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.

...just to add: to teach effectively at either homeschool or mainstream school, I would guess that being able to correctly spell and construct sentences 95+% of the time is a pretty minimal requirement.

I think that either option can lead to outstanding educational outcomes for an individual depending on the quality of teacher; temperament, capabilities, potential & learning style of the child; interaction between the two; time and resources available and of course the wider learning (social and academic) environment.

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?

It isn't regulated. I can feed my children any diet I choose and I don't need to ask permission or report back to anybody. Of course if such a diet makes them ill then I am breaking the law by neglecting or harming them - but that's a separate issue and not a reason to introduce monitoring for everybody.

I think that diet is a hugely valid analogy to education. It's something over which the parent has complete control, that is critical to a child's wellbeing, and which most of us would be horrified to have to justify. Imagine if the government's ideology banned meat. Or veganism. Or required a certain amount of fruit each day.

I don't think that it's the government's place to tell us either how to feed or how to educate our children. They provide us with schools that we can use if we want to, but if we choose to do it another way then that decision is ours to make.

Children are not the property of their parents

Well they're certainly not the property of the state, which is what I feel that many are implying.

I would argue pissedoff that those are horrible experiences for kids yes but not the norm, not every kid who goes to school experiences such dramatic bullying and the school should be dealing with that. I still maintain that children need to be outside of the home and with other people sometimes, nobody would send their kids to school to deliberatedly be bitten or punched in the face as life experience though, how ridiculous.

'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' is astonishing

It's not really astonishing when you consider that HE children will have had tailored 1-1 education. It's great, yes, but I don't think it's surprising at all.

Anyway, back to the OP, yes, it's worrying when a HE'er appears semi-literate, especially if that's the only formal educator that DC will have.

But then, many HE'ers utilise other "formal educators" with their children, so it's entirely possible that she is NOT the only formal educator the DC will have. A number of people on this thread have pointed that out already.

We're not disagreeing latebreakfast . Children's nutrition is unregulated and the consequences are there for us to see - widespread obesity, malnutrition, tooth decay, type 2 diabetes - none of these come under neglect or abuse but they are hardly ideal parenting either. The consequences of completely deregulating education would be similarly catastrophic.

I'm not opposed to home ed per se; I think it should be regulated, monitored and I think that where it is successful it is because it exists alongside state education and its attendant resources.

I am quite skeptical of the research into home ed that is based on 1000 HE parents filling in questionnaires and self-reporting.

I still maintain that children need to be outside of the home and with other people sometimes

Is it still coming back to socialisation?? My dcs actually asked for us to stay home today as we've been out for clubs, classes, and meetups all week, and have more tomorrow, and they wanted to stay home today and do things at home. They've spent the day doing maths, reading, spelling, French, music, history, some running around outside, coding, and are now happily playing Minecraft together.

Just to clarify, we do HE with them because they have SNs and struggled unbelievably in school. They are making far better progress at home than they were in school, as each can get 1:1 as well as having things presented for each of them in a way that they learn best. I am not "anti-school" at all - my older dc went to school and did extremely well. I do feel, however, that the school system is failing many children with SNs/disabilities.

Dowser It's on page 3 but I really hope this was a tongue-in-cheek post?

All are very intelligent. The 7 year old is reading and writing. The 9 year old is a bit slower but is getting there.
The 12 year taught himself to read.

A (presumably NT) 9 year old isn't reading or writing and you think it's okay?

Yes I feel socialisation is an important part of school not just maths, english , science etc and kids who go to school still have plenty of time to do extra curricular activities including educational and social clubs in their spare time. AIso I did say on my original post that I dont include kids with SEN as yes their needs may be very different.

I can't understand why someone would think that a child that is attending regular clubs, activities, and meetups are not socialising sufficiently?

SEN or not, most children I know that home educate have a very active social life and interact with loads of both children and adults. (obviously I can't speak for all of them)

And what about the "loners" in school - those that have no socialisation within the school system and still nobody notices? And you can't say it's not a common problem when schools are doing things like "special benches" to try to help children that are alone.

I'd be more worried about whether the parent has a passion for learning and an open minded approach to life tbh. Because thats what makes a succesful home educating parent....and well rounded pleasant kids. What would be terrible for any childs unbringing is judemental, ignorant parents.

And judgemental ones too. 😀

You can home ed without knowing how to spell. I'm not sure why people are so squiffy about home ed, it is hardly as if all schools are fabulous, amazing places that nurture our children and turn out well rounded individuals is it? Besides...whatever school she went to clearly failed to educate her, right?!

this^^ and

Loads of teachers can't spell or talk properly, or treat children properly either

this^^

My DCs home schooled. I do loads of typos on a keyboard but I spell brilliantly and Im a teacher by trade anyway.

DC has severe special education needs and both infant and junior mainstream AND special schools failed her miserably.

shes doing brilliantly now in her limited aptitude.

my gripe is when someone is told a DC is home ed the first response is ''don't they have a social life?'' and the parents are accused of isolating/imprisoning them. FFS. DCs got 4 friends. that's all she can manage. she doesn't need the whole world to be her friend.

And what about the "loners" in school - those that have no socialisation within the school system and still nobody notices? And you can't say it's not a common problem when schools are doing things like "special benches" to try to help children that are alone

and this ^^.

that was my DC at school. she couldn't cope with crowds and noise and had to be alone in other rooms with just a support teacher. with 4 friends now shes finally made friends with that she never had at school.

YABU and obviously know nothing of H.ed at all.
Go find out before you criticise others, you sound jealous she is able to, would you prefer to H.ed than school?

and hardly anyone spells properly these days anyway, with text speak and the like. Many people write phonetically.

As to the old HE v Schooling debate...
Some kids do well in school, they respond to the way knowledge is imparted and the highly structured work and days. They thrive socially, school is a great and logical choice for them.
Some kids struggle terribly, lose their confidence, lose their love of learning and end up hating anything to do with 'academia' even as adults. School is something they take years to get over.
Some, naturally, are a mix of the two, though its rare to speak to any child or adult who hasn't struggled at some point in their school journey.
Some kids would hate home ed, though I honestly have yet to meet a single home ed kid who wasn't extremely happy with their lot. Their education is tailored to their exact learning style, their parents appear to be interested, intelligent, and wholeheartedly dedicated to giving them the best all round education possible.
The socialisation myth is just that, a myth. Before we took our kids out of school we worried about this too...our worries couldn't have been further off mark. Our kids see friends every day, we actually struggle to have a single day to ourselves, and their friends are from an enormous age range, as they all play together, look out for one another and cooperate brilliantly and inclusively, in a way I saw rarely in 4 years working and volunteering at schools. I have yet to see a single bullying issue and the ridiculous boy/girl segregation that I saw happen time and again at around y5 in primaries just doesn't exist.
But actually the most important factor is, that each child needs something different to the one sat next to them to get the best education... and only their families can make the choice about what that 'best' is, and it has nothing else whatsovever to do with the rest of us. 😀

gilly YABU and obviously know nothing of H.ed at all. Go find out before you criticise others, you sound jealous she is able to, would you prefer to H.ed than school?

The OP is criticising someone who CAN'T SPELL basic words attempting to teach! That is totally different from criticising home ed as a whole. And yes, it's pretty crap if teachers can't spell too.

Plus, why can't parents spell? Is dyslexia incredibly common and just not diagnosed? It amazes me that people I went to school with didn't learn the same stuff.

gilly On what evidence do you presume I know "nothing of H. Ed at all"?

Once

The OP is criticising someone who CAN'T SPELL basic words attempting to teach!

This is the evidence. I know very few H.ed parents who "teach" their children
they facilitate learning, something completely different.
A reason some choose to H.ed in the first place and some parents learn alongside their child.

Finally, I've seen some pretty poor spelling from qualified teachers in school
and quite often I've seen primary teachers with Pottery as their degree. This obviously puts "needs to be qualified in core subjects" to rest.

The OP is criticising someone who CAN'T SPELL basic words attempting to teach!

I have seen plenty of incorrect spellings on paperwork coming home from my child's school. Should we be demanding that schools get rid of any teachers that don't have perfect spelling?

The name 'home' education is such a misnomer. Most home edders I know spend very little time sat round the kitchen table with Mum playing teacher and a lot of time out and about following their interests, going on trips, attending workshops, classes, home ed groups, mainstream groups, meeting up with friends, visiting friends and family and getting involved in their local community. A huge part of home ed is about opening doors for your children, providing access to opportunities and resources, etc. There are so many cheap or free resources and activities available, such a supportive and knowledgable home ed community and so many people who are willing to mentor kids and share their wisdom, and that's before spending any money on things like tutors. Home ed doesn't have to be isolating and home ed kids generally have a very broad, varied education.

Fire

Totally agree, this was us, hardly any teaching at all, formal or otherwise.
We facilitated a completely individual programme in a way, that we knew suited dd and was in keeping with her career goals and aims before secondary age.
She reached her goal and it worked for us.

A (presumably NT) 9 year old isn't reading or writing and you think it's okay?

Of course, because children learn at different paces, we aren't all the same and some children/parents don't want to be the same.

That 9 year old who can't read may be over taking their school friends very shortly. They obviously stand more chance of success learning something when they want/ need to rather than being told they have to, for some reason.