To really worry about the future of homeschooled children?

[AgeingMillennial]

Please don’t think this is a goady thread designed to rile the masses about home education. I’m very much not referring to children with SEN whose parents are homeschooling because they’re desperate, or ‘serious’ homeschoolers who do an incredible job and produce very well educated kids by following a dedicated programme. I follow several such families on social media and their energy and commitment is way beyond anything I could do.

However I’m noticing a huge uptick in people ‘deregistering’ their kids to promote a kind of off-grid, traditional lifestyle on social media. Not because the child is struggling or unhappy at school but ‘I want to spend more time with them’, ‘the government want to create tax paying robots’, ‘I don’t want the state to raise my kids with transgender ideology’ etc.

The problem is the ‘homeschooling’ is then very substandard and then consists mostly of nature walks, crafts and visits to National Trust properties. All very wholesome but the sort of things most families do at weekends anyway. They might do a couple of pages of the sort of workbooks you find in WH Smith, but that’s it. Where there are siblings they all do the same basic things, none of it tailored to be specific to their age.

AIBU to worry about the future of these kids and to cynically wonder if it’s a ‘social media stream’ in many cases?

YABU to use 'home schooling' - it demonstrates a misunderstanding of what home education is.

Education, legally is the responsibility of the parents. If your child is failing at school (and you don't support the school or attendance) then that is on you.

Are you concerned about all the children leaving schooling having not completed even basic qualifications - with no likelihood of them ever working (and not related to SEN)

Outcomes for home educated/schooled children are varied. Some do very well, some do badly.

There is and always has been a mechanism for children where there is evidence that insufficient education is being provided - it's called a School attendance order.

Are you concerned about all the children leaving schooling having not completed even basic qualifications - with no likelihood of them ever working (and not related to SEN)

But at least education has been available to them even if for probably sad reasons they didn’t complete/succeed in it. For kids kept at home with just nature walks, it isn’t even really available to them.

Children are not 'kept at home' and just taken out for nature walks.

There are huge amounts of activities available for children - and home educated children are not refused entry.

School is a quite new innovation - not experience by the late Queen, or for very long by the Austen sisters. Neither seemed to lack for it. Thomas Edison was taught by his mother after teachers called him unteachable.

Plus most of these children will have a few primary school years having this sort of life before their parents send them back to school for exams.

Sadly yes they really are just taken for nature walks @AIiswatchingyou - I have watched loads of ‘spend the day with us’ video blogs where they show everything they do in a day.
And it isn’t unusual for it to be a nature walk, a craft project, and then a page or two of very basic key stage 1 maths or writing (regardless of the age of the kids). It all seems very insufficient but they seem to think this is an actual education.

There was someone on here the other day. She said she had adequately home school her child to a high standard - yet the child could do basic GSCE level English or maths. My worry is the - tik tok parents believing the conspiracy theories who can’t spell, read or have a single sensible thought!!

also if you home educating are you doing that adequately whilst working a full time job? And realistically is your child getting attention they need to thrive - if you are not working then how is life funded because is not the best use of a an already strained benefit system if you are claiming benefits.

my son could do with being home educated for various reasons but it’s not practical so we don’t do it! So I am not against it per say if they right person is going the teaching

I hear you. I know quite a few mums who homeschool through family or friends or different meet ups and they literally just take the kids to playpark or soft play. Most of them dont believe in children having any rules, entire families still cosleeping at 7y, never being told "no", no manners or respect for anyone, kids frankly a bit dirty.... seriously nobody would invite them for a playdate cause theyre beyond feral.
Their parents only have very basic education so dont have a clue how theyre planning to properly educate their children.
I think schooling in the UK starts way too young and think schools are not a good fit for some kids BUT the vast majority will thrive and I think its sad that parents aren't allowing them a choice

I think homeschooling done right can be absolutely great for some kids but I agree with you, the rise in children being "homeschooled" rather than actually homeschooled (or worse "unschooled") is a problem for those kids.

I think to properly teach you need to be several levels above the subject you are teaching. So someone with a good GCSE grade in maths or English can theoretically teach primary school level children maths or English but absolutely couldn't adequately help a secondary school child work towards their GCSEs. For some the motivation to home school comes from the fact they themselves struggled and did poorly in school, but then unfortunately that makes them less qualified not more to teach their children. And now there's a new wave of more ideologically motivated "trad lifestyle" types who both think kids should be taught at home and are sceptical about women attending higher education. Which followed to it's logical conclusion is a disaster

Plus the fact actually teaching well is a skill a lot of people don't have (myself included) and it's harder to do with your own children. All respect to people that can.

I think local authorities can be very varied on how carefully they follow up with homeschooled children to make sure they are actually being taught. There are also cases where the parents don't necessarily even want to home educate but are pushed into it by local authorities because the child doesn't fit into regular schooling/has had exclusions and its easier/cheaper for the LA to mark them down as homeschooled. Usually those kids just end up playing X-box all day and have their potential wrecked.

"I’m noticing a huge uptick in people ‘deregistering’ their kids to promote a kind of off-grid, traditional lifestyle on social media."

You're noticing what seems like a "huge uptick" to you because that's what your social media feed is feeding you. The more you interact with this sort of content, the more you will see it. It's not a real reflection of the actual numbers. And of course what you see carefully presented on social media for consumption is not what will be happening day in day out at home.

Here's some real data on this topic

https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/elective-home-education/2025-26-autumn-term

I wouldn’t use TikTok as a measure of anything.

This is not a black and white issue at all so can't vote. Some kids are taken out of school as the school can't meet their needs and excel in a different environment. Some are taken out as the parents can't handle the stress of non attending kids and need better support. Some are taken out by lazy parents who can't handle the behaviour problems when flagged by the school. Some are taken out at a young age but are able to return later. Some are taken out by parents who don't realise how expensive exams are and then dump them back against the schools and their kids will.

Agree, I think it’s madness that there are no official requirements or benchmarks the children must meet. It’s purely down to luck for children, some might get an amazing home education, but others will not and these children will have extremely limited opportunities in life.

No, I also know several ‘real life’ families who have done this, I’m related to 2 of them!

I’m probably going to get flamed here but I actually almost posted in bemusement about this earlier this week.
I home educate, my child has never been in any formal childcare or schooling- got no skin in the game for hating schools etc, I chose to home educate owing to circumstances of SEN and knowing full well the challenges my child would have faced. I worked (and still work) tirelessly. I run a tight ship and my child is 2/3 years ahead of their peers when at 3 years old I was told they wouldn’t ever talk or understand anything.

I educate ‘formally’ every single day. So, reading, comprehension, key subjects and also RE, Sciences, Technology and IT, Music, Design Tech etc. I follow alongside a school based curriculum so my child isn’t disadvantaged if they ever ask to go to school. We are screen free, we play outside of course but a ‘nature walk’ isn’t learning, or anything above and beyond what a schooled child does. A ‘nature walk’ with a circular learning plan around it (IE I would weave in phonics or art or pattern recognition or seasons or geography when younger) is. Taking a child to Tesco and saying its learning is frankly insulting and I do grow tired of when I home educate people thinking I do that. I work as hard as a teacher, I spend hours every evening prepping, educating myself and adapting key theories to my child’s learning needs.

Anyway, early in the ‘journey’ I tried out some ‘home education’ groups and days (most places have like home ed days places such as Natural History Museum etc where you go and meet others and learn and there’s usually a task or whatnot then some free time to roam around. And OH MY GOSH. The last few years post Covid especially I cannot actually tell you the behaviour of these children. 95% are feral. Every type of background from working class to very upper class, every ethnicity etc, all completely undisciplined, rude, and literally out of control.

After a succession of these I withdrew from anything remotely ‘home education’ whatsoever. I too worry immensely about the future of these children.

I know what you mean OP. I am not against home education at all when done properly, and I do think school isn’t for everyone and modern life is too fast and families don’t get enough time together.
However, I have a family member who has fallen into the whole off grid online wormhole and it’s actually a tragedy. She took her child out of year 8 and she hasn’t been formally educated since. She was happy at school and lots of friends etc, and was quite intelligent too. Now she just feeds the chickens and walks the dogs and is like a live in nanny for the younger siblings (who are hard work so were out back into school).

I think home education can be wonderful, and we looked seriously at it as an option (though work commitments meant we didn't go ahead with it).

But I can think of two families where dc have been taken out of school and don't really seem to do anything, and I worry about how isolated and unhappy they are becoming.

But... The data you linked to shows a considerable rise in home educated children this year compared to last year. So it does back up what the OP is saying. I agree that algorithms on Tik-tok etc can exagerate the phenomenon/make it seem like everyone is doing it. Actually the fact some parents are making content based around homeschooling** and therefore their children aren't just being taught at home but are also kind of "working" as content creators is an additional concerning angle.

**Not talking about parents who are careful not to show their kids etc even when providing actual advice on home education

I very much doubt whether these people will home educate for the whole of their children's childhood, especially without having some contact from the LA, who will have a conversation about what they are offering - which is required to be adequate to the child's age and ability. If not - they can take steps to challenge this.

Play based learning is evidence based for children up to about 7 - and yet most schools are not facilitating this. Schools are crowded, with sick children pushed in, inadequate time and space for the level of physical activity that children need.

There is too much focus on written work, as it is easier to asses than a broader range of evidence. There is little room for creativity for teachers themselves, most who would dearly like to spend more time focusing on the children's interests.

School works for some children, home education works for some children, a mix across their childhood works for some children.

As to full time work - haven't you heard of shifts - plus some families manage on less money than others perfectly well.

@AgeingMillennial that is still not data.... that's your personal experience which is not going to be representative. Your viewpoint on the "huge uptick" is not objective. For example, I don't know a single family who home educate, either in my friendship group, acquaintances, family, wider family.... I could say that no one home educates as I've never heard of it in my own experience. I would be wrong!

THIS is exactly what I’ve been exposed to, and ‘home edders’ will be here to tell you it’s not true but it is, I see it every single day. Kids screeching, no boundaries, rude, can’t share, have no interest in learning. Parents disengaged. Just feral children being dragged up (and again every single social class, I’m working class myself it isn’t a class issue- I don’t know what it is).

i frequent some SEN groups and it’s not a SEN issue- it genuinely is in a large proportion of cases now this ‘ f you ‘ from the parents to the schools or the ‘system’, at a huge detriment to the child or children.

I want my child to be academic, I understand that academia has value. My child couldn’t even hold a pencil at 3/4 and within a year of home educating they were writing in cursive full short stories. Done well it can work excellently, done badly I genuinely believe it can scar the children for life.

I agree, I work in secondary and we’ve had several returning to school in Y10 or 11 when parents realise they’d have to pay for any exams. These kids are woefully behind and some end up on entry level courses at college as don’t get the grades for anything else. Also pupils being taken out on a whim - an argument about a nose ring was a recent one. These parents are clueless and I personally think in such cases it should be a form of neglect.

Home education is very hard to do well. Lots of fantastic, committed parents do manage it. I do still worry a little about their social aspects and how they integrate into mainstream society when the time comes. But I’m sure these parents do all they can to make it work.
Some parents do an appalling job and it should be considered a form of neglect. I had come across a few in my job and it’s very concerning.

To be fair, I have heard from parents still home edding that there was a change post Covid in the number of families choosing home ed - and also in how they viewed their responsibilities.

There certainly is a wide range of characters in the home ed world.

I'd also say, despite my neutral post earlier, that this is the bit of EHE that doesn't work and is solely on the parents. Sending your kids back in Y10 is pointless, they get dumped in whatever options subject has space and sometimes in a subject requiring coursework or modular exams which they go on to fail. Plus the KS4 environment is a massive shock to the system and often leads to behaviour/attendance problems.

Also agree huge issue of influencers and the same ilk taking their kids out to use them as full time ‘content’ which should be illegal.

Would be better if you used the correct terminology. It’s home education.

i assume you home educate your children so you can have a valid opinion?

you have no idea the time and effort goes into home educating your children. Especially if you are trying to hold down a job, single parent etc. never mind the fact you could have took your children out of mainstream schooling due to bullying/mental health/self harming….

but no, it’s the easy way out, take kid out of school and walk round the park and say educated.