To wonder how people who homeschool acquire the knowledge to do so?

[Homeschooll]

Just as the title really. I don’t have strong feelings on homeschooling, I don’t think it would be my choice mainly as I have little patience and I don’t feel I know enough about science or maths.

If you do it how do you know what you’re doing is right? What about the pastoral side? How do you make sure there’s a routine?

Just interested really. I’ve found more and more people are doing it.

Home education is done on much much smaller scale; you're only doing this for a small number of children at a time and you can literally observe them and converse with them at the time. It's a lot more immediate than in a school setting. And you're adapting and correcting as you go along. There's no need to formally assess in the same way that a teacher would have to do.

If you realise that your child already "gets" something, then you move on to the next thing, there's no requirement to do ten more exercises (for example) on the same thing. Equally, if your child isn't getting something, you can slow down or try something else without having to worry that 29 other children are going to be held up or you that aren't going to get through your week's/term's curriculum.

For the rest, I can only speak for myself because every home educating family does things a bit differently:

I was not spending a lot of time lesson planning. I used to have a loose plan of what they should be able to do for English and Maths each year. For other subjects, it was more like: we'll do ancient history, biology and physical geography this year, which I would "pitch" at the level of the eldest and "explain downwards" if the younger ones didn't understand.
Since we only ever did "formal" stuff for half a day, the other half a day they were free to play or explore whatever they wanted, assuming we were at home.

I did not spend any time increasing my own knowledge in advance. Whatever I didn't know, we'd look up on the spot. (Obviously this would be unworkable in a classroom). If they wanted to know more, then we'd just keep on looking things up.

For the activities and trips - Some of these would "pop out" from the reading aloud or I would generally have something vaguely in mind and I would google for more specifics or to firm things up.

I did not "set up" activities in advance - they would have to help set up anything with me (again, probably completely unworkable in a classroom).

Also, the trips took a lot less planning than a school trip would, as, apart from may be inviting other families to join us, we could just get in the car and drive there.

My "teaching" was nowhere near perfect (and definitely not as polished as a school teacher's delivery) but it kind of didn't need to be because they could ask whatever they liked, whenever they liked and I also knew that we'd cycle through the history timeline two or three times over the years, so each cycle would also reinforce the previous knowledge.

Compared to school pupils, there are some things mine knew in more depth such as world history because it's not a focus in the national curriculum and other things, like fronted adverbials, that they were completely oblivious of.
I did not worry about this in the slightest - although I realise that this sounds somewhat alarming.

I think mostly, what I was trying to do was show my children that anything that they didn't know they could look up and learn and it would be fine.

(Edit: sorry that was so long!)

Personally teaching your children must depend on your own education. I think we could cover a sensible range of GCSEs, but would need an English tutor and MFL tutors. I think it would be hard to do practical work at home, which is integral to many subjects.

There are many 'open and go' curriculums available, with the teaching instructions, some of them also used in schools. The British ones show how they line up with the National Curriculum, the other ones will discuss which age groups they're aimed at and you can largely see if it would suit.

There are also resources made and shared by home educators, much like TES resources and similar that are out there where teachers make things and share them with other teachers. While I don't agree entirely with the educational philosophy, forums like the Well Trained Mind has many generous home educators freely giving out the resources they've made that they've found to work and giving recommendations on how to adapt other resources.

I've found, with my kids at least in my area, having a strong base for English, maths, sciences meant when they chose to go into secondary, they were able to catch up in other areas fairly well. I only educated one child to Y9 and three to Y7, I was clear with my kids that while they could choose one they got to secondary age, I drew my limits and think even doing Y9 was likely not the best with the range of subjects needed and I wouldn't have if my oldest didn't have the additional needs that meant finding a school that fit his needs was very difficult -- which is how we ended up home educating in the first place. I'm not in an area with good options.

For pastoral, that's very much around the individual child.

For routine, it's much like building any routine in the home - we started our days with breakfast and lessons, and they knew they needed to get through it to get to free time.

Largely, home educators do not do as many subjects or cover as much content as schools. For me, that was a benefit - I think all school curriculums are full of way too much that they're expected to do at too young an age, largely around countries bragging to each other rather than child development. We don't even expect half of kids to meet what is set has a 'basic' standard at the end of GCSEs.

I've found, with my kids at least in my area, having a strong base for English, maths, sciences meant when they chose to go into secondary, they were able to catch up in other areas fairly well. I only educated one child to Y9 and three to Y7, I was clear with my kids that while they could choose one they got to secondary age, I drew my limits. Y9 was likely not the best with the range of subjects needed and my personal limits, I wouldn't have if my oldest didn't have the additional needs that meant finding a school that fit his needs was very difficult -- which is how we ended up home educating in the first place. I'm not in an area with good options. As others said, many kids are being failed, however they're educated.

I've never been in an area that had the big group with parents teaching, that's very location dependent.

There will always be the odd HS families where the DC will thrive, get the qualifications to get into a Russell Group uni etc but the majority of parents who home school are completely deluded into thinking that they are providing a suitable education for their DC. Since Covid many parents think that just because they helped their DC complete a few worksheets from Twinkle that this somehow equips them with the same skills as a qualified teacher. It doesn’t and there isn’t any other profession where this would be the case either. Even as a well educated person as well as a qualified teacher, I have the self awareness to know that I would not have had the skills to teach my DC to an accepted level in all subjects to the same standard as they had in school from subject specialists. To argue otherwise is absolutely ludicrous! If this was the case then we wouldn’t have subject specialists in secondary schools!
I have also not personally encountered any HS kids who have not been significantly behind their peers or disadvantaged. I tutored a HS student who wanted a last minute revision session for a GCSE course that her parents had bought online. She wanted me to explain a concept which was impossible given that she didn’t have the basic background knowledge to build upon. As a responsible tutor, I advised that she was not ready to sit the exam and told the parent that she was wasting her money and should defer for a year. As with many HS parents who seem reluctant to listen to the genuine concerns of education professionals, I suspect this advice was ignored. I wonder if the same parents think that they can diagnose their own medical conditions without a medical degree or whether they would consult a TikTok video on a legal matter as a substitute for a professional solicitor? Of course they don’t! It baffles me how they think they can teach without a teaching qualification!
For every HS parent who is genuinely working with tutors and providing their DC with an acceptable education, there are 10 who aren’t and aren’t capable of doing so.

Exactly! I taught science and the kids absolutely loved practical lessons. There aren’t many chemistry experiments that can be replicated at home!

yet society achieved and created many great people over many many generations without the modern schooling system, so why is the modern system considered the holy grail and the only way to study a subject ?

true but theres always youtube so they can watch and learn ?

I’m a maths tutor and a lot of my students are home Ed. Most parents outsource the maths and often English. I reckon I could home school my kids myself, but I am a good teacher.

I think being able to actually teach is more important than the knowledge in some ways, because most adults can learn a secondary school curriculum but if you can’t convey the information in an engaging way then it doesn’t matter.

My DS is autistic so there’s a none zero chance he may need home education at some point if school becomes too much, but it’s not something I actively want. I would also probably get him tutors because I would want him to engage with other people who aren’t me. I would probably do maths and science with him, but I would outsource most things and send him off with his grandad sometimes to learn trade skills.

There's an awful lot riding on your Dr's attitude too.

If I'd homeschooling 3 dd1-like children, I'd be saying how easy it was to give a concept, and they go away and research it far beyond the level needed and write a beautiful project with almost no input from me. I could have delivered smug lectures saying how rewarding it was...
If I'd had the other two I'd have been tearing my hair out to get them to do anything. Ds might have done some programming sporadically. Getting them to do even a half-hearted effort would have been stressful.

I saw this in a local family who waxed lyrical about their homeschooling. First two children were probably keeping close to average for their age. They went to school at secondary, had a bit of a shock with academically and socially, but recovered and went on to do okay.
Then #3 came along. They refused to engage with homeschooling whatever mum said. At 10yo when they still couldn't read or count, they gave in and sent them to school... where they learnt to read and count very quickly, but mum decided that they were getting into trouble too much at school, so pulled them out again... with the inevitable result.

When you think about the high level skills and background of secondary teachers (degree in subject plus teaching qualification) you do have to wonder whether many parents are up to home schooling. Unless they work hard to get the right tutors their children are likely to miss out, especially in difficult subject areas like maths and languages that need really careful teaching.
I'm baffled why anyone would choose home schooling without pressing need eg SEN or genuinely poor school options locally.

Do you not know that many many young people are being terribly failed by schools in the UK?

Children in schools learning absolutely nothing because mainstream schools can't meet needs.

Children suicidal because schools are causing them huge distress and trauma.

I know some amazing home educators who provide their children with an education that a school could never replicate.

I also know others who didn't set out to home Ed but did so because it was the only way to safeguard their child.
I don't think many parents would opt for school when the choice is school and dead child or home Ed and alive child.
Education is not as vital as wellbeing and health

It's not a privilege -
For some it's a choice - they live very different lives to be able to manage financially

For others it isn't a choice - it's a necessity when the school and LA can't and won't meet the needs of sen-betweeners. Many instances 1 parent is forced to give up a career and the family lose financial security. But it's not a choice when a child life depends on parents having to home ed

Sorry but this is hyperbole at its finest. Schools are not the hotbeds of stress and anxiety that some people like to make out. The vast majority of students enjoy school. A few don’t. The vast majority of students have supportive parents, a few don’t. The vast majority of students have reasonable home lives, a few don’t.
There has always been children who are outliers and struggle to fit into systems designed for the majority - that’s only to be expected. Most schools do their best to accommodate those children, and do it very well. Unfortunately there are some parents who think state schools should be places where their child’s every whim should be catered for. If a parent doesn’t agree with the state school system, they are free to withdraw their child. Parents have far more influence on a child’s mental health than any school has.

Sorry but you do not have a clue

I have more of a clue than you seem to have.
https://www.oscp.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Suicide-in-children-and-young-people-1.pdf

I have actual experience of watching the school destroy my child.

This is happening up and down the country but I hope you don't experience it but a little bit of listening and empathy wouldn't go amiss

Gaps in?

How do you plan the learning, how do you know what their children can gaps are?
Do you teach in subjects or is it less structured?
How do you decide what is important or relevant knowledge, which gaps to fill whilst looking for other gaps?
Do you/how do you match learning/knowledge/skills to the interest of the individual children in the family?

There are so many resources, online lessons, tutor options and home educating groups to join these days.

This was not the case when we home educated our own children - my son is now 40 so it was many years ago. We home schooled for the first few primary years, when home schooling was less common; we had to write to the LEA and provide a rough outline of what we were proposing to do.

We also had inspections by a kindly gentleman from the LEA....the children loved him coming, they'd show him what they were doing and read him stories! He used to say he was less interested in the education side as, in his experience, home schooled children received far more input than their counterparts at school. What he wanted to check was that they were being socialised and not being coerced into working for the family business at a young age, for instance.

I didn't need any sort of scheme as such, but I did know that teaching very small children to read and understand number concepts was the key to everything. They read early with no pressure, we spent a lot of time with numbers, counting them, building them. I followed the children's interests and development. Baking is an easy way to develop all sorts of number and measuring skills, and cutting up cakes and pizzas is a good starter for what will eventually become fractions.

Another example: my son loved counting, he used to spend a lot of time counting his footsteps. He'd be in the paddling pool, get out, and put his wet footprints along the paving stones, always starting at the same place. He understood there were more steps (a bigger number) as he went forwards. One day he asked, What happens if I walk backwards? He went to his usual starting place, and started walking backwards. Since this was where his "thinking" was, I introduced the idea of negative numbers...far in advance of when I would think such a concept should be introduced. But it was fine because it was his interest. He grew up to be very mathematically able and now works at a high level with computer security systems.

Once the children were reading it was very easy to cover all sorts of topics in "project" fashion. For instance, something happens in the news, so we'd read and write around it. Go on holiday? We'd research the place, its history, geography, politics and so on. Visit a mosque or a church or a temple? We'd learn about culture, different faiths and beliefs etc.
The primary years are not difficult, it's the secondary years which are likely to need more structure, courses, tutors and so forth.

@CharleneElizabethBaltimore
Are you seriously suggesting that watching a YouTube video is a suitable substitute for a qualified teacher?
Maybe we should all stop going to the GP, it’s difficult to get an appointment anyway. We can all just google our symptoms, diagnose ourselves and watch a YouTube video on how to treat it.🙄

In schools they have to move on regardless if all the children have grasped a concept.
This is why some children end up not being able to progress because they didn't grasp the prior knowledge and the teacher has to move on to the next section so that they can cover all aspects they need

With home Ed - you work at the child's pace
For example child A has a natural aptitude for maths learns quickly and deeply. At school they are bored as the topic is counting one more and on less and they are doing division and multiplication in their free time. In school they have to do maths that is too easy so they are fed up
Child B is really struggling they didn't grasp one more and one less but no the teacher has moved on to adding but adding needs the pupil to understand more and less first. So now they are struggling more. By the time multiplication is introduced child B hasn't learnt the skills they need to grasp this but they have learnt they are stupid and can't do maths.

In a home Ed situation both children can be taught to their ability. Child A isn't bored and can follow their maths level - when they are doing fractions at 6 they can go much deeper and spend longer if they are really enjoying and grasping
Child B isn't feeling stupid or developing a belief that they can't do it. Instead time is spent on the basics and games around numbers. The child gets all the time they need before harder concepts are introduced. They don't feel ashamed or stupid. Parents can change tactics if something isn't working and give breaks when needed. They may not get to division until much later but they will be ready to comprehend when they do.

In a class of 30 the teacher has to teach to the middle. They should adapt and have work for different abilities but in reality this is still only near the average pupil. In mainstream we have pupils at far end of the spectrum and it just isn't effective

yes knowledge is knowledge, yes youtube is not suitable for all subjects.

A lot of people do that and go to Dr Google or go to strange places that offer drips or go to the "qualified" person in the local health food store.

Home ed is a bit different - don't forget that parents are normally the child's first teachers until they are approaching five.
I home educated my DC's for some of primary age (they went to school but mainly for the social aspects and for areas such as art and pe). I made sure that I did the English, maths and science. It depended on which teacher they were with - a couple of the teachers had no science knowledge and were telling them things that were wrong and other teachers just bored them silly with maths - not allowed to progress unless getting 10/10 for everything.

My daughter is currently doing her GCSEs and has always been at school, but she uses YouTube videos to teach herself topics that teachers didn't explain properly. She says YouTube is brilliant for this.

@Whyhaveibeencutoutofmamsnot
‘Home ed is a bit different - don't forget that parents are normally the child's first teachers until they are approaching five.’

This sort of comment proves exactly why so many of us have concerns about the standard of ‘education’ HS kids receive. There’s a huge difference in toilet training, learning to talk etc than academic education. To think otherwise is completely delusional! Many parents don’t even successfully manage the basics before their child starts school!
Teachers are trained to teach based on current well research learning methods. I’ve seen parents hinder their child’s reading and numeracy development by teaching them incorrectly. I’ve encountered tears from students who have had help to complete homework from their parents which has been incorrect. There’s no getting away from the fact that most parents who home school do not have the skills to do so.
At least those who use tutors etc have the self awareness to accept their limitations!

YouTube certainly has its place for those purposes as a supplementary measure, not as a substitute for a qualified teacher.