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?

OP’s original post was about the ones doing it who aren’t prepared. I understand why it can be a sensitive topic but there’s surely a distinction between people who are helping their children and those who aren’t.

Jesus - she not ' restricting his options'

She is saying they may or may not do GCSEs

As a parent you have 2 options you can be a parent that understands that some children may not pass their GCSEs and that's ok because not everyone does and the results do not determine a person's worth.

Or

You can be a parent who raises their child to feel like life literally depends on passing all exams, adding to their pressure and making them feel like life is over and they are worthless if they don't pass.

30% of all young people taking an exam will fail.

What we need to do is ensure that those that fail do not end up feeling like they are worthless or they have ruined their whole life.

We need farm and agri workers too btw or do you think food comes out of the arses of people with a levels

If a child isn't learning a single thing at school and is being made mentally unwell by school I would think even rubbish home educating would be a better option.

Home education families that opt to do GCSEs tend to get good grades

The drop in passing is from school pupils

How is it not restricting his options to think GCSEs are a bit meh! It limits his onward study and career choices!

I don't think we'll see the full consequences for a few years but I think we will see them

Where did she say GCSEs were meh?

She said "god forbid there's more to life than GCSEs"

Look I don’t fully disagree with some comments. For example influencers that can barely spell removing their kids for ‘views’ or ‘engagement’.
But what I am saying is please do not tar us all with the same brush. Plenty of us give every part of ourselves to home education, not only educating but also making sure our children get opportunities and socialisation etc. We stay up at night researching, finding groups, making plans with home ed friends etc.
And many like myself are doing it because school did fail. Our SENCO from the last school said to me on the phone ‘school isn’t for everyone’, that’s a school admitting that it just does not work for many SEN children.
And before anyone says ‘what about a special school’ I looked into it, but because my son is academically capable that wasn’t an option for him either, and why would I want him to not reach his full capability.
And so his education is my responsibility and one I take very seriously.

That is not the same thing

Oh believe me I know some of you put every effort into it, I just see some shocking things online something from people that are clueless.

Of course it is, it's seeing GCSEs as not that necessary but it depends on what a kid dreams of doing. Also there's sod all entry level jobs these days so competition will be stiff for jobs that do come up.

In HE groups online it is very common to see a post from a parent panicking because they are being asked for a report about the education of their child for the last year. Group members talk them through doing a report where they write up going to Tesco's as socialising with a wide range of people in community settings, consolidating maths skills in a variety of practical tasks, and understanding practical applications of chemistry in everyday life.

Some HE parents have very low aspirations for their kids.

And I get that, trust me those of us who do home ed and care a great deal about progress and our children doing well also find it shocking.
Here’s the thing though just because you see a few families online doing one thing does not mean the many are doing it that way.

The ones who do not opt for GCSEs are either kids with complex sen, or kids suffering educational neglect.
I also see lots of parents saying their kids can only do a couple of GCSEs because of the entrance cost.

Do you not read posts? My son has SEN, I never said ‘GCSE’s are meh’. I explained that he isn’t of an age yet where we have to decide and so will cross that bridge when we come to it, I was just pointing out there are other avenues he could go down that may be a better fit for him personally, which his EHCP and the LA agree with by the way.

Not all young people will pass their GCSEs - this does not mean life is over and ruined

Many people have gone on to do well after not passing their GCSEs and some people have not done well despite getting top marks.

GCSEs can be beneficial for certain routes but they are not the only option

For other routes GCSEs are not necessary.

An Olympic sprinter doesn't have to show their GCSE English to get on the team. A person who can't run isn't getting on the team no matter how many GCSEs they got at 16.

For some people (in school or home ed) GCSEs is the right route but for others it is not.

Same as some parents who send their kids to school then.

Ive seen similar OP. Lots of time spent on art, crafts, baking, nature walks, playing outside, beachcombing etc... With a token 10 mins of maths/phonics. For a child aged 5 this would be ok. Often the kids featured are 7, 9,11, even older. Where they are doing reading/writing/ more maths its often not at an appropriate level for the age of the child, they are working several years behind largely through choice because they do not want any 'pressure'.

There also seems to be quite a trend of home educators only really aiming to get Maths and English GCSE's and viewing that as sufficient when in reality only securing 2 GCSE passes is a poor outcome from what is supposed to be a comprehensive education.

I worry that in 10 years time we are going to see a cohort of kids mature into adults who have not been fitted with the education and skills they need to actually secure full time paid employment in the modern world.

Yes I think we will see this because schools are not educating in a way that is needed - the world has changed an awful lot in the last 30 years.

School curriculum has not changed to meet the new situation so many kids in school won't be equipped for this

I was thinking this too. I haven't actually seen examples of this in my everyday life. I've heard about those social media American families who life the sort of life you describe, but I don't think it is mainstream at all

My home ed kiddo is more likely to own the business than be working in it. But I’m sure he’ll happily take on your children to work for him if they do well enough and gain all 10 GCSE’s.

You don't have to be a home educator to have an opinion. And if you're trying to hold down a full time job as a single parent then you're clearly not giving your child an adequate education.

Someone in my family is home "educating" her child for ideological reasons and quite honestly, I think she's ruining her life.

Feral children with no boundaries, rude, not interested in learning, disengaged parents... I work in a school and see all of the above every day too!

We Home Educate and have done so for over a year now. We are very involved in our local HE community, we attend groups and workshops and days out and learning/sports activities and I can honestly say we have only encountered a handful of badly behaved children and a few badly behaved parents. Almost all of the Home Ed children we have met are polite, personable, engaged and well behaved.

The difference with Home Ed is that my child can simply choose not to be in the same space as children who behave badly or are unkind! At school they have no choice but to spend time with the unkind/violent/feral child or children in their class every single day!

The Home Ed families we socialise and learn with actively choose to be there/do the activity and I find the children are far more engaged than at school because they have usually shown an interest in what we are doing/learning and want to be there, they want to get involved and they want to learn.