To think there should be an approval process to allow parents to HE?

[abacucat]

Children's education matters, it is incredibly important and affects the rest of their life. I think it is fine for parents to Home Educate, but I think there should be an approval process before parents can HE. This will check the parents are actually capable of doing this.

I agree, on one end there could be kids receiving fantastic HE, and on the other end, kids being left to their own devices, whist parents watch Jeremy Kyle. Also those being abused could be hidden easily, in fact I have heard of children who are being abused being taken out of education so that they fall off the radar.

Who are you to that you feel it’s your place to write that at me?

you realise this is a discussion forum? You post things, people read them and then respond.

Your post made it sound like you thoroughly quizzed them. If it was just a chatty conversation and you were interested in HE then fair enough.

Next time someone introduces themselves as a HE should I just ignore the topic and talk about myself?

Or maybe just react the same way you would when someone who sends their children to school introduces themselves? Just an idea.

I don't think there needs to be an approval process as such. But I do think all HE kids should be checked on once or twice a year.

I have two friends who HE.

While I wouldn't do it myself, I can see the benefits to their lifestyles and I also know my friends are raising happy, healthy children.

But.

It does scare me how one in particular never took her son to any of the HV checks, hasn't had him vaccinated, he didn't take up his 30 Free hours etc.

And they've never been checked on as a family. No one has ever checked this boy is ok since he was born.

He is. So in this case all is fine.

But it scares me how easily a child can be totally under the radar.

PoxAlert so do you think everyone should take up their 30 free hours ?? Do you think it's concerning when someone doesn't?

How are families whose children go to school "checked on as a family"?

Do you really know for a fact that he has never had any contact with the health service?

@Cyclingpast

Wow. Triggered.

Yes I do know as a fact. As I said. He's fine and happy and healthy. So it's not an issue here.

The 30 hours was just another example of how this child hasn't been a part of "standard" British child services.

As someone who was home-edded for my entire childhood "under the radar", I agree with you, OP.

Children are human beings with rights. Parents can be very adamant that their rights shouldn't be enfringed on by the state, but it's not just about the parents here, it's about the children too. Children are not possessions for parents to do whatever they want to with (despite what my own parents believed).

As a parent who volunteers in my own DC's, I've had safeguarding training. There were harrowing stories of children attending school and simultaneously being victims of abuse because the school was not attentive enough to safeguarding. The training was very difficult for me to sit through as it brought back vivid memories of my childhood and reminded me of how much easier it is for child abuse to go unnoticed in home-ed families, because the children are not necessarily having any regular contact with adult professionals.

This is an American website but it helped me discover that I was far from alone in being a home-edded victim of child abuse: homeschoolersanonymous.org/

"in my own DC's SCHOOLS" -- oops!

In the area in which I live the HE community has met with the LA (at their instigation, not the LA) and have discussed the massive influx of parents that are being forced to HE following the failure of schools to meet the needs of their DC due to SN or mental health.

Schools are funded, have resources and expertise and access to care pathways but parents are left dealing with already vulnerable but also damaged DC with no or very little support apart from that offered by HE and voluntary organisations.

They are not meeting with the LA to discuss bad parents or radicalisation giving HE a bad rep.

HE is a lawful choice. There have always been bad parents - they don't need to go to the hassle of HE to fly under the radar. The irony is that good enough parents HE and are vilified but the real bad parents think they are beyond reproach because they leave their DC to fail in school.

Or maybe just react the same way you would when someone who sends their children to school introduces themselves? Just an idea.

Well, assuming this stranger isn’t sending their child to the same primary school as mine I would have lots of questions to ask them. Do they like the school? Have their children always gone there? Do the children enjoy it? Do they get any homework? What are the pe lessons like? I could go on. So, without any prompting from you, I would in fact react in the same way to a stranger who sends their children to school and raises the subject as I did to the HE stranger who raised the subject.

I really really don’t think asking questions such as “What prompted you to HE?” Or “How do you find it?”, are as offensive as you seem to think they are, particularly as the other party invited the topic of conversation.

That’s interesting, I know lots of people with children at lots of different schools, and often meet new people too. Unless I was particularly interested in a specific issue at their child’s school for some reason or unless they brought up a specific issue I don’t find myself asking them lots of questions.

Wrt asking questions about HE being offensive, of course it can be. If you’re asking, as it initially appeared in your post, to confirm your prejudices that it was all about the parent, or that it is ineffective or a cover for abuse. Lots of HE will tell you you stories of them and their children having to continually field questions about their or their child’s education that school attending children don’t get asked.

I really really don’t think asking questions such as “What prompted you to HE?” Or “How do you find it?”, are as offensive as you seem to think they are, particularly as the other party invited the topic of conversation

Many parents are forced into it and might not want to discuss their child’s SEN, bullying or behavioural issues with some nosy random.

In my experience of working in a school, and later as a home educating parent, I encountered more failed children in the system than out of it.

Yeah but the people letting their kids run riot while they watch Jeremy Kyle or using them as unpaid labour or household help are not going to be at home ed groups and stuff probably.

In my experience of working in a school, and later as a home educating parent, I encountered more failed children in the system than out of it.

that might be because some he children in desperate need of ss intervention fly under the radar.

I know of one child currently being HE. He has complex needs, gets minimal tuition and has CAMHS and SS involvement. His mother is fighting for more tuition and support.

I know one adult who was HE. He was the eldest in his family, his mum, a single parent, was illiterate and suffered from alcoholism. He learnt a lot: how to cook, do laundry, take care of his siblings. But not to read, write, maths etc. He and his siblings were badly neglected, but him being HE covered it up and cost him dearly.

He needed state intervention, but it didn't happen.

Many parents are forced into it and might not want to discuss their child’s SEN, bullying or behavioural issues with some nosy random.

Calling me a nosy random is lovely.

We were at a child’s birthday party. The stranger chose to tell me that they were HE as a conversation starter. They did want to discuss it. I picked up the conversation by asking polite and interested questions. The child in question was not being HE because of SEN or behavioural problems but because the parent wanted to keep the child at home. The child was not the victim of bullying because they had never been at school.

Clearly next time someone voluntarily tells me they HE I should immediately change the subject and talk about the weather. That wouldn’t be rude at all.

as the other party invited the topic of conversation

As you copied from my original post, and as I have repeated, the parent in question was keen to tell me about HE. Although by their own admission they hadn’t actively engaged in educating their child for a number of months and they were only thinking about doing a couple of hours a week at some point in the near future.

Home ed is fine but i think that the state owes it to the children to ensure that the education they receive will provide them with the basics to have choices in the future. While parents choose how to bring up their children, they're not their property and they need a certain level of literacy and numeracy to have any choices in mainstream society.
My own opinion is that up to 7 or 8, non instructional learning is fine and kids can do very well with that but after that age, barring any SEN, you do need some instructional learning, incressingly as they get older.

I agree with TeenTimesTwo

But I think parents should register for HE. At the moment, if I understand correctly, provided you never register for school at all you can fly under the radar.

Too many children slip out of the system with no one checking on their education or their welfare. We do need some sort of system which registers children as homeschooled so they can at least have welfare checks. You would be shocked and disgusted at what can go on behind closed doors under the guise of a homeschooled hidden child.

HE is also, which I should have said in my earlier post really not the ‘easy’ option.
Yes you don’t have to accept visits from the LA (although ours were persistent and actually v helpful) and you obviously don’t have the school run etc
BUT I found it difficult especially leading up to GCSEs as I had the skills but I’m not a teacher and I did have a wobble as to could I do it.
I have other dc in the school system who love it and are happy and will remain there but my youngest won’t eveb start I will HE from the beginning due to other issues and I’m actually nervous as I want to make sure he gets a good education

I think you might have a case if the state education system was functioning well but it isn't. The majority of new home educators I know are not doing it by first choice, they are deregistering broken children at crisis point. Many of these children are not getting any education in school because they are too anxious, not having SEN met, school refusing or having frequent suspensions.

This is pretty much my view.

I'd certainly home-school if I had to.

I do feel sorry for children who are HEd, to be honest.

Continually, why do you feel sorry for them? Do you actually know any?

I do feel sorry for children who are HEd, to be honest.

I have a very strong hunch that, done well, HEd children have greater academic achievement than their state-educated counterparts.

A few.

Primarily because I don’t think school is just about education. It’s also about social skills, shared experiences and most importantly, growing and developing away from your family.