropriate. 5hrs per week is not a suitable full-time education. LAs know this. Courts reinforce this. The LGO is clear on it. For example, the LGO view a full-time education as 21-25hrs per week depending on age. Here is one of their reports stating so. Although if 1:1 it can be less because it is more concentrated, it is still more than 5hrs and in that report they were criticised in one of the examples for only providing 5hrs and not a full time broad and balanced curriculum. Another example is this LGO case which found 12.5 and 15 hours 1:1 not to be full time but 17.5 and 20 hours 1:1 to be.

EOTAS/EOTIS (education otherwise than at/in school) via EHCPs, as per section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014, is bespoke (and doesn’t just cover academics). It can be far more than 5/12/15hrs. I have 2 DC with EOTAS/EOTIS packages via their EHCPs who have more than double those hours and I have helped others to secure packages with similar. SENDIST would not be impressed with a LA stating 5hrs is sufficient. It isn’t.

I see where you’re coming from but I don’t think learning is just about efficiency. I agree some time at school could be used more effectively but I don’t think all those in between times you mentioned are without value.

Through being in lessons with a variety of learners, kids get exposure to kids who think differently and learn differently. It’s not all about them and their exact needs - to me that’s a good lesson for a child to learn in itself. Also that you can’t always control your environment or the people around you, I think those are good things to understand/ develop ways to manage. Also some level of waiting or boredom are also a normal part of life.

Fair play, I don’t have the skills, experience, time or quite frankly the equipment to have taught my children. We had to supplement the state provision with tutoring to get them through, so that they’d have options. Perhaps that’s the same for you?

@homeschoolED different question - how much do you spend monthly on homeschooling? Tutoring, online groups, trips, supplies etc. Do you think it’s possible to homeschool well on a budget?

I honestly don't know how you juggle all this!!I mean, fair play to you! I get all over the place every day and I only have one child! It breaks my heart as he hates school and would love to be home schooled but it would never work as he wouldn't actually learn anything and I'm not clever enough to do the teaching!! The lock down proved this when he would say what do I know, i'm not a teacher!!

I guess it's the kind of thing where you spend to your budget - however you educate. Some kids will have tutors and music lessons outside of school and go on the school ski trip, and some will just do the basics.

The home ed kid - we have a maths subscription which is £13 a year I think, plus printing costs of a daily worksheet.
£8 a week for an online language class and £30 a week for 1:1 tutoring.
£30 a month for an in person science class and £25 a month for a distance learning D&T course.
£15 a month for gym/pool membership and maybe £30 for various after school/youth clubs.
Maybe a trip or workshop once a half term in the £10-£20 range.

I'd guess about £250 a month?

Is your home educated child going to sit exams? Like GCSEs or IB etc. If so are they at the correct educational attainments level to get decent grades? Or will they be?

And do your kids want to go to college/uni?

Thank you!

Yes, we're thinking of starting with a GCSE of interest next year, probably a science or environmental management. Maybe food tech the year after.
Then at 14 they can hopefully do a couple at college.
We're planning to leave maths & English language til last and sit them at 16.

So hopefully will end up with 6 GCSEs.

How do you know what to teach them?

I've recently watched Educating Yorkshire. If that is representative of the standard of secondary education in the UK, then even an average Home Education will be vastly superior in every single aspect of a child's life.

That really depends on what you want them to learn!

For us, in the early years (before aged 8 maybe) our emphasis was a solid understanding of maths, strong literacy skills (because if you have that you can study anything), a love of reading, curiosity and a desire to learn, and an understanding of the natural world.

And actually I'd add to that lots of uninterrupted play, socialising and creative opportunities.

I’ve not watched it but it is a tv show for entertainment purposes! That said, there are issues with the school system but these aren’t issues schools alone can fix, they’re societal.

Thank you. What would happen after the 6 GCSEs? Would they then do college followed by Uni? If so do you think it might be overwhelming for them? Or could it be positive as they are already used to independent study.

We haven't thought that far ahead yet.