AIBU to think thisDy is setting her kids up for a big fall

[Sadoldbag]

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2520667/Unschooling-children

I think the daughter couldn't hack school due to not ever having to follow any rules

And this is not a new wave of parenting it's as old as time it's called bad parenting there have always been children and always will be who are allowed to do what ever.

Sadly these children tend to struggle when in any formal environment also I wonder why any parent who has no job due to there own lack of education would not want better for children

Homeschooling can be fantastic how ever I think these children are not getting the education or structure they have a right to

thename

We sound pretty similar in method, its nice to see it working for others.
At the moment dd is looking forward to starting a slavery project after xmas. This will probably take the form of watching Porgy and Bess, doing internet research and comparing different authors, listening to Billie Holiday and resulting in a very good standard of singing "Summertime".

Unschooling is generally viewed in the HE community to be removing a child from formal education and weaning them off the structured, formal style seen in most schools. It's not "a new philosophy that rejects traditional, curriculum-based, education in favour of letting children choose what they want to do".

It's not even new! I've known of both unschooling and the practice followed by the family in the article for at least 20 years.

I doubt very much if the children are learning only by "playing computer games and going for walks outside" either, although that may form part of their learning experiences.

The Daily Fail is an ass, looking for another way to promote it's own conservative, sheep following agenda.

yep life is all about minecraft and collecting feathers and stones she sounds lazy and not doing her children any favours what will she do when they cant get a job and how is she not fined for not educating them I thought if you home educated children you had do it through the LEA (is that not right) these childen are basically truanting,

You are talking absolute nonsense mrsjay. Truanting?

Did you know that you don't even have to register your child for school if you don't want to? If you don't you won't hear anything from the LEA. Every parent in this country is allowed to home educate their child if they wish to, legally. That is their right. The law states that an education must be provided but makes no stipulation on what form that must take and you do not have to follow the National Curriculum and it does not have to be structured.

You may engage with your local LEA if you wish to, but legally you do not have to.

Your post is a perfect example of the kind of limited and ignorant attitudes home educators come across daily while they perfectly legally educating their children. Are you really so totally closed off that you cannot consider other options and the fact that the blunt tool that is "school" may not always be the right educative solution for many children.

What pissed me off the most was the bit where it quoted 'Why have kids if you dont want to spend time with them/be with them'

So because I have to work and my dd goes to school it means that I dont love her. Seriously the woman sounded lazy and deluded.

Mrsjay

As others have said but also, although I have no idea what minecraft consists of I have seen it recommended by several H.ed parents I respect. They were able to link it to many skills and topics and outcomes in the n.c
It is apparently a very effective tool for engaging children, obviously I can't confirm this as dd has never done this.

I've not read all of the comments.
And I think that the article was badly edited, it doesn't mention any of the research about this way of life and learning, and it doesn't mention all of the socialisation opportunities 'unschooled' children have.
Still a badly edited, scare mongering article is hardly anything new to the Daily Mail is it?
Why let the truth get in the way of a good story?

I home educated in this way...all the way through our younger three's teenage years until they chose to go to college and then university.I have also parented in a more conventional style-and sent the child to school, all the way through. The younger three were all in school until in response to their deep unhappiness I searched frantically for an alternative and found out about home education....then gradually we were led to unschooling and radical unschooling.
For us all this has been a much happier and much more successful way of life and educating them.
The children were out and about in the real world every day, with a social life that was the envy of their schooled peers and cousins.

I run workshops at festivals about this style of education, and know personally hundreds of formerly unschooled young people now, all doing very well indeed in employment and self employment, in college or at university.
The universities they are at include a high proportion of what are considered to be very good universities across the country-and the subjects studied include Psychology, Maths, Sociology and Social Policy, Photographic Journalism, Music, Economics, IT and Philosophy, Law, Medicine and Veterinary Science.

I am not criticising other people's choices. Parents are best placed, almost always, to make an informed choice what is best for their family at any given time.
I'm aware it's not the usual path for education...and school suits some children. But for some children and families, home education and sometimes this style of informal living and learning provides a legal viable alternative.

Dr Alan Thomas did a short interview for us, based on his research here in the UK, about this informal yet efficient education.

If anyone is genuinely interested to find out more about home education for their family, I am happy to discuss it further.
Do come and join us on the Home Education Section, or send me a PM if you want to talk off forum

What pissed me off the most was the bit where it quoted 'Why have kids if you dont want to spend time with them/be with them'

I do agree with that nickname and firmly believe any decision taken for your children should be in their best interests, not yours. So keeping kids home because you want to be with them is wrong. However as I said upthread, it's the DM so taking the details with a mahoosive pinch of salt.

My quote "why have children if you don't want them around was in response to "most peoples response to our life choices" example:: Your brave I can't wait to get my children to go out to school for a rest and peace & quiet. Our children are out of school through choice (Their) choice. I would never force anything on my children.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=nlh73LcBM5E check out how lazy we are! All I do it watchminecraft & walk with my children. Our life is far more exciting than the dailyfails story. Sorry to awaking the asleep people but theres ALWAYS more to a people than a story ;)

Pretty much anyone who grew up in Hull in the 70s would remember "Country Dancing"

Do-si-do!

YABU. They don't need GCSE's or A-levels to get into University if that is what they want to do. Many Home Educated children enter University based on interview.

Yeah right.

I have had no formal visits and can't see why they would want to. By law I don't have to and won't allow them into my home...they can make their own judgements just as you all have :)

Unschooling is fine.Peopleseem to get their knickers in a twist about literacy and numeracy not being taught in a structured formal way, but it's simply not true, they learn these things through normal day to day life in the same way they learned to walk and to talk.

Yes, it is right Santana. Students amass a portfolio of study they've acquired on their chosen subject, and attend an interview. They gain a place because they love what they're doing and want to learn more, to the extent of studying law at Oxbridge.

I think home schooling might be ok at primary school level, as most reasonably educated parents could cover the important aspects, but unless a child has special educational needs I don't agree with home schooling at secondary school level as I think too hard for the parents to cover the curriculum, plus its important socially to go to school.

My nephew was home schooled, then decided to go to school at age 15, was accepted in his year, more advanced in some things and a bit behind in others, he went on to get a Master's Degree and has had a really responsible job for many years. Not many people who have gone through the entire school system can boast of such achievements.

I think home schooling in this fashion, would suit some kids, and not others. I loved learning as a kid and would have followed my interests and learned loads. Some kids though are lazier and their interests are TV and computer games. It wouldn't work with them.

They might get into University on the basis of an interview to read certain subjects. It will not get you into a science degree

Well the only 14 year old I know who already has a degree is a home educated one!

And it's a science based one

How did she manage to do the lab work to get a place to study a science degree?

Maybe at the university you are head of admissions for Grennie but, I know that at others they will allow you to pay for a 101-type module as an entry test and assess your suitability on your results in that.

I had a mixed education and for me, state school was the place I learnt the least, had the least amount of positive social interactions, and I'm glad my parents didn't force me to attend for too long or I might have either really gone off the rails or seriously hurt myself out of desperation.

I achieved a first class BA with honours (and the highest results the astonished guy in the registry office had ever seen when I went in to chat about an incorrect entry in my records), so I'm glad to say that homeschooling didn't negatively impact on my university prospects.

I only wish I were in the right circumstances to homeschool my own child as I'm sure DD would be doing better outside of the state system but we all have to work with the situation we're in as parents.

I apologise Noodle, I didn't know that. But does that mean in the entry test there is never any lab work to get into a science degree?

How on earth is it lazy parenting to give that commitment to your child's education? Seams far lazier to me to let someone else do it.

I know I couldn't,

the vast majority of HE families go through a significant period of settling in or unschooling,what the article describes is not really unschooling as we use the term in the uk it's more like autonomous education this is a perfectly valid and acceptable form of education and is accepted as such by the LA.

Going for a walk finding interesting stuff asking questions about them then getting home and using books or the net to find out more is very different to just finding rocks and feathers (said with a cats bum face)

Most of the HE kids I know whose educators follow this method tend to have more qualifications at an earlier age than school educated children they also tend to be able to regulate themselves more effectively, there is quite a lot of research about that agrees with my thoughts on the matter