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.

@ConfusedcomMum

I only know of two Home Ed parents but they had been doing this years before the pandemic and are really dedicated (one is a former teacher). Before this year, they used to meet up with their local network of home ed parents to go on trips, do science experiments etc. Their kids are most definitely bright and they both have a dedicated room in the home which basically looks like a classroom. I couldn't be arsed with doing any of that tbh, Home education is definitely not for me but I've seen how great it can be - if you're dedicated.

But only if both parents don’t need to work full time. Your scenario does somewhat suggest money is no problem.

I agree. I have very mixed views about home education as it is (obviously I’m biased!!) but I feel that SOME of the time it’s about what the parents/carers want or believe in over what is best for the child.
I’m concerned that home education seems to be on the rise because it makes me worry that people have taken their kids out when their children didn’t want that to happen, or that they haven’t done enough research or preparation. Before I get an influx of people defending their choices, I certainly don’t believe that home education is, as a rule, bad. I have read multiple examples of when it was best for the child and fully support it in these cases. I’ve just also read lots of people saying they are against the education system (fair enough), or it can be very clear that some parents have a hard time trusting/letting someone else care for their child.

Yeah, I have seen several parents remove their kids now come begging as mocks approach and they finally realize they can't teach Art or Economics and have fucked their child's exams. It's sad and stupid. My school hasn't stopped teaching at any point.

I always found that many home-educators were not up to standard at all anyway. Some parents are brilliant, and their kids are learning accordingly. That will never change.

But many are not so much.

The parents who can afford it here seem to rely heavily on private tutors, private groups so the level of education was just as good. it does take a lot of commitment, and a lot of resources, but the kids are not disadvantaged in any way.

I fear more for the parents who have no resource, no training and not a clue about what they are doing, and whose kids are missing on the social aspect.

So many kids actually love going to (Primary) school, have excellent teachers who give them an interesting day and opportunities to have fun with friends.

There should be much stricter check on what is happening when you deregister (or not register at all), no child should be completely abandoned.

Back in the day, HE was known as Education Other Than At School (EOTAS) and had a designated LA rep, who would visit families. In my area, at least. Now, there are plenty of HE organisations, who are supporting families and groups of HE families get together, so there is a certain socialisation.

What is different this year, is that there are people who have rushed into it, as a response to the current situation, who haven’t researched, prepared,nor maybe even thought about how to go about it. Particularly those who have a limited grasp of the basics, although it’s tantamount to heresy on MN to suggest that grammar, punctuation etc are important.

I think that if you decide to HE because the system doesn’t meet your child’s needs, or because you really believe that you can offer a better experience for your child and have researched, planned and prepared and understand potential pitfalls, that’s one thing. If you’re doing it by default pretty much and haven’t thought about the long term implications, then that’s a different and worrying matter.

There should be much stricter check on what is happening when you deregister (or not register at all), no child should be completely abandoned.

You are right, no child should be abandoned. But that is exactly what our government is doing to SEN/ Disabled children.

It's a national disgrace.

I feel that SOME of the time it’s about what the parents/carers want or believe in over what is best for the child.

I totally agree with this FWIW. I actually ended up feeling embarrassed/criticised about sending my eldest back to school when she asked. HE isn’t right for her. Great for DS but they are two very different people! Both autistic/ADHD (as am I) but completely different needs both socially and academically.

It also depends on the child.
My son is bright (I would say that, but he genuinely is) but very much had the attitude of "You are not my teacher, you cant make me do maths" when the schools first closed. It got a lot better, but he is still much less willing to take what I say as a fact whereas if a TEACHER says it then it must be gospel truth. Admittedly, there is a lot to be said t having a questioning mindset towards your teachers (in the case where I am his teacher) but it does make the learning process much slower.

I have two friends who have decided to home educate through various reasons, one was already considering it before March, they did do their research on it. One is still hoping to get his child back into school at some point though, but its not looking likely.

I did consider homeschooling when DS was first due to go to school, but decided against and to be honest this year has confirmed I was right, as I had the support of the school, they sent out all the work, so all I had to do was make sure DS understood the work. But I swear to God fractions nearly broke me and while I understand if homeschooling I could teach it in a different way, I just don't have the patience, but if I see a 8/16 again I will lose it

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.

I completely agree with your post. Especially this. I'm part of a group for a while now purely out of research and honestly there are some people who should have no business anywhere near a book. I've noticed the most disgraceful spelling and grammar and I just can't believe these people are to take their kids education into their hands.
There was someone who was very proud about her ds not being able to read at 10 and so many posters supportive of him learning when he is ready. She is a big presence on the group so is always coming up with these examples.

DS1 is very bright with ASD, dyslexia and dyspraxia. Fortunately he is happy and doing well in a cosy primary school.
Lockdown learning was a painful slog, but that doesn't represent real home learning as it did not have any social input and was a very 2 dimensional way of learning.

If DS was at crisis point with the school system then I would consider home education, but it would need access to groups and tutoring to help him work and achieve his potential. Current curcumstances would be very far from ideal without access to his normal range of activities to suppliment holistic learning.

Home educating to isolate away from fear of a virus is not a good starting point (one thing if it is an acute clinical need, but another out of overhyped fear). I notice on local newspaper comments that the strongest "close the schools" type comments are from the least literate. If parents have very weak skills/ knowledge and don't have the financial means to outsource, it does not bode well for the child.

When mine were infants, I was into cloth nappies and babywearing and there was a significant overlap into home educating territory and alternative, anti-establishment lifestyles, but they did form communities which is very important for the children.

The state system is very far fom perfect but is a good enough fit for most. Home learning can b better for some children, but it really shouldn't be a knee-jerk reaction and needs careful consideration and often external input.

Back in the day, HE was known as Education Other Than At School (EOTAS)

EOTAS now exists as a SEN provision where there is no suitable school. Parents have to fight for it though.

From my experience the LA has no interest in what the children learn or their learning outcomes. They would MUCH prefer parents deregister and home educate because then the parents take on responsibility..

It’s a feature of HE that a broad range of people do it for a wide variety of reasons. You get some very strange bedfellows in HE groups because of that.

A lot feel driven into home educating because SN is being inadequately altered to by the state education system, a large subset of those have DC with ADHD or ASC, but it stands to reason that some will also have dyslexia or dyscalculia and these tendencies are heritable. So frequently the parents rescuing their DC from a damaging situation will face similar issues to those facing their child. It doesn’t mean they can’t access support & resources or do better for their child, holistically, than the school was doing. Very often when the issue is SN, DC go back knot school after period of time anyway, either after gaining an ECHP whilst HE, or just after some helpful 1on1.

@SingToTheSky

I feel that SOME of the time it’s about what the parents/carers want or believe in over what is best for the child.

I totally agree with this FWIW. I actually ended up feeling embarrassed/criticised about sending my eldest back to school when she asked. HE isn’t right for her. Great for DS but they are two very different people! Both autistic/ADHD (as am I) but completely different needs both socially and academically.

You did totally the right thing by the sounds of it! You put the needs of your child first. I definitely think SEN children can thrive in a home education environment depending on their needs - I’ve worked with children who find mainstream school totally overwhelming and distressing and SEN schools aren’t always the right environment for some either. I fully support HE in these cases. It definitely sounds like your children are happy with their situation!

But as others have alluded to, for a long time "Home Education" was used as a quick fix for local authorities for children that didnt fit into the mainstream schooling system for various reasons - whether special educational needs, emotional/bullying issues, or disruptive behaviour. Its much much cheaper for the LA to basically just tell parents they are HEing theirkid from now on than put the resources into providing specialist care, and a handy way to wiggle out of their legal obligation. That is a side I think most people werent aware of, but that lots of people got to experience a small taste of when schools closed and suddenly everyone was just expected to comine teaching with working full time.

honestly there are some people who should have no business anywhere near a book.

What a horrible sentiment.

maddiemookins16mum I wouldn't say both families are well off but they have made career & financial sacrifices in order to home educate their kids - sacrifices that I would be unwilling to make but I do respect that they feel it's worth it. I think if it's done properly then you do end up sacrificing something as effectively it's a job (unpaid) all on its own. Each to their own.

@JillofTrades

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.

I completely agree with your post. Especially this. I'm part of a group for a while now purely out of research and honestly there are some people who should have no business anywhere near a book. I've noticed the most disgraceful spelling and grammar and I just can't believe these people are to take their kids education into their hands.
There was someone who was very proud about her ds not being able to read at 10 and so many posters supportive of him learning when he is ready. She is a big presence on the group so is always coming up with these examples.

I know what you mean (intrigued as to the group name but TBH I have left a few for just what you describe). I daren’t mention our home ed approach now on many groups. Luckily we have good friends who understand why we do HE differently.

The home educator I know has always been like this. She thinks she is somehow superior because she home educates and keeps her children away from everything mainstream. They never like anything mainstream so you know, normal childhood fads such as LOL dolls - she prides herself on her children having no idea what they even are.

The only reason she’s in a position to home educate is because her DH is autistic and also has a problem with his spine so they claim benefits. If they both had to go to work, it just wouldn’t be possible. She’s taken more of an ‘unschooling’ approach so they don’t sit down doing worksheets, they learn through play. It’s fine when they’re under the age of 6 but her eldest is almost 11.

She’s going to pay for her exams when she gets to that age. I teach GCSE and A level English and I know this woman doesn’t have level 3 education, she left school at 16. Find the situation worrying and do feel for her children. They’re going to grow up a bit weird, they just are. The real world is going to come as a shock to them.

"I can understand why people have problems with the system, but I wouldn't attempt it myself."

Some people have no choice. If there is no school offering a place for your child and the LA provide little or nothing in the way of an alternative then you have to do it yourself. There are thousands of children without school places.

You can’t blame everything on schools. A lot rides on the engagement of parents which is a sociological issue. I did some time working as a TA. The teacher was fantastic and she has good resources, the class was large but the biggest factor in development was what was going on at home.

This is your answer.

Unfortunately the children who do well at school are also likely to be well home ed, and vice versa.

However, some children who would gave got little education but a lot of trauma from a school environment may do better overall, even if they don’t get a stellar academic education.

Confidence, self reliance and adaptability are worthwhile attributes which may well have more of an impact on people’s outcomes in life than exam results.

And I say this as a home edder whose dc have exam results which exceed anything they could have got from any school on the planet.

I am not worried about doing the home education so much as worried about the negative aspects of not seeing their peers - social skills etc.

The last efforts of our local schools at sending home work to do with children was woefully inadequate. Hopefully, this time they actually do some work and come up with something instead of a weekly email whilst they spend time in their garden on full pay. Otherwise, we don't really need that many teachers so perhaps as they retire don't employ more.

@Thesearmsofmine

One of the things that has struck me about the influx of people deregistering recently is that they need to be spoon fed information via Facebook strangers instead of doing some research themselves. We have all this information available to us but instead of finding for example the legal implications of home educating on the governments website. they ask people on a Facebook group. Often there are several incorrect replies(usually then an admin comes along and states the facts).

I've noticed this too and despair as if they can't work this out then there is no a lot of hope for them. I home educated for many years, we loved every minute of it and wouldn't have changed it for the world

"But as others have alluded to, for a long time "Home Education" was used as a quick fix for local authorities for children that didnt fit into the mainstream schooling system "

A friend was told by her child's school to choose between permanent exclusion of their child with acknowledged sen or to choose home education to avoid an exclusion being on their child's record.

My grandchild is 10 years old and has never been to school with the exception of two days three years ago. The first day went fine as he had made a new friend and was basically observing. The second day when the actual school work began he couldn’t cope so his mum pulled him out.

He is being failed by his mum who sees herself as a ‘free spirit’ (father is dead). She’s an anti-vaxxer and is into all the conspiracy theories and is scared witless right now about a ‘New World Order’ and says she ‘knew this was going to happen years ago’. She does not believe that children should do tests or exams as it limits their creativity and makes them anxious.

My grandchild goes to a childminder when his mum goes to work and does ‘nothing because the childminder is busy looking after the babies’.

He doesn’t even know his six times table :( Apparently he is ‘unschooled’ so he can just approach his mum and tell her what he wants to learn; it is mostly playing a Roblox game. His spelling is akin to that of a six year old.

His mum takes him to Forest School which seems to be mainly climbing trees and sometimes making a camp fire (this could be done with the Scouts after school/weekends but his mum doesn’t agree with their ethos). Most of the Summer is usually spent going to spend a few days at various festivals, obviously it didn’t happen this year.

Worst of all - my grandchild now will avoid any child who attends school, as if they are tainted in some way.

I am so upset and when I contacted the home learning officer at their LEA was fobbed off with “as long as at least some education is being provided then it is not our concern”. Shocking that there are no checks in England that these unschooled/homeschooled children are not being made to ensure that they are receiving an appropriate level of education.

I feel that is is neglect and I do not know what to do but my grandchild’s future is going to be very bleak indeed and it breaks my heart.