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.

Apart from children already at risk - Why would it not be an automatic right to teach your own children? Genuinely interested why you would give the government so much right over your children?

I found that too. It was almost like a badge of honour to some that their 8 year old couldn’t read or write. The amount of times I’d be at a home ed activity, and a young child would sound out a word, or write something and the parents would say, “I don’t encourage them to do that.”

I thought it was just because I lived in a hippieish area, but I saw the same when we moved to a big city.

Well, 90% of SEN referrals (and in quite a few cases, approvals), yes.

Well, for a start, HE children are not being educated by the state, saving the state a fortune. So it seems perfectly reasonable to me that the etate could use some of those savings to provide some bare minimum level of care and oversight?!

Yes very common. And lots of these parents write reports to try and show they are HE. The truth is many are not HE, but simply doing the kind of activities any half decent parent does at weekends e.g. baking, visiting museums, going to the shops, drawing, watching educational children's TV programmes.
And loads more do not even manage that instead leaving their children to play video games all day.

We live in a big city and it's rampant here. I was shocked. It's why I made sure my son always socialised with schooled children as well as home educated ones.

Not until ALL schools are genuinely safe places for children and they're properly protected and taught. At the moment, far too many kids fall through the cracks and schools do more harm than good to some pupils.

There is one family I know where the children are all home educated but seem to have very little in the way of education. No one ever seems to check up on them.

How does it actually work? For example, how are children taught something like physics if the parent doesn't understand physics themselves? My degree included a fair bit of physics but I wouldn't feel confident teaching it at all. And where do the study materials and lesson plans etc come from?

I was home schooled as a teenager due to depression but I was provided with a local authority teacher rather than taught by my parents. The teaching standard was good but I was only allocated 5-6 hours per week. I was terribly unprepared for GCSEs as a result so wasn't put forward for them, which then meant I couldn't do A Levels, which then meant I couldn't do a degree etc. I ended up having to do all that later in life and eventually got a BSc, but the whole thing was a constant uphill struggle with a fair bit of resentment along the way, and I feel so far behind.

I remember at the time (late 90s) being upset that there wasn't a smaller, more supportive school I could attend because I wanted to learn. I know that this is still a huge issue today and what does exist is limited, so I can completely understand how parents with children who can't cope with school for whatever reason find themselves in a position where there's no other option but to homeschool. But is there any actual support with it? Are they allocated any type of formal teaching at all, like I was? Maybe I was lucky to get those few hours a week

And parents who homeschool their children because they want to rather than a medical or developmental need for it, what happens there? Was that always legal or is it a more recent thing?

Forgive my ignorance, I'm just curious about this having been through similar myself 20 odd years ago. And annoyed that apparently nothing has changed.

I agree.

Plenty of HE teenagers are left alone at home all day while the parents go out to work. Some HE children are left alone while their parent wfh.

Well, the vast bulk of children I know who have been referred for SEN assesment do, in fact, have SEN, If anything, the problem is that it's hard to even get the bloody referral in the first place. By the time you're on that path, the problems are pretty obvious.

If you think that lots of parents excuse poor behaviour because of self diagnosed SEN, then sure, I think that probably does happen. And even for children with SEN, there are SOME families who think it's a get out of free card for their DC, sure. But most of the ones I know are like me - working to adapt for the SEN while prioritising getting DS to understand that this is the world he lives in so he's going to have to figure out how to operate accordingly.

Yes, most HE families have one parent at home, or both parents are part-time. Educating the children is my "job" (although I have a side-gig as well). We're fortunate in that DH has a good salary, but most home educators I know have a much smaller household budget.

It doesn't have to be expensive (until you get to exam stage, which can be costly). Libraries are a great resource, there is a LOT online that is free and excellent, and a lot of HE families club together for discounts on various things.

I know someone who homeschools her daughter - her family has not received 1 visit from the local authority in the past year - let alone any additional support or checks to see if her learning is on target etc. Luckily the girl is from a loving close family - although the family readily admit that any homeschooling is done by putting her in front of a computer. Pretty much what they do in most primary schools now days anyway I suppose.

Looking at you Cambridgshire Council..

You see it all the time in the big home ed Facebook groups like HEFA. Someone will post concerned because all their home educated child wants to do all day is play minecraft, and they just get told minecraft is very educational so it's all fine and they should be allowed to follow their interests.

My approach to home ed was always very different and as a result I was very unwelcome in such groups!!

Very true.

The problem is that there are a large proportion of hysterical over anxious parents with their own mental health needs who are home educating. They aren't willingly harming their child. They want the best but they can't see their own needs impacting on the child. They won't show up as abuse but are causing harm.

Unschooling sounds terrifying. Who does this?

I had to home educate my DS for about a year because the LA failed to provide a suitable setting for him (he has SEN). Most people who I know who HE are doing it for the same reason - not because they really want to but because they have been let down so badly by the education system that their children are traumatised and completely unable to attend, or because there is no setting available (or the LA refuses to pay for the suitable setting). This needs sorting out before adding yet more stress onto HE parents!

My son was registered with the LA for five years as home educated. In all that time the only contact we had was a letter once a year that I didn't even have to reply to.

I find this really sad. I can't think of any HE kids I know who couldn't read by that age (barring disability).

Almost all the home educators in the UK tbh. I took a structured approach to home ed and it was very, very unpopular. Unschooling is the norm now IME.

This

This. In my view education is a child’s right, and that education should never be religiously based. I would prefer all faith schools to be banned, but at least registered schools have to keep to some kind of recognised curriculum and have regular inspections. HE children currently have no such protections.

Children are being abused and killed at home also

that same friend I was talking about before was completely gobsmacked by the unschooling thing. She distanced herself from that crowd rapidly! To be fair, when she told me I hoenstly didn't believe her at first!