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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

The worst ad ever for Home Ed

175 replies

Allthebestnamesareused · 02/02/2017 15:04

So I just saw this on Facebook

www.comeonengland.org/2017/02/02/mum-homeschools-kids-by-letting-them-play-video-ga/

Each to their own and all that and I assume she is being checked to see that she is really home schooling but AIBU to say she is not doing home educators a massive favour here?

OP posts:
LovelyBath77 · 02/02/2017 16:31

As well as doing PE ins school children often walk there (ours is a mile round walk) and play out in the playground at least once or twice a day. It all adds up. Rather than just sitting for hours.

hoddtastic · 02/02/2017 16:31

those children need to get out from in front of the screens and run around.

MommaL · 02/02/2017 16:32

OlennasWimple You are correct, but they are only allowed to investigate "if it appears an education is not being provided" and not as a matter of course. Then they are only allowed to look at provision not progress. There are many LA's out there who like to push their luck and act outside the law by trying to demand work and other things they are not entitled to. Home ed parents are not required to allow a LA representative into their homes to "check up" on them. The LA's duties are reactive, not proactive.

handmademitlove · 02/02/2017 16:33

You are all talking about my friend...

witsender · 02/02/2017 16:33

If school kids don't need PE specifically to be doing exercise, why do home edded kids?

TitaniasCloset · 02/02/2017 16:35

I saw her on This Morning, she didn't come across well and got Phil and Holly's backs up straight into the interview by correcting Phil for saying home schooling, not home education.

stopfuckingshoutingatme · 02/02/2017 16:35

You are all talking about my friend...

she did go on This Bloody Morning through, and put it out there.
I am sorry though not nice to see. Sad

hoddtastic · 02/02/2017 16:35

so tell her she needs to get her kids outside and off the screens, she's doing them no favours.

MommaL · 02/02/2017 16:35

LovelyBath77 "Neglect both physical and mental, sadly." legally, no, it's not. This family opt to allow the LA to visit them and have had their education "approved" by the LA.

whatsthepointofmorgan · 02/02/2017 16:35

OK. PE is wrong choice of words.
I meant exercise in general.

witsender · 02/02/2017 16:36

In that case just being kids, without having to sit at desks means most He kids I know are always moving! 😂

LovelyBath77 · 02/02/2017 16:36

Neglect by the LA then. Would school she allowed to get away with that? I don't think so.

witsender · 02/02/2017 16:37

Home school and home ed do have very different meanings, though I agree being pedantic off the bat doesn't help.

NeedsAsockamnesty · 02/02/2017 16:37

What a shock, a reporter sensationalises and warps the actual truth and the main thing people are interested in is a families weight.

LovelyBath77 · 02/02/2017 16:37

Kids i know don't really move when on gadgets, they just go like zombies. They might move their arms a bit I suppose.

witsender · 02/02/2017 16:37

Lovely you really need to read a little more about what they actually do, and not just the headlines.

Iwantacampervan · 02/02/2017 16:38

I watched the interview on 'This Morning' - the lady was challenged about the children sitting down all day and she argued that many adults are in offices sitting down for a day and children sit at school for 7 hours (really?)
She did say that they had been climbing and swimming but talked a lot about the computer games.

witsender · 02/02/2017 16:38

You are making an assumption that all HE kids are on gadgets all day then.

LovelyBath77 · 02/02/2017 16:38

The weight is an indicator of not much exercise or a healthy diet though...

handmademitlove · 02/02/2017 16:38

They are constantly out and about. Not sure the articles are a fair reflection of their lives.. like most things in the media!

LovelyBath77 · 02/02/2017 16:39

I had a look at the blog, and to be honest seemed to be pics of the mums craft stuff she does while the kids are on screens...

MommaL · 02/02/2017 16:39

LovelyBath77
"Neglect by the LA then. Would school she allowed to get away with that? I don't think so." Well, no, but that's because the schools are paid to educate and that is taxpayers money, and like all consumers, taxpayers like to know they are getting value for money. So the schools have to stick to standards and be accountable to what they are doing with the money and what they are teaching other people's children. How you educate your own in up to you.

CripsSandwiches · 02/02/2017 16:44

I kind of feel like it's silly to draw any conclusion about "home educators" from any one (or even few) examples. It's clearly going to include religious zealots who want to "protect" their children from all outside influences, abusive parents who don't want school teachers asking questions and on the other hand it'll also include parents who have the time, education, network of other educated people and resources to provide an incredibly enriching curriculum.

hoddtastic · 02/02/2017 16:44

i don't really have a view on home edders, i have friends who do it (properly) and they don't have big grey complexioned kids who are plugged into gadgets, the two don't usually go hand in hand.

Seems mum is publicity hungry (maybe for selling her craft stuff?) and in doing so has opened her kids up to ridicule and abuse- people are commenting on their weight as evidently they really DON'T get enough exercise, if they did, they wouldn't look like that. In conjunction with her silly self publicity about how much screen time they get, you can only draw conclusions, if these are incorrect, it is her own fault.

Alfieisnoisy · 02/02/2017 16:48

TBH I cannot get too wound up about it. She seems to have a plan behind the observed madness and it sounds like the older children can read and write which they have elected to learn because they need it for their gaming. Like a lot of home educated children their learning is self directed and then encouraged. My friend home educates...she's Moreno formal than this but beyond Maths and English her son chooses his own subjects to learn and he is thriving. He meets loads of other children who are home educated.
If the LA are happy with her education plans and can see the children are making progress then that's all that should matter.