To think Home Education should be made illegal

[Viviennemary]

I would like to see a ban on HE except perhaps in a very very few cases and with good reason and under strict supervision.

I think this lack of information should be made illegal.

To think the teacher who saw Sarah every day and were worried about bruises had absolutely no idea, no information, no power to understand the context. They were completely in the dark and were muddling about wondering...

They should have had instant access to her information, and background and then they could press the red button... Problems here etc.

I also think judges behaving in the secrets need to be made illegal it means they are not accountable

But Sweden also doesn’t require children to start school until they’re 7 years old and a lot more emotionally mature than a young 4 year old.

Both things can be true.

But at the same time the vast majority of Swedish dc are in FT daycare until they start school- it’s not that they’re hanging around with their parents at home. They effectively are “at school” - it’s just that the play based phase goes on for longer and it’s not called school.

playBased environment is more nurturing and exactly what young children need, rather than having to learn how to write before your phalanges (hand bones) are completely fused. Which are not at age 4, hence a lot of homeschooling parents prefer not to put that pressure on a child before they’re psychically ready, because they don’t have another option, right! The educational system here would benefit hugely from having something in place like Sweden or other European countries do. I guess a lot of homeschooling parents wouldn’t homeschool then.

They start school in the year they turn 6, so at 5/6 years old children start a compulsory pre school class, basically reception. So they start 1 year later than British children.

I thought British children start the year they turn 4, so that’s a two year difference from Sweden.
Also if your child was summer born, It can be a big difference in the emotional maturity.

Excellent specialist schools do exist its just getting your child in, unless you have the £££ it's a tribunal battle for a year for independents. Most specialist schools run by the councils shut down long ago in favour of integration which doesn't work as there is too little knowledge, skill and money in mainstream. Hence a disparity of education for children with SEND.

HE has its pros and cons, as @MintTwirl has pointed out. Parents with wacky views, loneliness sometimes, depends where you are in the country and how alive the HE scene is. And yes, safeguarding - though I would estimate this as very small compared to children being abused who are in school. I was one of the latter. No visible marks, got on well with studying. No red flags. Abused by family member until I put a stop to it (pat on the back for my brave 14 year old self). No criticism intended for those who couldn't stop their abusers, a lot of coercive control goes on behind closed doors.

I never told anyone at school, for the shame of it.

Mine would have been better staring at 7 without a shadow of a doubt.

When he was seven, he said 'they (other children) can do things (read and write) and I can't'. Heartbreaking. Dyslexia but school denied it, eventually diagnosed after I pushed for EP for 18 months. Still arguing about literacy provision now (Y10, age 14), on EHCP not being delivered - school say lack of funds. Solicitor involved. See how much fun it is to have a child with SEND in a mainstream school? 8 years and counting. No bloody wonder people HE.

They start after they have turned 4. So they will be 4/5.
If they started the year they turned 4, they would start at 3/4.

So Swedish children start school 1 year later than British children. The vast majority are in childcare before then.

So the child who’s 4th birthday is say in August and starting Reception in September is only a year younger than a child in Sweden who is starting school at age 6?
Am genuinely curious am I being daft here…

It is so terrible that parents have to fight and push the school to provide appropriate testing and support for children. We should be able to relay on their expertise to see and point out if a child has a learning difficulty and help the parents not work against.
So sorry to hear you’ve had such a difficult journey, my reason for homeschooling is also due to lack of support and having to ask for external help with sensory processing issue.
It is absolutely better for us to have a nurturing environment rather than a lack of one.
Good luck with it all. 🌷

I also feel that we avoid saying anything negative in the real world because there are so many people against home ed and the worry is if this is heard by certain quarters it may be used against the parents to strong arm the child back into school. This would be our worse nightmare as would like cause child suicide. So I don't say anything negative because i can't take that risk

This whole discussion on stricter monitoring of home head is causing me anxiety as the fear is that it will leed to children like mine being forced into school and an uplift in suicides. All because people don't understand how home ed is different to school and will.look different in different families because the child's needs will differ (this isn't neglect or bad education but different and we know difference is understood by the mainstream view

By law they do own your children

I understand your confusion. They would be 2 years older. But Swedish children who turn 6 between 1st of January to day before autumn term, have to start the previous school year.
So if Sweden and UK had same term dates (which they do not), the August birthday child at 6 would have started school in September the previous year.

I think there are far too few check on home educated children - I don't necessarily disagree that there should be a ban as the number of children falling through the net is growing. Whilst I agree that some of those educating their children at home do so for the best possible reasons it doesn't allow children to mix and experience other influences.

It's really not up to the state to tell families how to educate their kids.

What about all the things kids miss out on because they are in school all day?

Well, illegal schools are obviously illegal. This discussion is about home education, which isn't illegal. It's the illegal schools they need to deal with.

Why? Asking for families to "co-operate" is not something LAs should be doing. They should only get involved when they suspect that parents aren't following the law.

Can you explain why?

I see, I really believed Sweden was the same as Croatia. Guess I was mistaken. In Croatia children start at 6/7 yrs old.

Swedish children start what they call school at 7. But the pre school class is compulsory and is like a reception class. So people simply look at when Swedish children start what they call school, which is 7 years old.

Home ed kids DO mix and experience other influences. There are many, many home educated children and many, many provisions for them to mix and socialise and experience group learning and experiences. The home ed community is vast and colourful and provides a wonderful wealth of experience that simply isn't available in mainstream schooling. Parents of children in schools seem unhappy, on the whole, with how children are treated and with the support they're getting. The holiday fine debacle doesn't make it easy, even if there's proof that travel or holidays could improve their lives, enrich their understanding of different cultures and - most importantly - improve their mental health.