To think that most people actually do understand, and therefore support, home education...

[PennyRa]

And it's just a loud minority that are ignorant?

Not sure anyone has argued that you should, although some posters seem to be pretty angry at HE parents who can afford not to.

Sorry, I was replying to a pp. She wouldn't be allowed to go on benefits in order to home educate.

Afford not to work? My relative does, as does her husband, but it has to be worked around. I suppose it's not too far from the animosity towards those of us using private schools. At least it sounds similar in some ways.

Can't speak for that poster but during busy times I have been known to start work at 6 and finish at 1/2 am. I do consultancy work for the voluntary sector and most of it involves writing, so I can do that outside office hours.

Also no HE parent is teaching their child 12 hours a day, just as no child is in school 12 hours a day. Unless you're holding HE parents to higher standards than schools.

Yes, that's exactly what it is. The whole "some people can't afford X, so how dare you be able to".

Doesn't really work as an argument IMO but there you are.

One teaches knitting (groups) and has an online shop. Another is a teacher, offering tutoring from her home and possibly online. Her children may be in those groups (she has four or five children). Husband is a social worker.

I'd have to ask my relative for more information, but those are two I've met, and am acquainted with, personally.

@heloiseandabe @Marytherese definitely the same argument on the grammar school and private school threads, oddly enough I never assumed I'd see the same points on a home ed thread!

It's remarkably similar!

This isn't true. You're seeing arranged groups/activities. How do you know what's going on out of those groups and in free time. I'll tell you, exactly the same as the kids in school who mess around in play grounds and mooch about alone outside of school. Why do people seem to think that HE kids are imprisoned in the home when not out with their mum. The home ed teens I know are all off out doing their thing at weekends, sometimes during the day, just like school educated kids.

I hate to disabuse you, but I went to school 5-18 and so did my son! I am not a home educator and my son is not the "little spirited child".

I imagine most entitled adults went to school TBH.

Diversity of thinking is important and I think you probably get more of it if you are home educated.

Anyway you don't have to agree with me, this is about discussion and debate, not insults.

I have friends who home Ed, some are now young adults/teens, some primary aged. They had a community of mothers who “taught” various classes (ex maths teacher, a polyglot, an ex Chemistry Professor, and an amazingly talented artist are my friends, I can’t remember off the top of my head what the others in their circle do) plus access to Forest schools, high earning husbands to enable this alongside the money for educational trips.

My middle DD was with them for a few months as she was struggling like fuck due to undiagnosed ASD/ADHD, I’m a lone parent and have to work. They did a fantastic job of resetting her and reigniting her love for learning whilst I was dealing with her MH appointments/therapy/etc and finding a new school.

The adults/teens have all gone onto University or apprenticeships as they did GCSEs etc.

DDs have a cousin on her fathers side.

She is epitome of everything wrong with home education and is the reason why people think what they do.

No community. No socialising. No sort of education whatsoever. No GCSEs (she’s 17). She has no friends.

I’m not quite sure what her mother has been doing with her all these years but I can sure as shit see what she hasn’t done.

As a result, I’ve had to step in to manage DD1 and her cousin because her cousin doesn’t grasp that DD is a) at school so not available to text all day b) has a lot of homework as she’s in Y11 so can’t text all evening c) has extra curricular stuff d) has friends so doesn’t want to spend every free moment with her e) has zero boundaries and no clue how to socialise and suffocates/upsets DD a lot.

Yes, that's exactly what it is. The whole "some people can't afford X, so how dare you be able to".
It's that, combined with a bizarre set of low standards where people insist that other parents are wrong for trying to provide the most appropriate education for their child(ren), be it independent or home education.

It's absolutely fine to buy houses in catchment for state schools. It's fine to hot house your child to get into grammar because there's a problem with the tiered system. It's fine to top up state education (of various quality) with a range of enrichment clubs and private tutors.

But if you opt to send your child to a local independent school because you think the curriculum is better for your child/you think smaller class sizes would be better for your child/you have experienced issues in the state sector and aren't willing to sacrifice your child in the name of a silly political purity spiral then you're obviously horrifyingly loaded and are trying to buy your child a place at Oxford and get a free pass into the most elite profession's ever and you're all that is wrong with the world. You personally should send your child somewhere unsuitable for them for 5+ years in order to prove your commitment to strangers who can't afford it.

And if you home school because you think home education curriculum plans would be better than the local offer, or you'd like time to educate your 4-7 year olds more like the Scandinavian/European way, or you would like to do more project learning, or you'd like your child to have a mix of academic and practical learning, or they have SEN and you're done with the battle, or your child's mental health has been damaged by their experiences of school, and so on, then you're obviously raising poorly socialised children, probably simultaneously have low aspirations whilst also being loaded and if you're not loaded then you must be doing a terrible job because poor people couldn't home educate.

Some people fundamentally have an issue with parents doing the best they can for their children.

It isn't an argument but all the posters on this thread who said their children have thrived or are somehow better of being home educated have not acknowledged that it is a privilege.
Example;
Home Ed mum: hi!
Me: hi! Little Albert looks happy
Home Ed: yeah we home school
Me: ah I'd really like to find out more about that but I'm a single parent with no support and I have to work when my patients need me which is 9-5 Monday to Friday.
Home Ed: yeah that wouldn't really work then, sucks to be you, byeee

It's not even like private school as I could work my ass off and get my kids into private school. In order to homeschool you would have to have another parent present m. I would have to clone myself.

I've said it's a privilege. I have no problem saying that.

It hasn't been explained to me how that being true is a reason why it shouldn't be done.

Yes, obviously you or any partner, if you had one, would need to fit working hours around home ed, or be able to afford not to work.

Unfortunately, I have only seen home education done very badly.

The children were allowed to run feral all day, with little to no actual education, while their single mum claimed benefits. They were badly behaved as they had no boundaries set by their mum, and no school to set boundaries. I wonder if they are now in jail.

Others I have met more recently have similarly terribly behaved children. There seems to be an overlap between those who refuse to set boundaries, and those who home ed.

There also seems to be an overlap between odd beliefs, including conspiracy theorists and extreme religious beliefs, and the home ed community, meaning that these children have no chance of a rounded education.

Home educated children are vulnerable from a safeguarding point of view as well, as no one is monitoring their welfare. I believe there should be mandatory social services check ins for all these children.

There seems to be an overlap between those who refuse to set boundaries, and those who home ed.

What a ridiculous generalisation when you say yourself you only know a couple of families. I know about a hundred and I probably know three like this out of them.

Because it wasn't a "privilege" it was essential as we'd exhausted all avenues to MS education for him. The only thing they could offer me was a PRU for him. He didn't have behavioural issues, he had autism. I was a single parent and reliant on benefits. I did it because I had no other choice. That is the opposite of privilege. He did "thrive" though and I have no regrets.

I agree home ed attracts a lot of conspiracy theorists.

I'm TOTALLY on board for more regulation but mandatory regular social services checks seems massively OTT given home ed on its own is not a safeguarding concern. Home visits, a register etc I'd be more than happy to engage with. Happy to provide samples of work too.

And yet again, if you met a handful of badly behaved kids who all went to school you would not say "ah, well that's because they're at school".

It isn't an argument but all the posters on this thread who said their children have thrived or are somehow better of being home educated have not acknowledged that it is a privilege.

Agree with @Mogwire Why would they need to?

And again, so many similarities to the animosity directed to those of us who attended private schools or use them for our children, and as pps have said! Including being different.

Because as a single parent, there’s only one wage coming in

Home Ed requires a husband who’s willing to be the sole earner AND earns enough to do so whilst you Home Ed.

Something that’s not an option for single parents. It is a privilege thing.

Home visits, a register etc I'd be more than happy to engage with.

I think this possibly going to happen, if not already! I don't know the details, however. I'd have to ask.

All these "feral" badly behaved children 🙄, it's been said already but a very high number of children with additional needs do not have school places. You say this to people and they simply cannot assimilate it "but ALL kids go to school and legally have to have a place" they bleat. No, they don't, there are ways round it and the LA often DGAF and they prevaricate for months even years while your child has no school place. The fact that you don't know this means you've been lucky enough not experience it, not that it's not true. So all that "feral" behaviour might be those kids with additional needs who have no other chive but to be where they are with your lemon faces judging them.

Choice not chive obvs 😁