What teachers think of home education

[SauerKraut]

I have noticed from reading through some of the threads on this topic that there are quite a lot of teachers using this site. I was wondering what their views are on home education, in its various forms. I was also wondering what they thought of the article in today's Daily Telegraph on the school- comprising 4 children- in the forest.

Bear in mind that home ed is not an option in all countries -- in Germany (if that is where you are) I believe you have a legal obligation to send your child to school. There've been a couple of high-profile cases of people from Amish-type sects being prosecuted for educating their children out of school. Rules might be different if you are an expat, though.

Frogs, if you mean me, we are in CH, have been here 5 years and I'm currently- out of sheer necessity- home educating my 8 year old dd1. It's allowed in our canton. We also have a 9, 7 and 4 year old- the older two are happily ensconced in the local school system, 4 year old soon to follow. Due to social problems, we have been debating whether or not to continue home ed with dd1, and have decided against it for the moment as it would rob her of the chance to become fully bilingual. It will, however, never be far from our minds, and we may have to return to it in the near future.

Ah, okay. So the Swiss are more liberal in this regard than the Germans? Wow. Didn't realise it could vary by Canton, though.

MB - you put my point across far more eloquently, thank you

Also, in support of Bloss I would be very wary of just dropping subjects that children did not particularly enjoy... there are lots of careers that specify maths, english, science and so on for entry. For example, Teaching requires Grade Cs in all of these at GCSE and of course certain types of accountancy requires mathematics.

I would also be wary that bad teaching can put a child off a subject... I wouldn't want to close off options to my child's future career choices because I had inadequately taught a subject (not saying you would, but making a general point).

However, despite these reservations, I know that some HE people club together and hire a private tutor to teach such subjects, so these probelms are not insurmountable, but I do think they should be asked and seriously considered before committing to it.

I think that there is another point that has not been raised as yet, which is about whether it is desirable to be taught everything by one person, not because of deficiencies in their knowledge or skill, but because of the diversity of view point that having many teachers can offer. As an adolescent in particular, I think that this is really important as it is a time when you are expanding your ideas about who you are, and who you could be. Many people find that teachers can be a useful role model (or the reverse), and I would think that HE might limit this, because of reduced exposure (although taking into account HE does not necessarily mean one person doing everything). I hated my mother teaching at the same school as me as a teenager, and think that being taught by her (although she was a very good teacher) at home would have been disastrous for both of us. Space away from home is very valuable, and I wonder how HE in the teenage years accommodates this.

Although very often HE children have more access to adults and children of different ages than schoolchildren, not less, as they have time for a wide range of activities which often take place in the real world rather than in school.

Nooka, I'd agree. Would in no way think I could provide a balanced education for my kids at secondary level, although I have previously taught mine at primary level. As a teacher (secondary specialist, then primary trained, then literacy specialist) I am sometimes quite scared by the views of some people who think they teach successfully at home. Yes, some do, but many don't have the opportunities to offer their children. Is this worse than the bullying they faced? Not sure, but they are still alive. (Am talking about a particular family I know of here.)
I just know that at primary level I can teach them better but certainly don't have the skills beyond KS2. I don't think the learning would be child-led in my case though.

Maybe not entirely relevant to the current subject but I am a home educator and am currently looking for a Maths and English teacher to teach KS3 then KS4 up to GCSE to a small group of home educated children. Couple of hours a week for each subject. I am thinking that retired teachers might be good, and as the group is mainly boys maybe a man might be able to offer relevant leadership. Anyone know where retired teachers hang out, those who are passionate about teaching but don't like the system maybe?

This thread ismore than 11 years old!