To disagree with home ed

[Freshton]

Unless in extreme cases (ie SEN, extreme mental health or other complex needs) or parent is qualified teacher, I fundamentally disagree with home ed.

It's insular and doesn't prepare kids for the real world.

I've seen first hand some shocking examples that I can't go into for confidentiality reasons but common thread was parents arrogantly assumed they had same skills as teachers with masters degrees. Reality was kids were really behind, had no proper structure or routine.

It's worrying that so many people see home ed as a viable lifestyle choice. I know school system not perfect at all but isolating children at home or in small home ed group echo chambers isn't healthy.

I have similar concerns. You'll probably get screamed at on here, but I hear you

Also agree!👍

But the reasons you mention really arent extreme cases, theyre very common occurrences

Too many people think they can play pretend teacher, print cute worksheets off Twinkl and that’s it. They have no idea how to teach a child.

I couldn't agree more op and think parents who home educate are doing their kids a disservice- yes l know school doesn't work for everyone but the families l know haven't done it with their kids' best Interests in mind and it scares me these kids will have no structure or proper education.

We had this thread last week and opinions were pretty split amongst the bun fights.

Major safeguarding risk

Exactly, I also want my child to hear from other adults about life and different subjects. Not just my spin on everything.

One home ed advocate said she didn't want her kids brainwashed by the system! She clearly wanted to do the brainwashing herself

Mainstream school is massively overrated imo.

I only know of two people who homeschool one has a PhD and her kids will follow suit I’d imagine, but she has very rigid beliefs and worldview that they have been affected by. She is very controlling and I wouldn’t want my children to be taught by her because she is not open to other views.

The other the child is not suited to mainstream or special education, he has been extremely aggressive in those settings.

I agree with the latter but the former is very concerning. There are too many like that there it's just a way to control your kids and make them believe what you say. It's abuse

It’s quite common for parents to be effectively forced to home Ed because school won’t meet needs in the case of Sen kids.

in which case the parents are generally doing their best.

there’s a lot of Sen kids not coping in mainstream at the moment

Perhaps someone could tell my kids school teachers this. They rely very heavily on Twinkle - to the extent I know precisely which worksheet my daughter will be doing first thing tomorrow, which presentation she will then watch, and what they will follow that up with. Homework literally says Twinkl at the bottom and if my child's copy has got scruffy, I've just printed out a replacement.

I mean it wouldn’t be for me at all not a chance. We have to work for starters!!

Plus I’m not sure how people cover an entire curriculum if they aren’t teachers themselves and I’ve seen it where kids are home-ed and then come to school at 7/11 and it’s a right shock to the system.

I know someone who homeschooled her son because, “he didn’t like the noise” but how’s he going to cope with life if he doesn’t see other people? I know a lot of home ed groups have good support with other parents and meet ups but I do think it’s slightly isolating myself but I guess people all have their own reasons.

That's fair enough.

My brother used to be a primary teacher and class was constantly disrupted by a boy with SEN to detriment of 28 other students. In the end my brother left teaching as he was just managing behaviour

It should be illegal

I think a lot of influencers promote it now so it seen as cool. I've seen a lot of misinformed posts out there

I don’t think school does a great job of preparing kids for real life either tbh, not letting kids go to the toilet, being more concerned about school uniform than actual learning, yet kids are taking knifes into school and only getting a 2 day exclusion.

I largely agree with OP though, there will no doubt be home Ed families doing really well, but there are also be ones where children are falling behind socially and academically and it will be hard to see how they could possibly contribute towards society.

I also think safe guarding issues regarding a lot of these setups can be extremely problematic.

It’s hard for me to really understand your rationale as your reasons for your opinion are ‘confidential’. I’m not really sure what else there is to discuss if the actual basis for your viewpoint is missing. Are you a teacher?

I live in a rural area and schools aren't like that round here. The one my DC goes to is newly built and has an outside area attached to each primary classroom

As long as the school system has plenty of issues, some parents are going to opt to home educate and shouldn't be forced to send their child to school.

Your examples are also far from extreme, especially in the case of SEN.

A lot of teaching is knowing how to manage behaviour and differentiate learning, so I don't necessarily think you need to be a qualified teacher. I do however think home educating is a lot of work, and some people do some half-hearted learning and talk it up e.g. claiming a supermarket trip is their Maths learning for an 8yo, if children who attend school don't also do these things outside school.

With regards to the post on SEN kids and saying some people fall into home-ed sort of accidentally;
I get that some people feel mainstreams schools are failing them and I am also aware that there is a real shortage of alternative provision - I accept this is a massive problem

However being with other people and having friendships and making memories is a great life skill. Being out of a social situation can be isolating.

its tough tho as if kids just don’t cope or are disruptive to others and permanently end up excluded etc it maybe isn’t doable

my main worry other than the obvious safeguarding concerns for some of these kids would be GcSE level -
how on earth does the average person teach 8-10 subjects at that level???

Home Ed done well is IMO far superior to school, with a 1-2-1 individually tailored teaching programme, compared to being one of 30. But to do it well, parents have to dedicate enough time and resources to it whilst ensuring their child mixes enough socially. There are lots of local home ed meet ups covering different subjects and interests which makes life easier.

I know families who have planned to home ed and their kids are thriving, have lots of friends and are academically excelling. The older ones are thriving at university.

In contrast I know several people who have been forced to homeschool due to schools not being suitable etc, and birth parent and child have struggled more. Often because they haven't set up life (ie work) around home schooling, which makes it more tricky, plus the kids are often a bit more complicated.

I think there are parents who are effectively forced into home education for their children and I really feel for them.

However, I have absolutely no time for people who choose it “just because”, especially since so few actually have the capability to be educators.