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

[PennyRa]

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

I think it works for some kids for whom school is a struggle, for whatever reason.

But I have 2 big reservations, and I'd be interested if the home school supporters could respond the them.

Firstly, in order to educate a child you have to have a degree of intelligence yourself, and plenty of spare time. Many people I've come across who choose to home educate have neither. They rely on the internet to educate their child, and it's often actually just gaming all day. Whilst gaming can facilitate some skills, it's far from a broad education.

Secondly, I've also seen situations in which the eldest child isn't neurotypical, and is quite reasonably home educated as a result. However, this then sets a precedent and the subsequent children (who are NT) are home educated against their will. I knew a family where the DD begged to go to school, and was promised repeatedly "next year". When she finally went in year 11, she was too far behind to manage GCSEs.

These are, in my experience, quite common scenarios, and is why I'm less than supportive of the concept of home schooling. There would need to be a lot more regulation before I could view it as a largely good thing.

Mine have experienced both HE and school. Both have positives and negatives, like anything!

HE does mean they socialise a lot more than school.

School is what, 2 x 15 minutes break and 1 hour lunch? Socialising with mainly other children in the same school year.

HE they socialise for 3-5 hours a day with a mixed group of ages.

One of my DC went to school after several years HE and the thing they were most shocked at was the lack of time to socialise and play with friends compared to HE.

I find the vast majority of people are ‘ignorant’ of HE, in terms of they’ve got no experience at all of how it works. Demonstrated by comments on this thread!

I’d say overall, benefits of HE vastly outweigh school.

I think “home education” needs to be rebranded as “self selected tutoring” or similar.

Too many people think it’s kids locked away at home all week learning maths from mum.

Unless your child doesn’t get on with traditional schooling, I find the idea of actively homeschooling a bit arrogant. The idea you think you can do better than people who have trained to teach is odd, unless of course you are a teacher by profession. Even then, the idea of spending all day everyday with your family is suffocating to me. Children need to be able to explore ideas away from their family. Homeschooling has nowhere near enough consistent oversight. I know some local authorities take more of an interest in the family’s homeschooling, but not all and it scares me some children will get zero oversight from an independent adult.

Yes but herein lies the problem.. most probably at some point in the future a home schooled child will have to join the real world when they eventually go to work. School in a way prepares you for that. People can be vile, bullies exist and sometimes the pace of work is quicker than you would like it to be - but that is life and does it really do a child any favours not to prepare them for that. This is what I mean by odd, you are not part of the real world, you have been cocooned and protected. Unless you make a huge effort outside of home schooling to address these issues.

Your premise is flawed. You seem to think that anyone who understands home education must support it, and that those that don't are somehow ignorant?

Quite wrong. I fully understand home education, and in many situations, I do not at all support it.

Do you know who doesn't understand home education? Quite a few of the parents who call themselves home educators.

I don’t have an issue with HE if it’s done properly, allowing socialisation and by a parent who is intelligent and has the knowledge and education to teach properly, or pays for a proper tutor. I do have an issue with it being done by people who do not have the resources or education/knowledge to do it.

In my dream overhaul of our education system- I do not know why smaller pods are not the norm where children who find large seconds school’s overwhelming can be taught in a much quieter and smaller environment. By being based on site of a secondary school - certain lessons could be accessed. Following a special needs school child centred approach.

In the context of now, with no such provision, I think that online schools with access to trained teachers and a connection outside of the home - are a solution.

I work in a field where actually home schooling is synonymous with neglect. So many lost kids whose parents don't give a fuck.

I also know of religious families who "home school" to indoctrinate their kids and prevent outside influence.

So whilst I can appreciate that not all Home Ed is bad, some of it really is.

I've seen people do it really well - generating bright, articulate well socialised kids. But this is exceptionally hard work.

I've seen people do it because they have strong religious beliefs and don't want their children exposed to such dangerous myths as evolution.
I've seen people do it ... Well not do it. Kids go to some clubs with other home edders but otherwise walk around the streets on their own...

There are definitely some kids it benefits, those who don't fit in the very small pigeon hole that the education system requires them to.

There are some people who do it well.
I think there are also a lot of kids who's education is quite neglected, who have no access to qualifications and whose parents are doing them a great disservice.

I home educate my youngest, since he was year 5, after he was bullied and the promised help for his SEN wasn't delivered. He has far more friends now than when he was at school, because the majority of home Ed kids are very accepting of all different needs.

He's currently doing a college course for home educated kids, and then looking into doing engineering at college or an apprenticeship after that.

Do I worry I've failed him by not sending him to school to do 10 GCSEs? Yes, sometimes. But then I also remember how stressed he'd he after a day at school and the massive meltdowns that would result. They very very rarely occur now, and he's enjoying college, and the few GCSEs/BTEC he's doing.

As someone who flunked school (undiagnosed autistic) and retook GCSEs in adulthood I know there's no rush to sit all of them at once.

Interestingly, one of the tutors at the college he's looking at never went to school as he was home educated.

I'm not anti-school, my others went to brilliant schools (mainstream and SEN), but my youngest wasn't coping and I knew the home Ed community here was thriving and good.

It's the lack of safeguarding and the utter lack of accountability that scares me. Seems like no one keeps you accountable for educational standards or even physical and emotional safety.

Loads of scary stories of abuse have "homeschooled" (ie completely isolated) kids in them. Horrendous that there are zero opportunities in these cases to detect and intervene abuse.

I'm very grateful to have the support of others in doing the best for my kids

Children learn very quickly when self motivated.
For ds this meant doing things he wanted to do, and doing my best to slot in writing, maths etc. TBH school hadn’t got anything remotely academic out of him since he was 6, so my goal was to set him up with life skills and employable skills.
This we have done well.
He took some tests at 16, when we updated his EHCP, through a private tutor. He was on a level with his peers in English, slightly behind in maths.
He’s now working, has a higher than average wage than others his age, is hoping to travel and work abroad, is very good at practical things, eg he can fix his own car.
His outlook in school was dismal. He’s done far better than he would have had he been forced through school in order to suit a bunch of people who didn’t understand what HE could do for him.

I find the 'weird home ed kid with no social skills' an odd one. I was a weird kid with no social skills and very few friends, and I went to school. My children have never been to school yet have wonderful social skills, lots of friends and a social life which is the envy of some of their schooled peers.

Whenever a home educated child is weird, shy, awkward or stuggling academically, it's put down to the fact they are home educated. If they thrive, it's seen to be in spite of home ed. The opposite is true for schools; if they're thriving it's because of school, if they're struggling it's in spite of it.

There are plenty of socially awkward kids with poor social skills in schools. It is not exclusive to, nor caused by, home education. I'd also note that a significant percentage of home educated children have SEN or are not neurotypical and are home educated because they wouldn't cope/weren't coping with the social environment in school.

I have friends who Home Ed. Each to their own.

1. As a parent I don't presume to have the first idea of how to educate a child. Learning about the pedagogy of reading and maths as my son goes through school has blown my mind.

1. As the parent of an only child, I think school is important not just for his friendships and socialising, but as a place to learn that the whole world doesn't revolve around him. He is not any more important than any other kid in the class. He has to muddle along when things aren't perfect for him, deal with injustices, sometimes be misunderstood or just lump it when things don't go his way. Learn when to fight your corner (with adults and children) and when not to. I think these are all quite important lessons for kids to learn!

Most (not all) of the kids I know who are home educated seem yet to have learned this. I'm curious to see what kind of adults they become. I've no doubt they'll be inteligent, interesting people. I slightly fear they'll think run-of-the-mill life is somehow not quite for them, and that will not always serve them well.

Of course, some children do not thrive at school and all parents will do whatever they can do meet the needs of a distressed or unhappy child.

What’s your answer for children you literally cannot get into school?

Medical needs tuition (which doesn’t actually have to be formal traditional tuition if it isn’t suitable) whilst pursuing an EHCP which includes EOTAS if there isn’t a suitable school. Not because I am ignorant to EHE, but because, for the vast majority of families, a good EOTAS package can include provision that the family can’t afford to self fund. DS1 has an EOTAS package worth more than £100k pa. We couldn’t fund that ourselves.

I agree the EHCP system is harder than it needs to be, and sadly DC whose parents can advocate for their DC get better support.

What I do understand is that Sen provision is severely underfunded and getting an approriate placement is a battle and a half. I don't think homeschooling is better than a good provision though. It should be more accessible.

I absolutely think there should be more checks on homeschooled children.. not because every homeschooled child is abused but for basic safeguarding

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

YABVU to leap to the fact that someone who holds a different opinion from you is automatically ignorant. I do home you aren't educating your dc into that sort of thinking.

I'm saddened the the vote is tending towards mass ignorance. I guess I'm just an eternal optimist

There are a lot of home educated children local to me. Many of them wouldn't cope in mainstream, but are thriving because their parents are engaged and there's an amazing local network of families shared my knowledge and skills.

Unfortunately there are a few children it really isn't working for. The family where none of the children can read because mum admits she has so many children and she's so busy with the baby and toddler that she can't find time to teach reading to the older ones. And the mum who pulled her children out of school because she didn't like the cliquey mums on the school run.

Families who do it well I am absolutely in awe of. It's certainly not an easy option.

I see where you’re coming from, but even this wouldn’t have suited ds’s needs, he still wouldn’t have been able to access education this way.

Through HE I have met many others with dc like my son. There are a handful of schools in the country that are able to cater to their needs, and they very much follow a HE unschooling method, but there aren’t enough to go round.

I know a few people who home educate, and they’ve talked about their reasons for making that choice. I understand why they’re doing it.
But I do have reservations about home schooling as a concept.

I think it’s possible to do home schooling well, and some children may thrive under home schooling.
But I also think it’s very, very easy to do home schooling badly. And currently there seems to be very little oversight of home schooling families. So it’s not something that I feel I can be actively supportive of.

You are not being a great advocate for home schooling.

”Homeschooling is amazing and if you disagree it’s because you are an ill informed idiot.”

There is a reason most governments on earth provide a level of formal education for children.

This is what I've seen from 3 different families.

The parents have mental issues of their own and weren't sending the kids to school but claimed to be home schooling.

One pulled her oldest out of school to babysit the 2 youngest so she could work.
The middle child went to school for 1 year. The youngest has never been to school.

The next family did send their children to charter schools until year 9 or 10 but pulled them out and were supposedly homeschooling but never finished. Neither parent could be bothered to check their work or take an interest and acted surprised when they'd failed for not turning in work for a couple of months.

Another family has an overly controlling and religious dad who makes a living off youtube so none of the kids have been to school.

Those who talk about all the socialisation. With most kids in school all day, who are the kids socializing with?

Yes this should be available, but sadly my reaction to your post was to laugh.
That’s like a fantasy wish list.

The only child I know who managed to meet the criteria for medical needs tuition was a transplant patient who was literally not allowed to mingle with others outside immediate family for months.

The very idea that this could possibly be available for an autistic child who throughout school wasn’t able to access any meaningful support is laughable.

I know this is my specific experience, but I’m not alone in this, to the point where no support, mentally ill child and no understanding of the issues at hand is typical of those I know who HE their child(ren).