Anyone thinking of switching to home ed after this?

[woollylizard]

Interested to know if this bout of forced homeschooling is inspiring anyone to take their kids out of school after the pandemic has passed?

I imagine for most people it's a 'HELL NO' but I was intrigued as to whether it has inspired anyone and whether the rates of home ed will increase dramatically after this?

Yes, one of my children is visibly more relaxed and coping better outside of school and permission to not attend has worked for them.

I would not do it all myself though, I would use specialist tutors and/or online school. I am not looking to teach secondary in every waking hour!

Hell no.
11yr old DD won't even do mathletics. And she's incredibly good at maths at school.

Absolutely not! I would maybe consider it more if DD(6) was still an only child, but no way with toddler DS(1) as well. She would probably suit it in a way as she's more comfortable with adult company, but she would (does!) miss her friends. Academically we would be okay if we had all the right materials.

But I would likely go insane. Maybe if we could go out and about it would be different, I would enjoy that aspect of it. But being inside with them all day and trying to keep them both occupied and happy is a struggle.

not in a million years

No, this has only made me more determined to push my career further so that we don’t end up in a position where I am forced to.

My DS was excluded for 3 (separate) weeks recently, he's 8 and very socially isolated anyway. Being excluded is a lot like being on lockdown as you aren't allowed to go out in public (though we did go to the play park across the road).

He really needs constant social interaction (little and often) and this is doing him no favours. If we home educated, not only would I not be able to do my job, but also he wouldn't get that because home education groups are too informal - he needs very tight routines, and to see the same faces at school day in and day out.
Plus he needs other adults, again daily.

What’s happening now isn’t home ed, it’s guided learning.

We are all enjoying it at the moment, however the reality would be quite different without teachers setting work online.

I almost started a thread, to ask if those people who glibly suggest homeschooling, when a poster has an issue with school, will still do so after this!

Not unless I can afford to give up work and do it properly ... what a lot of us are doing is frantically juggling to fit in full time working from home plus entertaining/educating the kids ... it's exhausting doing two full time jobs

I never thought I'd say this but yes. It's very unlikely that I will do so but since I've had a taste of it, getting started is not as difficult as I expected. I'd only do it with my youngest who is primary school, and in one of the shittiest classes ever. Every day I'd go to pick her up wondering what the hell had happened that day - had she been hurt again, told to fuck off, had her property destroyed, had something sexual said to her. She's enjoying homeschooling too. Obviously there's a novelty to it too.
The oldest one is happy in secondary so I'd leave her there.

I'm not working now so I'd have time but I hate it and have no patience with them. The best they have done is with the worksheets they brought home from school. Anything extra suggested on the school website is a flat refusal from my children.

They need the structure of proper school and crucially, they need to be taught outside the home by someone other than their own mother and who has any clue what they are doing.

Fuck no

Honestly if I didn’t need school for the childcare that enables me to go to work to provide for my family then yes I’d homeschool.

Homeschooling isn’t being stuck in all day though.

Definitely yes.
We were going to before my child started reception but I bottled it.

My youngest is due to start school in September and his brother year 2. We aren't sending them back.

My 6 year old daughter is loving learning from home and really doing well but she's possibly on the spectrum and really needs peers to learn from too . My 15 year old son is severely autistic and I thought he would struggle but he's enjoying being home but definitely not learning anything so it's a no from me x

No. I'm fine with giving DS the worksheets we've been sent but he wouldn't progress without school! He's very academic. As bright as a button and most of that is down to his school being so brilliant with him, challenging him and teaching him what he knows so far. He'd forever be stuck doing the same Year 4 work with me! So no, definitely not!

Massively depends on your child as well...I'd rather home educate a well behaved primary aged child than an unruly teenager.

My ds is 12 and is full of attitude and back chat. I honestly think I'd lose my mind if I was doing this permanently. I've already been called a fat cow this morning.

Hell no. And my eldest has only just started nursery 😳 he's been in crèche two mornings a week since he was 2 then started preschool last month. Having the two of them day in ,day out is fucking relentless. Plus he had ASD. I'm not a teacher, especially for SEN.

We both work so, no. Our age range is from toddler to teen in this house and even if I wasn’t working, I wouldn’t want to teach such an age range myself. Luckily my kids adore school, I feel for people who have to make it work at home as school does not suit their children. It’s a lot of work to get right.

formerbabe do you think that's a response to the intense situation or is that normal for him?

I'm an ex secondary school teacher and have a nearly 13 year old son and nearly 15 year old daughter and the % of 12 year olds who'd speak to an adult like that under normal circumstances is tiny.

My primary school child isn't naughty exactly but is best compared to a kitten and vastly harder to keep on task than the teen/ nearly teen.

What I really miss the most is listening to the radio. I used to listen to it all day but I can't now as my DC can't work with distractions in the background.

I'm amazed at how much more relaxed DS is not going to school (he's in prep/ school nursery). If I could home school after this I would, probably until he's 7 or 8. He's much happier not going to school. Unfortunately we can't pay our bills if I don't work.

@BlindAssassin1 check out MathAntics on YouTube. Loads of excellent maths videos for explaining concepts. They have really helped DD when she's forgotten how to do something and I'm not sure how to best explain it. Also, it seems to come better from someone else rather than me!!

I wouldn't mind home education except that I am a huge introvert so doing lots of social groups would be very stressful for me. I also enjoy being in work and the extra income is very welcome.

As pp said, there's a big difference between usual home schooling and what's happening now. It's one thing to guide your child through the timetabled lessons and resources from school that are being devised and marked by a teacher, and actuly setting it all up yourself. I know there are a lot groups and tutors etc that can be accessed but to use this experience is a guide to what it would be like would be misleading I think.

It's a no from me.
My teen is really suffering and unable to motivate to do any work.
I'm really worried about her MH.