to get annoyed when a home schooling parent...

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... can't spell?

My SIL home schools her daughter.

But all the time, she is posting "I just thort of a new idea..." or "We just need to get threw this..." or ^"I love home schoolling" etc.

Just makes me twitch.

It worries me that some home schoolers seem massively against any kind of monitoring- it feels like it's an 'I'm alright Jack' attitude.

Presumably you'd be happy for the police to come round and inspect your house from time to time just to check that you hadn't stolen anything?

I am part of the home ed community. Or at least I have tried to be part of it.
I find that most of them are anti school which drives me mad, because they've also said they wouldn't put their child in school even if they asked.

Some of them don't really follow their kids wishes rather their own.
Some of them are so stuck up about the whole thing as well and often get into petty arguments - especially if you have a 2/3 year old in nursery... Because that's apparently school even though it's early years

Some are very laid back and see education as a whole, not a case of, my home educated kids can't play with school children because they will be tainted.

I am home educating, but for a short while only.

A school friend of DS1 left last term to be homeschooled. On paper his mum has everything she needs to be able to do it well, including a teaching qualification. In reality she is one of the most toxic individuals I've ever had the misfortune to meet and I suspect his chances of escaping her unscathed plummeted the day they walked out the gates. Most home schoolers I know do a great job, but I am definitely in favour of some sort of assessment/regulation on behalf of that one kid.

Yabu. Some teachers struggle with spelling. Maybe she uses a dictionary when teaching her dd but isn't overly bothered about social media posts etc.

Some of you are not comparing like with like here. Measuring home ed success according to school criteria wouldn't work.

Also, I can think of three incredible teachers off the top of my head whose spelling isn't great.

The majority of home educators don't aim to teach their children, they aim to facilitate their education.

It might not be what you choose for your family but if my children do end up wishing they had gone to school I will hand on heart be able to tell them that I home educated them because I believe it is the best option educationally and socially.

Why should there be monitoring?

Tbh late, if they wanted to they could but I don't think it's massively comparable.

What is the solution then? Do we just accept that some children will slip through the net like the posters on the last thread?

NovemberInDailyFailLand "taking umbrage" is a little strong. But imagine you'd made a particular parenting choice, it works great for your DC, and just about every other DC you know whose parents have made the same choice. But the world and his wife have opinions based on completely erroneous assumptions, and proffer those opinions regularly and strongly. On a previous thread we had a poster expressing horror that a HEdder she knew was seen in the supermarket with the children at 10:30am on a weekday!! It gets... wearing. If you have questions, the Home Education topic is the best place to ask, full of people with the academic knowledge and practical experience to answer based on something other than assumptions or sample sizes of 1 or 2. I'm happy to share my experiences, and I'm sure others would be too.

AgitatedGuava as a PP says, no official body collects figures. Studies that have been done comparing HEd children and schooled children come out extremely favourably for HEd. I will do a separate post or this may get a little long...

What FireSquirrel said about attribution bias bears repeating. A friend of DH's from senior school was HE for primary. DMIL attributes his current lack of success and motivation to his having been HEd (it didn't look enough like school for her to believe he could possibly be learning anything) rather than thinking that actually he was schooled from 11-18 so why blame HE? In fact, DH attended a fairly selective grammar, so this HE friend was obviously taught well enough at home to pass the entrance exam, and personally I would wonder if the weed he began smoking at school had anything to do with current lack of motivation...

The spellings in your OP are similar to what my severely dyslexic dd comes away with, if your SIL is a touch dyslexic it doesn't make her a bad educator.

You don't need any monitoring or training when you decide what you feed your child - something that many would say is far more important than their education.

If this is supposed to be an argument in favour of non-regulation - it is really poorly thought through. You've seen what happens when children's nutrition is unregulated right?

For what it's worth I think that HE should be monitored and regulated. Children are not the property of their parents - there should be accountability.

Studies for AgitatedGuava and anyone else who wants evidence HE is beneficial for children:

This is the best summary of the current studies of HE in the UK.

Extracts from the multiple studies summarised (and linked) on the above include:
"Rothermel found that home‐educated children demonstrated high levels of literacy in comparison to national attainments."
"Overall, the children demonstrated high levels of attainment and social skills."
"Home educated children performed above the national mean performance in both reading and mathematics."
"Children are socially skilled and seem to enjoy high self esteem."
"Children... go on to read voraciously."
30 universities were contacted, and of those 27 were happy to accept applications from HE children who did not have traditional exams. (though it bears noting that many HEdders do exams anyway)
"The sample group became well adjusted, flexible adults participating a wide range of employment and ongoing education."
"Meighan notes the question for home based education research has moved on. It is no longer, ‘Can children educated at home match the performance of children educated in school?’, but rather, ‘Why were home educated children so successful?’"

Well I remember having to correct my dc's primary school teacher's spelling.

Don't see what homeschooling has to do with it really.

I've corrected homework that has been sent home before, however I don't think it's an issue because I know DD will come into contact with lots of teachers. If she was HE by someone who couldn't spell then the issue would be there would be no one else to correct her.

I do have an issue with HE because I know someone who does it. I have been lectured by them about how if their child is interested in history - they can take them to a museum, if they want to know about nature she can take them to the park.
She couldn't see how someone who sent their child to school can do that as well!
I've worked in museums/heritage industry and I am a huge believer in adding on to what DD learns at school.
She thinks everything they do is special, I know lots of working parents who kids go to school who do as much, if not more.

My experience of HE groups whilst working in one museum is they just complained, about everything. We basically said we would do anything tailored to their needs and they just moaned! We really wanted them to come use us as a resource. They were bad mouthing us to other people as well. I was not impressed by any of them.

I am very sorry you've had that experience Pickled0nions but that definitely is not the norm. I know tons of home edders in real life and thousands online and have only ever come across a handful with views like that. Overall the home ed community is a v. supportive one.

The thing is you are your child's teacher whether you pop them down he road for 6 hours of indocoration or not. Should we Insist on 5 GCSEs c and above to have a baby - well I actually don't think that would be a bad idea tbh but you get my jist, school actually when you break it down is a tiny tiny part of the kids lives

I couldn't home educate. Without blowing our trumpets, DH and I are clever people. We have degrees, further professional qualifications, did well at school, have an interest in learning and value education hugely. We do a lot of home educating at the moment - taking the kids places which are fun but where they'll learn things too. They had an amazing day out recently at a "doors open" event where we got a tour of the local Court including the cells.

But I recognise my own limits and couldn't put myself through teaching my children everything they need to know. I have three kids all at different stages, with different interests, I work at home and quite frankly I like the peace when they go to school.

I'm sure there are excellent home schooling parents who know what they're doing, really do feel that they can do a better job than the school given their child's personalities or particular issues, and put a lot of time and effort into planning activities and moving their child's education forward.

There are a few parents like the OP's relative though who are barely educated themselves to Primary School age standard and who don't have the tools and skills they need to teach numeracy and literacy let alone anything else. I know one of those "oh I don't keep up with the news" and "never heard of Henry Viii or Shakespeare" types who wanted to educate her child at home because she couldn't bear the idea of him being away from her. Luckily her partner put his foot down.

As in every walk of life there are stupid, uneducated people and they shouldn't be in charge of educating anyone else.

Yes meryl but he children will also have a lot of time for free play that schooled children do not have. And the benefit of being able to learn at their own pace, according to their interests and individual development. They won't be coached or taught to the test and will hopefully be learning for learning's sake rather than to hit targets. They won't be comparing themselves to their peers.

So it isn't possible to say "I do everything a home educator does and more".

But most parents of schooled children wouldn't HE them if they asked, Pickled.

Sure mainstream schooling is not just about formal education its also about learning how to socialise with others? I know that home edders say that they go to groups and socialise with others kids, fine, that's great but many kids in school also join clubs and socialise outside of school.

What I have discovered with my own DC is that they have learned how to deal with difficult situations in school such as lessons they don't like and learning how to deal with other kids they dont get on with or the teacher disciplining them. Although these have sometimes been upsetting for my DC I think its important to learn how to deal with difficulties early on as once they get out in the bigger world there will be all of these issues they will have to cope with. Aren't home educated kids in a bit of a protective bubble? Only mixing with other people they like be it family and friends or wider groups. My DC hate P.E so that would mean we may avoid it, but they've learnt that although they hate it its an important part of a healthy lifestyle. I don't include kids with SEN in this as I realise their needs may be different if their local school doesn't support them.

I also think educational trips out can be done at weekends or after school, that's not only for home educated kids to enjoy.

Following on from RedOrangeGoldLeaf's link above, here is the original research write up for anyone who is interested in a bit more info. etheses.dur.ac.uk/1005/1/1005.pdf

From 2007, a study commissioned by the Department of Education & Skills (downloadable from UCL link here) references the Rothermel research and includes the following statement:

4.16 There have been few systematic studies on the achievement and attainmentof home educated children. A study of home educated primary childrenconducted in 2002 found that 64% of home educated reception-aged children scored over 75% on the Performance Indicators of Primary Schools (PIPS) baseline assessment, compared to 5.1% of children nationally. Alternatively, a small-scale recent study concerning home educated Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children reported real anxiety regarding the adequacy of the education provided for these children. This was because of concerns regarding parents’ capability in the areas of literacy and numeracy.

More recently, a US study published in the Journal of College Admission, n208 p18-25 Sum 2010 titled "Exploring Academic Outcomes of Homeschooled Students" abstract linked to link here with full text link here Extract:

This exploratory study examines the academic outcomes of homeschooled students who enter a medium size doctoral institution located in the Midwest. Descriptive analysis reveals homeschool students possess higher ACT scores, grade point averages (GPAs) and graduation rates when compared to traditionally-educated students. In addition, multiple regression analysis results reveal that students who are homeschooled earn higher first-year and fourth-year GPAs when controlling for demographic, pre-college, engagement, and first-term academic factors. Further, binary logistic regression results indicate there is no significant difference between homeschooled student’s fall-tofall retention and four-year graduation rates when compared to traditionally-educated students while controlling for these same factors.

I know Amethyst81 we wouldn't want them missing out on experiences like being bitten, punched in the face, picked on, having their deepest secrets published on face book, being told they won't make it to university, reduced to tears for being late - road works following a fatal car rash they witnessed - all the fun of school and I wouldn't actually say any of mind have had it too badly

I don't HE but the kids I know who have been are bloody amazing and wouldn't have achieved what they have in a school environment

I have no idea CodyKing are you suggesting segregation is the way forward?

Well, I was also a little surprised. However the current government department responsible for commissioning this research summary (as you'll know, DFES existed until 2007 when it was replaced the Department for Children, Schools and Families and the Department for Innovation, Universities and Skills) may have further up to date stat if you're interested in finding out more.

In any case, it's not an isolated positive report. And incidentally, I would suggest that HE has an increasingly high profile, at least on an international level. That said, the UK's performance in global educational outcome tables is not exactly great so I would not have terribly high expectations of educational thought leadership outside of the most mainstream choices.