Stop homeschooling your children.

[pentagonisapentagon]

I run an educational consultancy and exam company. We produce books that most parents in our area of education will purchase. Home educating your children makes us money.

However. STOP. Now I don’t mean those that have children with severe issues (this is a small %, everyone likes to diagnose their children with some form of disorder and it isn’t those I’m talking about) who would benefit out the classroom / often awaiting a better school option.

I mean the parents who are tired with the education system - lots of moans that they can’t take their children for a holiday, annoyed about not being allowed make up, the rules being too hard. You can barely spell, stop trying to teach your children yourself. These children are being FAILED by their parents.

By all means, if you have the relationship, time, ability and means to provide a solid home education system (inc money for tutors which will be needed) - go ahead. Just ensure you’re covering the social aspect.

I am seeing the advice to home school EVERYWHERE. Mumsnet and Facebook filled with the poor advice. It’s detrimental to all parties involved.

I’d love to know others thoughts on this.

If I had the patience and time I would take my kids out now.
My children are 9 and 6. They are being systematically destroyed by the education system which allows them to be bullied, degraded and abused on a near daily basis. A catalogue of over 34 incidents since they started again in September averages out to more than 1 per week.
Thats a problem.
It’s for that reason I personally LOATHE the school system that my children are stuck in today.

That's terrible ToffeePennie.

What this thread has shown me is that there are a lot of children who are merely surviving the education system, and a lot of parents with a fundamental misunderstanding of the differences between state and home education which means their children are at the mercy of it.

Please take them out. You do have the time, and patience? Meh, we all struggle with that sometimes. Sending your child into the situation you describe should be something social services oppose, however in the UK it is held as the holy grail. School is failing your children and chopping away at their personalities, their confidence and their mental health. Do whatever it takes to protect them.

Trust me, I really wish I could. However, if I don’t work, we don’t eat. Literally without my paycheck; we would not survive and I cannot physically work from home as I am in medical care. We live paycheck to paycheck and it’s really hard, without school I would be unable to earn the money to survive.

It is this situation for so many that has allowed some schools to say 'beggars can't be choosers' 'there is no alternative, nothing we can do' while paying lip service only, to decent parents trying to ask for their children to have basic decent conditions in school.
They try and keep the worst under some sort of control, but they know/believe that for so many parents 'choice' is just an illusion as soon as you scratch the surface.
You need them, whatever their standards are, no matter how much damage is being inflicted. You will take it, because the alternatives feel impossible.
At this stage, many teachers are also finding themselves looking down the same barrel.

It's desperately demoralizing, and I'm sorry you and yours are currently stuck in the situation. I stuck it out for a long time for similar reasons.