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?

100 percent this. The majority of kids survive school, they do not thrive. Does survival build true resilience? I certainly understand why some people who can would rather not raise kids in this system.

30 years in the classroom and now I'm an online teacher. Not been doing it long but it's sooooo much better for teaching. Technology is amazing. The kids interact all the time, I'm not interrupted constantly so kids who want to learn can learn. They all are given Chromebooks so I can see what kids are doing on their computers during a lesson to make sure they are on task. I can talk to them individually or as a group. We can play interactive games as a class on a collaborative whiteboard. Honestly it's amazing 🤩 comparing your school days with what school is like now is completely different. The behaviour in the majority of schools is outrageous. Teachers work their backsides off but their hands are tied with keeping all kids in the classroom regardless of attitude or behaviour.
As long as the social aspect of school is addressed, for actual teaching and learning, I definitely see the benefit of online schools. (Parents teaching their kids in secondary, not so much as it's quite in-depth knowledge required)

I didn’t attend mainstream school, undiagnosed autistic and ADHD, didn’t find out until I was 38. Received no secondary education, and now? I have an undergraduate degree, masters and PhD.

I learnt so much more at home than I ever did in mainstream school.

Teachers have no right to feel insulted. Their ego should not come before the rights of a child. The education offered by the state is not fit for purpose.

God OP you sound so miserable. "Teenagers need to learn that life is hard", I hate that attitude.
Teenagers are disillusioned enough. Do you not think they know how hard their lives are likely to be? Work hard all your life to survive and make your boss richer, then if you are lucky make it to retirement to whatever "pension" they will be able to claim.
School should be a place where they can be happy and optimistic. For many it just isn't.

I'm sure some EHE parents do very little but most are committed to what is essentially a bespoke private education for their children.

Teaching GCSEs when you've only got one student isn't difficult, sorry OP.

It's not that hard to teach GCSE! I go out hold of a copy of the GCSE religious studies syllabus and mark scheme as my DS school didn't offer it. I taught him from scratch over 5 weekends and he got a grade 8.

You also build up resistance to bullies by having inner confidence from knowing you are loved and cared for and because positive behaviours are modelled at home. You don't need to be broken down and abused to recognise it happening and be able to deal with it. Being bullied can make you less confident for years and you may blame yourself when it happens again.

If your best argument for school is that bullying does you good, think on.

Home education is the legal term in the UK, & therefore the correct term

My son really tries his best but school isnt really right for him. I am lucky we are at a fantastic school, and they go above and beyind, but he has found this week so difficult that he has just attacked me at his trampoline lesson and missed all of his lesson having a meltdown as he just wasnt coping after holding it all in all day.

He will not be attending secondary, the school system is horrific for kids like my son. I work in inclusion and even though specialists are recommending aids, sensory and movement breaks etc, many schools (secondary) just ignore it then exclude.

If I had the money I would pull him now.

Having worked with ASD kids I’ve seen a LOT of shitty parenting of them. The asd kids are getting worse and far far too many of them aren’t even being parented effectively. Just babysat with tablets and then the parents are wondering why they’re regressing. Why the won’t focus in school. Why we’re spending more time managing behaviour than teaching language (voice, sign or text!)

lots of ‘they’re autistic, they don’t like no’
every single child hates no but you have to set boundaries. even with ND kids. Especially with ND kids.

one recent issue asd kid doesn’t like coats but is having constant meltdowns about being cold and/or wet. We have their coat but they won’t wear it.

I 100% sure it’s sensory and have provided the parent with a list of links to different types of coats with different linings, outer materials inc ponchos that would alleviate the meltdowns because of being cold and wet. These are similar to other coats this kid reaches for that aren’t theirs. parent says ‘kid has a coat we’re not getting another’ I enquired as to why. They didn’t ’see the point of wasting DLA on a coat they won’t wear’ but the kid will wear a coat with a particular lining. They just won’t solve this issue. And this is one small issue and I battle every day because I can’t let this kid out in the rain because my colleagues will get hurt. All because a parent won’t buy a more appropriate coat for the kids needs. It’s not the kids fault and we’re struggling to progress with this kid because parents are ‘oh it’s autism, we don’t need to do that’

it used to be a small percentage were ‘uncontrollable’ in terms of their agressive behaviour and we could manage it and work with it. now many many kids are hitting, kicking, biting, hair pulling if anyone puts in a boundary of any kind, refuses a tablet, makes them do anything that doesn’t involves a screen. The teachers cannot manage the aggression (even if it’s not malicious) so even SEND school kids are having to be withdrawn because of poorly parented or more aggressive kids in SEND facilities. This is why so many teachers and TAs are leaving.

ive recently left a job for this reason. Im being hurt far too much and too often and im so bruised people are asking questions! No it’s not my kid or my husband. I work with asd kids and they’re horrified. It’s not worth it for the poor pay.

Sorry to piss on anyone's bonfire but Home Education is actually the default education. You 'opt in' to the school system if you register your child. It is not compulsory to register your child at a school despite all bs that is pushed onto the families of pre-schoolers.

I know from experience that some parents deregister their children for the wrong reasons and are incapable of educating their children to a standard that will enable them to have viable choices regarding a career. There is a cohort of parents on TikTok who tell people that it’s easy to HE, and if they don’t like school rules they should remove their child and this is all lapped up by parents saying schools are like prisons and no one can tell their child they can’t go to the toilet during lesson times. It’s so sad but tbh I’d rather some of those children were removed than disrupt lessons because their parents tell them they don’t need to follow rules.

Its all getting increasing hard to find places to let you sit exams as an external candidate especially in science with practical bits

I do think that homeschooling can be beneficial, for certain children, if done correctly by suitable methods.

It certainly isn't one size fits all.

A lot of the usual bigotted uniformed bullshit here I see.

There tend to be 4 different types of homeschoolers

1. Parents who think that homeschooling somehow places pressure on the council to allocate them the school of choice (quite the opposite, in fact)
2. Parents who are politically extreme and/or religious and either don't want their child (usually daughter) to mix with other genders or don't want their child contaminated with the secular, diverse world we live in
3. Parents of neurodiverse pupils who don't fit into mainstream schooling and are lacking a SEND school place (I have some sympathy with these)
4. Parents who are themselves neurodiverse and find it hard to let go

Well OP, I was bullied and sexually assaulted at school and to be honest I think I would have been a lot happier and more resilient without dealing with those particular 'challenges'...those experiences didn't really add a lot to my life! Not planning on home schooling my DD but she will be going to an extremely selective small private school, even if I have to work 3 jobs to be able to do it. There is no way in hell I'm sending her to a bog standard comprehensive school.

All my children were home schooled until my eldest was 10 and my youngest was 7. They all tried school for a time, and while they did very well academically, consistently exceeding expectations, and mostly coped socially, I couldn’t shake the feeling that the traditional environment was stifling them in many ways.

When my eldest reached Year 8 in secondary school, I decided to take him out. What I experienced there was shocking, a place that felt more like a prison, with children shaped heavily by social media in ways that worried me. Now all of my children are home educated and truly thriving. We are part of an incredible home education community that keeps growing, full of supportive families and well-adjusted children.

While I do see the value in having them experience school, having done both, I can honestly say I would choose home education every time.

For a start, do you mean home schooling, where children are given work, by the school, to do at home, or home educating, where the parents educate their children? Because they are 2 completely different things. I home educate my 3 children and they love it. We go to home ed groups, where they socialise with other home ed children, they do extra activities, like brownies, beavers and gymnastics, they have friends to play all the time, have loads of cousins, nephews and nieces. They get to learn how they want, when they want, about what they want in all different ways. We don't just sit at the table and do hours of mindless work. We go out exploring, play games, practical everyday things and most importantly they have fun. What exactly is wrong with that?

I haven’t read everything you said because I’m sure it will make me angry but the first point I have is it’s home education, not home schooling.

I’d also like to point out that when you know nothing about something, it’s probably best not to have an opinion on it.

Go learn about home education, the benefits, the freedom, the connection, the fun, the fact it is literally saving lives and then you can make a judgement.

If I had my time again I'd move heaven and earth to get DD2 into a small private school if possible. If I knew what I know now she would never go near an academy secondary school. We had no idea that it would be such a struggle though as she had always seemed to enjoy primary school.

I was bullied for 2 years at high school, some 45 years ago. Did it teach me resilience? No. Just shame.

You’ve missed off loads of people. What about the ones who want their kids to experience travel and learning in the real world? The ones that value time with their children over snatched hours after work and school, the ones whose kids are being bullied daily? I could go on.

"Where children are given work, by the school, to do at home"

You're thinking of homework.

Home schooling is where parents educate them at home with workbooks and online lessons, outside of the school system. It's not 'home educating'. There is no such term as that outside the UK. It doesn't even exist. It's home schooling in every country in the world - bar the UK. There is no such thing as 'home educating' elsewhere. It's just homeschooling or home schooling. What you're describing with your children is homeschooling. They are being schooled (taught) at home.