Insane rise in home schooling?

[whyohwhy246]

Has anyone else noticed a huge increase in home schooling? Someone I follow in IG has just deregistered their child and I just can’t believe how many families are choosing to do this.

Of course it is sometimes the right choice for the child but it seems that more and more children are being allowed to opt out of formal education.

Teenagers need to learn that life is hard and school will throw challenges at them. How they learn to deal with this impacts how they handle things as an adult. What happens when they enter the work place and they can’t just opt out of the difficult things? Where do they learn that resilience?

I have worked in education for 20 years and whilst I agree that some aspects of the system are broken, I don’t think home schooling is the answer to this.

The social aspect alone is impossible to replicate (walking to school together, having your first crush, a detention, school trips I could go on and on…) but I also don’t see how all of these parents can have the skills to teach their children to GCSE. I also find it so insulting to teachers who spend years learning their craft. It’s not just something you can pick up and do effectively.

Has anyone else noticed this?

IMO it’s far too easy to opt out. Who ever checks that parents are at all competent to teach their children?

Not to mention more sinister aspects: abuse, neglect, indoctrination of extreme ideologies.

You are naive to think bullying doesn't happen in home ed groups, because it can and does. Do you realise that many home educated children and teenagers attend drop off groups for the whole day usually once a week or many days a week? Bullying can and does happen in these settings.

The article focusses on the “non engagers” she visits and I quote “Two days a week, I do home visits. My visits are usually to “non-engagers” — parents who aren’t responding to written correspondence or phone calls.”

It doesn’t therefore present an accurate representation home education because the focus is solely the families who don’t engage.

DD was home educated from 10-16, got 8 GCSE’s at high grades and is now on target for 3 A stars at A Level in school. As family we engaged. All the home Ed families we knew engaged and their kids did very well. So the article really isn’t a fair representation of home ed.

It’s been interesting having DD go back to school after so long away. There are definitely some aspects of learning she found tougher in a school environment and it too her a while to find her feet a academically (though not socially - she made friends immediately and hasn’t had any of the fallouts and dramas her friends had) but her teachers have frequently commented how her non traditional education means she thinks outside the box and has ideas and original thought her peers don’t have.

Home Ed is a great option for some children like Dd and has served them well but it’s sadly being used as an excuse to skip schooling altogether by some. I just don’t think these non engaging families should be classed as home schooling when they are doing no schooling! Their awful parenting is causing families like ours where our child’s education is the main focus of our lives to be maligned and misrepresented.

As to 'who monitors the parents about education/abuse' - the most vulnerable group of children, the most likely to be murdered is the under 1s

Highest Risk (Rate): Children aged under 1 year had the highest rate of homicide for a single year of age (31.6 per million population, 19 victims). ONS

Who monitors these children - health visiting is very limited, and is optional.

Could we reduce the murder of infants if we had regular monitoring of all parents?

Would you be happy to have your house checked by authorities to check if you were parenting in the 'right way' as defined by authorities.

Do you honestly think schools prepare young adults for the real world? I sincerely do not.

We home educated for a good portion of my eldest’s senior school years. She had a great group of friends who were also HE. As an adult now she is thriving, and far more emotionally resilient, financially astute and capable in the ‘real world’ than most of her peers. She has made some amazing friends at work, is confident in herself has travelled solo extensively in the last couple of years ,raising the funds by working alongside alevels. Now shes back in the UK and has a great job and is on the brink of buying her own home with a partner who treats her with respect and adores her.
I see this play out with the majority of her friends that we HE alongside too.

Shes miles apart from the way I was at that age, and has none of the insecurity and self doubt that I had after years of bullying and abuse in school.

In comparison her SS , who attended a private school, has huge MH issues, only works 1 day a week, still lives with her Mother and my ex, makes no financial contribution and has no friends.

Obviously this is a small world example, but it is honestly a pattern I see bearing out with the children of friends I have who went to school.

I personally DO think school works well for some. But for a large proportion of kids the constant pressure, standardised testing, huge class sizes and disruption caused by this, and peer pressure to look/dress/behave a certain way is the absolute antithesis of an environment that raises adults who have confidence, enjoy learning beyond school and are also knowledgeable about managing their own finances and conducting themselves at work in a way that means they progress well.

In fact I work in a business where we employ quite a few school leavers or college age kids and most of them have to be babysat in order to do a basic job and have no work ethic or idea of how to think for themselves. Thats something that has become markedly more noticeable in the last few years.

I also see so many people on social media home-schooling. What I'd love to know is how are exams completed? Do the children sit specific GCSEs? How does course work account for it?

I don't see how children who are home schooled will get the social skills required for many jobs. For example, working in an office has so many similarities with school life.

I know young people who have been home educated and they have done really well. Just like I know of young people who went to school do really well. Some kids fail at school and some kids fail at home ed too.
I keep getting posts come up on Facebook from homeschool groups and it is very worrying what some parents think counts as a curriculum. Similarly their level of grammar is a concern.
Homeschooling can be great but it should be regulated in some way.

Depends, if you're child is in high school they shouldn't need you to stay home with them, they should be able to work independently at home in workbooks and online.

I work in an AP. There has been a massive rise in APs over the years. We are still over subscribed though.

The school system is failing many, but many parents are failing their children.

We are the end of the line, if they dont manage to attend with us there is nothing else for them, so we then visit their homes for tutoring. 90% of these young people are doing nothing but gaming all night, eating rubbish food and running the whole household. Its a joke quite honestly.

There isnt really a reason why a young person couldnt attend my setting. Most are 1:1, or in very small groups of up to 4, again each with at least 2 members of staff. We have shortened days, (10am to 2pm) highly SEN trained staff, a more flexible timetable, plenty of outdoor activities on site including zip wires and abseiling, buggies and animals and they still study English, maths, art, phse, r.e and p.e. we also bolt on vocational studies. We even pick them up and take them home!

Those who chose not to engage with us and "home school" baffle me.

P.s they aren't doing any home schooling 🤷‍♀️

This is a brilliant post. The social aspect of home education keeps coming up but I don't think people realise how much is available.

In what ways is an office like school life?! And what do you think home educated children will be deficient in? The ones I know are perfectly well socialised through extra curricular clubs, youth groups, church, home ed groups, summer camps, family socialising etc etc.

It’s possible to do iGCSEs for subjects like Science, which would otherwise have a practical element for the normal GCSE. Most GCSEs don’t have coursework now though and kids take the exams as private candidates at an exam centre. I know home ed kids who’ve done A Levels from home too although it seems more common to go to sixth form college.

Exactly this in my case. I dropped out of Uni to home educate my son who was being bullied to the point of needing scans in hospital for violent assaults - the teachers did FUCK ALL. My sons mental health deteriorated drastically, I could not justify sending him into school literally shaking every morning like a lamb to slaughter while teachers twiddled their thumbs.

If my son gets zero GCSEs then so be it, but at least he will still be alive (and yes, it was heading that way... ).

Good point about the early years. The first 3 years of a child's life are the most important. Its the foundation which everything else is built on. But no one is calling for anyone to have their parenting monitored at this point.

I have a direct report who was home educated. He’s a really nice guy but he struggles with structure and deadlines. He tends to lose focus when tasks don't capture his interest. While he’s lovely to chat with, he can be a challenge when it comes to getting the job done, especially within the required timeframes.

DS was homeschooled for part of KS2. We withdrew him from school after several serious safeguarding incidents involving his insulin pump. These included missed lunchtime doses that led to extremely high glucose levels going unnoticed, him being left hypoglycaemic on the playground without access to his hypo treatment and being told by dinner staff to wait until playtime was over, and untrained staff attempting to administer an entire day’s worth of insulin through his pump. Despite funding being allocated for 1:1 support, the headteacher claimed that it did not actually cover providing any support for him.

DD2 is currently studying her A levels at home through an online college. Her school handled her anxiety very poorly during her GCSEs, and when the timetable prevented her from taking the subjects she wanted, it wasn’t difficult for her to persuade us that studying from home would be a better option.

Schools are just not capable of dealing with medical or mental health issues.

You can pay to sit GCSEs/iGCSEs privately. You can choose to sit whatever subjects you wish which is actually lovely because in school settings you can only pick from the subjects they offer and that fit into your timetable. I have friends who had dc not able to do all of their choices because the lessons would clash which is a shame.

I’m not sure what you mean regarding the social skills required for jobs? What specific skills are you thinking of?

"I also find it so insulting to teachers who spend years learning their craft. It’s not just something you can pick up and do effectively."

A lot of the craft of teaching in a school is about classroom management and teaching children with lots of different needs. That doesn't apply in home schooling.

Had we stayed in UK we most likely would have homeschooled our youngst.
DH is a secondary school teacher so I wouldn't have worried.
DD is a very active and busy girl. She is a scout, a dancer and musician. She is a daily part of team work and out and around people.
We resettled in Europe at Christmas and are happy sending DD to school here.

I don't see how children who are home schooled will get the social skills required for many jobs. For example, working in an office has so many similarities with school life

I don't think social skills are the issue - you can learn social skills doing hobbies.

What school prepares you for is petty officialdom.

are you saying its ok for kids to be bullied at school because it will stand them in good stead for when they are bullied at work?

@WinterOlympics DS2 was home educated with a bespoke package from the LA as he has ASD and ADHD. He was failing at mainstream.

He is now at uni studying masters level mechanical engineering due to his high entrance level A levels.

His lecturers often make mistakes with complex calculations if they try and do them during a lecture and don’t correct them as they have run out of time or just don’t know where they went wrong.

He uses AI to check results in lectures and with homework. And questions it if calculations appear wrong.

Technology whether it is calculators on phones or AI running complex mathematical problems is not the issue. It has taught DS2 to independently verify results and check the workings of ‘superiors’. Maybe you didn’t know that AI can do this? The way that tech shapes young people’s mind is by teaching them that they are not empty vessels to passively receive wisdom from individuals but are active learners with recourse to the best.

I haven’t read the thread but any blanket statements about homeschooling are likely to be ignorant and rooted in prejudice. No doubt some children are failed when being homeschooled, but others have a great experience.

The OP’s comment about parents not being able to teach GCSEs was an example of an ignorant view (sorry). My young child is not in school and we’re immersed in a local homeschooling community. The older kids all have tutoring and educational groups they attend. It is not all dependent on their parents being experts at every subject.

My own child has become fluent in a foreign language that neither I nor her dad speak. she’s been learning for less than a year but is already native level due to 1x1 sessions with a 20 year old foreigner. This level of education would be completely out of reach in a school environment where a lot of time is wasted and there’s no scope for one on one/ small group teaching.

That’s not to overlook the kids who are left behind while being homeschooled but i haven’t actually come across them. The ones i know have full access to education and social activities.

But this makes the point about the potential dangers of home education perfectly. One major reasons why under 1s are so much more vulnerable is that they are the group of children least likely to be in any kind of childcare or education setting. There is a huge protective effect from having that contact.

Agreed. And crowd control.

PickyTits. Your son is very, VERY, lucky to have a mum like you. You have done the very best thing for him here.

All those who are concerned about socialisation…there are extensive HE groups, and have always been. In fact one of the beautiful things about home ed for us was seeing the kids, of various ages, encouraging and helping one another with understanding concepts and working on projects together. And then having time to play, have fun, cook, talk and eat together.

Yes there ARE people who do nothing with their kids, but ime experience that was exceptionally rare. Equally there are parents of schooled kids who do bugger all to support them in that type of education and are happy to let their kids bunk off and muck around.

My son is a lot younger than my daughter, and because our circumstances changed he had to go back into school. He is miserable there. He works hard and is dong well grades wise, but he hates the way subjects are taught, only to test. He originally did ok socially as hes an outgoing person, but this year he has been bullied and has chosen just one friend to keep out of the way with. This is such a huge contrast for HE for him and he cannot wait to get exams over and get out. It makes me sad, because he loved his educational journey when we were HE.