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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

to get annoyed when a home schooling parent...

278 replies

00100001 · 29/09/2016 10:13

... 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.

OP posts:
GingerIvy · 30/09/2016 10:36

ignorant not ignoreant. Typo.

Original poster
00100001 · 30/09/2016 10:40

ginger no, you didn't, but gilly did.

Sorry, I'll go back and see what questions you asked.

OP posts:
Original poster
00100001 · 30/09/2016 10:41

"Is she poorly educated?" - no idea, nothing to do with me.

"Is the child thriving?" - She;s just fine.

"Or are you just annoyed because the conversation is not going the way you'd like it to go, as you expected everyone to jump on your bandwagon?" No, I'm not.

OP posts:
Original poster
00100001 · 30/09/2016 10:41

"Is she poorly educated?" - no idea, nothing to do with me.

"Is the child thriving?" - She;s just fine.

"Or are you just annoyed because the conversation is not going the way you'd like it to go, as you expected everyone to jump on your bandwagon?" No, I'm not.

OP posts:
IceBeing · 30/09/2016 10:59

I am waiting hopefully for the authorities to notice my kid isn't in school. The idea that they won't notice is pretty scary. Children shouldn't be able to drop off the radar with no contact from people who should have a duty of care to make sure nothing terrible is happening to them.

I wouldn't be worried by poor spelling though....I mean computers exist, and spell checkers and everything. It's a bit of last century problem....like the number of children who can't operate a slide rule these days.

gillybeanz · 30/09/2016 12:41

OP, you have insinuated that your sil isn't up to the job of H.edding, I agree with Ginger

My comment about teaching, which you asked about upthread was a response to another poster. i think it was Once
I didn't say you spoke about teaching at all.

You don't seem to know anything about H.ed, otherwise you wouldn't worry about the parent not being able to spell. You'd know there are many philosophies and methods used within H.ed and rarely do you find families who follow the exact same methods, sharing exactly the same philosophy.

Maybe you can tell us what you do know and explain why your comments about your sil are relevant.

BrianCoxWithBellsOn · 30/09/2016 13:14

Maybe you can tell us what you do know and explain why your comments about your sil are relevant.

What a good idea!

Original poster
00100001 · 30/09/2016 13:53

"OP, you have insinuated that your sil isn't up to the job of H.edding, I agree with Ginger"

No, you have inferred that.

"You don't seem to know anything about H.ed, otherwise you wouldn't worry about the parent not being able to spell." - who said I was worried? I didnt't say that, you inferred that. I said I was annoyed.

"You'd know there are many philosophies and methods used within H.ed and rarely do you find families who follow the exact same methods, sharing exactly the same philosophy." - Where did I say anything to the contrary?

"Maybe you can tell us what you do know and explain why your comments about your sil are relevant."

My comments are relevant, because, as with any educator, it is annoying that they can't spell correctly.

I know a lot about home education. I am not ignorant. I know why people choose home educate. I know how people home educate and I know that they do what works for them and their family. I do not judge them for home educating. It has nothing to do with me. However, I retain the right to be annoyed that an educator of any sort can't spell.

If you think I am being unreasonable to be annoyed that my SIL can't spell and happens to home educate, then fine. I accept that. That's why I asked.
But, as you can see from other posts, others feel I am not being unreasonable. So, the jury is out.

You can infer anything you like from my question. go crazy. However, I do not accept the assertions that I am ignorant and jealous, nor do I assume to imply that my SIL's intelligence level is low. I am utterly confused as to why there was any need to attack me personally, when all that needed to be said was "YABU. Spelling is no indicator of a Parents ability to Home Ed."

OP posts:
GingerIvy · 30/09/2016 14:23

My comments are relevant, because, as with any educator, it is annoying that they can't spell correctly.

Then perhaps next time you will be more clear and state "any educator" rather than specifying Home Ed.

I am utterly confused as to why there was any need to attack me personally, when all that needed to be said was "YABU. Spelling is no indicator of a Parents ability to Home Ed."

YABU. Spelling is no indicator of a parent's ability to home ed.

Are we done now? Grin

Original poster
00100001 · 30/09/2016 16:46
Grin
OP posts:
ProfessorBranestawm · 30/09/2016 23:10

I find it enough of a struggle to get kids to put their clothes in the washing basket. How on earth do home educators get kids to do boring, but necessary things like literacy. (Maybe they don't!)

Literacy isn't boring though. It's playing with words, analysing text, telling stories, writing poems, learning how to get your point across to different types of reader, acting out Shakespeare, discovering the magic of painting a picture in somebody's mind using only words. How is that boring?

(I can't get the DCs to put their clothes in the laundry basket either)

JenLindleyShitMom · 30/09/2016 23:15

What is it about laundry baskets eh? Mine get the clothes everywhere except the laundry basket. It's like the thing has an invisible shield that prevents the clothes going in so they bounce off and land roughly near it Grin

ProfessorBranestawm · 30/09/2016 23:36

Near it? Envy :o

JenLindleyShitMom · 30/09/2016 23:40
Grin
notatschool · 01/10/2016 00:44

I'm not a very good speller and have a first class degree. When a word doesn't look right to me, or the children ask me to spell something that I'm not sure of, we (gasp) look it up. It shows them how to find things out for themselves. It encourages them, because they see that adults don't always know everything, and that's OK. There's always a way to find out.

The only time my spelling is an issue at all is trying to complete crossword puzzles Hmm

So, on the whole, YABU, although your examples are a little extreme, I'll grant you. Maybe your SIL uses a version of "text speak" when she's posting, deliberately shortening words to make typing quicker? [benefitofthedoubtsmiley]

LilQueenie · 01/10/2016 00:46

I agree it doesn't look good but have you seen how many teachers can't spell. Nothing wrong with home education though.

brasty · 01/10/2016 18:27

Teachers need to be able to spell. And I welcome the tests that trainee teachers now have that check their numeracy and literacy.

Mumsie121 · 20/01/2017 18:29

Home schooling works for my 13 yr old. We made the decision to withdraw her from school, as health problems meant school was a struggle and she was missing a lot of days due to ill health. We worked out a timetable, and are following the KS3 curriculum. It means she can work at her own pace. She is very bright and can work independently, and I am always there for help and advice. Smile

madmomma · 20/01/2017 18:36

Cringey, but then I've met primary school teachers who can't spell, punctuate or use grammar, so meh.

corythatwas · 20/01/2017 18:51

ProfessorBranestawm Fri 30-Sep-16 23:10:57
"I find it enough of a struggle to get kids to put their clothes in the washing basket. How on earth do home educators get kids to do boring, but necessary things like literacy. (Maybe they don't!)

Literacy isn't boring though. It's playing with words, analysing text, telling stories, writing poems, learning how to get your point across to different types of reader, acting out Shakespeare, discovering the magic of painting a picture in somebody's mind using only words. How is that boring?"

What do you do when despite all your best efforts you have a child that actually persists in thinking it is? I love painting in words, Shakespeare, poems, the whole caboodle, I have provided a home full of stories and verbal jokes- and I still have one child who (despite complete absence of SEN) has gone through life - well to the age of 16, anyway- thinking reading is really, really boring. I - and a succession of teachers- have tried everything: fiction, facts, dinosaurs, volcanoes, football, politics. He is actually very well informed about the world, but this has never taken the form of wanting to deepen his knowledge by reading about something. He could not help growing up bilingual (two languages spoken in the home) but other than that anything that smacks of "learning" or involves finding things out, he will only do under duress. He seems to have been born without this wonderful thirst for knowledge that is supposed to be innate in all children. I love him dearly and love spending time with him- he really is a nice person- but I can't imagine anything more soul destroying than feeling singlehandedly responsible for his education.

His sister otoh loves reading, loves literature, loves words and what words can do: I could have HE'd her, except that she really, really hated it when she had to stay out of school (disability) and couldn't wait to get back.

Foxyloxy1plus1 · 20/01/2017 19:22

I have a child who really didn't gel with school, although he never complained and stayed the course. He read purely for information and still does. It wasn't until he went to college that he found a niche, decided to pursue it and went on to tertiary education.

You never know Cory - he may surprise you yet.

LadyMonicaBaddingham · 20/01/2017 19:26

We have a level 1 teaching assistant at school who has appalling grammar. I shudder on a regular basis...

corythatwas · 20/01/2017 19:35

He may, Foxy. Though he is nearly half-way through Sixth Form and I doubt he will be going to university. He is working a little bit more since he realised that his crappy GCSE grades meant he ended up with subjects he really didn't want to do, but even so I think his choices of tertiary education will be limited.

It's not just that he didn't gel with school: he was never really interested in anything we could show him or tell him before that either. Or in sitting down and finding things out for himself. At least not through reading. He can read without difficulty, but he just doesn't see the point of making the effort. He is the laziest person I know, unless you actually ask him for help and he believes you need it: then he will spring to it.

honeylulu · 20/01/2017 19:50

My cousin spells like that and she's a teacher. In a private school - one wonders if the parents feel they are getting value for money. Her wedding invitation contained some shockers.

CripsSandwiches · 20/01/2017 20:00

I always feel slightly defensive about spelling because my spelling is fairly appalling but I'm academically very strong and could happily teach maths and science very well.

I am very dubious whether any one individual could provide their child with a sufficiently broad curriculum at a reasonable level but I assume lots of home schooling parents are part of a network where different people teach different subjects.