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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

If you don't want your child to go back, homeschool them.

388 replies

Mrgrinch · 22/02/2021 08:11

I've seen so many people on here ranting about how they don't think the schools should open. Many even saying they won't follow any other rules anymore if they do.

AIBU to think they should just homeschool their DC then?

Do they not realise how badly this is affecting so many children and families? Do they not realise how many children have been having no education at all? Some parents are at breaking point trying to keep their jobs and make sure their children are doing some school work.

Homeschooling was always an option, even before covid so if you are so concerned then unlist them and provide their education yourself. We can't stay home forever.

OP posts:
funinthesun19 · 22/02/2021 17:43

Totally agree with you OP.

I’m very happy about the decision to open schools on the 8th of March. Smile Plenty of people who aren’t happy about it, but then there were plenty of people who weren’t happy at the beginning of January when schools closed.

Swings and roundabouts innit.

poppycat10 · 22/02/2021 17:54

I'm so so angry with this government, threatening to fine parents. Sickening

The government doesn't fine anyone. Are local councils threatening to fine? We have local elections coming up - make your views known.

Ceara · 22/02/2021 18:01

The Welsh guidance on school reopening contained a clear statement that it would be inappropriate for local authorities to fine parents who delay their children's return to school. No similar statement in the English DfE guidance - just instructions to reassure concerned and possibly CV parents while reminding them school attendance is compulsory as it was in September. Chances of English local authorities not imposing fines...?

FrippEnos · 22/02/2021 18:18

Mrgrinch

I take it you don't work in a school.

Year groups are not mixing at all with different year groups. If they are required to pass in the corridors (they aren't usually as lesson times are different for each year group to prevent this) they wear masks. They also have staggered start and finish times.

I'm fairly sure that you don't work in a school either, or have any idea what its like in most schools.

And I work in a school that has some of the more extreme measures.

sirfredfredgeorge · 22/02/2021 18:27

I don’t understand why they don’t implement blended learning. So different year groups in for a week and then home did two. At least that would allow some face to face teaching for everyone but with fewer children in school

It doubles the work for all the teachers, whilst making almost no difference to transmission, (since the key worker/vulnerable and teaching staff remain constant throughout each group)

Firstworddinosaur · 22/02/2021 18:33

@poppycat10

I'm so so angry with this government, threatening to fine parents. Sickening

The government doesn't fine anyone. Are local councils threatening to fine? We have local elections coming up - make your views known.

Our local council is threatening fines because the government have issued a statement that school will be mandatory from mid March. I will be voting with my angry pen.
donewithitalltodayandxmas · 22/02/2021 18:41

Yes agree if I wasn't happy or vulneranble i would de register and homeschool
All those on about blended learning when most classes have a fair amount of keyworkers in would be still larger classes
Also if weather good schools can have more windows open , more outside time, aren't pupils in secondary now being tested along with having to wear masks and my ds school has other meaaures in place as no years mixing etc etc so there is some mitigation now in place

donewithitalltodayandxmas · 22/02/2021 18:43

Also please name all these countries that have given parents a choice to keep home or send in ?

donewithitalltodayandxmas · 22/02/2021 18:45

Also how do you expect shops and hospitality to open if kids are not back , impossible to homeschool whilst your serving in a restaurant or stood behind a shop counter.
The economy cannot start to open easily unless kids start to go back

Sumwin1 · 22/02/2021 18:50

@Firstworddinosaur

Why can't they give us the option to homeschool for a bit longer with no fine and keep our places? It would lighten the load for teachers and pupils in school too. I'm so so angry with this government, threatening to fine parents. Sickening.
No it would not lighten the load. Children learning at all different paces and eventually they will have to be taught all together. It’s the teachers who will have to catch the behind children up. There’s few parents that are able to teach to a standard of what a teacher does in a classroom.
MyDcAreMarvel · 22/02/2021 19:01

@donewithitalltodayandxmas Wales, America off the top of my head.

ineedaholidaynow · 22/02/2021 19:03

@donewithitalltodayandxmas many States in the US did

B33Fr33 · 22/02/2021 19:04

Because even though we have managed to keep our children working and up to date on their set work we:

  1. Don't believe for a minute they wouldn't learn more with their peers.
  2. I am familiar with local homeschoolers and they are not welcoming. At all. So no chance to take part in some peer to peer enrichment.
  3. I am not so arrogant as to believe that I on my own can duplicate the variety and experience of a whole school of teachers.
It is also possible to have conflicting views on your own, just reviewing the data will do that. It is easy to realise the situation is complicated.
Firstworddinosaur · 22/02/2021 19:14

Sorry Sumwin1 I should have said by lighten the load I meant make it easier for social distancing within the classroom. You're right I am no substitute for a professional teacher but my primary children won't suffer significantly from a few more weeks or even months of home learning. I'm just pissed off at having to pay a fine of at least £360 for the privilege.

donewithitalltodayandxmas · 22/02/2021 19:21

So hardly any countries have offered choice then

ineedaholidaynow · 22/02/2021 19:26

I'm sure there were other countries that offered the choice @donewithitalltodayandxmas but also many countries offered blended learning, they didn't just open schools for a free for all

lpsandmore · 22/02/2021 19:34

@donewithitalltodayandxmas You should probably start your own thread with that question tbh as it's not just based on countries but also areas of those countries. From what I have found from the small amount of research/family that lives in some of these is Brazil, Germany, Poland, Norway, Spain, HK, Singapore and USA. All of these offer/have offered different a choice of certain things at any point in the pandemic. UK seems to be in the minority of the developed countries taking an all or nothing approach.

Ylvamoon · 22/02/2021 19:37

Why can't they give us the option to homeschool for a bit longer with no fine and keep our places? It would lighten the load for teachers and pupils in school too. I'm so so angry with this government, threatening to fine parents. Sickening

Once your child is de registered, you won't be fined.
As for choice, you do have a choice, homeschooling or sent DC to school.

If you decide further down the line homeschooling is not for you, your LA will have to find a place for your child.

But then, you fear that your child will have to attend a less popular school a bit further down the road. That is a choice only you can make! The same as the parents who want to see their children in school ASAP- even with the associated risk of bringing covid-19 home.
Perfect doesn't exist in this situation, just what you feel is best for your child & family.

Sumwin1 · 22/02/2021 19:40

@Firstworddinosaur it’s a difficult situation. It could well be too soon but I guess we have to try. Children are affected I picked my DS up from school today and he was sat by himself and the teacher asked him what was wrong. He was missing his usual friends as the full class is not in. He’s had to move to 2 new play schemes in the pandemic so far it’s not fair on the kids.

I’m surprised your kids don’t mind stopping at home for the next few months! (Potentially) I think for the younger ones it’s harder.

Birchwhistle · 22/02/2021 19:53

Absolute crap Janegrey333 ... You need to be dedicated, supportive and have the time to be able to effectively home educate your own child and willing to facilitate their learning. Many families are in a much better position to do this than school. People on MN are always telling others to stop spreading BS on MN. Your comment is BS.

HazeyJaneII · 22/02/2021 20:00

@Ylvamoon

Why can't they give us the option to homeschool for a bit longer with no fine and keep our places? It would lighten the load for teachers and pupils in school too. I'm so so angry with this government, threatening to fine parents. Sickening

Once your child is de registered, you won't be fined.
As for choice, you do have a choice, homeschooling or sent DC to school.

If you decide further down the line homeschooling is not for you, your LA will have to find a place for your child.

But then, you fear that your child will have to attend a less popular school a bit further down the road. That is a choice only you can make! The same as the parents who want to see their children in school ASAP- even with the associated risk of bringing covid-19 home.
Perfect doesn't exist in this situation, just what you feel is best for your child & family.

It has taken years of battling to get the right support for ds, years of seeing him get ill and anxious in the wrong setting, years to get a decent EHCP, years to finally get a place at a special school which will hopefully be able to support his complex needs, keep him well and where he'll be happy....deregistering him would jeapordise all of that. There is a duty to all children in this pandemic to try and do the best for them, including medically vulnerable children - but there seems to have been very little thought or even a sliver of a plan of what we should do at each step of the way over the last year, and for the next year that lies ahead, whilst we wait for a vaccine to protect our children.
m0therofdragons · 22/02/2021 20:03

I'm sure there were other countries that offered the choice @donewithitalltodayandxmas but also many countries offered blended learning, they didn't just open schools for a free for all

Which countries? Name which ones have done this with evidence rather than vagueness stated as fact.

Devlesko · 22/02/2021 20:10

@Birchwhistle

Absolute crap Janegrey333 ... You need to be dedicated, supportive and have the time to be able to effectively home educate your own child and willing to facilitate their learning. Many families are in a much better position to do this than school. People on MN are always telling others to stop spreading BS on MN. Your comment is BS.
I can see both sides to this.

As a past home educator, I was lucky to be able to take my kids and dh to work, we travelled.
Had we had regular hours and needed childcare we couldn't have done this.
Most people would have to lose an income, and you are on your own, responsible for your child's learning.
Mine decided to attend either part or all of secondary school.
It was hard work. I'm a qualified teacher and no part of my training or experience prepared me or had any relevance to teaching in a classroom.

People shouldn't be forced into this, just because they have good reason not to attend school during a pandemic. But there again when you are registered the child's education is in the hands of the state, it's what you sign up for.

Surely there aren't that many who could be at home anyway, and most want their children back anyway.
Surely alternatives are worth considering.

ineedaholidaynow · 22/02/2021 20:10

@m0therofdragons you could read @lpsandmore above mine

Devlesko · 22/02/2021 20:11

relevance, to teaching at home Grin