So many think they can teach

[Wecandancetillthemorninglight]

My sister works with homeschooling families in London and frequently tells me stories of how they usually are. How they think they know more than the teacher after quickly looking up how to teach a concept online versus 30 plus years of teaching experience and many different methods and ways of doing things.
I have the upmost respect for my Dc’s teachers and wouldn’t dream of thinking I knew more. Dsis tells me the children are often way behind and have very few actual hours of learning and the mums think they’re doing an amazing job

Should this be allowed?

Should what be allowed?

Your sister working with children? People saying they know more than teachers?
Home schooling?

I home educate.

The children are behind? Are they all being judged the same way? By where they should be in school? Because it’s a different way so it can’t be judged the same.

No, your sister shouldn’t be allowed to disclose information about the families she works with.

People should have the right to home educate, yes

Can your sister

that should have said😳

I don’t think she’s suited to the job. We all have to put up with people who irritate us.

A couple of hours 1-1 education a day can be a lot more effective than the 6 hours of education where children don’t get the chance to explore and familiarise themselves with concepts because of the 30 other people in the room.

Home education should be allowed, of course. A school environment doesn’t suit all children.
Equally, there is no suitable school available for my autistic son. We’ve been waiting for 2.5 years. I am being forced to home educate him, against my wishes.

what does she do with the children? because if she’s a tutor then the parents obviously are in support of their children having a professional teacher figure educating them, so what if it’s outside a school setting?

Your sister is not very professional is she? She shouldn’t be working with dc if she can’t respect confidentiality.

such a good point. a lot of time spent in school isn’t actually productive learning time. no disrespect to teachers because obviously they have different constraints to work with, but a small tutoring group is a much more efficient way to learn.

Reluctant YABU. If school was only about academics I would be with you 100%, have subject specialists teaching children. But it isn't, and so many children- particularly those with SEND- are failed by mainstream schools and by the time they eventually qualify for the kind of education they need (if they ever do get it!) it can be too late and permanent damage has been done-- persistent school refusal, anxiety etc.

I’m generally anti home schooling where people choose that before the baby is born, because I was made for academia and it would have devastated my life to have been home schooled. I acknowledge that it might have been the making of my sister though (although she is way make anti homeschooling than I am because of the contact she had with that community as an adult).

But your comparison is flawed. There’s no guarantee your kid gets a teacher with 30 years of experience, and could feasibly have someone with their first teaching gig, who might not be as effective as teaching your child as 1 of 30 than you would be able to 1 on 1.

Correction: they aren't failed by the schools and teachers, that was clumsy wording-- they are being failed by LAs and governments that give less and less funding to alternative settings, TAs and other supports and demand better outcomes!

Yes, homeschooling should be allowed.

I think with a bit of effort most adults could probably teach the KS1/KS2 curriculum (or its equivalent) pretty well to their own children, owing to the fact that it's fairly easy subject matter for most adults and they know their children better than anyone.

I think things get trickier for secondary school, and there should be suitable checks in place to make sure children are enrolled in the right exams, have access to resources they need, etc.

Your sister is exactly the type of LA bod who is going to make things worse for home ed families when the new law comes in next year. She should not be discussing them with you.

@Wecandancetillthemorninglight You're not being unreasonable to raise this question and it's sounds like you're aware of my following points but many aren't. Results from research into homeschooling are presented in a way that focuses more on the pros and less on the cons. KS1&2 children should have the opportunity to develop strong social, team-work, debating skills as well as learning coping mechanisms to manage challenges and stress and no-one will ever convince me that home is better than school for this (and my own school experience was awful but that was due to other factors irrelevant to this.) Children should have the opportunity to learn how to adapt in an environment that differs to home (i.e.school) and interact with their peers and may have strong/different personalities. I know some children play up in class but adults can be difficult in the workplace and you need to know how to deal with them and understand that sometimes you have to 'speak up' to get a message to those who bully or distract or just irritate you. The people who excel in this world are those who understand the importance of socialising even if you dislike who you're socialising with, working with people you dislike to achieve goals. For KS3&4 students, I believe they should have the opportunity to attend school and they should be able to feel safe and relatively comfortable with the learning environment but many don't and if this is the case then they whether they persist with school or switch to homeschooling depends on the reasons they find learning difficult in school. That said, I believe 'homeschooling' should be a last resort for a child but yes, I believe all children should have to attend primary school and at the very least start secondary school and only if there is evidence to suggest that school is no longer the best environment for them, should homeschooling be considered. Parents can still support children with their education outside of school time if they wish. To provide some background, I have children at school and although there are things that I don't like, I still believe school is more beneficial than homeschooling if schools take appropriate action when there's a serious problem and don't try to pretend a problem doesn't exist.

An aquaitence of mine does "child-led" homeschool with her 2 kids. Seems to mean that they occasionally read a book about Ancient Egypt but mostly do pretty much nothing. Apparently Flip Out and the like do cheap daytime deals.

Whenever I see them at the park I find it so sad. The 8 year old daughter in particular is so bright and sparky and would love to be in a school with other kids.

I believe all children should have to attend primary school

Tell my LEA that. They can’t find a suitable one for my son that has spaces available within an hour of our home.

Yes homeschooling should be allowed.

many families do it very well.

many send parents end up homeschooling because there is no appropriate school place.

some parents homeschool because there is no school place full stop. Happens every year in my county.

Yay another let’s bash all home schoolers thread so we can feel superior putting other people down!

BTW hate to disappoint you but my homeschooled DD got 8 iGCSEs at top grades, took her first age 12 and is currently expected to get three A stars at A level (now in school sixth form). Guess she must be the minority in not being ‘behind’. Oh wait, all her homeschool friends also doing or have done equally well. Guess all homeschoolers aren’t the same after all!

Many families do it well.

And many also don't, and here lies the issue.

As a home educating parent, yup home educating (not home schooling- that's when a school or LA provides the education at home) should definitely be allowed. You don't have to be a qualified teacher to teach in schools anyway (realistically this was implemented due to cost cutting in education), so how many kids are being taught by teachers with 30 years experience? I have the utmost respect for teachers, especially now with so little funding & so many children to support. But home education isn't meant to look like school at home, nor do you have to follow the national curriculum thankfully. My eldest is currently studying A Levels at college, with high predicted grades & her home educated peers are also doing very well in their various studies.

On the contrary OP, after covid and home schooling, I know very well I can't teach, at least not my own ds. We had slightly more success when me and another mum swapped.

But I still couldn't make a career out of teaching. I salute those who do. 😊