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.

This. I've come across teacher communications with several obvious grammatical errors too. And the vast majority of people on here and other social media who write poorly went to school.

dyslexia seems to be the forgotten diagnosis these days imo and one.

And in my experience that should say

In Spain homeschooling is illegal, or only allowed under very exceptional circumstances. One benefit is that the authorities can’t just opt out of providing an education to children who can’t cope with school. Children whose mental health is preventing them from attending are offered part time places at ‘hospital schools’ where the focus is on psychological treatment with some hours of academic study as well. This can be for 3, 6 or 12 months, or until the child can return to traditional schooling. I’ve never heard of anything like this in the UK.

What would be the qualifications of the inspector? Are we thinking an OFSTED inspector or the people who staff the EHE teams at councils currently - sometimes ex-teachers, sometimes just council staff in that specific department?

If they're an OFSTED inspector, are they coming in expecting the house to look like school? If it's a teacher, how experienced are they? What qualifies them to judge my home? If they're unqualified council staff, why would someone less qualified than me be a better judge of the educational provision?

I'm not vehemently anti-meetings and visits like many home ed families are, but I worry about the implementation and bias.

You do realise some children will never grow up to live independently and/or hold a job right? That’s the case whether home educated or at school.

There are plenty of children in school who’s parents are doing a terrible job, never engage in their child’s education in any way, don’t check homework is done etc. Where are the threads calling out these parents of which there are way more. There are currently so many anti homeschool threads running and another virtually identical to this one. I’m not going to comment further because it’s just arguing with people who have no experience of homeschooling talking from a place of ignorance because they saw something on Facebook! Honestly it’s just beyond ridiculous now. When I post, I’m posting from my lived experience and not because I saw something on Facebook or think it might be the case because of ill informed group think. When it comes to homeschoolers it’s mostly ignorant ill informed supposition not fact.

My neighbours is now homeschooling. Her tween is bright but very spoiled and just refused to go to school. Her parents are unemployed. He’s got a criminal record and struggles to keep a job. Shes bright but addicted to cocaine. It won’t end well for the child’s education.

This is a massive safeguarding concern. 🙁

It isn’t just academies who don’t have to. There are other types too such as free schools, UTCs and studio schools.

Are we also going to “weed out” the school parents failing their children in numerous ways? I see a lot of that, homeschool parents failing, not so much. There I just see dedicated caring parents doing a great job when school has repeatedly failed their children.

And that’s fine, I take my hat off to the good ones. But however good a teacher my mother was I wouldn’t want to be with her all day.

Education is not simply about covering the curriculum, but encountering different personalities and modes of life in teachers and fellow students.

It does exist. All the teaching hospitals have schools and each LA is supposed to have a virtual head teacher.

But because this is the UK, it's not well funded, publicised or particularly joined up and the mental health aspect isn't there.

I suppose one risk is with homeschooling, however well it's done, is that it isn't preparing children for the world of work - having to get on with the random people with whom you're thrown together, deal with sometimes unreasonable superiors, obey rules and policies even if you disagree with them (and understand how to challenge things in an effective way).

Remembering the Old Ways woman. Homeschooling her twin daughters and teaches them to become housewives is depressing.

No, because school is acting as a safeguarding mechanism. Not perfect, but at least allowing the children access to.other adults who can provide support and intervene

It's also important to remember that there are a really tiny minority of homeschoolers who do it to escape the watchful eye of safeguarding practice. That's one of the reasons LAs want to monitor it.

I know that can be quite hard to imagine from a comfy, well-resourced background, but some parents are really fucking awful. The system has to safeguard the most vulnerable.

I personally couldn't do it (one of my children has SEN as well), but if you are able to do it well I think you also need to accept that some parents include it in a catalogue of neglect and accept that in a society, we watch out for those kids.

There’s homeschoolers on here who have spoken about their experiences with them, so they’re not mythical at all.

I've noticed that on Instagram anyway, a lot of home school proponents of the questionable variety completely misunderstand what socialisation in a school context is and without exception think it is just socialising. They think it means just playing with other children. The same kind of people don't understand what 'unschooling' is either.

But - there are many, many children in state schools who are behind and are in danger of falling behind. It's not specific to home schooling.

Even this example seems more for the benefit of the parent than the child, though. Who is advantaged by going to university early? Certainly not the child, who will be out of step with his peers and likely miss out on the, often formative, ‘real’ uni experience.

There is no doubt that there are many doing a great job of home educating. But what many fail to realise is that of course as "good" home educators you don't see many of these people because actually that's the point. They're not engaging in your groups and activities etc.

As someone who has recently left employment is a large secondary school I can tell you that the majority of those people who left to "home educate" fell into the latter camp. A lot of this was as a result of behaviour problems in school and pushback against rules. Parents would say just enough of the right things to the LA and the LA are so over-stretched they can't follow through. These kids spent all day on a screen or roaming streets. It's a very sad state of affairs

I’m guessing you home school?

In England, it is called alternative provision under section 19 of the Education Act 1996. It can be in many forms such as home tuition, tuition in the community, hospital school, going to a centre, online provision, at an AP… The problem is LAs like to try to dodge this duty.

Other countries in the UK have different legislation but it is similar in school aged DC are entitled to a full time education.

There is also EOTAS/EOTIS/C via an EHCP. This is where it is inappropriate for provision to be made in a school or college and is covered by section 61 of the Children and Families Act 2014.

Absolutely - I firmly believe education doesn’t begin and end at the school gates and parents have a responsibility to enforce and add to that knowledge. If your child is struggling in a particular topic then you need to take the time to see how that can be addressed outside of school.

I am equally concerned when parents moan about reading to their children, it’s horrifying. There are plenty of posts about inadequate parenting amongst children attending mainstream schools.

Not for me, but leave them to get on with it. Most home schoolers tend to be a little on the odd side so at least we don't have to deal with them at the school gate.

More ignorance! Homeschool children are monitored by the local authority and they also see tutors and group leaders who are more than capable of safeguarding.

The concept of homeschooled children who are abused is back to front. These are not legitimate home educators. These are child abusers who remove children from school to hide abuse. People need to stop conflating the two.