Who do I contact regard Home Educated child to raise concerns?

[Bemumsed]

Hi,

Have umm and aaah over this for ages, but am really concerned about some children known to us who are being home educated.

They are simular ages to our children, yet do not appear to be making any progress educationally. I know one of the children who is similar age to my eldest child cannot read. Parents say it is because she is dyslexic, but I find that hard to believe as have people in my family/friends who are extremely dyslexic but they were able to read at this age, even if it was with some difficulties. Parent have done nothing to tackle the problem, citing lack of money to get child properly assessed.

Also parents don't appear to spend much time if any working with their children on their education.

Parents won't talk about it. I'm just very concerned for children in the family that their educational and social needs are not being met.

I know that legally parents are entitled to home educate, but is there any way that the education of these children can be looked into? I can't find any info on local council website that explain who I can contact even if they turn round and say there is nothing they can do about it. Would like to know that at least I've tried.

You've still not answered the question on how old they are.

I know a home ed family who never taught their kids a thing. The eldest only started reading at 14 and is now doing a degree in PPE!

Just because they HE doesn't mean they are doing a good job of it. It's as easy to make a hash of HE as it is to make a hash of school-educating.

I don't envy you OP. I would have thought contact the LEA as first choice.
Are they people who call their form of HE autonomous or unschooling?

They haven't ever said whether it is autonomous or unschooling, but I do know they have used various forms of books to assist with teaching in the past.

The eldest child is about 15 yrs - has dyslexia - they spent a lot of time teaching her and she has made great progress. So Home Ed benefited her.

The ones I'm concerned about are 8 years and under. The oldest of these cannot read, or recognise their own name when written down. Parents don't appear to be doing any kind of teaching with these children, and I'm concerned that it has just overwelmed them and they need more support in place.

And now I'm in a dilemma as people on here say they know children who haven't had any input yet can now read etc. But my gut still saying "you need to speak out for the children". Wish I wasn't the type that cares so much :-(

They are probably autonomously educating them. I know so many kids who are not reading before the age of ten. I bet they can recognise names like Tesco, Asda, Barbie. They will be able to read when they want to.

You are not wrong verity. As far as I know I am entitled to no financial help at all with ds who is HE'd. He has a full statement and receives the provision for OT and SALT etc that was laid out in there. We are reviewed annually and I am very receptive to this though I know many parents are not, as is their perfect right.

The only thing I would say is that I am an autonomous Home Educator and to the outsider it may look like we are doing nothing, even ds's Dad who does not live with us had expressed concerns about it. I gave him some literature to read and diarised a weeks "education" and handed over some of the outings we do to him. He is no longer sceptical and is now fully supportive because he "gets" it.

Just because these kids aren't sitting at desks and adhering to a strict time table doesn't mean they are not being educated.

However with all that in mind if you still have real concerns you should approach your LA. They would point you in the right direction. You need to be VERY sure before you effective lob a hand grenade into their lives.

The problem is that none of us know them.

You could be being offacious, where their dc have valid reasons to find learning esp reading exceedingly hard, and the parents are working in the best ways, which will be better than school where they would be left to drown.

Or it could be that the parents are not bothering to teach them anything because they don't have to, and possibly neglecting in other ways (eg emotionally).

The truth is almost certainly in the middle.

Most HE parents seem to take it very seriously, however there will be some that use it as an excuse not to bother to do anything, as in any walk of life there will always be some people who misuse the system. I don't think anyone here would say that it must be better simply because it's HE.

I think this is a decision only you can take. Yes, some people will say it's none of your business, but then if there is a more serious incident/long term effects you will always wonder whether you could have prevented it.
It might be that by reporting them, the older dc is looked at and found to have something bigger than dyslexia, and help is accessed.
On the other hand, it could end up with them being forced to send the dc to schol where help is denied and they end up in a worse position. Unfortunately I don't think any of us can guess which one, and you, as the one who knows them, are in the best position.

There is so much to say on this, regarding autonomous education and the myths and misunderstandings surrounding it. Such as thinking outside the box, when it comes to 'educational'. However, I appreciate that there are many people who just won't or don't 'get it'. Indeed, it took me a fair while. I would suggest posting this thread on the HE board here: you will get a lot of different viewpoints still, but from people more people that are HEing.
I would think very carefully about your decision to involve the LA, especially if there are no concerns for their welfare. Families lives have been ruined this way, by well meaning, but misinformed people: and that is not an exaggeration.

You don't. Simple. They're not your children therefore not your concern nor responsibility.

This is why it's so hard because I have seen how great they have been previously with their eldest child (15yrs) in doing a number of activities etc, and opening my eyes to how you can educate your child outside of a classroom situation.

Yet been total contrast with their younger children whom they leave sitting watching tv at home, or just ambling around whilst parents do their own stuff at home, or at various community events things that they are involved in. The children are often bored, struggle in social situations, and are embarrassed by not being able to do same stuff as their family/friends children. They have no concept of many things... it's difficult to explain on here.

On the other hand they come from a close loving family, and I really don't want to be the one who "lobs that hand grenade" into their lives, yet others around them are too scared to, such as grandparents in case they are punished by parents for raising the flag.

I am baffled by those saying stay out of it.

The OP comes across as very unjudgey, just concerned. This is not a "hmmmmmm, her so-called Home Edded kids don't know half as much as my little Johnny and their handwriting is atrocious" type post.

The OP has genuine concerns that the kids are not being educated.

I also want to say that I know other people who home educate and have seen the positive outcomes of that on their children.

So it isn't just about me "not getting it" - it's more the fact I'm bothered that they seem to have slip a long way from what they have done previously, and the impact that this will have on the younger children who are getting a rawer deal education wise than their older sibling did.

If the children were in school, would you report their lack of progress to anyone? Many children fail to learn to read in school, but somehow, as long as they are following the official channels, no one would dream of interfering (often not even the parents).

You sound really kind and concerned, not judgemental, so I don't mean to be annoying. I just think this family won't get any useful help from the authorities, just someone trying to make them put their kids in school, which they will fight like mad. If the kids aren't actually abused I don't think there's any system in place to offer useful support.

Mmm this is a difficult situation but in all honest as you have no welfare concerns I would leave well alone. I home ed my 4 year old son and have met with many people all of whom go about home ed in a number of ways. One of whom has a 9 year old ds who this time last year could not read because he didn't want to learn and his mum was practicing a purely child led approach- he is half way through lord of the rings now! I myself am adopting a very informal chip led approach- my son can read now but only because he was desperate to learn, I would not have 'taught' him to for a good few years. I am to be very informal until he is 7/8.

I think the fact that some DC are let down in the school system is probably the worst excuse for allowing DC t be let down in thw HE system.

It's meant to be better!!! That's why the parents choose it!!!!

I am a massive supporter of HE and have advised and represented loads of home educators over the years. Most do an incredible job.

However, there are some who do not. And their DC deserve our care as a society.

The very fact that you are merely seeing snapshots of their lives together, should be enough to make you reassess. Imagine the tables turned for a moment: snapshots of your families life being judged. My house, for one, always seems to be either a riot of chaos, or children 'ambling about doing nothing', always when other people happen to visit..

I would like to think that nobody would be judging me for this. As an HEor, everything that could possibly go wrong in my life, will be turned into it being due to the fact that my kids don't attend school: that could be toddler tantrums, teenage sulks or my house being a tip and I am tired! The simple fact being that my kids are just as beautifully painful and normal as anyone else's.

They are ALL different from each other immensely: 2 are social divas, 2 are those that prefer their own company and occasional visits.

I might not, to an outsider 'appear' to be doing an awful lot with my children. I can assure you, as their parent, that what my children are learning has sometimes nothing to do with reading, nothing to do with writing and everything about letting them develop at their own pace...

Please try not to judge by what you see on occasion: sometimes we all need a break: do you know if they are simply having one? Do you know much about unschooling life?

Oh and my experience of informal or autonomous home educators is that they actually do oodles and oodles of stuff with their DC.

Parents who literally ignore their DC are not autonomous home educators, though they may say they are and know all the jargon.

But I think if you saw a chikd not progressing at school in the same way and the parents were oblivious for whatever reason, it would be right to raise it. Not an easy conversation to have, of course.

I recently raised the issue of a friend's son's hearing. Having been through the mill with my nephew who has had two ops to combat glue ear, I recognised the symptoms in my friend's son quite quickly. The whole family were subconsciously compensating for his hearing loss, repeating questions he had not heard (slowly, loudly), answering on his behalf ("no, he doesn't like tomatoes") and interpreting his slightly muffled diction. Exactly like my nephew.

After much deliberation, I asked my friend if she thought he could be experiencing hear loss and explained why I thought it could be the case. She had not even considered it, so close to the "problem" as she was.

He has now had surgery, grommets inserted, and has made leaps and bounds in speech, articulacy and he has stopped saying,"what?" all the time.

It was a hard conversation to have as nobody wants to "butt in" but it was the right thing to do. The right thing is not always the easiest thing.

I completely understand why some of you think it's none of the OP's business, but I think you have to consider that if you HE you are not just a parent, but an educator. The OP might not have any welfare concerns, but she is worried about the education their providing for their DC.

You'd report a school if you had serious concerns about the teaching, so why is HE any different?

But FWIW I do agree that children learn at very different paces, even more so when dyslexia is thrown into the mix. The children may very well be receiving an excellent education, but if the OP thinks there's something wrong I don't think "it's none of your business" is a good enough excuse.

I agree with wordfactory.

I kmow a familu of autonomous home educators and not in a million years could they be described as "teaching their children nothing". They find teaching opportunities all the time, in a way I could not begin to. Their children are very well educated.

This is why I posted on here, because I wanted to get a broader view from others both in HE and outside of HE, as aware I am restricted in my knowledge of issues.

You've given me some useful points to think about, and it will help me to make a decision what I should do.

Thanks very much for all your input on this.

So it isn't just about me "not getting it" - it's more the fact I'm bothered that they seem to have slip a long way from what they have done previously, and the impact that this will have on the younger children who are getting a rawer deal education wise than their older sibling did.

This is my point about how much you are seeing for what it is: HE ebbs and flows and changes over the years: what might have been working for their eldest may not with the younger ones. You say she worked from books: they don't: what is the problem with this? As I said, thinking outside of what you perceive 'educational' to be, can be helpful to get a better sense of a fuller picture.

I appreciate you are genuinely concerned for these kids: be sure before you assume they are getting a 'rawer deal' than their sibling: it is quite a statement to make, as someone looking from outside in..:)

I home educated our three children, from the day I found out it was a legal option-unfortunately it wasn't until my eldest and youngest were suicidal in school, as they were bullied and all three had SEN which were not being met at all.
My youngest left school aged nearly nine completely unable to read or spell her own name-and that was after we had spent hundreds of pounds getting the assessments done for all three-as the schools refused to even recognise there was a problem.
My children they said, were simply not as bright as I thought they were.
even after we forced them to get an Ed Psych to assess her, who said she needed to have a Statement of SEN and that she did indeed have very severe problems, the LA would not even agree to asssess her for one, until she had been on the SEN register for a year (She hadn't been on it at all until that point!) Being in school is no guarantee of getting the correct help for SEN. I am on the end of the phone to increasing numbers of parents who get their children out of school in desperation because the school simply does not address the child's needs.

"a minority of HE parents who think that HE is allowing the child to play computer games 24/7, no educational structure at all"
Yup. That would be me.

It's called autonomous or sometimes informal HE here in the UK and 'Unschooling' in America. It's a very legitimate , where children make their own choices about what to do and do it.
We did no formal work at all, for all the rest of the children's compulsory education age. I facilitated whatever they wanted to do. Yes there were days when my son played on the computer all day, and we spent weeks and weeks in the summer at home ed camps in fields with friends all over the UK. They learned as adults do, through life as they lived it.
In short the sort of lives the rest of you lead with your children in the summer holidays, was how we lived our lives every day.

My youngest child didn't start to 'get' reading until she was about 13/14 ish. Didn't mean she wasn't receiving an education though. We carried on doing all sorts of things whilst waiting for her reading and spelling to catch up.
By 16 she had completed an OU starter course, and used that to get into FE college where she got straight distinctions on a BTEC National Diploma-level three qualification.
She has just yesterday finished an HND again with straight distinctions, and has an offer to go on to Uni to complete her degree.

One of her schooled peers on the course put it very well.
He said, "So, I have spent the last ten years in classrooms when I didn't want to be, being made to be quiet, do work I wasn't interested in, tested and stressed year after year. You on the other hand spent ten years watching TV when you wanted, making snowmen when it snowed and running around fields for weeks on end and having the most wonderful social life. Yet we have ended up in exactly the same place, on the same course, and you are the one who is getting straight distinctions? Is that right?"
My daughter replied "Yes"

Our other two totally unstructured living through life, no formal work until they chose to enroll at FE college are also at Uni, both heading for at least a 2:1, my son intends to go on to do a Masters in Psychology after this.
Not bad for a lad who school said "Might achieve Grade Ds at GCSE if he works really really hard"

My children are not the only ones. I know literally hundreds of autonomously home educated young people in real life now. Every single one of them is doing really well in employment/self employment/FE college/University, there isn't a NEET amongst them. Not one.

The universities these young people (who played computer games all day if they wanted, and had no formal work, and nothing most of you would recognise as educational, remember) are at Unis such as Edinburgh, Birmingham, Oxford, Cambridge, Leicester, Bristol, Warwick LSE etc etc.
They are doing courses as varied as Law, Sociology and Social Policy, Classics, Art, Music, economics, IT, Medicine, Psychology and Veterinary Science.

So I or any number of my friends, could have been the family the OP is talking about.

But remember just because it isn't what you are used to, it doesn't mean it isn't an education.

For those of you who are really interested in the truth about home education, the Government published some Guidelines to inform LAs

These guidelines clearly state that LAs may make enquiries if they have reason to believe an education is NOT taking place.
So the LA Elective Home education department would be the people for the OP to contact.

However Home educating families do not have to have a home visit, they can supply information about their educational provision, in a written report instead.
Indeed that is what we did. Hell would have frozen over before I would let the LA anywhere near my children again, after they had failed them so very badly when they were in school.

The guidelines also clearly state that Home educating parents are not required to:

teach the National Curriculum
provide a broad and balanced education
have a timetable
have premises equipped to any particular standard
set hours during which education will take place
have any specific qualifications
make detailed plans in advance
observe school hours, days or terms
give formal lessons
mark work done by their child
formally assess progress or set development objectives
reproduce school type peer group socialisation
match school-based, age-specific standards

so even if the OP does get the LA involved, they may well agree that the family are providing a suitable education.........even if they are allowing the child to play computer games 24/7, no educational structure at all.......

It is not your responsibility OP. They are NOT your children. The parents know what they are doing and they have their reasons for taking the HE route that they are doing. All HE families teach their children in different ways. At the end of the day if the children are happy and well cared for then there is no reason for you to be at all concerned.

There are 100s of unhappy children that go to school.....do you worry about them too? Children that have terrible home lives, do very little at school, are regularly bullied, abused and generally feel very worthless.

Well if the LA decide all is well ...absolutely no harm done.