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.

@OhBling parents can teach whatever they want. They do not have to follow a curriculum or enter their child for any exams. They do have to pay for all costs, including exam entry.
And this is the issue. It really is a free for all. You have parents who do not teach children to read and write declaring they will learn when they are ready. This does often happen in their teenage years as they realise themselves they really do need to learn to read.
You do have some very good HE, but you have terrible HE as well.

I did do better, judging by the standard of academics amongst the children with whom my son now attends school.

A friend who was homeschooling her DD as she couldn't cope in mainstream school found this - there were a couple of groups she wanted to join but she quickly realised she couldn't as the other parents/children made it unbearable. But that's probably true anywhere, it's just that for homeschooling there are limited options? I' considering changing one of DS' sports clubs -the woman who rns it is a bit odd and very clearly does't like DS. But it's easy for me to change - there are loads of clubs around. Might not be so easy when looking for a home schooling PE class?

I would like to see some sort of extension to the Virtual School provision that provides oversight and continuity for LAC in mainstream education.

It would however, have to have a very different remit and focus to the Virtual Schools, I think there needs to needs to be some sort of official register maintained to keep track of the whereabouts and well being of home educated children.

Unfortunately I doubt that it would prevent cases of abuse since parental child abusers are well known for their ability to pull the wool over the eyes of doctors, social workers, police and teachers. Unless there was a legal obligation that a home schooled child had to be physically accounted for every few months ( which would be pretty hard to enforce and maintain) there would be so many loopholes that abuse cases would slip through without comment.

However I should say I don't think, in the interests of fairness, that my son is typical of most home educated children. A lot I came across still couldn't read aged 9 or 10.

Yes, I would ban it on the provision that more funding is given to specialist schools / SEN and that state schools are massively improved. Right now there is just no viable alternative to HE for some families. If there was, it wouldn't be necessary as is the case in other countries. In Germany HE is banned (for good reason). The government doesn't own someone's children, but neither do their parents. Every child has a human right to an education and to learn through play. Not many parents are equipped to give them these and therefore shouldn't be allowed to homeschool. I'd go as far and say that denying your child a school education borders on abuse in some cases.

The problem is, schools are incredibly substandard, and IME especially for certain age groups. For example, if you have a 11 - 14 year old who you want to do well academically, to be inspired, to not be bullied and to not want to find out about things like porn and indoctrination, and to stay mentally and physically and emotionally healthy, then very often school is absolutely the very worst place to send them. HE may not be perfect, but for a few years might be the better option.

@Brieandcamembert

You have full control over what your child is taught abd so they potentially only learn what you know about. What you want them to and things from your perspective.

They don't get the same social opportunities.

They don't learn how to be with people they haven't chosen to be with & to do things thet don't want to do.

They have less time away from parents to learn from other people

They are likely to be accommodated far more at home than school so resilience is lower

It's a very insular way of life that means you are exposed to far fewer variables.

With the exception of the first point, the rest of them are not the negative points you think they are. In fact, they are the absolute reasons that my DC thrives at home and was nearly broken by school.

Your first point however; my DC learns differently, they have a better general knowledge than I do, they don't need GCSE level maths and they have taught themselves more than I ever could. She is 14 now though and learning in a way and to a level that suits her needs and abilities.

I agree. Education allows kids to integrate into society and develop separately from their parents. It ensures they are taught useful skills for adulthood. It also means that there is at least some external scrutiny on child welfare.

Home education is entirely unregulated. The only person I know who is home schooling is schooling four children. She has no particular education herself and is fond of bizarre antivax conspiracy theories. I really don't think it's in her kids best interest

Nice froth-plop 🙄

Home educated children are being educated (or ought to be, anyway).

I think there needs to be more checks and at least monthly check ins at children's centres for all children who are home school.

Yes this would be a good compromise.

How about the government sort out the absolute shit show of state school first?

The state school system is mostly not fit for purpose AND does not suit all kids. Parents should have autonomy to school their kids however they see fit. The state do not own our children.

Most HE families are kids who have been failed by the system or parents who want to educate their kids BETTER. Yes there are a few who abuse this but it’s definitely the minority.

My kids are private & state schooled by the way and I still see the advantage of HE.

If this post is about Sara’s murder - it’s absolutely nothing to do with HE.

Just out of interest, how do people fund it? At least one parent can't be working if they are at home, schooling the children.

I think this is an excellent example of why HE needs better oversight. It is absolutely true that too often chidren who are being HE are being let down becuase their parents don't have the skills, or desire, to educate them properly. But the problem isn't home education in itself, it's the way it is done and the fact that it CAN be an opportunity for poor parents to further mess up their children.

But lots of HE families are NOT poor parents.

Who's paying for that?

The government has assumed a safeguarding role for children, and so there should be regular visits to check that the children are not being mistreated.

But banning home education so that attendance at school is mandatory is a whole different level. Not remotely the same thing as some degree of monitoring of home education.

This.

The majority of HE parents do so because they believe it is in the best interests of the child - sometimes it is, sometimes it isn’t.

A small minority do it to cover up abuse.

for those children’s sakes I think it needs to be monitored more closely. And tbh I can’t think of a single reason why a decent HE parent, giving their child a decent education, would object to that.

I know some object to it though. Because of “my rights”. But what about the rights of children to be safe and to receive a decent education?

That poor Muslim girl Sara should never have been allowed to be home schooled without as a minimum very regular supervision. The history there was diabolical and neither parent had the skill set to home school, surely that should be the very first hurdle to cross before home schooling is allowed?

So... you're saying that actually no, children don't have SEN they're just badly behaved?

Plenty of people manage on one wage.

Schools aren't set up for all kids though. There's no one size fits all.

ND kids with PDA especially will never thrive in a school setting as it is now.

My DH has a high income, that's how we do it. But I do also do some freelance consultancy work to keep my foot in the door.

Always seems to rub people up the wrong way but that's the honest answer.