To ask why a significant amount of home Ed kids are joining school at KS2?

[Nonunsnonunsnone]

This might be area specific but we have had 10 or so kids join my kids school in the last six months who were previously home educated, either completely or since 2020. Being the nosey bitch that I am, I would rather ask MN than ask them directly.
I would have thought that any initial enthusiasm for home education would have been extinguished by the pandemic, it hit immediately.
It doesn't seem to be an easy choice for some (parents crying at the gates with others telling them it does get easier) so is it the economic climate?
FWIW I am not in favour of homeschooling as I don't believe that any of the hippie settings would have picked up on my DC's learning disability and possible autism as she would have just been left to paint all day and 'work at her own level'. I see some children who are homeschooled in my volunteer work who have pretty obvious needs but are just left to be 'wild' or 'free spirited'. I'm never quite sure who is being protected from the real world, the child or the parents.

FWIW I am not in favour of homeschooling as I don't believe that any of the hippie settings would have picked up on my DC's learning disability and possible autism as she would have just been left to paint all day and 'work at her own level'.

Read the thread in the SN board by the mother, who was devastated to find her DD has ADHD at 18, after her concerns were ignored by everyone!

www.mumsnet.com/talk/special_needs_chat/4623091-feeling-resentful-that-dd-only-just-diagnosed-with-adhd-at-18

I know, once I saw that I rolled my eyes. Another shit attempt at a divisive thread. FFS give up.

Some kids need special education which is not always funded or of decent quality by schools and some kids just don't get on with the school environment or are being bullied but nothing being done about it. They aren't hippies!

I suspect some of the reasons why kids are returning are financial too. Perhaps both parents need to work now. Seems the case for many families now.

My concerns re DD's dyslexia were completely ignored and dismissed by both the state and private schools she attended until year 6. Her ADHD was completely missed by her secondary school despite numerous concerns being flagged by ourselves and other professionals. Coping with it has left her anxious and depressed. She's just had it formally diagnosed aged 20.
School's not always the answer OP.

Our daughter wasn't ready for school at 4. She was ready in year 4, at 8/9...so she started then.

DS started at a similar time, which was year 2 for him as he wanted to.

#3 is starting in reception as he is totally ready.

I wouldn't be surprised if the underlying reason for them putting their children into school is financial, perhaps they can't afford to be a sahm parent any more! And no I don't think it's fair to ask or even imply this is the case in real life, nod along with the "7 is a good age to start school" if that's what the parent says. I know someone whose children only returned to school this September (older) since March 2020, and this was financially motivated, they couldn't afford the online school fees and she's going back to work full time

I agree that most people wont be able to afford a SAHM TBH esp at School Age.Home Schooling can work well ,and is certainly not "All Finger painting and hippie parents" FFS! 4 is young to start School and children may not be ready at a young age.

Interesting. I home educate and have not noticed that.

If I was asked to guess the most common age for home ed kids to go back to school, I would have said Key Stage 3 or 4. Thats the point where I would imagine parents might seek out more specialised teaching.

I wonder if this is a result of social circumstances.
Perhaps there's a cohort of parents who started with the pandemic, kept at it for a period and then had to give it up when the cost of living crisis hit.

I'm a pandemic home educator myself and I find it fascinating to be part of this weird unforseen consequence of the lockdown. I'm equally fascinated by the longer term destination of families like mine. I'd love to see some proper research into it.

FWIW I am not in favour of homeschooling as I don't believe that any of the hippie settings would have picked up on my DC's learning disability and possible autism

This is an interesting point. My DS also has autism and I wouldn't have known about it if he'd been home educated from the start.
He was always really happy and chilled at home so we saw very little evidence of anything "wrong".
He started showing behaviours at school which I now understand to be symptoms of autistic burnout. The school were very helpful in sign posting us to CAHMS and helping us get a diagnosis. But they couldn't provide an environment that wouldn't distress him.
So, I've got very mixed feelings about it. I'm grateful for the diagnosis because its allowed me to access support (Particularly DLA without which Home Ed would be impossible). But on the other hand I'm grateful for the "dry run" at home ed that the lockdown gave us.

The whole kids on the continent do not start school until 7 is not quite true. Most attend kindergarten of some kind where the necessary pre-skills are taught e.g. fine motor skills so they can learn to write, alphabet recognition, recognition books are made up of individual letters and these form words, follow instructions by the staff, etc. If all children arrived at school at 7 without these skills it would take some time to teach them reading and writing. But they do not because of kindergarten or similar set ups.

Going back to before covid, one of the main reasons for going in at 6/7, is because that's a common starting age for schools in other countries.

I knew of several people who only ever planned to home-educate through KS1 so as to match their "home" country.

It's even more convenient if you time the entry to when children would be changing schools - ie moving from infant to junior school, where those schools are split, or from lower to middle school - which would be a Y5 start - Because all of the children are transitioning at the same time.

Also, there's more than just the stereotypical "hippie settings" in home-education.
A child also doesn't have to be in school to access an assessment and receive a diagnosis for learning difficulties or autism.

With that said, some areas do make it harder for home-educated children to receive an assessment and diagnosis - presumably because they have the blinkered view that only a schoolteacher can fill in the forms and such like.

If you’ve had about 10 at one school then the school must have plenty of spaces (and other schools in the area may not), and word has possibly got round the home Ed community that the school is a good one and perhaps more aligns with their home Ed values.

I know a family who home school and the eldest son asked to go to school at a similar age. Some of his home Ed friends had started at a particular school and so he went there. He only went for about a term then asked to go back to home Ed. I’d have thought that’s not unusual.

My friend had to send their children because of relationship breakdown (i.e. financial reasons) although this was 10 years ago now. I'd guess with the cost of living crisis that finances could be a big factor for lots of people though.

In the case where home-ed precedes a deliberate KS2 start, home-education has, in effect, acted like a kindergarten.

The parents will have done educational activities with their children - just not in a classroom/school.

(Parents are able to teach their children to read, write and count. It isn't rocket science)

Education is backwards in this country, and I say that as someone who works in education! My DD is 5 and has been exhausted this week from the sheer intensity of school work. It's really unnecessary and if I had the choice I would have home educated my children. Unfortunately, life costs a lot of money so I have to work.

@MiddleOfHere If parents do this in-home education that is fine. Some will and some will not.
While some children easily learn to read, write and count, some children struggle with it. I am always a bit mmm about those who claim it is easy to teach these basic skills. For some children it is. My DP was taught to read and write at 4 years old by his older sister who wanted to be a teacher - she was 9 years old. Some children pick it up easily. But it is far harder to teach some children who do really struggle.
It would be like me saying toilet training is easy as kids quickly pick it up, based on my own experience. But I would be ignoring all those parents still struggling with toilet training, especially at night, when their child is 7, 8 or 9 years old.

I only picked up my child’s ASD because I deregistered and home educated for a while. She masked so effectively at school that they’d never had the slightest concern, even though her mental health was deteriorating at home. Home ed enabled me to figure out what was going on very quickly, whereas if she’d stayed at school it could have been years before autism was picked up on

Hopefully LAs are making appropriate checks, insisting on a suitable education and starting to implement school attendance orders.

@antelopevalley
To teach the "average" child, to read is not difficult. There are so many resources available, either online or in physical form, including most of the resources that schools use - if parents want to be a bit more formal about it.
There are also books and resources that home-educators can buy that will walk them through it, if they are lacking in confidence.

To teach a child with dyslexia, dyspraxia etc... is a lot more challenging, I agree. Having done this myself, yes, it took significantly more time but is not impossible.

There's no magic formula to teaching these skills, it takes time, patience and a willingness to work with the child and try different things if something isn't working.

For those children who do struggle, they probably still would have been struggling at 7, even if they had been in school throughout KS1.

I'm always a bit "mmm" when people think that schoolteachers hold the keys to teaching basic skills.

Many Home-edders recognise that beyond a certain level they won't be able to meet their children's needs across the range of subjects, so move their children into mainstream education once they hit that point.

@MiddleOfHere except I said no such thing.

Hopefully schools are making appropriate evaluations and provision, and parents are insisting school provides a suitable education and implements effective behaviour and learning policies.

@antelopevalleyI was replying to your comment, but I haven't credited you with saying anything other than "mmm"

In this country it is usual for home educating parents to let their children choose whether to home ed or go to school, certainly by the time they reach secondary age and often much earlier. Some parents will even let their 4yos choose, but many feel that a 4yo doesn't have the maturity and understanding to make the decision.

So, older kids often wonder what school would be like and decide to check it out for themselves to see if they are missing out. My eldest did that at nine. Several KS2 aged kids are absent from my local home ed groups this week, having gone off to see what school is all about. Some will enjoy school and stay, while others will be back with us in a few weeks or months.

Judgemental much???? You sound like you’ve got an axe to grind

There could be a number of reasons as pp said.

Some parents want to delay starting formal education so they will not apply for a place until KS2.

Some parents may not have the finances to continue considering the cost of living crisis. Often HE families have one SAHP but that may not be feasible anymore.

Some parents may have decided to HE after lockdown ended because they had CV or CEV family members and felt they needed to take steps to protect them. Support from schools has been very varied for families in such situations.

Whether you support the concept of HE or not is irrelevant though your idea of what it is seems very wide of the mark.