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.

More youthful or less mature lol.

https://www.reddit.com/r/HomeschoolRecovery/comments/1ac4vdb/map_of_homeschool_laws_in_europe/

Interesting that home ed is illegal in many parts of Europe. I'd support stricter controls in the UK, I'm not sure its the best option for the majority of children.

I'm pretty well educated and could probably home educate my children to a decent level if i really put my mind to it but not alongside earning enough money to pay the bills. Plus I think the soft skills learned in school (negotiation, managing conflict, listening, communication, time management etc) would be hard to replicate outside of school.

This isn’t actually true - if a child has a place in an LA provided “special school” then they require LA permission to deregister to EHE (although this should not be withheld arbitrarily).

If they are in mainstream with an EHCP they can deregister at will, the EHCP is suspended. It should still be reviewed annually in case the child goes back into education but the parents are not obliged to provide the provisions listed in it (as most usually aren’t relevant outside a classroom anyway) and the funding stops - EHE parents get no money to support the needs, the LA just gets to save that cash.

Depends what you consider maturity.

Just to give some examples off the top of my head:

Negotiation: DD negotiates fair space sharing on the climbing wall, she negotiates during activities at Girlguiding, she negotiates things like screen time with us at home, she negotiates anything and everything with her friends.

Managing conflict: DD learns conflict management with her very vocal Guide group, she observes it in public all the time, she sees it in books and TV and we discuss how she would approach it, and she manages conflict with friends.

Listening: she develops listening skills through attending online tutoring, through listening to her climbing coach to improve and avoid injury, through listening to the director and choreographer at her theatre group, through listening to us as her parents.

Communication: she develops this through theatre groups, group tutorials, playing with friends, home ed events, every day communication. Unlike many school children, she's good at talking to both children and adults respectfully.

Time management: she has to learn how to manage her time because it isn't being done for her by school bells etc. She has things she wants to do and things she needs to do, sometimes she'll do a combination (where the negotiation comes in) but she knows she has a time it needs to be done by and is learning how to manage her time to achieve her needs and her wants.

Those haven't been difficult to replicate outside of school; they've occurred naturally as part of how we home ed.

My post wasn't really meant to be a criticism or an invitation to defensively list all the ways that you do a great job. It was just a thought; that this could be difficult to replicate for some home educators. Clearly if you're out at climbing lessons and theatre groups all day then your child is getting something akin to a school-based education, although on your own timetable, and of course will develop those additional skills.

Where has she learned how to follow an order and grit her teeth and just do something?

Interesting interpretation; I wasn't being defensive, nor do people need an invitation to reply to your posts on an open forum. You said "I think the soft skills would be hard to replicate outside of school". I gave one example of how a family could replicate those soft skills. I'd encourage you to explore why you feel that's defensive.

No formal inspections but standards have to be met.

GirGuinding, climbing coach, drama group and online tutoring?

Where did you learn to read and comprehension skills?

What are those standards?

Parents must ensure they follow the rules and responsibilities outlined in the Education Act 1996.

Your post comes across as though you felt you needed to list the ways that your DC are not being let down by your decision to HE.

I am sure your DC are doing great. But not everyone accesses all these clubs and activities and can be a little isolated.

When it's her turn to do the laundry even though she'd much rather be rewatching KPop Demon Hunters (again 🙄)
When she's really enjoying Minecraft but it's time for a live tutor session.
When her clothes need folding and putting away but she's building Lego.
When her climbing coach needs her to stop or move or change the way she's doing something for safety reasons.
When the director gives an instruction.
Right now, when I've told her to turn the TV off and go and pack her clothes 😂

She follows instructions all the time. She'll also question instructions where appropriate, which we encourage.

It would be easier if you gave specific examples, but I don’t want to waste your time since the LA has no actual legal power to enforce any of it. They can ask for x,y,x and parents can completely refuse or only agree to x . Then , only after a lengthy process AND if the LA can be bothered , there MIGHT be a return to school action.

Who checks that the standards are met if there are no inspections?

So for us:

Time management: we have a structured approach to home ed so he has, say, three tasks to do a day. Some might take him 3 hours to do, others might take him 20 mins. He has the 'school day' to do them (other kids go to school, so we generally stick to school times). However, last week he wanted to go do a day out with another home ed family, so he knew he had fo find other times during the week to do those tasks.

Communication - hangs put with friends who are both home ed and in school. Goes to st john cadets, visits the library on his own and sits talking to rhe librarians with a cuppa, home ed group, youth Council (last year met members of the senedd to talk about the nhs)

Conflict resolution- normal hanging out with mates. Still goes and hangs out with his friends at the park, plays football, goes into town. Also has brothers close in age.

Negotiating- typical teenager who negotiates bedtime/pocket money/curfews

Following instructions/getting on with stuff - cadets, doing g the work hes been set even if he hates it, general life.

Just a very normal teenage boy, just doesnt go to school for his education.

Don't bother, you'll be called defensive. Apparently, the way forums work is that someone states an opinion and no one is allowed to give real life examples that might disabuse them of their notion.

Really? Because it all sounds like ‘negotiation’.

How does it sound like negotiation? Please, be specific 🙂

Again, comprehension skills, inference in particular. No climbing coach will “negotiate “ with a kid considering the risks involved. She’d be out the door so fast her head would spin . That’s just one example.

Also, you're kidding yourself if you think school educated children are great at gritting their teeth and getting on with things. From experience, they're either pretty keen to do the things teachers ask of them because they understand the importance of it or genuinely enjoy it (so no different to my DD), or they kick off massively and whine and tantrum and get into trouble and distract others.

I'm laughing just imagining DD attempting to negotiate safety with her coach 😂 the first thing she learned when she started was that if the coach is giving an instruction when she's in the wall room, she listens and obeys immediately. She can ask questions about it later (what would have happened if I hadn't/had done that, was I doing something wrong, does that happen a lot etc) but she listens and obeys first and foremost.

From what I've seen a lot of it boils down to a lack of humility and self awareness. I'm degree educated and I'd never even consider I could teach my children to a high level at secondary school age. Honestly, I amazed at what teachers can show them and teach them in their specalist subjects. I might be able to scrape by in some subjects but I'd be doing them a disservice both from an educational perspective and a social one. The other thing I've noticed is parents putting their own insecurities onto their kids by wrapping them up in cotton wool and not letting them face the world we live in. We all want to protect our kids but they've got to build the skills to be able to deal with people from all different backgrounds etc. Leave it to the experts in their fields I say. The teachers do an amazing job and I'm so grateful I dont have too.

I disagree. I think the majority of school educated children can keep their mouth shut and follow an instruction even if they don't desperately want to. No child loves every lesson and wants to do every activity but most aren't "kicking off" daily. Its very different to following instructions at home or at an extra curricular activity that they presumably choose to attend.