to ask if you would consider home education?

[SundayBea]

Have read a lot of articles recently on how the numbers in home education have 'exploded' and it's on the rise by 80% a year apparently. I know of three families I think quite highly of, two of whom are ex-teachers whose children have never been to school and their children seem to be having an exceptional upbringing and education with so many fantastic experiences and opportunities. Also know of two other families who have withdrawn their children from school because of problems with their respective schools and I'm less certain of how successful it is going to be for them. Also know of several colleagues and DH's cousin who have DC under 5 who are debating not registering them when the time comes. Is this a big thing now or is it just coincidence I know of so many families like this? I was just wondering what the general consensus was.. when I mentioned socialisation one of my ex-teacher friends showed me the Facebook group she is in for her local home education community and I was amazed at the plethora of groups, classes, meet ups and outings with hundreds of members.. just for her local county! Have been debating with DP what to do about schooling at private school is unfortunately out of the question on our current salaries.. I'm now feeling like I've discovered a whole new option I hadn't considered? Sorry if this is rambling, only getting a 5 minute lunch break today!

Oh and I am currently studying for a degree. One of my modules was in childhood literature and we did a fair bit of that together. Not the essays but he watched the relevant programmes and listened to the audios with me and we discussed it a lot. I was surprised by his insight to be honest. So you could say in some ways he was working at degree level.

I wouldn't home educate my child just the same as I wouldn't take their tonsils out. I am not a qualified teacher and feel that whilst home ed is fine up to a certain age there comes a point where the parents knowledge funnels down to what they are most interested in and confident in rather than what the child may need or want.

No- one has the necessary skills and knowledge in the 8 or 10 subjects (or less/more) that you would want to take at GCSE. whether we like it or not, you cant get into uni, college or some jobs without the bits of paper qualifications. Senior schools recognise this. they have subject teachers. how can one or two parents even without support from friends/co educators replicate this.

I also think children really miss out on some of the important life lessons like doing things you don't like, sitting still, behaving with others.

I have known at least a dozen families who home ed and honestly their kids just come across to other kids as a bit weird.

I completely understand why parents who have kids with challenging behaviours or illness do it but am completely baffled by those who don't.

its also my experience that the parents who choose this for their kids have often had the benefit of a good state education/college/uni themselves.

I think home ed denies this and for every one child that you can say "see home ed and in uni/good job" there are proportionally more than in main stream education that aren't.

Nickifury - no he wasn't working at degree level. honestly, if he was in mainstream schooling you would have a better cohort of intelligence to judge against. its this sort of comment that makes me so anti home ed. Of course you think hes wonderful, hes your child but come back to me when he has a fistful of GCSE and A levels from home edding.

Its like all those parents with toddlers who honestly believe theirs is the most intelligent in the world for sorting the shapes and reaching their milestones early. only difference is this goes on until they are teenagers because you cannot compare milestones without a proper cohort.

home ed is a choice. if you are going to make it you have to ask the questions about exams, uni, college and jobs before making that decision.

I considered it as the local school isn't very good, but figured I'd be much better off financially by working and sending the kids to private school. The private school costs a lot less compared to what I'd lose if I gave up work altogether.

There's a statistic widely quoted that cites that approximately 50% of mainstream educated kids go on to further education whilst close to 75% of home educated ones do. I'll try to dig out the source when I have more time.

Whether that's true or not, I'd suggest it's fair to say that home ed kids tend to come from more affluent middle class backgrounds where one parent can afford to take time out of work, and the nature/nurture link between such a background educational outcomes is well documented.

Certainly for primary level education from an academic standpoint, there's a plethora of teaching resources available to home educators, directly tied to curriculum which make that a non-issue. Likewise social groups and sports clubs.

At the end of the day, I think it comes down to how smoothly you can interact with your child in a learning capacity. If it works for you then I find it impossible to see how a 1:20+ teaching ratio in mainstream schooling can ever create a richer academic development environment than a 1:1 home schooling environment tailored to the individual.

I'm doing it, originally planned for 6 months to bridge schools, and I was terrified to begin with. I'm now planning to extend because although my son was top of his class in mainstream schooling, his academic progress (including, crucially, love of learning) has just skyrocketed.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do OP it's a big decision

I don't agree with you Mummymeister and it's lucky for my son that I don't or he'd still be being forced into school until his mental health completely broke down and I lost him entirely. I love how you present your opinion as absolute certainly though, despite not knowing my son or anything at all about his conditions apart from what I have shared here.

I believe we have discussed this before and once again you display the same concrete thinking and limited view point that GCSE's and A'Levels achieved at the right place in the right order are the only possible way for a child to achieve.

Your final sentence dismissing all the HE families you know as being "weird" (how many is that by the way?) convinces me that your opinions hold very little weight and that you are possibly prejudiced for some reason, because I know literally hundreds of HE families here in London and I can think of one "weird" family and I really had to mull it over before I could even come up with them. Do you work in education? I am wondering if your prejudices arises from the fact that you can't put HE kids into boxes and they actually make your job less straightforward because they do not follow the previously mentioned narrow and inflexible route to success that YOU deem essential.

Finally I am disgusted at your dismissal as "weird" of all home educating families when you consider that many of them are forced down that route due to lack of available or suitable school places and and a considerably high percentage of them have additional needs that mean they will never achieve in the mainstream education route that you dictate as the only means possible.

By the way, if you use curriculum-tied programs and assessments then you'll be sure that your child is always on track for exams and entry back into mainstream ed whenever you choose. I must say I'm a very structured home educator and not the cuddly fluffy type!

I contemplated it briefly for DD2. Her school made two errors with allergies that could have killed her and I lost faith in them. Thankfully the HT changed and the new HT was one who basically swooped in and made a lot of changes.

I think I could have done a good job with her for primary school. Secondary age would have been very different. I'm also not sure how it would have gone with DD1 - I don't know if she'd have become a school refuser if her sister was (in her mind) getting to stay at home all day.

I think it would have been a little bit isolating in my area as there are no HE groups that are less than an hour drive away. It just doesn't seem to be a thing here. DH's cousin HE's her three kids and has done an amazing job so far. They are part of a busy HE group who all seem to pull together and the children are all well adjusted and the younger kids certainly never struggle with the DD's maths or spelling homework while they are here (we do spellings as I'm preparing dinner and cousin's kids join in - it's not that I throw 'proper' homework at them when they visit!). Her eldest is at college now and it doesn't seem to have held him back one iota.

I thought it was much harder these days for HE children to be entered in to exams, and harder to get Universities to accept them without them? I know that did not used to be the case.

I think education should be about giving children choices about what they want to do with their life. i would not want to cut off any choices or make them harder.

Of course you think hes wonderful, hes your child but come back to me when he has a fistful of GCSE and A levels from home edding.

My oldest (mainly) HEed DC has just added an Oxford offer to their string of As and As Meister*. Will that do?

You do realise that you are being incredibly rude about people's children on the basis of no knowledge of those children whatsoever?

Agree newyear. We are currently working towards that now as ds had developed a real fear of "education" and was very resistant towards anything that looked remotely like "school". He won't go back to school but expresses a wish to go into further education and do a degree etc. His Ed Psych seems to see this as a viable option as long as he is supported.

DD has had some difficulties at school over the years and I think she only managed to work through them because she knew she had my full support to leave if she needed to. I am full of admiration for her resilience under some difficult conditions. She is now in year 12 and finally finding some stability.

fidel - How did you manage to enter your DC for exams?

The HE families I know are the kind who don't believe in directing their learning. I seriously doubt they will achieve any exams.

Only if the choice was that or private school.

No way generally.

I thought it was much harder these days for HE children to be entered in to exams, and harder to get Universities to accept them without them? I know that did not used to be the case.

There are several different ways around it cleaty.

Ok I have several friends who HE, and when it was changed I remember lots of facebook posts about this issue. I suspect middle class parents will have more clout to get round this.

fidel - How did you manage to enter your DC for exams?

I don't want to risk outing anyone I'm related to , but;

Of the gaggle of HE or formerly DC I know who are of Y13 age this year;

Some took ASs (and are preparing for A2s) as private candidates at local schools following tutored (paid or family) or correspondence study. Some joined college to take A levels or BTECs at 16 (some of those on basis of IGSCEs gained as private candidates, as above, some on the basis of testing and essays). Two applied to uni for creative subjects with portfolios and were asked to undertake further assessment of different types.

All of those I list above went through UCAS this year. All received offers. The offers include courses at Oxbridge, Durham and Warwick. Lots of A grades between them.

Still others have gained places on apprenticeships and similar.

Oh also Edinburgh and Bristol, I'm told now.

If school just wasn't working out and I thought it would be the only workable alternative then, reluctantly, yes.

I have nephews/a niece who are/were home educated for ideological reasons. Despite all the 'pro' arguments only one of them was ever really self motivated to learn (and then only music). Mostly the quality of their education appeared to be less innovative, varied and interesting than that offered to my children in mainstream (despite my dislike of the current obsession with tests/grades/SATS their teachers often deliver amazing, creative lessons). Most of all though, they were lonely and desperate for more than the occasional hour of companionship of children their own age.

fidel, my point was that in England, many schools are now refusing to take private candidates. So for many people this route is now closed for HE kids.
I can see that creative subjects would be fine, but you would surely have to pay for kids to get lab experience in science subjects?

Even six months ago I would have said I'd never home ed. Now we're facing a situation where DD will most likely not get a primary school place come September, and I think it might be the best of a bunch of bad options.

I really don't want to do it. I was just starting to build up my own career again. I will struggle finding the patience and I think DD will prefer to be in a class with others. It really will be something I only do lacking better alternatives.

Not always local schools, but enough schools that it will work. Formal home study courses usually have some kind of loose arrangement with centres too.

TBH I've collapsed in a relieved puddle that there are now firm and insurance offers and haven't looked closely at the impact the return of linear A levels will have.

Cleaty if you are in London taking exams is very easy; you simply enter at a private testing centre.

There are other locations outside London too, but not so many. Plenty of other ways as per Fidel1ne's post.

No, not long term home schooling. I'm a teacher. I think that children learn to be resilient when they socialise with a wide range of other children in the playground.

However, I dream of taking a year off work to travel around the world. I would love teach my kids myself whilst travelling (short term)