You have a choice, and can home school....

[Lua]

... I hear this all the time. The question is: is that even possible these days?

What happened to home schooled kids in year 11 and 13 this year, does anyone know? Kids not at school would not have had teachers grade, right?

Is it really an option to keep some kids at home?

I'm neither educationally or financially equipped.

The mortgage depends on both of us working and for average wages.

It irritates me when people trot it out on here to every COVID post because for a lot of people it is not possible simply because of money. And that’s before you factor in other issues like being able to teach them or provide them with experiences or social interaction. Money money money.

DH’s school had a number of homeschooled pupils entered for exams-using the school as an exam centre.

If they used a tutor, and the tutor was known to be a reliable assessor, they used grades provided. Some were invited in to take a test set by the school and marked by school staff which would provide a basis for CAGs.

Only a few took the school up on this and several were irate that the school wouldn’t just put in whatever grade the pupil/ parent felt they were working at.

That said, I’d last about 7 minutes homeschooling DS- and I’m a teacher.

@Ethelswith

Well it isn't for me. There's no way I couid begin to cover A levels in subjects other than my degree subjects and one language. And DC options aren't those

Most home educators don’t do it all themselves either. Lots of possibilities for outsourcing.

Most working parents can't home educate for a start.

Is that true though? If you look at how home Ed actually works, and how people actually do it it’s perfectly possible to do it. Actual “teaching” time is maybe 90 mins a day - and this more than adequately covers the equivalent of a school day for most children. They fit it around work, so may work during the day and do teaching at night or vice versa. The kids tend to attend various classes or groups where interaction and more Learning happen, and it’s common for the childcare to be shared out as well.

@Feminist10101 if you've got two parents who work full time out of the home, who is going to look after DC whilst you're working? Let alone educate them, or take them to classes or groups. Great for those who can manage it, and I applaud them, but I would still consider that for the majority of working parents it would be a no-go. Even those who have been working at home until now are under pressure to get back into the office :-( It's a big commitment to deregister long term, which is why I think temporary leave of absence might be better for some families in our current circumstances, until we see which way coronavirus is panning out. If it's really working well, families can always decide later to permanently deregister. But it's put as a black and white choice between back to school fill time or deregister, and if you choose back to school full time as your option, you're not allowed to be anxious or concerned about it because you could always 'choose' to deregister and home school. As a working parent with underlying health issues, that's not a choice I have, it's not as simple as that, is what I was trying to say.

Some schools have made an arrangement with the LEA that they will send work home to registered children who aren't attending school. Provided the work is completed and returned to the school no action will be taken.

I have no intention to teach my kids, but I am sure they can do it on their own at this age

What? If people could easily teach themselves, we wouldn’t have teachers. Constructive feedback is needed.

Lots of working parents already home educate. They do! I'm not sure I think it's a great idea but they work at different times and go to groups etc

if you've got two parents who work full time out of the home, who is going to look after DC whilst you're working? Let alone educate them, or take them to classes or groups. Great for those who can manage it, and I applaud them, but I would still consider that for the majority of working parents it would be a no-go.

Only if you subscribe to the principle that work can only be done between 9-5. (We are 2 full times working parent. I’m a keyworker who found myself working 16 hour days 7 days a week between March and May and who has had to restructure working arrangements for 2000 staff. DH works from home on international projects, so works at all sorts of times depending on project requirements. We managed childcare, home educating and work with only one of us leaving the house 4-5 times a week for several months.)

Very few jobs now have to be completed between 9am and 5pm now. And if they do have to be, childminders can provide care. Or other home edders.

Yanbu I definitely couldn't do it for many reasons with DD she was a nightmare when we were using Google classrooms March - June at least I could threaten her with the teacher then.
I might have to keep DS home this year depending on the social distancing with his SNA. He's young I could manage early learning if I need too.

People always like to forget that not everyone works a job that can be done from home or that can be restructured so that the hours suit home education when they are preaching the “well if we can do it...” “look how hard we work to fit it all in” angle. Shift workers, retail staff, jobs where your work hours are given to you and if you can’t work them, tough shit, you work them or no job. Not all jobs are projects that you can beaver away through the night as and when you get the chance.

Very few jobs now have to be completed between 9am and 5pm now.

No. Very many minimum wage jobs have to be completed between set hours. If you don’t work the hours, you don’t have a job. If you can’t find childcare for those hours, you can’t home educate. If you can’t afford childcare because of low income, you can’t home educate.

Money. Money. Money.

When we were debating about DS' schooling, I had a look into homeschooling and talked to a friend that did it, she gave me a few sheets and said just try these see how you get on.

It didn't go well, so DS went into school, as soon as lockdown happened, DP took on the homeschooling.

We have the choice and decided no, even with the help out there, you have to be a certain type of person to be able to homeschool, just like you have to be a certain type of person to teach without swearing out loud

Doing homeschooling properly seems pretty expensive. For us to do it, we’d need to give up my job (so we’d already been down my salary.

My job is pretty flexible but post pandemic there is no way, I’d ever want to try and work with children at home again and I don’t think many employers would tolerate that either.

Then you’ve got tutors, classes, groups, subscriptions and materials etc.

It seems like it would cost us more than private school if you factored in salary drop etc.

Work wise I could do it but only with my older dc who can self motivate themselves. With my youngest I just do not have the happy, compliant hormone which they must pump through the school to stop the hour long jerking, involuntary utterances and grumpy mood which follow the simple request to write twenty adjectives. He is a Kevin at home and a Perry at school. I think that he needs the peer pressure and teacher expectations to make him work. Fortunately most teachers love him and he loves his teachers so they can ask him to jump and he will do it.

It has certainly itched the curiosity in me about home schooling and it would very much be a last resort. I also would have to go for an unschooling, child centred approach rather than following a syllabus.

I do though have sympathy with those who are shielding but I think temporary home education should only be an option with a doctors letter. Otherwise deregister and do it properly on your own. Even with a letter the emphasis should be on the parent to educate and the school should not be held accountable for the outcome of exams for a year after return to normal.

It has certainly made me more curious about home educating. My children have excelled through lockdown. I’ve enjoyed teaching and learning together. It has been great not being so rigid with time, may not have started “lessons” until say after lunch because we’d be out building homes for mini beasts for example or on a walk collecting natural materials for collages or even the children experimenting with making themselves smoothies to go with breakfast. Learning in a different way. We will see how they are when they return to school, definitely wouldn’t rule it out.

Surely you can only home school if a) there are two parents and b) one of them is paid a lot. Most families need two incomes these days so talk of home schooling really only seems to be relevant for a small part of the middle classes.

It is possible...

For people with money

I mean, you can’t homeschool AND earn a fulltime wage

But for the moneyed it’s an option (but I could not teach maths and physics so not sure how on Earth it would work with subjects you are not proficient at yourself)

@Feminist10101

if you've got two parents who work full time out of the home, who is going to look after DC whilst you're working? Let alone educate them, or take them to classes or groups. Great for those who can manage it, and I applaud them, but I would still consider that for the majority of working parents it would be a no-go.

Only if you subscribe to the principle that work can only be done between 9-5. (We are 2 full times working parent. I’m a keyworker who found myself working 16 hour days 7 days a week between March and May and who has had to restructure working arrangements for 2000 staff. DH works from home on international projects, so works at all sorts of times depending on project requirements. We managed childcare, home educating and work with only one of us leaving the house 4-5 times a week for several months.)

Very few jobs now have to be completed between 9am and 5pm now. And if they do have to be, childminders can provide care. Or other home edders.

Can I ask how old your children are and what standard of education you both have? This makes a massive difference, as does doing it for just a few months.

We have fudged through working and home education during the pandemic as mine are going into y10 with work set by school. But DH's hours are set between 8 and 6.
There is no way I could teach GCSE Maths (or any subject at KS4 ) though, nor could we afford tutors etc!

@Ethelswith

Well it isn't for me. There's no way I couid begin to cover A levels in subjects other than my degree subjects and one language. And DC options aren't those

Exactly. I don't need "childcare" as my kids are all 12+. But there's no way I can support a lot of the older kids' subject choices as I don't have the knowledge.

I could possibly do it but I won’t as he wants to go back to school .

Homeschooling during lockdown wasn’t fun .. even though we got through it but I am glad they are going back!

Ds is starting 3 A levels & BTEC level 3 in performing arts (Acting). There is no way on earth I could teach him A level, English Language, Geography & Sociology, let alone Performing Arts. Much as I am worried sick about him going back to school & him bringing home Covid (I'm disabled & we are living with my 81 year old mum) he will be going back to school on Thursday for however long the schools are open until the next wave starts crashing in or not. He needs to be with kids his own age, his friends, there are only so many hours he can spend video calling them & gaming online when he isn't doing bridging work.

Ds is starting 3 A levels & BTEC level 3 in performing arts (Acting). There is no way on earth I could teach him A level, English Language, Geography & Sociology, let alone Performing Arts. Much as I am worried sick about him going back to school & him bringing home Covid (I'm disabled & we are living with my 81 year old mum) he will be going back to school on Thursday for however long the schools are open until the next wave starts crashing in or not. He needs to be with kids his own age, his friends, there are only so many hours he can spend video calling them & gaming online when he isn't doing bridging work.

A-level would be difficult unless it overlaps with your area of expertise.

We pulled my youngest out of a chunk of year 8 to prepare him for exams on the back of a sports injury that forced him out of school for a couple of days a week. He pulled far ahead of his cohort as a result.

My husband and I quite enjoyed it, it was great having him home and interacting with him in this unexpected way but it would be hard to do it indefinitely.

Don't know why that posted twice.