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 Also know of two other families who have withdrawn their children from school because of problems with their respective schools and I'm less certain of how successful it is going to be for them.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!

Something drastic would have to happen for me to consider it.

Primary age is not so bad but high school is a whole different game. They have specialist teachers for subjects, I can't imagine anybody being able to teach every subject to a high level and would be far too worried about GCSE results personally.

Fresh - completely agree re monitoring. The idea that a child can be taken out of mainstream school, kept at home and fed an educational diet of who knows what is scary.

I'm not saying that all children who are HE are subjected to that of course, just that monitoring for quality of teaching and education is so important for the adult that child will grow into.

I believe HE has to be judged on a child by child case: just like school, HE does not suit everyone.
It took us 18 months of serious consideration before we deregistered ds from school. Over seven years later, we are happy to say Home Education was the best decision for him. He's currently preparing his IGCSEs and doing rather well with mock questions but the proof will be in the exams!
I have met many HE'd children who gained excellent GCSE results; some went on to six form or college, some continued being He'd and attained brilliant A levels results; a lot of them are now at Uni or in other professional apprenticeships.
Socialising has never being an issue, quite the contrary! Ds has several Home ed and schooled friends who he meets with or talks to every day.

As parent, I won't sugar coated it: it's a full-time, high demanding job and as such it requires dedication; the hours are very long, as you still get demands as a mum and the house doesn't clean itself; it is also expensive (sports, music lesson, books, more books and yet some more books, science materials and equipment, events, activities...)- it is a type of private education.

Dd, on the other hand thrived in school, which was best for her.

As a little side note: we receive regular visits from our HE liason officer (from the LA), which we find mutually beneficial. I like the summary reports, which I can send as 'school report' to all family members (they find it reassuring) and I especially appreciate the ability of the HE officers to act as referees for potential six form, ucas applications, apprenticeships and jobs.

I don't know anyone IRL who home schools or was home schooled so even if it's growing I would guess it's still only a small minority of families that do it

It's not something I can ever imagine doing personally and there would need to be some pretty extreme circumstances for me to ever consider it

Home educated mine from the start; three went to secondary school for y7, one stayed at home until going to school in y9. All fitted into school perfectly easily and have had/are having successful school careers. Lots of "whatever you were doing before this was working brilliantly" from school.

I loved the luxury of so much time with them. I'm enjoying what I'm doing now, but do miss that time.

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

My nephew has more than a fistful of both along with several degrees (OU) he's only just 16 started HE at 6

My sister was HE up to uni she is now a barrister.

I know a great many families who HE the vast majority have more social opourtunities than schooled children and end up with more qualifications

No. I couldn't do it. I don't have the patience.

Only as the very last resort.

No, I couldn't and probably wouldn't if I could.

Firstly, I'm a single parent and therefore have to work full time. I also enjoy working.

Secondly, I am a teacher but I still wouldn't feel confident. My maths wouldn't be good enough and maths is kind of crucial whatever model of HE you're doing! Plus my DD2 is not far off SEN for maths.

Thirdly, I think the vast majority of children get a more enriching, varied and life preparing experience from going to school than not. Obviously there are exceptions to that though.

I have re-read the thread and from what I am hearing to home ed:

1. you have to be middle class i.e. own your own home because it can be expensive especially if the children are older.
2. you have to be well off since one of you has to stay home to educate the child/children. I haven't read of anyone on benefits and a single parent doing this successfully so far.
3. you need to be living in London or some other conurbation - somewhere that there are lots of other people and very good transport links.
4. you need to have been well educated yourself - around degree level. again haven't read about any parents with their own issues who successfully home ed

This is something of a niche. the vast majority of us couldn't survive on a single wage with kids, certainly not in London anyway.

of course anyone with a negative home ed experience who didn't get accepted by unis and do a masters isn't going to post on a thread like this.

it would be useful to see the real data on this but I am not entirely sure that anyone really knows at any given time how many kids are being home ed.

reading the posts here and thinking about the costs of it all it seems to me that the only people home eding are those who would be able to afford to do it.

as adults, how do you feel about putting your own careers on the back burner for 10 to 15 years.

what happens when your child leaves home. your role has gone. you are no longer chief educator and the job you used to do 15 years ago may not be available to you any more.

I am on benefits and a single parent

I am not middle class and I do not own my own home. I do not yet have a degree but am currently studying for one.

I know quite a few HE parents whose situation is similar to mine.

As for the future, it will be what it will be, but had very little choice in the matter of home educating my child so I just have to accept it.

I'm glad that I don't match any of your sweeping statements. It is satisfying me to know that your opinions are founded on such flimsy statements and ideas.

We are currently home edding, Dd3 has Asd and the massive mainstream academy we live in the catchment for was never going to be the right place for her!

Loads of history but anyway she lasted two and a half terms and is now at home! She has more social opportunities than she ever had at school and she is gradually recovering from the traumas she faced while in school!

We have a plan for the future which I dont need to share on here but my most important job is to nurture her and protect her mental health!

I am not middle class and dont live in London!

I am lucky that we are able to live frugally and can survive on Dp's wages!

I like the theory. They're learning how to learn and then just go off themselves and learn what they want to learn for the sake of learning. I have visions of taking the DC to the library and letting them run free while I sit with a coffee and a good book in the cafe

BUT. There is no HE group in my area. There is not one family in my village where the children are HE'd. Even in the next big(ish) town, I don't know of any - it's possible there are one or two families in the bigger town, but certainly not many. I'd worry about the DC missing out on the social side of schooling.

DS loves school though, so it's not really a concern at the moment. DD starts soon and she apparently can't wait. Has tantrums when I take her home from dropping DS off. "I go to school, no mummy, not go home"...

We live rurally, don't own our home and the majority of home edders we know live far more frugally than the schooled families we know, who are better off. Your impression isn't accurate in our experience, mummymeister

As adults, how do you feel about putting your careers on the back burner for 15 years?

Don't really care tbh. I'm not really career motivated although in the future I would like to do something outside of the immediate family, bringing up my children is the most challenging, fulfilling and stimulating thing I could be doing. At the end of my life I won't regret time not spent at work but I will regret time not spent with my kids.

Lol - I guess I tick about 2 and a half of mummymeister's descriptions, but I know plenty of home educators who only hit one at the most. If you want to do it, you'll make it work. If you don't want to, there's no need to

I'm working class, we don't own our own home and we live in a mid sized town. We're not well off and run a small family business from home, I only work a few hours to allow time for HE. Assuming the business keeps going I will simply increase my hours when DD's education is complete so don't feel my career is an issue. Don't think we meet any of the criteria mentioned and the other HE families we know are a pretty diverse bunch from all sorts of backgrounds and lifestyles. The HE community is difficult to pigeonhole IME because HE appeals to people for such a variety of reasons.

There is not one family in my village where the children are HE'd. Even in the next big(ish) town, I don't know of any - it's possible there are one or two families in the bigger town, but certainly not many.

How would you know?

My dd has an asymmetric face brought about by severe torticollis. She had an operation to correct her neck a year ago and although that is now corrected it is doubtful her face will correct, it could get worse.

She adores playgroup and is desperate to start school next year. I am positive and encouraging but I know children can be cruel, the minute it starts getting horrid for her I will home educate.

I did plan to HE before playgroup, I had no idea the operation would have worked, not even the doctors. But considering it has and she has blossomed into a lovely 3 yo who enjoys life and her friends I can't deny her the chance to be at school.

I think these decisions ought to be child led. I'm lucky I'm a SAHM and it's a possible option for our family.

I would if I was desperate. School does not suit every child, and if my child were utterly miserable despite my very best efforts, I would take them out.

But I think that sometimes it's done out of pure projection of parents' part and is not in the best interest of the child. Particularly by parents who have had bad experiences, decades ago, in their own school. Or have no idea what school is like and assume it's just 'not good enough' for their own child.

I am also not impressed by the apparent ease with which parents can remove their children from education and how their child's wellbeing is monitored

Lol alive alone, if she's anything like me it's because she has spent hours researching, joining closed groups, emailing, and trying to find out. it's a three hour round trip to our nearest HE groups and associated networks. We have snow on the ground for six months of the year. I'd love to HE but can't afford it. I know two singleton HE kids here. One was in school until secondary and then HE as she struggled. She has APD. The other is trans and left school this year in y9 as he felt more comfortable dealing with treatment in private. I'm not sure if he will go back in a year or two.

Disappointingly, mine aren't interested. They love school.

Captain, don't hold your breath - dd2 has cp and at 12 no one has said so much as boo to her, ever, despite the fact she slurs, drools, and walks like a drunk. She's treated exactly the same as anyone else.

I am glad I live in a UK where you are allowed to home educate or send your child to all kinds of different schools. I like the differences there are between parents and the freedom the state gives us to make choice. We need to ensure those choices are never cut down. I don't agree you need to be rich or in London to educate at home. Also "education" is a term which different parents interpret different ways.

There are plenty of different ways to bring up a child and allowing that variety whether it's Greek at 3 or few formal lessons ever should be the parents' rights.

Let us not forget that our ruler, Her Majesty the Queen, was home educated.
My own choice for our 5 children has been very academic selective private school education from age 4 with particular emphasis on classical music (and 3 won music scholarships). That is one choice. There are plenty of others and I like the fact the UK unlike Germany does not ban home education and that we have lots of different ways to bring up our children. That pluralistic freedom, within reason, is a good thing. Most parents will always choose their standard local state school but not everyone is the same.

I mix it up, some at home and some at school.

We do brain gym, reading and maths at home, then school, then early pick up 3 days for different stuff e.g. Music, martial arts