Why does home schooling appeal ?

[SeptemberFlowers]

I myself would be far to scared to do it with my dc's as I'd be needing to reach for the most weekends of having to teach them curricular that I was shit at at school.

Why does it appeal to so many people ? There are a few children in the next village (live in a rural location) who are HE but only because their mother doesn't trust other adults with her children. I know this an extreme case but the only one I know personally.

How would you know your child is learning all the correct syllabus for different subjects ?

Well, I'm sorry but will have to disagree on this one.
I know so many mc families who openly have their dcs schools, subjects and profession worked out for them.

H.ed was a way of allowing dd to follow the path she chooses to take, irrespective of what a school may require of her, or we as her parents.
Her subjects won't be dictated to her apart from Maths and English as they are a necessary for life. She will be able to choose what GCSE's she wants to do freely, from all those on offer. No school can afford such free choice.

I know for certain she will decide to continue with H.ed if she decides against the only school she would ever choose.
All her choices and decisions are her own, why wouldn't any parent want this for their child?

Mellow, sorry, been at work.

The point I was making about being a mature student was about whether the university got anything out of me over and above the bare requirements of my course, and whether they got less than they would have got more out of a non-mature student who did the same course - or less than my first university got from having me as a student at 18+.

To me, it is absolutely obvious that, while I gained the qualification i needed FROM the university, I gave very little back to them in comparision to my 18 year old self. Sports teams? No. Clubs? No. JCR-type committees? No. Alumni relations or showing prospective new stdents round? No. Interesting discussions with tutors around the fringes of lectures? No. Voluntary work? No. Endless hours in the lab to ensure I got my first? No. Would almost any 18 year old have brought more to the wider university than I did as a mature student? Oh yes. Within the confines of my course, I was dedicated, always on time, all requirements completed, all lectures attended, all debates entered into. As soon as the bell went? Home time, with children to collect. The slight advantage I brought to the course as a mature student has all been to MY benefit - I am a better teacher than I would have been as my 18 year old self. Very little to the university.

teacher

I know exactly what you are saying. All my education started in my 30's and when I looked around at the youngsters on the various courses i did, they were far more committed to the university side of things. Likewise, I was dedicated to the course, often more so than the younger ones. Always on time, worked hard to get good results and wasn't socialising in the campus pub with others, all night
I suppose you could sum it up as went, did the work, came home.

We did Home Ed for a couple of years but we felt DS1 would benefit from learning science in school. He went back in year 7, moved into top groups for all subjects and is doing well. However his progress has slowed in several areas and he certainly isn't be challenged in most.

So although, the reasons we chose to Home ed were mostly academic (and I think we have been proven right in his case) there were other reasons.

I think education is the most powerful agent for ideology, the purpose of which is to mould free thinkers into box tickers. Individual teachers may of course be aware of this and try to compensate, but ultimately education is the place where free people are made unfree. To conform to manners, culture, beliefs and behave in ways that are predictable and functional to the reproduction of labour.

The one benefit that I think our short period of Home ed has had on both DC is that they think critically, outside of the box, challenge others incl adults. In fact I am happy for them to be wary of authority, although both of them are well behaved and happy in school.

I have been reading the last couple of pages. Actually, commander has rather a substantial point.

Home-education can work very well. Sometimes, it is the only option, due to bullying, for example. But it is not guaranteed to work.

However, it is not guaranteed to work out, and if you, as a home-educating parent, are going to be blasé about fucking it up and lumbering your child with having to do fast-track A-levels in sixth-form/FE-college, then have a dictionary of obscene language.

I was actually put in that position, and it's not actually fun or easy. Even if you did it in Latin. Some people can fast-track particular A-levels. Some people can't. The people who can't don't get born with sticky labels warning you they can't when they're born, so prob best not to bank on it, eh? For your child's sake?

Try doing it across several subjects. Every single GCSE I have had to be done in nine months or less. I am still catching up on the education I didn't have.

And no, 17 year olds don't get accepted to do science degrees at top universities on "inventing" something or "publishing papers". I suggest a browse through UCAS and thestudentroom.com.

Off the top of my head, routes towards a science degree are A-levels, Access courses or (depending on university) doing OU modules and transferring the credits.

My life

My life would be very different if I had gone to school.

And no, 17 year olds don't get accepted to do science degrees at top universities on "inventing" something or "publishing papers". I suggest a browse through UCAS and thestudentroom.com.

Thank you theBigJessie-I wasn't coming back but my mind is still boggling over how a child 'picks up science for themselves' with parents who left school at 15yrs, having not done science and they don't have access to labs, bunsen burners etc or even someone to explain how to conduct an experiment and yet they manage, before the age of 17yrs to write a scientific paper that impresses people at a university within the top 10 in the world enough to give a place!! Or they invent something!!!
Cloud cuckoo land indeed.
In your place I would be highly annoyed at the wasted time.

I have noted that the Guardian link was was for an article written over 13 yrs ago. I have also looked into Paula Roth

Sorry-posted too soon. I have looked into Paula Rothermel who wrote the report and I would say her methods were very dubious.

I can imagine my mother posting some of the stuff in this thread, as I heard it from her directly as a child. Problem is, my mother has absolutely No Fucking Idea of how science works (she once argued with me over whether there was a difference betwwn chemistry and biology), or the scientific method, so as far as she's concerned, all you need to do to publish a decent scientific paper is use long words.

morethan. But you sort of lost 30 years of your life.

TheBigJessie. I feel for you.

Home Ed seem to think that they broaden their child's horizons. They may in a little way, but think of all the 1000's of ways that they restrict it and narrow it.

I could never home ed, and I do admire those who do. Giving up 18 years to home ed a child surely means giving up on a career too, or do people manage to combine the two?

www.theguardian.com/education/2013/aug/19/how-to-get-into-university-without-alevels

Guardian good enough ?

www.manchester.ac.uk/undergraduate/howtoapply/entry-requirements/qualifications/

Manchester prestigious enough - at the bottom if you need help

Tamer, That's interesting. I had wondered about the sampling and methodology - for example did it select only from 'declared, known to the system' Home Edders, and not include those who are 'under the radar' (many of the latter are, of course, providing a great education for their children, but it is perhaps also where the groups referred to upthread who use HE as a cover for 'non education' are found)? And were the test findings replicated for all age groups, all the way up through school, or only for the younger children quoted in the report? Also, were tests administered in the same way as in schools?

A casual Google reveals
"When one looks closely at her [Rothermel's] work one finds that the literacy tests were not conducted under controlled conditions as they are in schools. She posted them out to parents, who then did them unobserved with their children."

commander

I started H.ed in sept 2012, hardly 30 years what do you mean?

TamerB - My cloud cookoo land friends include a 20 year old now at Cambridge, he got in on the basis of a marine Biology paper he wrote between 15 and 17 whilst being home edded on a island with very little in the way of resources. Unfortunately I can't link as him amd his family were not comfortable with publicity.

Today I had lunch with a friend who's Home Edds her grandson - He will get his highly technical degree from the OU just after his 15th birthday , he will also qualify as a pilot on this 17th Birthday ( he already has the requisite hours but 17 is the legal age )

But hey ho - Some people have closed minds and an inability to use google :)

But on your first link, he alread had 2 AS.

Then after a few years, he had to do a foundation year before the degree.
He may as well have gone down the conventional route and done the 1 more year of A levels! And he would have had more than just 1.
As I have said, restriction, restriction.
And he had left his peers
The plus point was that he had a cv and worked.

Maybe the whole point of Home Ed [not counting those who do it because of SN] is just to be different?
Just be mindful of TheBigJessie's posts.

morethan. I was meaning you personally. You said that "all my education started in my 30s'"

Yes, I forgot about foundation years. But let's note that your Guardian article features someone doing English Literature and someone doing a degree with the aim of being a journalist, as well as someone doing Environmental Science. (Which is a course sometime pilloried). It is not Chemistry or Engineering at Imperial College London, is it?

If you have followed a non-standard educational route,eghaving been educated at home, your application will be considered against the standard entry criteria of the coursefor which you are applying. You will be required to demonstrate that you meet the specified academic entry requirementsof the course.

Rather damning against you, Mellow.

teacherwith2kids - considering how many schools have been caught fiddling sats its a bit rich ;)

Non-standard educational routes eg home-schooled students
If you have followed a non-standard educational route, eg having been educated at home, your application will be considered against the standard entry criteria of the course for which you are applying. You will be required to demonstrate that you meet the specified academic entry requirements of the course. We will also require a reference from somebody who knows you well enough, in an official capacity, to write about you and your suitability for higher education.

I take it to mean you have to have the academic standard not the actual qualifications - but I could very well be wrong

My father says he got in to Cambridge on the basis of his essay on the history of the Palestinean situation. I think the A-levels still had something to do with it. (No, I wasn't brought up by him- my parents split up before I was born.)

So the fact that 100% of all children in a study directly quoted as pretty much the only quantitative research on the success of Home Ed took tests under utterly uncontrolled conditions doesn't worry you?

I plan to home educate for a year at some point, in conjunction with travel. I want my children to have an unconventional, elite education (i.e. questioning/hands-on) as a complement to a classical/traditional experience.