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?

My husband has a good job and I freelance so am able to work my projects around homeschooling my dc’s. We do make sacrifices but I think they are sacrifices well worth making.

My child was taken out out school and homeschooled, unschooled in fact, after a big mental breakdown caused by school, and undiagnosed ND.
They are now at Uni as a mature student and are handling life very well.

A lot work from home or work shifts or weekends which leaves one parent at home.

You can't compare covid and homeschool as society was shut down. Homeschoolers can have a busy life in 2926.

I can’t think of anything worse! There are a families who do this very well but they are normally very privileged with time and resources. I think the average family is just not in position to homeschool without long term negative consequences to the children. I think the rise of working from home is partly a catalyst for this but really do we want to have people spend their school years and then working life in the box room of a 3 bed semi!

Children commit suicide because of bullying when teachers do nothing about it. Do you want that your conscience if your child did that? A couple have said there child was beaten up so bad (and the teacher watched and did NOTHING) they were in hospital and getting scans. Would you continue to put your child in harm's way like that? You really have absolutely NO idea what you are talking about whatsoever. Your smug and heartless ignorance is astounding.

You may not like the term, but many families do make a distinction between home education and home schooling. They are, correctly, perceived as two distinct ways of teaching children outside the main school system.

We chose to home ed when our children were primary aged - they had so much more free time because I was able to teach them one to one and tailor it to their skills, as they're all so different.

Our oldest then chose to stay at home for secondary school and studied for her iGCSEs at home. She did very well and went to an excellent local sixth form college for A levels, before going to a uni that is one of the very best in the country for the subject she wanted to study. She is thriving there and looking likely to continue to postgrad study.

Our middle had huge mental health issues (I obviously can't say for certain but believe they would have been worse in school - as does he). He is now at college having done his GCSEs and is thriving.

Our youngest is still at home and working towards iGCSEs so early days. She plans to go to sixth form or college to study A levels afterwards.

I believe all have been successful in their own ways and all are happy with the choice to be home educated.

Regarding finances, my husband and I are both freelancers, working mainly from home and heading to clients for the occasional meeting, so we worked a lot of evenings and tag teamed for years! We don't have a high income but we are lucky to have flexibility.

When we started out, there were very few home educated teens, but now the numbers have indeed shot up. Most parents are heavily invested in their child's education. I have met the odd family where I would be concerned for their children's futures, but a tiny minority. In our local authority, they seem to be pretty on it getting info from us so those families will still have to provide examples of work etc. Most families have been in the school system at some point so are on the local authority's radar.

Frankly I think that's tantamount to child abuse.

Yes, I know what they were asking.

I think English schools have become dictators and don’t align with many people’s values and beliefs.

In england 2024/25 home schooling quadrupled into 6 figures compared to other parts of the UK, I believe Scotland 2024/25 figures were in the low thousands

Parents being threatened with fines/court action because their children are ill or for parent's taking their children on holiday.

Parents having schools turning up at their doors due to “safeguarding” for keeping their children off school.

Every other country in the world does not school like this, yet here we are seeing thousands of children being failed because the government refuses to invest and modernise an outdated education system.

I agree with you. I'm a qualified teacher (primary) but can't imagine how I would have taught my own children to the levels they achieved - it's a different relationship. I also worry about the level of maths and English among some parents who decide to do this.
Perhaps we need changes in schools, but this massive rise does concern me.

What ignorance

I live in the US, where this has been a trend for a long time. There are many resources available here to help parents. They form co-op groups, where one parent may know advanced math and teach to several home schooled students, in trade another parent may teach a science. They have planned outings to museums and stuff, so the kids get social contact. Here in Florida, the schools are required to allow students to register for any class they need from the school system. My son knew a girl who was home schooled, but attended the local high school for chorus class only. Some choose to because their religion does not align with what schools are teaching, which would not be a problem if the teachers would simply teach their subject and leave the politics and controversial subjects out. Many resources are available and many home schooled students out perform their schooled friends.

Unless there are significant changes I plan to home educate my 7 yo at high school. No SEN but I don't want him sent to what is essentially a prison every day. Not being allowed to use the toilet when he wants, often ridiculous rules around clothing etc. Not to mention the gangs and the brainwashing that goes on. He regularly asks to be home educated but we're not in a position to do it right now and I'm quite happy with his primary school.

I plan to take advantage of local groups and activities, let him learn to his interests and possibly hire a tutor to help get him through the essential GCSEs

My dd13 is also high functioning autism and ADHD. She has a nightmare at school as it’s open plan and she can’t cope with hanging out in large groups. I’m worried she’ll go over the edge as she comes home crying a lot as people don’t want her in their groups or she can’t cope with certain subjects as they are too stressful for her. I can understand home schooling but I need her to continue at school and get used to it. Just saying there are children who simply find the school environment too overwhelming!

My children did do exceptionally well in school but the balance was way off and they wanted to pursue other things as well as academics. Believe me they have plenty of resilience, more independence and better time management than most kids their age. My eldest is now working abroad in her chosen field at just 20 years old so definitely doesn’t have any problem holding down a job.

I have never projected my experiences on them. I loved my time in school but it is a very different time now to what it was then. I have always encouraged my children to form their own opinions on things unlike a lot of schools who push their opinions and beliefs on children.

There's a lot of talk about neurodiverse kids, or those with SEN or mental health issues and it's absolutely true those groups are overrepresented in home education. However, there is a also a growing cohort of which I am a member - first choice home schoolers. When weighing up the school place on offer, it was our view that what we could offer them as home educated learners far exceeded what was on offer from the local state primary and, at five years in, this remains our view.

I wholeheartedly agree with all the points made above about how outdated the whole school system is, including but not limited to the subjects in which instruction is provided. As home educators, we are free to determine what is relevant, useful, important and worthwhile and to reassess that as often as we would like.

With just two children to teach, my daughters never experience the problem I spent most of my school days dealing with - waiting around for everyone else to be finished, for the naughty boys to stop messing around, for the teacher to ask someone who didn't know the answer... we move at their pace. When they are ready to move on, we move on. Nobody is ever bored.

They're also not lacking in social interaction, having always attended full day drop off provision at least 1 day per week where they spend time in a group of peers with trusted adults. Unlike at schools, the adults are not dictatorial power trippers who are more concerned with having the right colour socks than what has been learned or not learned. There are further activities every day of the week including home ed specific clubs, groups and classes and regular extra curricular activities that are attended by a mix of kids. In addition there are parent organised activities such as sports day, a Christmas play, a home ed float in our city's children's parade, community choirs, educational trips and visits, seasonal parties / social events and more - if teachers can organise it for school attending kids, home educators can and do organise it for their kids and their community. The only thing 'missing' from home ed children's socialisation is the very false notion that spending all your time in a cohort of others born between the same two Septembers is a valuable enterprise in any way.

I could write for pages about why we made this choice when, in the case of my daughters, school would probably have been just fine. But ultimately, that is what it comes down to - 'just fine' is ok, but if something better than 'fine' is on offer then why would you not want that? In many ways it is no different to parents who choose a private school - they have concluded that the offer there is better than 'fine'. First choice home education is great and I would urge any parents of 3/4 year olds to consider all the options when deciding how to provide education for their children.

So much ableism and ignorance on here. A great many children that are home educated currently are so because they are neurodivergent and school has caused so much damage.
you can’t just ignore that and move on because it’s not your perception of things. Some of us are left picking up the pieces of some hugely traumatised children. Have you had the experience of a 7 year old crying for 2-3 hours at bedtime because they feared school so much? Have you had the experience of a 7 year old saying on a daily basis they wish they were dead because they hate their life so much? Guess what forcing them to carry on doesn’t build resilience it builds trauma.
think of the job that you would hate to do the most, something that made you physically sick with anxiety about doing it every single day and tell me if you stuck that job out for 10 years would it be better or would you be a complete mess!
people are so uneducated on what home education can look like these days. There are online tuition courses, face to face tutors, lots of subject specific home education groups. I’d argue that home education offers a child a far far higher standard of education than they’d ever get in a mainstream school where 1 disillusioned teacher is trying to teach 30+ pupils of varying competence every day.

Life skills can be taught and practiced far more efficiently at home on a practical basis and out in the community.

Is it possible after working for over twenty years in education that you are effectively programmed to only believe in 'the school way' as being a viable means of producing successful, well-rounded young people?

Education is not a one size fits all process. Some children and young people require more 1-1 attention than can ever be delivered in a mainstream school. Even without any SEND to consider. Sometimes a more holistic approach is required for that child.

Home education is a huge undertaking for parents-do you really think the majority enter into it completely blind to the responsibilities it entails?

I'm not anti-school by the way, we have one in school doing fabulously and one at home, achieving marvellous things her way.

It would be fine if those teachers who spent years learning their craft used those skills to support kids to learn. My DD is in specialist provision, she has complex needs due to early trauma. Her school literally don’t know how to work with her. I’ve worked with them, explained what she needs, offered training (my professional background) and here she is, out of school because they keep retraumatising her.

I don’t want to home educate, it would be much better for her if she could attend school regularly but nightmares, tears and absolute exhaustion from trying to keep her shit together are taking a toll on her. There’s only so much I can ask of her, and only so much I can do with the school to try and help her. For a school whose purpose is to teach children with additional support needs their lack of support for her is disgraceful. If that’s insulting to teachers frankly I don’t care.

I agree there are kids whose education at home is not adequate but there are also kids in schools whose education is not adequate. Let's not pretend that every child who attends school leaves with good exam results.

It's not the right path for everyone but for some the barriers to learning at home can be overcome (eg. Online class or tutor in subjects parent can't teach), while the barriers to learning in school (eg. sensory overwhelme, bullying, anxiety) can't.

I think that is a big factor. I think the lockdown made people tumble to the idea that education can now be delivered into the home far more efficiently, so where they are unhappy or not thriving, it is impossible to ignore the option. Children now have far more access to educational resources generally, and there is a better understanding of the whole culture of home-schooling. In all honestyl I am sure a lot of children learn better with BBC video style delivery than frazzled teachers raising their voice in a disruptive classroom - and that's before you factor in the possibility of bullying etc.

The truth is, is parents were happy with the way schools operated, and their dc were thriving, I don't really understand why they would consider it. It is ultimately easier to dump them at school than home educate.

I didn't have the greatest school experience and have some sympathy for homeschooling done right, but there ain't half some anti-school lunatics on this thread.

I’ve always been pretty sceptical about home schooling, fairly firmly in the camp of it being the best choice for the few, not the many, but the more time that passes, the more I can see why so many people opt to home school. I obviously am well aware some are shit and lazy and it’s a waste of everyone’s time but a lot of home educating parents are devoted and diligent.
For me, it’s a few factors, all of which (or most of which) bases around secondary education in the local area. The pushing of gender ideology nonsense is very off putting for me, it is to me akin to encouraging mental illness rather than any attempt to help, but it’s also the ‘authoritarian’ method of teaching and student management that I find just repulsive. I understand rules must be present and followed but our local secondaries seem increasingly obsessed with attendance and results with no care for keeping anyone less than perfect in education. Kids are being excluded left right and centre and they’re left to their own devices, not even out of their teens and they’ve been thoroughly failed by a biased, unfit for purpose system. I don’t know if that is something I want to subject my children to.

but I need her to continue at school and get used to it.

What if she doesn't? What if she seriously starts to self-harm or attempts/commits suicide? I could not have that on my conscience. If she comes home crying a lot as you say, then you need to step up as a parent and do something about it.