Are you going to have a generation of Home Educated kids by parents who are not up to it?

[Thegrinchshorriblesister]

I’ve been on Home Education sites for a few years as was momentarily considering it but decided against it. The crowd was great, informative, inclusive and lots of resources were shared.

I noticed at the beginning of lockdown the member counts shot up as obviously people wanted help during lockdown. Then September came and there have been a noticeable rise in those parents deregistering their kids and asking for help regarding issues with stubborn LA or meeting resistance from their families. Or posters saying they have no access to laptops or printers and what phone apps can they use for online materials.

However - a lot of these posts are written in really poor grammar. A lot of people are clearly not set up for the huge commitment that HE is.

There is a very different feel on the site now, very much ‘us against the system’, lots of memes about having children and farming them out to be drones or robots, or not loving your children because you have teachers raise them.

It’s making me wonder will there be a generation of kids that never sit any exams and go in to adulthood with no real kind of education or children who are stuck with adults that have these views making their world very small.

Are **we ( not are you, not sure how that happened)

TBH I know/knew a lot of home educators, and that’s the vibe that a lot of them give off anyway... that they love their children more because they don’t send them off to be educated by the “system”

Exams not being sat or passed is not just because of home education, as children truant/absent themselves from school for all sorts of reasons. However, we are not all cut out to be educators, I myself even with family who have been head teachers could not do it to an adequate standard.

It's a worrying thought isn't it. DD had a school education because I didn't have the knowledge, the patience, the skill, the authority or the will to educate her. She is also an only child and needed ther children her age to socialise with.

We both needed time away from each other as well. I think we would have found our relationship too claustrophobic if we had been with each other 24/7. Besides, I work and wouldn't have wanted to not work.

I realise that home education is better for some children, but it wouldn't have worked for us. DD did extremely well at school, ending with mostly A and A* at GCSE and AAA at A level. She is now at university doing a STEM degree. There is no way she would have achieved what she did if she had been home educated. I would have had to rely heavily on tutors. School was much cheaper

Probably. I'm always a bit baffled that so many people think they are capable of home-educating to a good standard tbh. I'm not anti home ed in principle and, having taught for 25 years, lord knows I can understand why people have problems with the system, but I wouldn't attempt it myself.

Having thought about home schooling my son before lockdown I then made a huge hash of it. And I’m a teacher.
It is great for some children, especially those with particular reasons for finding school difficult, but I know I couldn’t be everything that my son needs.

I worry that when we actually start focusing properly on Bad Things Which Are Not Covid we'll really start to see the number of kids that have slipped off the radar. I think you'll have the irrationally-Covid anxious parents who have HE'd because they honestly think their child will DIE if they get Covid on the one hand, and the "The state is trying to brainwash us" parents on the other. And it will be a mess. In a way the latter might be less damaging for the kids in that at least they'll let them out of the house / see other people.

It depends what you mean by 'up to it'. As a pp said, I'm a teacher, well educated and am 'up to it' in terms of that but managing the dynamics of two preteens with very different approaches to learning is a whole other ball game. Plus many parents are supposed to be working too, so it's not the same as parents of whatever standard of education making an active decision to home Ed.
I think also that parents who home Ed in normal times are not generally trying to replicate the same education that school provides.

I’m a home educator. My youngest just took the 11+ and got 90%. I taught him maths even though I failed my own maths gcse twice (I eventually passed it). I think regarding the maths it made me a better teacher as I went very slowly and step by step. My DS is much better at maths than I ever was. He will being going to a grammar in Sept. My own academic background is in English and I taught that really well but it isn’t where either of my children’s interests lie.
My elder son started a local private school one and a half years ago. He’s in top sets (he went straight into them after being tested by the school) and predicted 9s in computing, chemistry and physics. I didn’t teach him those things whilst he was home educated until he was 13. What I did do was give him access to avenues for learning including text books, youtube videos to look things up, chemistry sets, going to coding dojos etc etc. I paid for him to have tutors at various points and he did a Japanese GCSE all as an external candidate.
Both my children have thrived being home educated. I don’t think people in this thread understand how home education actually works.

Also you can’t really point an accusatory finger at home education when state schools produce so many NEETs.

Oh, and one last point, studies show that children home educated by parents with little or no formal educational qualifications still out perform their peers who are at school.

You clearly were very successful at home educating @Mistlewoeandwhine. A lot of people aren't though. In my case I just didn't want to home educate. Besides school is so much more than education. The extra curticulars that DD enjoyed at primary school were far beyond anything I could provide.

I only know one HEer and she is poorly educated herself. She thinks copious baking is a good foundation for her son’s education.

Mistlewoeandwhine

It's one thing saying that when your children are clearly academically able and quick to learn.

A friend removed her child who was struggling and is home educating. He is doubtless happier and I see positives in her ability to cater for his specific other needs, but academically he is falling further and further behind and she's not really up to the academic side of it, and can't afford to buy in any extra help.

Mistlewoe

Link to those studies please.

Are they well regarded and peer reviewed?

Surely English is only one part of it. That is the great thing about sending your DC to school, they will have many teachers with many differing specialities. I have the knowledge to teach mathematics and physics but not much else.

Well I"m a home educator. I had no choice. The SEN system failed my children. Many many families are forced into home education for this reason.

It's much cheaper for the government to have these children deregistered than them having suitable provision, particularly for bright autistic children and children with disabilities who do not have learning difficulties. These children fall in the gap between mainstream and SEN schools that cater, predominantly, to learning difficulties or behavioural problems.

My eldest is hoping to take GCSEs next and even though I haven't deregistered as my son has an arrangement known as Education Other than At School where the LA has accepted that there is no suitable school for him, there is zero interest on the part of the LA to assist me with making the arrangements for the exams or how he may be assessed if there are continuing problems with COVID.

I've gone on a bit of a tangent here but a LOT of home educators have been failed by the system.

School isn’t just about academia though. It’s the socialisation with peers without parents around that helps them develop.

I home educate my dc and have stopped posting on most home ed groups now because of how they have changed this year.
People are deregistering with no thought and then coming into those groups and saying “so I took my kid out of school, now how do I home ed them?” or “will the school still provide work?” or “will I get the money that usually goes to the school for my child’s education?”. It is clear many people have not bothered to do any research into home ed when it is a big step.

I find it troubling as a home educator because these people will likely end up putting their dc back into school but not before causing changes to the way home ed is viewed and monitored.

Mistlewoeandwhine what you’re describing is gold standard home education. You were totally engaged with educating your children, plugged gaps in your knowledge with tutors and let them go to school when you felt school would be beneficial to them. It’s not people like you the OP is concerned about, it’s the people who are ill equipped to home educate and are putting their own agenda before their children’s educational needs.

@Mistlewoeandwhine

I’m a home educator. My youngest just took the 11+ and got 90%. I taught him maths even though I failed my own maths gcse twice (I eventually passed it). I think regarding the maths it made me a better teacher as I went very slowly and step by step. My DS is much better at maths than I ever was. He will being going to a grammar in Sept. My own academic background is in English and I taught that really well but it isn’t where either of my children’s interests lie. My elder son started a local private school one and a half years ago. He’s in top sets (he went straight into them after being tested by the school) and predicted 9s in computing, chemistry and physics. I didn’t teach him those things whilst he was home educated until he was 13. What I did do was give him access to avenues for learning including text books, youtube videos to look things up, chemistry sets, going to coding dojos etc etc. I paid for him to have tutors at various points and he did a Japanese GCSE all as an external candidate. Both my children have thrived being home educated. I don’t think people in this thread understand how home education actually works.

I do y want this to be a HE thread as that really wasn’t my intention. You were clearly a success at it. And it also sound like you are financially secure with your son going to private school. In the past when I was on HE sites many parents were similar and I admired the dedication.

What I’m talking about is a new wave of HE families without that financial security to buy resources and even basic English skills.

It’s worrying so many have a ‘us against the system’ attitude as these will be the next angry kids believing in the new world order and other conspiracies.

Mistletoe- despite your own evidently brilliant skill as a home educator, I think you've entirely missed the point the OP is making.

Obviously and evidently there are some parents who are up to the task, but, since Covid, the huge growth of HE'ing parents who have remained HE'ing even after the schools went back doesn't really suggest people who've thought long and hard, and who've planned meticulously for HE; and whose suitability as an educator is laid bare by appalling spelling and grammar- are necessarily going to do a great job, does it? Especially when driven by a 'us and them' mentality.

I personally wouldn't HE because I think schools and teachers do a much better job than I would; and my DSs are perfectly capable of negotiating a comprehensive. And school isn't just about a string of As.

While you appear to have done a great job, even some good, dedicated HE'ers can be blinded to the fact it meets their needs, more than the child's; that organised activities like Brownies aren't a substitute for learning social skills in an unstructured environment like a playground; and (this in particular, from personal experience); your child's ability to converse fluently with adults blinds you to his complete inability to interreact with his peers, who he finds baffling and confusing.

Several children at my secondary school have been deregistered this term. I know for a fact that 3 of them, from different families, are not being educated at home. They have access to a computer, local walks, fitness equipment, etc but are being left to their own devices.

Home Ed works for some children and is a better option in some cases. It all depends on the engagement of the parent, not their academic background.

The socialisation aspect worries me. I do believe that many home educators meet up and their dc do classes so they do get socialisation and it’s all very nurturing. But life is sadly not always so super nurturing and I wonder if it gives false expectation on what life is like. Obviously if a child is being bullied to the point of a MH crisis there may be no other option than to hide educate.

I saw the end product as worked in higher ed for years. The students from home educated backgrounds seemed to broadly fall in to two camps, though not all obviously there was a definite trend. Very shy and socially awkward or absolute party animals who sort of went a bit over board because they had been with their parents so much.

The academic aspect is rarely the issue.

@Thesearmsofmine

I home educate my dc and have stopped posting on most home ed groups now because of how they have changed this year. People are deregistering with no thought and then coming into those groups and saying “so I took my kid out of school, now how do I home ed them?” or “will the school still provide work?” or “will I get the money that usually goes to the school for my child’s education?”. It is clear many people have not bothered to do any research into home ed when it is a big step.

I find it troubling as a home educator because these people will likely end up putting their dc back into school but not before causing changes to the way home ed is viewed and monitored.

This 100%

I’ve seen posts kicking off about FSM and that HE should still have them.

I actually thought this morning after reading a new post that the Gov will really review HE and make it nearly impossible for families to do this because of the influx of unprepared and unable people doing this.

Also yes to re registering them when it hasn’t worked leaving their kids academically behind and possibly no school place at all.

My friends kids go to a Steiner school - which is very alternative, but they have lots of money and own businesses so the kids will never struggle.