To think that Home Educated children should be inspected every year?

[jennymanara]

I think home education can work. I know a fair number of parents who are home educating from some who teach their kids to those who are unschoolers.
But I also think there are parents who home educate who are not up to the job and claim to be unschooling, but are in fact just educationally neglecting their children.
There should be an annual inspection of all kids being home schooled. This should check that children are actually getting some form of education, and not just left for example to play minesweeper all day, as one single mother I knew did with her teenage son.

so who do you think should be visiting and judging what parents do then?as the la education department are just run of the mill council workers with no qualifications to judge at all in this area.i may as well ask my local bin man in as they are the same,all council workers

ive been HE for 4 years now and i will not have any outside interference as school failed my disabled kids massively so there is no way im having an unqualified council worker coming in to tell me what to do

i cant say what happens outside of the uk but the point of home ed is to opt out of the controlled(badly failed) education system set by the government so parents who chose this route will not let a uneducated council worker in to judge you,no matter what the la say its not law or their right

unless you know what unschoolers do which is 24 hour learn through life learning,no one has any right to judge or intrude in your lifestyle choices
believe it on not we are not the governments property to control every aspect of our life from birth to adult

hvs from birth to 4,school then from 4-16/18 all controlled by the government and how they want you to live your life by their expectations and rules.
both systems are opt in or out for a reason,although no one tells you this and people go alone with things because they think they have no choice

just because things are done different doesn't mean its wrong or neglect

The only reason I said the mum was single, was to stop all the comments about - what about the dad, is it only the mum who has responsibility to HE.

I'm surprised people are arguing against this OP

Teachers who have been trained for years and had good results for years are tested repeatedly.

I think it's fine to opt out but although the best majority would be fine, there are always going to be a small number of kids that fall through the cracks and there does need to be some checks to stop this happening. Parents right to parent how they want, don't trump kids rights to receive an appropriate education.

But yes there maybe should be separate rules for cases where it's the LA's fault e.g. lack of SEN provision

@TeenTimesTwo I get you, and it's scary that there are children who 'don't exist', and god knowswhat could be happening to them, but. Happens in school too
My kids arent locked away from the world. No Rapunzel towers here.
My kids visit their doctor as and when. Dentist. Optician. They're also in several clubs each including Guides, Scouts, numerous sporting/martial arts groups (which cost a bloody fortune), and visit the library nearly every other day. I can't speak on behalf of every HE, the one's I know are similar. The kid's are arou nd a lot of people who would hopefully notice if a kid needs help.

@24hourhomeedderandcarer I don't care what lifestyle adults opt to live. But children deserve a safe home where they will be fed, clothed and cared for appropriately and receive an education.
So adults who are hoarders can choose to live like that if they wish. But children can be taken into care of they are brought up with that "lifestyle".
That is because children are not possessions.

@24hourhomeedderandcarer YES!

Totally agree. There have been cases of children going off=grid as it were. Nobody would know. If a child fails to turn up to school, checks are made. agencies get involved if problems show up like neglect. Nobody checks home schooled children. Nobody. I don't think people realise.

@Yachiru There are HE parents who don't believe in GPs and are only interested in alternative medicine. Some parents would never send their kids to uniformed groups or martial arts groups. Not all HE children have the same experience as yours.

just because things are done different doesn't mean its wrong or neglect

I agree - I was a tutor for years, working on various things with families who homeschooled.

I also know four children, in the past 6 years who have begun escalating up the safeguarding concern system and have been withdrawn from my school to be “homeschooled”. 2 in particular were massive, massive concerns. Once children are off roll, schools cannot continue referring or checking.

unless you know what unschoolers do which is 24 hour learn through life learning,no one has any right to judge or intrude in your lifestyle choices

I appreciate the topic is obviously one which is close to your heart, and I understand not wanting people share their opinions on the way you choose to live your life. But what about those whose lifestyle choices aren't in the best interest of the children? Surely being able to refuse outside agencies would mean vulnerable children remain in an isolated environment.

And unschooling can work well if parents actually follow that philosophy. Instead some parents call doing nothing and leaving your kids to get on with it, unschooling.

Maybe it shou ld be on a different thread, but what do non- HE think we actuslly do? As in, how do you think HE works? Or should work?

@SmileEachDay It's from FoI requests to 132 LAs in England. Referrals to SS re HE children were found to be 3.5-5 times less likely to lead to a Child Protection Plan than referrals of schooled children, despite being approx twice as likely to be referred to SS.

Yes, it's essential kids can't simply drop off the radar because they are potentially open to abuse, but it's tricky to determine what is an adequate education - just knowing stuff and taking a GCSE years early doesn't indicate the kids is not being abused emotionally or socially isolated so they cannot function in the modern world (I've met kids like this due to my job). Personally I would prefer that there was some sort of monthly contact for homeschooled kids that allowed them to have space from overbearing, obsessive or fundamentalist parents! Genuine homeschoolers wouldn't have an issue if it helped their kids.

SilkieAndMoonface - thank you!!

School is so much more than the curriculum. The social skills learnt, having to mix with different children, even those you don't like is such a valuable life lesson.

I think there should be something. Not an inspection as such, more like the development checks the hv's do for pre-school children. My ds3 didn't attend pre-school. We were asked to have his development assessed by the hv before he started school as all the other children in his class had a similar assessment done by their preschool.

Children in school will have eye tests, dental checks etc done at school every few years so maybe there could be some kind of home ed health visitor who does developmental checks at say 5, 7, 11, 14 and 16 and they could have eye tests etc done at the same time. It's not a criticism of parents who home ed, it's just that when I send my child to school there are people checking that they are clean, not starving, no untreated or excessive injuries etc and I think children who are being educated at home should also have something similar.

@jennymanara are you (basically) referring to the anti-vaxxers?

Ps I home educated between houses and could have easily "disappeared" nobody checked even whether we still lived at the address or had moved

what do non- HE think we actuslly do? As in, how do you think HE works? Or should work?

Surely that's an impossible question even for another homschooler to answer, as the answers would differ wildly. One home schooler might think that children should be taught specific topics / areas of the curriculum. Whilst another might say a child should lead the learning, and if they don't want to learn then they don't have to.

Fwiw we have had 2 chn join my primary school who were previously home educated. Both had barely got year 1 skills and were joining year 3. Anecdotal I know but it's a familiar pattern.

If you withdraw your child from school to HE them, then you need to inform the local authority, otherwise your child is legally truant.

You have this wrong. You have to inform the school that you are withdrawing your child to home educate. The school is the one with a duty to then inform the local authority, not the parents. Many schools are terrible at doing this and that's where the blame should be put.

We withdrew both our DDs at different times from different schools. The primary school informed the local authority, the secondary, a year later, didn't. The fact that DD1 was being home educated came to light when she was in professional panto and had to have a performance licence, then they panicked. That was a failure of the school, not us. We informed who we were meant to. Parents aren't meant to have to go all up the chain trying to find the right department.

We were inspected once a year. After the first year or two it became rather pointless, even by the inspector's admission. They were never able to offer any help, support or advice, even though it was meant to be a two way street. Every year the man who came round said "your girls are very lucky. I wish I'd had an education this good". It was obvious to all we were educating well, year after year. They could see we were responsible parents with our children's best interests at heart and that wasn't going to change. It was merely a box ticking exercise, diverting resources away from those who may have genuinely needed it.

In the main I do agree with you, OP, that local authorities should at least know who the home educated children are and check that they are being provided with a suitable education. I think the reason home educators are opposing the government measures is because it's the thin end of the wedge to all sorts of other things, such as having to mirror schools, and having to allow a stranger you've never met inside your house to talk to your child, possibly without you (this was mooted some while back). This doesn't happen to any other families unless concerns have been raised to SS, and home educating by itself is not a cause for concern (even the authorities agree on this). On this point we should all be wary, because what's next? Inspection in the summer holidays and before children start school? Authorities being allowed access to our homes for a myriad other reasons? Rights are eroded very slowly, bit by bit, until we turn round, realising our every move is accounted for, inspected, recorded, and wonder how it happened.

@stucknoue again, I understand this, but how does one determine an overbearing, fundamentalist parent who hides the fact very well? Send them round just incase?
Imagine social services popping round every month to make sure you're not abusing your kids. Just in case.

@IceRebel i know but I'm making a massive assumption that a lot of people think we're a certain way

Who decides what standards should be met? And why should home educated parents pay further towards tests etc... They already pay into the educational system via taxes and, by choosing to home educate, opt out of receiving any funding for their child's education. Why should they be penalised further for taking responsibility for their child's education in a way that parents of schooled children do not. Children are over-tested in schools and one of the major benefits of home education is that there is no requirement to follow the national curriculum, which is limiting at best, so how would you propose formalised testing?