A wave of illiterate “home schooled” children

[RedSkyatNight25]

Prepared to get torn apart, and I know many homeschool because the school environment isn’t right for their children (SEN, sensory issues - whatever else) and their needs aren’t met by school with a chronic lack of SEN placements and too much demand etc. I’m not naive to that. I also know some parents with adequate resource will ensure their children have a rounded education whilst being homeschooled.

But there seems to be a movement to homeschooling by people who are simply anti establishment with a point to prove. Their grammar and communication on social media tells me they’re not equipped to homeschool a child. Not least I think the socialisation and soft skills school provides are hugely important too. I suspect most of these parents either haven’t considered the benefits of school or hugely underestimated it, especially past primary are parents really equipped to teach ALL the subjects with sufficient skill if they lack the knowledge themselves? Are they not underestimating the skills and expertise of qualified teachers?

AIBU to think it’s really concerning? These are the next generation of our workforce and infrastructure. I personally think we are hugely privileged to live in a country with free education - I know it’s not perfect but I’m not convinced homeschooling is better for a vast majority.

Yanbu in that not everyone has the resources and personal skillset to homeschool and some wider communities lack suitable additional services. It’s also quite age dependent - a 14 year old school refuser who is actually bright academically and driven to learn at home (as long as you don’t make them attend school basically) can often self teach given appropriate resources, my dd did (6 A’s 6a*’s) whereas a 6 year old needs far more teaching input and if there’s underlying Sen it can be hard as a parent who doesn’t have teaching experience, I know because for 5 months I was that parent (between houses).

I have a friend who was homeschooled until 11 and hated it, education was skewed to her parents’ interests, she’s clever naturally so coped ok once entering secondary school but it was all about the parents in that case, had never played with anyone other than sibling

I must admit to being surprised that people think they are able to replace multiple degree plus PGCE-qualified professionals.
However, I remeber horrifying my sister-in-law about 20 years ago by saying that the elite of the future would be those, who could read, write and speak good English. Judging by what I see online, my assertion is coming true.
Has anyone ever considered that homeschooling is the equivalent of WFH for children? You never get away from it.

I homeschooled for many years but never came across families doing it for anti establishment reasons. Where are you that there's a "wave"? Since home ed groups went onto Facebook and other online platforms, I was very shocked at how bad some parents' very basic SPAG is. I mean the absolute basics of there/their/they're (not to mention 'thier'). One mum used to talk a lot about the 'tudors' that visited them, I assumed they were into historical reenactment, it took me ages to realize she meant 'tutors'. These of course are the ones joining the groups. The Travellers where I am remove their DC at the end of primary to 'home educate' and as far as I know they don't even look at a book after that.

@mamagogo1
“education was skewed to her parents’ interests”

I think that’s a huge part of the problem I’m writing about. You see traditional home type parents saying their kids are learning to cook, clean out the chickens and grow produce. All of that is excellent but it’s a supplement to education and something parents can do in their own time anyway. Not a reason to keep them home.

It’s probably my social media algorithms but I am seeing a lot of content from people withdrawing their children and asking for advice. This morning was a letter from a Local Authority acknowledging the parents notice to homeschool but requesting information on how they would deliver the curriculum - everyone outraged they even ask. Seems like a perfectly reasonable question with an element of safeguarding to me. If you had a plan it wouldn’t be difficult to share it.

Local Authorities also understaffed etc so overseeing all these parents and their “plans” will be creating a demand on resource that isn’t there.

There is a massive issue of educational neglect within home education. There are some that do it properly but those who do are aware of the issues.
There’s a culture of it within that community, and people who do formal education are often shunned/ judged poorly. You’re sneered at for doing ‘school at home’. You’re setting your child up to fail. Their child will be a free spirit and be the manager / owner of their own business with many employees failed by the school system and those weird people who do formal home education. They’ll lead the sheep basically. It’s a delusional echo chamber.

I’d love to see it required everyone submits a report every year, a portfolio of work (many do lie on reports), and some sort of system that can externally check a child is making progress. There are states in America that have a few different ways of doing this, some testing every year in maths/ English to ensure progress.

That is education though according to the legal definition, where a child's surroundings/lifestyle/community is taken into consideration. And all parents 'skew' their own interests onto their children to one point or another.
I follow someone loosely who home educates his children and is quite the home ed poster boy. He was privately educated, went to Oxford, lives a seemingly very MC life, but his whole home education aim appears to be getting his DC into Oxbridge early. I've met so many home educators, the majority now are not doing it electively, their DC have SEN and were not managing in school, so I try not to be judging them two too much

I suspect this is USA tiktok thing rather than something very prevalent in the UK? Unless I'm not seeing the same SM as the OP?

I’m a teacher and we’ve had kids removed to homeschool by irate parents annoyed at school rules - a nose piercing was a recent one. You see a lot of this on TikTok. You know they are woefully unprepared. We’ve had a couple who’ve tried to re-register pupils, then kick off when the place is gone and another who was furious that school wouldn’t pay for her child’s GCSE entries - she didn’t realise you had to.

A lot of children in school learn fuck all too, chances are those parents whose grammar you are lambasting went to school.

I don't know why people insist on getting so involved in other people's educational choices. You wouldn't appreciate it if others sat there criticizing your choice of school, why do you think it's OK to go on about others' choice to home ed their dc?

Like in everything else there is a whole spectrum of people who home ed, just like there is among school parents. And the statistics show fairly clearly that the main factor determining a child's success in life is their parents' attainment, not the educational path they follow, whether in school or out of it.

This is a 'naice' MC site so most of the homeschoolers on here will perceive themselves a the 'right' type of homeschooler with all the 'right' reasons for doing so, such as horrific school experiences or even no school place.

But the reality is its the wild west of situations, no oversight of the child's welfare or education is in place. Im not sure why the legislation around it is so loose.

Where is your evidence for the grand sweeping statement? What does the data say?

there is also a lot of indoctrination of religious or other beliefs going on. It is very concerning.

I see what you are saying and agree to an extent, but the same can be said about the school system. How many have been let down or even completely failed? What is a "good education"? What is even an adequate education? There are no universally agreed definitions or benchmarks. LAs do not have the time/staff/inclination to monitor home educators. I know some who are very keen to liaise with the LA and frequently ask but they never hear anything.

It’s the UK.

Teacher here (secondary). Massive rise in parents pulling pupils out to electively home educate. Often those who disagree with rules.

Is be interested to know if the data replicates across the country

A lot of children in school learn fuck all too, chances are those parents whose grammar you are lambasting went to school.

Yes of course, but you denying them the opportunity for betterment. They might do well in school and bypass their parents in academic ability. But you would never know if they don’t have the opportunity and that’s part of the issue.

I agree with you. Academic ability is often determined by the mother - so if you take away the child’s access to education in a formal setting you will end up with a very stupid child if the mother is intellectually impaired and “homeschooling” her child.

I knew a doctor who was home schooled. He used to be a physics lecturer at university and later (after his grandfather died) decided to go to medical school. His mother attended lots of social engagements with her children so they could play with their peers. I believe his mother was highly educated - which is why he did so well in a homeschooling environment. He told me he didn’t spend a lot of time studying or doing any school work because his mother taught him the curriculum very quickly.

I dated someone else who was home schooled by a very controlling mother who took control of both of her son’s education. They were taught by experts in their fields. Unfortunately this guys social skills were stunted to such an extent that it took him until his 30’s to distance himself from his controlling mother. He spoke like an old man because one of his tutors was an elderly professor. His mother really was a piece of work. Told him not to have a family with his wife (who very much wanted a family). After his wife got pregnant by another man and divorced him this guys psycho morher built a freaking nursery at her house and told him she was ready now. He didn’t even have a girlfriend. His brother wasn’t married. This woman sounded awful.

I think some mothers use homeschooling to control and abuse their children. A lot of damage can occur to the child if they are prevented from forming social relationships with their peers.

What is a "good education"? What is even an adequate education? There are no universally agreed definitions or benchmarks.

Its measured by outcomes which aren’t perfect (my husband only got one GCSE but he wouldn’t say his education was a waste of time) but there absolutely are benchmarks of success and ability.

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education/2024-25-autumn-term?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Turns out it was quite easy to find the data 🤣

Evidence of an opinion?

There are issues with schools, budget cuts, disruptive behaviour. There are kids who are bullied relentlessly and go from doing great to awful due to poor mental health.
Absolutely, home educate. I support well-done home education and definitely believe there are circumstances it is much better.
There are children who won’t achieve highly no matter the setting.
However, there are lots of issues surrounding educational neglect and home ed community can be quite cult-ish. I’ve found they’re the majority.
Every child is not better off in school, many are better off at home IF they had engaged parents passionate about their education. But many are passionate about not getting an education

There should be compulsory inspections.

It's quite a philosophical question really - it comes down to whether you believe that there is value in a particular curriculum set by the state/wider society or whether families ought to be able to opt out of that in favour of an education their own way

The law in the UK is illogical on this I think. It seems to work on the basis of the former (fines for not attending school etc if registered) but then there is a right to deregister your kids aind opt out entirely with no consequences.

Personally I massively value school. DH or I could probably teach our Dds enough to do well in GCSEs and probably even A levels given enough time and space to do so (a lot of teaching expertise and experience is more relevant to engaging and inspiring groups of kids rather than individual children imo) but I don't want my children to view the world only through my lens. I want them exposed to different perspectives and to learn from a wider variety of people. I also think there's value on working and playing with kids you wouldn't necessarily choose as friends if your parents essentially had free choice over this.

When COVID happened I was absolutely gutted to lose school - for all these reasons plus the extra stuff that schools put on - plays, visits, workshops etc. I know you can replicate a lot of stuff - I follow a friend who homeschools on social media and she does brilliant things with her child in the community but she seems to come from the perspective that her way is a much richer experience for her child and I think she underestimates what school does offer. She also often bemoans the "prohibitive" cost of the things she's seeking out, and the juggle with her own work, and that slightly annoys me because she has opted out of an amazing free resource that we as a society have organised and put on for children,which she's perfectly entitled to do, but seems slightly perverse from my perspective.

I know there are good reasons to HE that can override the above, and above all I tend to think "you do you" - I don't pretend to have the final say on what's best for kids but personally although I can envisage scenarios in which I was driven to home ed, t would never be my starting point.

If parental attainment is the key, then a parent who hasn't mastered there/they're/there/thier should have even less right to home educate. I do think there should be some sort of standard basic education that all children should be entitled to receive. Having a teacher (whether that be in school or a parent) who has a grasp of the basics in literacy and numeracy is my benchmark. In saying that, a friend of mine went to teach in an inner London primary school and said the spoken grammar of the HT was woeful!