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 ?

I'm not someone who would be able to make a good job of home ed, but I love the idea of doing it, especially in KS1.

I work in a school and I think it would be entirely possible to teach everything the learn up to year 2 in much less time than it takes in school, and not being at school would leave loads of time to learn other things.

It would be great to be able to choose topics suited to your own children and then be able to build all of their other learning around it, with the exception of maths probably. You'd be able to visit places and make the most out of the educational opportunities surrounding them which I think can be missed in schools when they do trips because of the formal literacy etc they have to do. And if you had enough money you could introduce them to lots of other classes like music and sports clubs, activities like scouts etc. I like the idea of them learning in real life situations, so learning about maths through household budgeting and cooking.

I'm talking about checking that children who've reached the age where receiving an education is a requirement are accessing acceptable educational opportunities. I don't think it's at all unreasonable to suggest that parents should have to evidence what is being provided at home to fulfil this requirement. I said nothing about under fives as formal education is not required by law.

ilovesooty you said that "the LA should be monitoring for safe guarding purposes if nothing else".

"I'm talking about checking that children who've reached the age where receiving an education is a requirement are accessing acceptable educational opportunities" that not happening in school is one of the reasons parents turn to home ed.

And "it leaves them open to abuse and neglect". I did not read that as referring only to educationally.

ilovesooty so what happens to children before the age of five then, are you suggesting that they should all be 'monitored' at home simply because they are not in a school system yet and therefore open to abuse and not thriving? Should all prospective parents be assessed before they have children?

That is ridiculous! It is entirely different. The law says that children have to be educated, it does not say it is has to be in school. They do not have to be in school before 5 years therefore no one needs to check on the education. After 5 years it should be monitored with evidence given.
It isn't about 'abuse and not thriving', that is a job for social services if there is cause for concern. They need to be monitored to check that they are getting a good standard of education and that the parent isn't letting them do what ever they like and then wetly trying to justify it. It is quite simple to keep them off commuter games, simply make them earn it by doing maths, English, Science etc first. No work-no computer games.

As an aside it doesn't actually appeal to many people. A tiny proportion of children are privately educated, a tiny proportion go to grammar schools and an even tinier proportion are home educating. Over 90% of parents use the state system.

Personally I would find home schooling the very last thing I would want to do. The only time I would have considered it would be if my child was extremely unhappy or bullied and the problem couldn't be sorted out. But then I worked because we needed the money so home schooling wouldn't really have been an option for us.

Reasons why, that I’ve come across range from:
Desire for a different way of life, desire for a different way of learning, freedom of family life, disliking standardised one size fits all education, teachers feeling they could offer better for their own, desire to change generational educational failure.

Exhaustion and detrimental effect of school on child, child’s relationship with (triplet) siblings and younger ones suffering because of lack of achievement with school publically comparing, difference of opinion on ability and potential of child, getting damaged by peer values, alternative to formal exclusion on record.

Lack of school choices, lack of any place, lack of place at specific faith school, failing school or failing at school, removal of local school, school politics interfering with efficient education, severe bullying issues, school pushing/encouraging removal.

Need for a tailored education to allow a talent to be nurtured, need for a tailored education to allow SN barriers to be overcome, desire to further study a subject their school’s disallowing regardless of importance or interest. (last one’s older students)

Some were combinations, rather than one thing, some all children, some one or more h.e. while the other/s used school/s.

If someone home edding wants their child/ren to learn ‘all the correct syllabus for different subjects’ ie follow state guidance for a school education syllabus, because there's no such thing as a 'correct' syllabus, then they look up the national curriculum and provide that.

The poster who said no one should leave feeling they were shit at school’s spot on. While I’ve never come across it as a reason for HE’ing, one of the nice side effects is the ability for a less educated parent to finally educate themselves alongside.

Far from the first here or over there, education's very empowering, but it put a smile on my face this morning:
www.coloradonewsday.com/national/39477-move-over-van-wilder-72-year-old-college-graduate-proves-it-s-never-too-late-to-follow-your-dream.html

If children are doing no formal education at home and the activity is not checked it leaves them open to abuse and neglect.Not everyone is from a caring involved family where the education gets picked up by osmosis. That's why I think some form of monitoring and inspection is necessary.

^^This is what you said ilovesooty

You are saying that if HE children are not monitored then that leaves them open to abuse and neglect.

A child's education starts from the moment they are born. Learning to eat, talk, walk etc. Learning isn't just something that miraculously starts when they turn 5. So therefore why should they be more open to abuse and neglect from this age?

I'd love to try it. Flexibility is main reason why.

ilovesooty you said that "the LA should be monitoring for safe guarding purposes if nothing else"

I read it as 'safeguarding a decent education'.

How about them being "left open to abuse and neglect"?

If a child required to be at school doesn't appear there I don't think it's acceptable to take the parent's word that HE is taking place without checking it out. I think it's necessary to ensure proper standards of education and that the child is not being prevented from attending school against his/her will. Whether anyone thinks educational standards in school are acceptable they are subject to monitoring
and inspection. And it's not exactly unknown for children to be pulled out of formal schooling for reasons such as forced marriage.

But who decides what standard of English or maths a child of whatever age/stage should be at? How do you determine if their education is at a 'suitable' level?

I don't want to stray much into reasons not to HE... but re the social thing:

Many HErs I know have strong views on mainstream society values (they reject them). They may want strongly to pass these views onto their children, and like all of us, tend to pass on their own prejudices unconsciously, anyway. As a result, if you've HE'd precisely because you want to reduce your DC exposure to the "wrong" values, then it's not surprising that your kids tend to feel out of place when mixing with more conventional kids and their value systems which may seem so unfamiliar or expressly undesirable according to your parents (and their heavy influence in your life).

Also, if you live a very different lifestyle that goes well with HE (such as travellers), then your kids don't have the regular weekly participation in clubs (scouts etc.). So even when they do make it to club, the other kids don't know where to place them socially except as "I know them but not one of my usual friends." So the other kids aren't very friendly because they are more engaged with their regular friends. This contributes to social isolation for the HE kid.

I know HE doesn't have to work out like that, but lots of things that make HE appealing contribute to the risk of things going that way.

Maybe fine for some kids who were never going to be social butterflies, anyway.

ilovesooty If a child is in school and the parent decides to home educate they have to remove them from the school roll (in writing). It is not just a question of them not turning up one day and assuming they are HEing.

You have still not justified your accusation that HE children are 'left open to abuse and neglect' which I personally find extremely insulting.

School is not the default form of education. Parents can choose to send their children to school, rather than choose not to (in a legal sense).

Children who never enter the school system are not known to the LA, it's only if you remove them. So if we're talking about children being "left open to abuse and neglect", is it not more likely that those children are the ones NOT known to the LA? Or maybe those families would be more likely to already be on the radar of SS before schooling even becomes relevant.

Maybe there should be more monitoring of HE, but the people doing the monitoring would have to have a full understanding that the NC is not the only way.

I also believe that grading children based on what facts they can recall is not the best way to decide if that child is receiving a suitable education or not.

I have justified it. See above. There are all sorts of reasons why children might not be at school and notice of home education in writing does not ensure the child's safety automatically.

People are also forced into HE by a mainstream school system that is unable to accommodate them. Please believe there's a lot of that about, especially when a child has SN. Believe me this is not how I saw our life panning out but we just get on with it. I don't reject MS society values I just place my child's ability to function healthily above them.

Neither does being in school ensure that the child is not being abused or neglected.

Home schooled ds1 for a year (year 2)
We really enjoyed it.
It's hard work though and I had a 15 month old too at the time.
I would do it again if needed.

ilovesooty I was 'in school' until I was sixteen. I was sexually and physically abused by my own family throughout my childhood. No-one in school noticed.