The worst ad ever for Home Ed

[Allthebestnamesareused]

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?

[Lunde]

Does anyone know children's names cos calling them E etc is daft if you put their lives online IMHO or their ages?

According to the original article the kids are:
"Sapphire, 12, and her younger brothers Etienne, 10, and Orin, seven"

[OneWithTheForce]

What I'm finding hard to tally with those blog posts is that this woman is a well educated person who worked as an economist and wrote financial guidebooks. On those blog posts she comes across as being without the wit she was born with! I wonder was she always so daft and lacking in common sense. I am struggling to see how anyone ever took her seriously in her professional role.

[roseshippy]

"Is Clash of Clans the one where the kids badger you to pay more for coins to do more stuff in the game? If it is I think that's the one I put a stop to."

gems, they cost £3, £7, £14, £35 or £70. possibly more post-brexit.

And £3 gets you fuck all.

[RTKangaMummy]

Thanks I thought the older boy was older

Do you mean real money? That you have to spend with credit card etc?

Crumbs

[roseshippy]

yes real money, all the games these days on ipad/phone now are free to play, but you either have to wait a certain length of time to earn privileges or PAY to skip the queue.

so instead of paying £3, some people spend $1000 per MONTH.

[PegLegAntoine]

Not played CoC myself but if it's like others I've tried with gems, if you play enough hours you don't need to spend money on it. Because you spend forever actually playing and clicking everything that needs clicking. That's one of the reasons it's so bloody addictive - oh just five more minutes then I can harvest my crops, oh but ten minutes after that I can collect my item etc. (Yes I was hooked on Castle Story in a past life)

[happy2bhomely]

We home ed. I agree that this woman has done us no favours.

We are semi structured. We follow the national curriculum and do 'table work' for 2 and a half hours per day, with interest based activities in the afternoons. It gives us the best of both worlds, in my opinion.

I wouldn't do what this woman is doing. I wouldn't put my children in the public eye. I can't understand what she is hoping to acheive. The fact that her children are overweight is nothing to do with their education. There are plenty of chubby kids in schools.

I chose home ed because I had already put 2 children through primary and felt I could do a better job myself. I admire and respect most teachers, but the way they have to do things just wasn't working for us. We have been doing it for just over a year now and the children are making good progress (better than when they were at school) and are happier. We are all happier.

I'm not sure how I feel about the lack of monitoring in home ed. On one hand it is liberating, but I do sometimes wonder if it is right. We were supposed to have a visit last month from the LA but no one has been in touch since last year. It does concern me that children can be 'hidden away' if their parents choose to.

Also, my DH attended school and left at 15 unable to read and write. Undiagnosed dyslexia. He was completely failed by the education system. Schools fail many children every year. He hasn't got any GCSEs but is now working in a skilled trade earning around £40,000 a year. There are other ways to learn and live a good life.

[fromwesttoeast]

We've done IGCSE from home, including the 3 sciences. I got a range of equipment and chemicals online for the chemistry experiments, buying items separately, not a packaged kit. We did titration etc. Not a problem and the grades were good enough to go on to science A levels at college.

[BITCAT]

We do swimming bike rides lots of walking..my dd2 does gymnastics..dd1 uses the gym at college..and does walking up local hills etc.
We are very lucky to have lots of green fields and countryside around us.
Yes we do have games consoles but mine are only allowed on those once they have done there reading, maths, English history and science work and after 3pm for no more than 2hrs. Then it's wind down family time and bedroom routines.
Children need to be out in the fresh air as much as they can..I find mine learn better if we are outside so in the summer we work Mostly outside..in the shade though of course we don't want to burn or get sunstroke.

[BITCAT]

In the winter though I do a lot of baking and cooking and this winter we have done a lot of work around bread and how yeast works.

[SilverdaleGlen]

I've just read through that blog and cannot find where people say she is doing a range of things Every day is some form of game in which they "learn" there was one Dr Who project which consisted of some hama beads, a load of Netflix and visiting a few sites, a list of books read, one swimming and one football session a week. So basically what schooled kids do on weekends.

She's failing them horribly if the blog is accurate.

[SilverdaleGlen]

May I ask a question as well, for those "meeting up to do cooperative learning" or however it was put up thread, is that not just school without a proper teacher?? You are creating classes

[OneWithTheForce]

is that not just school without a proper teacher?? You are creating classes confused

Well it isn't 30 children crammed into a stuffy classroom, anchored to desks, being supervised by one stressed out, under supported and under funded teacher who can't give each child the attention they might need to understand the topic. So, er no.

[TurncoatEwok]

May I ask a question as well, for those "meeting up to do cooperative learning" or however it was put up thread, is that not just school without a proper teacher?? You are creating classes

In a way yes, but with much smaller groups - my DCs both have ASD and classrooms were hell for them, busy, noisy, claustrophobic... sensory overload (and that's without the bullying they endured but that's a whole other thread). A group of say 6 children round a table is manageable and fun for them as they get more of the help they need. The bigger clubs we go to like geography are maybe around 20 children, although that's in a big hall so not as confined as a classroom - there's a 'theatre style' bit where they make their presentations to their friends, then table activities at the other end of the room for afterwards.

Classes are an important part of my DCs' education, I don't see (personally) why they wouldn't be, they're a great and important way of learning! We just do it without a school providing it, because school itself didn't work for our DCs. Instead we work together to create groups, or find teachers and split the cost (we'll be doing this with Japanese soon, and someone else is setting up a coding class).

Lots of HE parents, perhaps including the one in the article, may reject that sort of 'classroom' thing precisely because it is 'too much like school' - I know some families who do that. But most (IME) enjoy trying these things, whether or not they've HEd from the start for ideological reasons or come to HE through crisis. :)

[MiscellaneousAssortment]

Oh dear what a shame, it could have been so much better and insightful about HE as well.

[SingingInTheRainstorm]

I wouldn't worry about the perception other people may have from what she posts. As long as you know you are giving a good and varied education that's all that matters.

I've said before my DC's go to school, have tasks set by school nightly. DS's more in weight than DD. If there's areas that need support we will educate them at home too, as education isn't merely a state responsibility. OK I'm never popular for instigating extra 1-2-1 support, but they understand it'll help at school and make life easier.

Biggest regret ever was allowing game consoles. They have the Kindle tablets, plus a computer to play on. I guess it gives certain skills, they both will watch YouTube videos, but unfortunately haven't got into TedEd, which is disappointing. I guess it doesn't have the same appeal as an icon playing on Roblox.

[Sundance01]

My grandchildren are home educated and so we know a LOT of home educated kids and I would say the ratio of overweight to healthy weight children is exactly the same as schooled children.

To answer the exam question. When your children get to the right age you need a full and frank discussion about their career aspirations and plan accordingly. The options include; going into full time school, going into ft or pt further education collage, correspondence courses, private tutoring, home education study groups, working through published workbooks or online courses....The list goes on. People make choices based on own circumstances unlike schooled kids who get one size fits all.

I think the biggest misconceptions about HE are based on the fact people do not understand just how many groups and classes are being run by parents for HE kids. Everyday my Grandkids have a choice of 3 or 4 different groups they could go to plus they have more time for the mainstream out of school activities.

Everyweek my 7 year old Grandson goes to Forest School for a day, Spanish, multi sports, meet ups at soft play, 2 martial arts classes beavers swimming and watch.. Then they also book onto 3 or 4 one off activities each month as well. The hardest thing is deciding what to do and what to miss out on the choice is so vast. My daughter constantly feels she wants more time at home but the range of activities is so enticing.

He used to go to an outstanding in all areas school but we removed him when he after 2 and half years he could not read at all. Within 6 months of unschooling where you do absolutely nothing structured with them he had started to read - the schools slaveish adherence to phonics was failing him. He started to functionly read - instructions, directions, ingredients and search engines. It really is true if children are provided with a rich and stimulating environment they will learn to read and do maths without formal teaching.

Have to say his screen time is limited and he has to do a certain number of productive activities each week but he is pretty much free to choose what these are.

We also refuse any correspondence with our Local Authority. If they consider that the school he went to is outstanding I'm sorry but I think their opinion is worthless.

[witsender]

We too don't engage overly with the LA, it is intrusive and unnecessary in all but a few cases. We get an email from them yearly to which we respond with a brief overview of the sort of thing we have been doing and she replies and says thanks, contact me if you need any support.

Our kids are younger so don't do any real classes as such, though there are lots of groups locally that do. We are part of the local He groups but the kids don't really like being with that number of people. They have swimming, dance, musical theatre and riding lessons weekly, forest school and nature group, and gym sometimes. Interspersed with a whole lot of time to just play and chill together.

[witsender]

In the summer we do a lot of swimming, camping and time on the water too.

[witsender]

And beavers!

[PoshFish]

This woman has upset a lot of people. She clearly hasn't thought this through.

Unschooling, imho, only works in an engaged pro-active environment where children have a wide range of opportunities and are exposed to different learning experiences. It's like " Forest School" - great if you are actually learning but otherwise it's just a fancy name for kids playing in the woods, just my opinion.

We don't mimic school, but we do formal structured learning so I'm speaking as an outsider.

Many don't engage with LA's, not because they are under the radar, but because LA's have so utterly failed in their remit, and don't stick to the law.
Many families are having to compensate for years of failure and bullshit from " the system", and have no confidence or reason to trust them, and plenty of reason not to.

I feel so sorry for her kids, not for her choice in education method ( well maybe I do if I'm honest ), but in exposing them to the press. I'm appalled actually.


I wish they'd interviewed Sir Ken Robinson in The Times.

[FannyDeFuzz]

I'm not at all against home educating. But I'm not sure about her way of doing it. Those children are, frankly, really overweight, and the eldest is only 12. I know a lot of unschoolers believe that unschooling will help their children learn self moderation in regards to food, excersise, screen time. I don't think these children have. The mother needs to step in and take control.

[BarbarianMum]

Don't look for kits. Work out what you'll need to do the experiments you want to do (equipment and chemicals) and order individually off the internet. i don't knowe that you'll be able to order everything chemical wise but most things will be OK. Think about how you are going to use and store them safely though.

[SingingInTheRainstorm]

This might sound like a silly question, but are there many HE forums that HE's use?

I've got materials I created for my DC's & others, it's something I'd really like to share, plus making resources you can use at home. If my DC's enjoyed learning more I would look into HE again. I first looked into it 14 years ago to help relatives children. Then subscribed to some places when DS was born, though I've always been the main income till recently. So it's something I could dedicate my time to.

Why would I do it for free, am I crazy? It'd be something I would enjoy doing, some it wouldn't really cost me much, plus as a bibliophile I have resources covering most things.

My DC's find my enthusiasm for learning dull, they too are all about CoC, CR, those bloody games where you have to buy gems. They watch the videos on YouTube where people buy the £80 gem package to upgrade everything. But such people have a fair few subscribers and lots of hits, so they're making money to spend on these gems.

In a way strategy is an education in itself, so I take an interest in Minecraft, but my views are pointless lol. More recently it's Roblox. I found myself building a McDonalds drive through for DD last weekend. The point of which I still can't ascertain.

If it's something you would be interest in, the way I was thinking of sharing things was PDF files, Word/Excel/PP documents.

I could make something like forest/beach/river trips educational and fun. I took teaching lessons at Uni and got Firsts for the resource packs I made.

I can think of PSHE lessons that could benefit parent and child.

Bear it in mind if it would help. If you don't have a printer I'd be more than happy to post out 'X' worksheets. Cover notes for teaching etc. I personally found physics dull, but I'm sure I could make it more exciting. At school it was only physics I found boring and PE that I hated, as there's not a sporty bone in my body.

I follow a few HE's on IG but they're US based, so education seems to be life based. A bit like Forest School has been described. So not much at all is done which they seem to get away with as few checks are done.

I follow Crunchy, Scrunchy and Silky mums, just out of curiosity as to where the terms have come from.

[SingingInTheRainstorm]

For chemistry I would look towards lessons where you can utilise resources you have at home, over trying to explain why you are trying to acquire lithium which is fun but also dangerous if you don't know what you're doing. Magnesium could should be ok to get hold of. Burning and in water it has a reaction and the wow factor.

I can have a look round and report back later today.