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 home educate my 6.5 year old. Note - home educate, not home school. I suspect most people's negative attitudes to home ed stem from lockdown when they were attempting to home "school" their children at the kitchen table using worksheets from 9am-3pm. Home education is not school at home.

My DS is neurotypical and started school but then lockdown happened, and we loved home education so much that we decided not to send him back.

He socialises all the time, and with schooled children as well as home educated children. He does beavers, swimming, an art club, a drama club, music lessons, as well as plenty of playdates with other families. In terms of his education he is miles ahead of many of his schooled peers despite the fact I am not a qualified teacher (I am well educated but I am not a teacher). This is simply because I can learn with him 1:1 so we don't require a whole hour for a maths lesson, we can get it done in 15 minutes.

I don't like schools. I think many individual teachers are wonderful but I don't like schools. I don't like their insistence on 100% attendance, I don't like their arbitrary rules about things that aren't important, I don't like the narrow and dull national curriculum, I don't like the negative effects on the mental health of children and young people, I don't like their focus on imparting facts rather than equipping children with the critical thinking skills which will give them a life long love of learning, for their own joy rather than simply a means of passing exams.

I work: I am lucky enough to be able to do freelance work which fits around my son and I tend to work mostly in the evenings.

Massive amounts of ignorance on this thread regarding home education which is par for the course. However, there is some valid criticism which the home ed community often chooses to ignore - namely that some parents are ill equipped to facilitate their children's education.

@pompei8309 if you’re facilitating learning it’s not the same as teaching. And outside of the school system it doesn’t need to be the same. We have lots of data on self directed education that shows it works, often better than schools. Changing Our Minds by Dr Naomi Fisher is a good read on this

I understand it.
I do not support it.

I think it has its place. But it should be regulated.

No safeguarding. No accountability. Kids disappear and slip through the gaps.

School is an unnatural forced form of socialising - when else do you get huge numbers of people the same age forced day in day out to ‘socialise’

Are you actually serious? The vast majority of work places are exactly this, except the mixing is across age groups.

You do realise that home educated children also socialise with schooled children, right?

Absolutely!!

Also a good point about the lack of safeguarding - schools are pivotal in supporting children in many ways and keeping them safe. It’s one less set of eyes and ears looking and hearing out for signs of abuse. I actually can’t believe it’s so easy to do. Especially when you consider that there are people who can do it better than you and for free

THIS ^ X 1000 (work in Modern Slavery investigations)

Also because cavemen and tribes were known for their recluses 🤣

School is an unnatural forced form of socialising - when else do you get huge numbers of people the same age forced day in day out to ‘socialise

...work? 😂

It is doable in every LA. The law is the same everywhere, despite what LAs want you to believe. As are the avenues of legal recourse. The people I have supported aren’t just in my LA or neighbouring LAs. They are countrywide. I didn’t say it was easy, it absolutely isn’t, but it is more than possible to force the LA to provide section 19 provision and EOTAS via an EHCP.

Letting LAs act unlawfully without challenge doesn’t help anyone. Parents need supporting to challenge and enforce their and their DC’s rights so that they receive the provision they are legally entitled to and need.

And through facilitation of learning are these children able to take/gain their qualifications? they sit the same gcse, a-level paper as the kids in schools?

I'm not sure most, but i do think more would do it if they did understand.

“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.”

I had contact whenever I needed it from the EHE team, as did others I know who HE for the same reasons I did. To start off with I used to speak to them monthly, and they’d come and visit ds and me once or twice a year. You can opt out (in some areas I know people opt out because the EHE team are unhelpful - perhaps this needs to be addressed so parents who have likely lost trust in the system don’t feel scared of input from EHE teams?). In my area I was lucky, they were fabulous.

It’s sadly quite typical for those of us who have resorted to taking our dc out of school to lose trust in the very people who we should be able to turn to.

@Notimeforaname I’d challenge that tbh, schools tend to have quite specific catchments in certain areas/locations and much less diversity than people seem to think. My secondary school peers lifestyles differed very little from mine, some more money, some less, mostly white. The were a product of where we all came from

No, you need no qualifications whatsoever to decide to home school your child.

Makes you wonder why all those teachers spend years training when every single subject can be covered so competently doesn’t it?

I don’t disagree with homeschooling and I genuinely believe it’s the best option for some children. But not for the majority. There are so many things to consider; as a teacher I trained for 3 years and have regular training to ensure my subject knowledge is enough and up to date across all subjects- how does that work with homeschooling? I’d be concerned about social segregation but in my experience many homeschooled children have also experienced this at school. The other side of it is exposure, I couldn’t expose my children to all the things they get at school from random workshops in something they become passionate about or dealing with difficult peers. I think I agree with it as a temporary measure and when my DD was being bullied and her school didn’t help I’d have done it in a heartbeat if I was confident I could do it well. But in most cases I believe school is a better fit.

Most abused children are in school. The law recognises that home education in and of itself isn’t a safeguarding issue. There has never been a serious safeguarding case review where home education was cited as a contributing factor to the abuse.

Of course they are. There is no reason a home educated child wouldn't be able to take GCSEs if they wanted to. Mine certainly will.

A "social education"
is extremely important, though. Learning to interact with peers...

Who teaches your children, you? or you have tutors ?

I do understand what you’re saying, but the reality for many parents is very different.

In theory this is available, in practice it’s very rare.

Besides, many of my skills are probably outdated now. I know my math skills are! 😂

Ummm....

DS has medical needs tuition. He has it for severe mental health difficulties (new this year and very unexpected). I know another family whose child's primary difficulties was ASD related depression who accessed medical needs tuition whilst he was waiting to be placed in residential school. So not so laughable.

DS was also on the verge of having an Eotas package agreed with the LEA on transition to secondary without tribunal. Basically it would have been cheaper, with better therapy provision than mainstream with support.

(Ultimately I did send him to school for socialisation reasons. Big mistake. I did eventually realise he still didn't socialise with people and he was way happier home schooling. He actively talked to a larger number of people in covid lockdown albeit family members than he ever did at school)

So it can happen. Probably not as often as it should

The majority of home educating parents don't cover every single subject themselves. Facilitating the child's learning often means outsourcing some of that. I cover Maths, English and Science with my 6 year old because at the age he is I can easily manage that (alongside things like art and history). His French and his music are outsourced because others can teach those subjects better than I can.

When he gets older and I can no longer teach him adequately in certain subjects then those will also be outsourced.