AIBU to wonder how home educators feel confident teaching children?

[Toodledootwo]

Genuinely interested in those that home school? What do you think you can do better? Do you plan the full curriculum till 18? It is an ethos? how do you have the confidence to teach?
as an educated professional, doing training courses drains me from the stress. I have a masters in engineering but can’t possibly believe I can teach my child maths. So how do home educators have the confidence to think they can do it?

They don’t. They use groups and teaching sessions and tutors.

Before you come with faux naive posts, why not do the basic research?

Some people don’t have a choice but to home educate because the school system is woeful for many children.

I was about to say the same thing. Many home educated children (at least a quarter, I think) have additional needs that the local authority simply can't support so it's left to the parents to do the best they can.

I'm my children's parent, not their teacher, so my role is different.
I ensure they are learning and receiving an education rather than teaching them everything.
What is a 'full curriculum'? Michael Gove's curriculum? Part of the reason for home educating is to avoid being limited by that.

Some dont have a choice. Autism, adhd, other disabilities, bullying all factor in

I suffered at school. My autistic child was pulled out of school in april and I 'home schooled' - twas a fucking nightmare and I am crawling through til she goes to her new school

I doth my hat to home ed parents - its no Swiss picnic

Sorry, didn’t mean to offend. I guess I haven’t researched as it’s not been on my radar

How do you decide you are more able than the school system?

Yes, i agree to what is the curriculum; but as much as i understand languages, science and math, it doesn’t mean i feel i have the ability to convey it.

It’s not particularly difficult to teach a child to read and write if you’re reasonably intelligent. There’s a lot of support online and in home ed groups. Lots of home educators run co ops weekly. I have a friend in such a co op and her children are learning Latin from a Cambridge classics graduate who is home educ her children. There is a lot of time wasted in schools. Two- three hours a day is adequate to cover the primary curriculum on a one to one basis or one to two or three depending on their ages.

When the school system doesn’t fit your child. When your child would rather kill themselves than be bullied. When you know your child isn’t getting an education because of disruptions by other children.
Lots and lots of valid reasons.

Yes fair enough to read and write. What about physics, biology, maths, literature?
I think I’m probably being naive to the support groups available

very valid. And i apologise for coming across insensitive in this regard. I was probably being too black and white

Adequate to cover primary curriculum maybe. Online courses fine…but when the kids ask “ how does such and such happen” and you have no idea….where then?

usually because the school system has created a child so traumatised and shut down that you can’t possibly do worse. School never taught me much, i was a child who excelled at learning and was miles ahead of most of my classmates by the time i was 5 or 6. academically. socially i was ostracised and miserable being bullied for being a ‘swot’ and ‘fat’ and ‘poor’ so my mother pulled me out of school after i attempted to kill myslef at 12. I taught myself pretty much after that and i got 10 GCSEs a year early, 3 A levels a year after that and then did my undergrad and masters by 19. So it worked out just fine for me,

You find the answer together. You investigate and find information and learn how things work. How do you think teachers learn what they know?

I see them as professionals who have learned how to convey knowledge in their subject over many years and understand different approaches for different situations.
i wouldn’t expect someone just to investigate what I do as my career and feel confident enough portray they not understand but can teach it

I’m sorry you had such an awful time and amazing you did so well out of all you were up against!
was that your natural ability to absorb information? Or was your parent confident in the 10 GCSE subjects that they helped you achieve?

It’s 2026. The options for supplemental education aids are, quite literally, limitless. When something isn’t my strong suit, or I don’t feel I can explain it well, I outsource it. I’m not in the UK so not sure what the equivalent is there but my children take standardized tests each year and consistently do incredibly well, in vast contrast to our school system, wherein 55% of children are performing significantly below grade level.

Educational neglect is a thing, and it bears talking about because when it happens it’s a travesty, but it’s certainly not synonymous with home ed in general.

I'm Third generation of home education in our family and if it was that bad how did we all end up in various colleges and some uni lol...Now I'm ready to start with my 4 so forth gen and happy to do so. The bonus for us is more one to one time, no problems with holiday times, besides holidays also include education without even realising, no wasting time back and forth wandering between classes, no worries dealing with drugs etc, no worries with anyone getting left behind as strongest interests or weaker are worked at. Everything is fun in that you don't have to just sit them down every single day then demand they do hours of homework once they get home aswell. So much teaching in trades aswell since it's a big extra family involvement by all those who brought us up so for us it's a win win on many many levels. Personally the plus for me is how close I am with my siblings how we all got our own business in various things from mechanics to horse training all married with kids and are all very confident happy adults and so want to pass it on plus all the experienced grandparents and uncles aunts chip in etc...

don’t get me wrong, I’m not judging those that home educate. But how were you so sure those resources were available to you? How can you be so sure online information is true if you don’t understand it yourself?

Are you in the UK?

Do you think kids only ever ask questions at school, and on subjects covered by the curriculum?

ALL parents are answering these kind of questions all the time and there are plenty of questions that teachers wouldn't be able to answer, either because they wouldn't know or because there isn't classroom time to devote to pursuing individual curiosity out with the taught curriculum.

One of the things my child found hardest about school was that there wasn't really a mechanism for diving deeper into a subject than the curriculum required, so we had to answer all those questions anyway.

Questioning home ed parents' confidence seems like an odd concern to have and sounds like you think home education requires above-average self belief, which it doesn't, in my experience.

From a cursory interest there are many different kinds of home schooling parents. There are those who have been driven to it because their children didn't fit into the standard model. Then there are those who have a belief in it as a model. Many of these are religious or have a world view that ideologically doesn't fit with mainstream education. Some of the latter are worrying. But they are a diverse group.

No of course not, kids ask questions all the time. I’m not questioning it per se….im interested to know what took you down that route.
yes, i probably don’t have the confidence to believe I could take it on but listening to these responses is very educational and opening up my world

I don't teach. We use child-led autonomous learning. It's a completely different mindset. Of home edding parents who are qualified teachers, about 50% say that their teaching background is actively unhelpful because home ed is so very different.

If my children were limited by my experience & knowledge, they'd be in trouble. One of the things I don't like about school is that children’s learning is limited by their teachers' knowledge and experience, because so much learning is done by the teachers imparting their knowledge. I'd rather my children learn from people who really are experts in their subjects, which you have time to do in home ed, but often not in school. Lots of the areas my children have learnt about are ones in which their knowledge and understanding has far outstripped mine.

Mine both taught themselves maths, one taught themselves to read and a whole lot of other things. If you wait till the child is developmentally ready, it's much easier & quicker for them to learn things than if they're forced into someone else's timescales.

The main thing that home ed parents need is an attitude of curiosity about the world and the willingness to engage with their children in learning more about things they want to know about.

(I have always home educated my DC because I used to be a teacher and didn't want to inflict school on them.)