Home-schoolers, how are you finding everyone's comments about children needing to get back to school?

[CurtainWitcher]

I'm just wondering how you're finding the worries about school closures and children missing out on education and socialisation etc?

I don't home school but I have friends who do and they're annoyed by it. They feel that children being at home is the right way to do things. Their DC are 9 years old and 12 years old, if that matters.

Has anyone's comments made you think twice about home schooling?

My DC isn't old enough but no, it wouldn't. It's your friend's choice but I personally value the learning social interaction can bring. Especially with those from different households meaning a multitude of different backgrounds.

No, I wouldn't either, but I'm asking people who ARE home-schoolers. I'm intrigued after discussing it with my friend.

Why is she annoyed? She must know that most parents choose to send their children to school and that they consider that way of learning is best, just as she thinks differently.

Also does she have a job outside the home?

I'm keen to get my DCs back to school because they're having to ineffectively shaddow the school curriculum and don't have any social interractions beyond our household.

If I made a decision to home educate in normal circumstances, my DCs would still have access to a range of social groups and activities and we could be free to follow a more child-centred approach to learning.

Criticism of this shaddow of state education is not a reflection of well thought out, well resourced home learning.

I don’t see why anyone who has chosen to homeschool would be bothered by other people’s desire to have schools opened. Or make them think twice. The homeschoolers I know are generally very “live and let live” and agree there are loads of “right” ways to do things not just one way.

Surely home-schoolers aren’t trying to work full time at the same time? That makes a big difference, for me and my children

If they really can’t see that parents who have chosen school education for their kids want to get back to it and understand why that might be, I’d question whether they’re actually intelligent enough to educate children.

completely different really because homeschooling with socialisation and days out would be fine but as it stands homeschooling in lockdown is nasty.

I don't homeschool but this situation is different as children are not allowed to socialise with other children at the moment. I'm sure that homeschooled children usually get plenty of interaction with other children with playdates and such. But we can't do that right now. The only social interaction our children are currently allowed to do with other children is at school.

As for the education, again I'm presuming that parents who home school have good knowledge of the topics they teach their children. Me, I don't have any qualifications and I did terrible at school so I cannot properly educate my DS myself.

Really silly. It is completely different.

For starters, homeschooling parents have chosen that path, have time in their day to do it rather than doing it alongside working from home (presumably) have a reasonable knowledge of what their child needs to know, how to teach it and the resources needed (you'd hope) and most importantly a child who is used to learning this way and is a willing participant.

What people are doing at the moment is not really homeschooling, it is keeping up with work set by school or if none has been set it's often fumbling in the dark trying to educate themselves about education at the same time as teach their kids at the same time as doing their usual job/ childcare for siblings. Many children are not engaged with it. All children are out of their usual routine and missing out on the social interaction they usually get from school.

And on top of all this the main reason we need to get kids back to school is because they are receiving no education, very little parental input. Some are being neglected. Some have parents who are completely uninterested in them and place no value on their education. Some have parents who are really struggling with their mental or physical health.

Your friend has chosen to homeschool so her kids aren't kids we need to worry about (in the grand scheme of things I mean. I'm assuming she knows what she's doing)

There is a big difference between people who choose to homeschool full time and are set up to do this, and people who have chosen to send their children to school and suddenly have to try to keep up with their curriculum whilst often working full time. I am not sure why anyone who homeschools would be at bothered about the drive to 'get children back to school' since it doesnt apply to them

I didn't want to home educate, but my DS is 9 and his additional needs mean he hasn't had a full time school place for over 2 years now so I've been forced into since way before the current Covid crisis. When lockdown started, he was going to school for 1.5 hours, 3 days a week, and nobody really gave a flying fuck about it and we have had no support for finding a school that could meet his needs where he could attend full time.

So I'm slightly bitter about how all of a sudden it's deemed a matter of terrible urgency for children to all be back in full time school. This lack of education has been the norm for many thousands of disabled children for years and I hope everyone pushing for children to be back in school will continue to do so until all children in need of a full time school place have one.

I used to H.ed my dd, she went to a specialist school for secondary (gifted).
I find some of the comments and generalisations funny, many ill informed on threads. People who have never done it themselves making all sort of presumptions.
There are a few times I've wanted to shout BINGO when the usual well debunked arguments against H.ed come up.

Surely a lack of opportunities for children to socialize during lockdown is a concern for most parents though, regardless of whether their children attend school or are home educated? After all, most of the in-person clubs and activities available to the home education community will have also closed or moved online in the last few months.

If you are in the UK, it's called Home education, because it is a completely different concept to school. I believe it's Homeschool in the USA.
It's completely different to following the NC from home, during a pandemic.

What people are being forced to do because of the school closures and what people who actively chose to home school do are two entirely different things though. I’ve seen posts from full time home schoolers about how they’re desperate to get back to their normality with their groups and trips.

I can't bring myself to judge the school/not school thing.

I'm hoping parents aren't judging home education based on a shitty however many weeks of having to help your children keep up with school work while trying to keep up with your own work.

We've managed with not coming together several times per week for educational, academic and social activities. We've not been able to take advantage of any of the sports facilities, libraries, museums, country parks etc that keeps home education lively and varied.
This is not the home education we signed up for. It's a very poor one dimensional form of home education, with none of the support of our community that usually helps us to get through when it feels tough.
We've been lucky in a sense, that our children have managed to keep up with their friendships online, but it's a poor substitute for catching up face to face in their mixed age groups.

I'm very worried that my children are missing out on their normal life and I don't understand why anyone would pass judgement on parents of school children being equally as worried.

I think this question is wrong ?

Home schooling as a choice when you make the decision to do it and allocate time and resources is completely different to what is happening in many families where children are not being homeschooled as parents are trying to work.

If I didn't have to work full time I would love to homeschool but both my partner and I work full time and this is not an option.

I want my kids to go back to school as they are spending over 7 hrs a day on electronics as we have to work and can't home school.

why would someone be annoyed by another parents choice that has no impact on them?

Why would your home schooler friends be annoyed at parents who worry about their own children and wanting them back at school? It has nothing to do with them; sounds like their being defensive about their own choices when really, in this situation, are completely irrelevant.

I've been on both sides of this particular fence. I wouldn't be annoyed by it. Those who are normally at school, could do with going back.

Home schooling is a choice normally and it’s different at the moment. Normally home educating would involve getting out and about, going places, going to museums, zoos, play parks and socialising. It’s been walking round the same park and staying at home during this pandemic. And the parent presumably won’t be working full time or have major childcare issues if they usually home school. Many are at the moment. So what we are doing now isn’t usual home schooling.

I don't homeschool (under ordinary circumstances, I mean - well, I barely am now too), but my perception from homeschooling friends is that they want things back to normal too. This isn't 'homeschooling' and isn't want any of them do with their dc by homeschooling. Presumably they also want to return to classes and groups and day trips and all that stuff as well because children do need variety and socialisation (and most homeschooled children hopefully do get that). I would assume that parents who homeschool aren't working full-time jobs while they do it though, so hopefully they aren't as shit at it as I am.

I think the OP is wondering how home-schoolers (who have voluntarily chosen to educate their children at home, presumably not as part of a classroom) feel when listening to everyone else (read: some teachers, headteachers, govt ministers, other parents) talk about how being at home with parents for such a long length of time is harmful. It must feel at least slightly like an implied criticism.

I don't home-educate, for clarity - I want my children to not hate me and I'd be a right bitch if I had to try and teach them 5 days a week

If she’s annoyed by it I would suggest she has doubts about it herself or it wouldn’t matter. The two are completely different.