home ed as an alternative to private school

[thornberet]

I did some maths and worked out that, by the time my kids are year 7 and year 4, the cost of the local (v good) private school would eat the whole take home of a 60k salary. Thats before extras (music lessons, uniform, fuel to and from etc).

Now 60k doesn't seem like a bad salary for a homeschooling mum (assuming i'd be saving us 60k so could claim it as my 'salary'). I know that a bespoke education would academically equivalent or better than private school (I have a couple of degrees and would hire tutors too). Socially its a bit of a minefield but at least they won't be bullied or traumatised.

Are normal professional upper middle class people considering this? Why is this not a no-brainer?

@thornberet - yes exactly and some of the “homedders” I know have dipped their kids into different school systems in other countries for at least six months there to gain fluency in a language too. If you are properly mobile it can be a great option. There is also online school as well now and I hear it is getting better and better.
Broad life experiences, travel, multiple languages etc can all be achievable.

Personally I think travelling and moving when they are young is best and then making sure there is consistency for age 12-16 is key. Teenagers are tricky beings and need to “find” themselves with the help of other teenagers.

There are fee-paying online schools as another option. Check out Kings InterHigh or Minerva Virtual Academy. I haven't used them myself although I did investigate the idea at one point.

Similar to how the highest 'value' time to private school is 13-16, the highest value time to homeschool is 5-8 imo. The home ed groups are really active at this age, and 1-1 learning is lightyears more effective than a class of 30 or even 15.

Yes I would worry about this too with a home edder who'd not been to sixth form college or uni.

The other side of the coin is how many people stay waaaay to long in workplace viper pita because they've been 'socialised' to keep their head down and suck it up.

I think growing up with the sense that school is optional (education not optional obviously), helps one detach from all the classroom politics of the teen years..

School feels like the beginning and end of the universe to a 13 year old but perhaps not to one that has has a period of home ed.

I knew someone who did home ed until about 13 and then sent her children to a private school which related to her country of origin (and had lessons in that language). Seemed to work very well for them. They did lots of travelling before that.
We certainly benefited from being able to travel during term times.
If you’re a writer then I could see it could work very well. My kids would always have time each week when they were doing different activities and I’d be working on my laptop by the sidelines.

My Grandkids are home educated.. as were my two.
We are not qualified teachers..
We are working class.
My two got 8 GCSE's.
One is now earning 80k..
One Grandson is at Uni having not been to high school.
One is starting college in Sept .
One has just done GCSE's in maths and English age 10.
There is resources on line.
There is home education groups.
You don't have to do the curriculum...
Museums/ library/ swimming.
All have ASD.

Also it's worth considering how a future potential employer would consider a home-schooled applicant vs a non-home-schooled applicant who has been used to taking instruction and familiar with all the social aspects of an organisation that is not a family unit.

@Cheerfulcharlie - nobody is obliged to disclose their school on an application form though are they?

I agree homeschooling 5-8 is great. My DCs learnt a lot in state primary and enjoyed it but I don’t think it was great for their health to be honest. Too much sitting for too many days a year and running & climbing more would have been far better for their muscle development in the long run, and the lack of play will affect long term imagination. I completely understand why a writer would seek to avoid that set up. It just is not necessary at that age to sit for so long and study Maths & English primarily. That is why other countries like Scandinavian ones start them much later. Contrast that with highly academic countries like China/South Korea etc where their academic achievement is fantastic, but again at the expense of eye sight (not enough day light). At least the Asian countries promote regular exercise. We are failing our kids here on that front. Massive obesity crisis in kids as a result.

Couldn't agree with this more. A beautiful sunny day and millions of 5-8 year olds are currently crammed into stuffy classroom who should be out swimming, biking, picnicking, playing football etc

I will say that the private prep schools usually really excel in making sure the kids do lots of sport. When I arrived at private school age 8 (from state) I had a panic attack on the cross country run as I'd never been actually out of breath before. I had a reasonably active childhood and I was waaay at the back. Absolutely no one was overweight.

There’s a huge assumption that people don’t have to work on this thread. It’s middle class to its core. People with elite education, parent not working and other parent a teacher - of course. Then all the trips abroad others cannot afford and then uni, probably to study the MFL they already know due to spending months learning it. Then a full loan - probably. Plus living in a deprived area to lower uni offers. It’s amazing what you can do if you don’t need to work.

This thread has been discussing that it is possible to work and home ed but that you’ll probably take some financial hit. Most of the home ed parents I know do work. They aren’t just from one socio-economic background but they mostly are working some hours. They fit it in during evenings or weekends or work around the other parent’s hours, use grandparent care or buy in child care. As children get older they might do study groups or on line lessons and some types of work fit in well around that.
It can be very stressful but people do make it work and some parents don’t have a choice because their children just don’t cope at school.
Like the idea that in deprived areas you’re now tripping over pesky MC families who’ve moved there just to get their contextual offers - which I guess would be a novel way to level up.

I was basing this on quite a few comments of a non working parent. They can, of course, take out dc to play in the sun! Their whole lives are built around dc. Working parents, if working during the day, don’t have this luxury. So two working parents really do find home Ed difficult. I used to be the boss in our LA where we monitored home Ed so I’ve seen various models!

It’s absolutely true about deprived areas by the way. These quite intellectual families are happy to have a cheaper house in a deprived area. Some deprived areas aren’t that bad, actually. I’ve come across this a lot. They don’t need the leafy lane school so don’t need to spend money on houses. With one parent working, that suits. It’s what they can afford. In recent times, this delivers benefits. Often when they inherit money, they move. When you start looking, it’s very obvious.

Now 60k doesn't seem like a bad salary for a homeschooling mum (assuming i'd be saving us 60k so could claim it as my 'salary').

Claim it from where? Your spouse? Won't it go straight back into the joint pot?

At best, home education can be up there with creating the healthiest, happiest most rounded child but at worst, it can seriously fail a child.

Exactly the same goes for schools.

Home education doesn't have to be expensive but it goes without saying, being able to afford tutors when necessary puts the child at an advantage over a child that is unable to access tutoring when it's needed.

We pulled our now 18 year old out of reception. Best thing we ever did. She's a social butterfly that had an enviable childhood not remotely hampered by unnecessary tests and forced learning by rote. We were very child led. She learned to read early, as did her siblings. Books of their choosing. No going over the same book over and over again. No having to ask permission to use the toilet. No missing out on any occasion because of 'term time'. No assessing. Just learning through play and life and enjoying the freedom of childhood. They only have one, very short childhood after all.

Socially she has been a part of so many clubs and groups over the years and made so many friends, not limited to kids the same age as her. She has always been able to talk to adults and older teens as easily as her peers. She has had to deal with all sorts of social situations, positive and negative through her social groups, her hobby (hundreds of people in attendance of all ages) and various clubs and sports.

She has never had to suffer at the hands of bullies with no way of escaping it.

Our home education wasn't expensive at all until we were given the opportunity to access an amazing group of three 'tutors' and 5 other kids studying a variety of subjects up to GCSE level. From the age of 13/14 she studied for her core GCSEs there, just once a week, studying from home inbetween. She self talk taught herself 5 other GCSE subjects.

She came out with 9 GCSEs, 8s and 9s and is now at Sixth Form. She has just received her predicted grades, two A* and an A. She is deputy head student and is now looking at unis.

In hindsight, she definitely could have self studied for all of her GCSEs but plenty of other kids would benefit from the extra guidance and structure from a tutor and that little group was ideal.

So over the course of her childhood she spent a total of 4 weeks in a school and she is now on the Oxbridge pathway through an alternative 'private' route. A route that cost us very little compared with typical private school. We have absolutely no regrets not sending her or her siblings to a state school.

Home Education doesn't fail kids.

Bad parenting and bad schools fail kids.

Oh, nearly forgot to add - neither myself nor DH have a degree 😁

Yes, my daughter was at a local infant school and I wanted to send her to a private prep school as we were really unhappy with lots of things going on at school. Worked out the fees, factored in inflation and chose to home ed instead as a completely personalised private education instead. We’re a few years in now and it’s going well, but it’s been very hard to find like minded home ed families - the majority we meet at he groups are ‘unschoolers’ whose 11 year olds still can’t read or write and they do absolutely no work (that’s what they quite proudly say anyway?!) Good luck with whichever path you choose!

£60k net is a £100k gross salary - it's top 2%, isn't it?

OP, with VAT introduction I think a lot of middle class parents will consider and go for this option rather than going private. Re pension - you can claim tax payer funded pension credits when it comes to this😉

To get a state pension? The chances the state pension will still exist in a meaningful way in 20 years is an optimistic assumption.

Oh, don't you worry - benefits are here to stay, it's Labour after all

I'd seriously look into the reality of sending a child of 13 to high school where they haven't got the shared experience, relationships and understanding of everyone else. School is so much more than what some parents perceive. Why would you home school. If you're a qualified experienced teacher you should know better and if not then seriously think if you can really apply all the skills and expertise needed for children to thrive.

I've met a lot of ex teachers who homeschool.

It's something we're considering OP. I agree it seems like a great option if you're that way inclined and have plans for pension. It can be truly child centred and that's what the ex teacher parents I know love about it.