Would any teachers on here consider home educating their own children?

[Matchbox]

Whether yes or no, why? And if yes, at what age/stage? I'm curious.

Many thanks.

squidler, they do get 13 weeks holiday a year. And weekends. Plenty of time for pottery!

But even on the OU you're following a formal programme of learning. You have access to tutors and to all sorts of printed and online resources. You end up with a qualification.

That is not what's being discussed here. Some people are suggesting no formal curriculum or qualifications at all.

They are only in school for 6 hrs a day which leaves 18 at home. I know a lot of those are taken up with eating, sleeping etc but there are 2 free days a week + all the holidays. You can let the school do the nitty gritty and it frees you up to do the fun things, without having to worry about whether they know how an apostrophe is used and other necessary but dull things.

The more I read about issues like this, the more I wonder about the ideas such as 'life is hard' and 'not everything is fun'.

I really believe that we create our own realities, our own lives. I dont do things that I am not passionate about, that I dont enjoy, and that I find 'hard'. I love challenging myself - I have suffered for a long time from social anxiety but now work in a sector where I spend a LOT of time working with large groups of people! People who want to learn how to change their destructive behaviours.

Yes, i have to pay bills etc, but the way we live means they are tiny. We 'stepped off' the wheel, so to speak, so really, my life is what I make it.

I didnt just walk into uni either - as a schooled student, it was still a challenge!

If a child wants to sit an exam in something, then they'll learn the stuff - it's as simple as that. If they find they can't learn the stuff just from reading/the internet etc., then they'll find a teacher. Lots of HE'd teens decide to go to college because they want to sit exams and want to experience that sort of education. The point is that it is on their terms. They are not forced to be there, so they will learn the stuff really well - not just memorise it for an exam to get a piece of paper.

Think about something hard to get into, like medicine. What would someone need to do that? Science A-Levels I guess, and 5 GCSEs grade C and above. Or, they could do a diploma. People have done this. What about mature students who want to start university after having no qualifications because they messed up at school? I know a friend who studied and took a maths GCSE in 2 weeks just because she wanted one (aged 34) and had failed her school exams.

It is wrong to think that there is only one way of doing things - HEors find it far easier to think outside the box and think creatively enough to get where they want to be without studying for countless GCSEs that bore them, and the content of which they forget the minute they leave the exam room.

piscesmoon You seem rather keen on the apostrophe issue . I certainly wasn't taught how to use apostrophes at school - learnt it myself from reading a lot. And how much time does it take to teach that anyway? If it's taught at the time it's needed, then it's learnt that minute.

I think asking a young child to challenge him or herself and set his own agenda for learning when he or she has no concept of the future or the sorts of things that there available or necessary to study is actually very unfair. I also think not allowing a child the opportunity to follow a nationally recognized curriculum and gain formal qualifications is actually taking away options and closing doors for him. It's one thing as an adult to opt out of conventional ways of living and working; it's quite another to take away options from a young child.

4 A Levels at Grade A Lindenlass. The sort of student who could get these grades in science A Level without formal tuition (and practical resources like a science lab) is exceptionally rare. But young people often don't know what they want to do.

You can't suddenly decide you want to be a doctor at age 16 or 17 without any sort of formal education or qualifications.

Universities now expect English GCSE at at least Grade B to get in to do medicine for example.

I understand your points fivecandles. I thought home education was denying the rights of a child to have a Proper education.

Until I read about unschooling/autonomous learning. And some other stuff too. I have come to see that school is an option that parents have when deciding who they want to give the responsibility of education to, if they choose to not provide it themselves. Many home educators are very protective of their responsibilty to provide an education for their childen and not to let the state appropriate this responsibility.

Nobody is forced to be in education post 16 anyway but it's incredibly difficult for a child younger than this age to have any sort of concept of their future in terms of career or to even be aware of the sort of learning they will need to do to get to where they want to be. That's why we have a broad basic curriculum pre 16. So children have options. If you don't allow them to follow the curriculum that everyone else is doing they will be denied options.

'I didnt just walk into uni either - as a schooled student, it was still a challenge!'

Exactly- competition is tough for anyone whether you went to school or not-all I was saying was that for every success you hear about there will be failures that you don't hear about.
The apostrophe was an example off the top of my head. Of course it only takes a short time-the point was that you don't even have to think about it, leave it to the school and concentrate on fun things.
Your system is fine for you Lindenlass, it is the best way for many people. It isn't the best for me. We are all different-one size doesn't fit all. I would hate someone to felicitate my learning-it doesn't make it wrong and my way right! We all have different learning styles, they are equally valid, one isn't superior to another.
If I had a DC who was the type of learner that would love to be in control of their own learning I would consider keeping them at home-I haven't had one like that so I haven't. No better-no worse-just different.

I think that's true squidler. I find the idea of wanting so much control over my kids a bit odd TBH.

I'm a teacher and wouldn't home-ed...but then my kids are at private school and don't have so much testing and beauracracy - they are given more encouragement to explore and not do just academia.

The thought of them missing out on all those lovely facilities, sports and resources would put me off HE big time.

On top of that my colleagues are on the whole dedicated, educated people who know so much more than me about their subjects (all senior teachers have a degree in their chosen subject) - there is no way I could give my kids that much knowledge and understanding.

...and I wouldn't be able to work!!! I'd be soooo bored.

Haven't read whole thread so sorry if it has deviated and i have missed it...

i'm a primary teacher but wouldn'y HE unless we were in extreme circumstances (ie missionaries in some tribal area!)

in scotland we focus A LOT on collaborative work and developing life skills through working together in a variety of situations. i can't see how you would develop such skills if you were working alone at home... unless you were from a huge family all very close in age!

It is the same in England ja9 and it gives me a real buzz to work with them, I would miss it tremendously if I was home with my own. I also never fail to be impressed with teachers-we hear so much negativity, but they are there because they have a real vocation and different passions and skills. An inspiring, dedicated teacher is worth their weight in gold!!

MrsFreud, I think you have hit the nail on the head, there is so much bureaucracy in state schools, and it is unfortunate. The NC does not allow for a lot of creativity.

I think you will find all teachers love working with the children, they hate the bureaucracy and the narrowness of the NC. However things are improving as we get back to topic based learning.

where has this idea come from that children who are HE finish their education without formal qualifications?

A great many children who are HE will go directly into A levels. Yes, it is possible and yes, it does happen, alot.

Most chldren by the time they reach young adulthood will have an idea of what career path they wish to follow. They may not have had any formal schooling, but once they know the route they wish to go down, they can and will gain those qualifications. Many without the help of teachers and tutors. They are used to learning and discovering things for themselves. Therfore it is not always necessary for them to be 'taught', they will do it themselves.

I do not know of any so far, who have not been able to follow the career of their choce because they were Home Educated. If you want something, you work for it yourself.

Hmm, this stuff about over test and the NC meaning there is a lack of creativity has become a bit of a cliche. I actually think if you went into any school you would see an enormous amount of creativity, variety, fun and learning all the time. Today my dc (5) went to a Currys store to think about electricity then they went to a pet shop and stopped off for an ice-cream. Last week they cooked vegetable soup and tried all the vegetables as they were chopping to learn about healthy eating. My other dc has done some wonderfully creative role play in French and drama as an extra curricular activity in lunch time. Today with one of my AS groups we did a sorting activity on the interactive whiteboard and I gave them a multimedia PowerPoint presentation on a poem after they'd done some group tasks on it. I've also done posters this week, had a lesson where students worked on coursework on the PCs while I looked over their shoulders and offered advice, looked at some videos of poems being performed etc etc
There's no way you could do the sort of range and creative tasks offered to my kids and that's offered at my college at home.

Fivecandles - which of the above activities in your post would you feel one could not do at home? I cannot find any that's all

'where has this idea come from that children who are HE finish their education without formal qualifications?'

squidler started it it saying that it was possible to get into university without, which it is, but I wouldn't recommend it, not everyone is impressed with HE and it doesn't immediatly open doors. My nephew has gone into the 6th form to do A'levels, after being HEd since he was 6 yrs old. He loves it, and his brother is set to follow. I think it is only sensible to get some formal qualifications, which ever way you do it. It makes life simpler.

At the moment GCSEs are the best measure we have for a child's ability at 16. A Levels at 18. Degree at 21+ etc. You would find it difficult to get a job or get into university or even into A Levels without 5 good GCSEs including Maths and English.

And if you are going to follow the NC sort of begs the question of why not go to school?

agree pisces. I would not want to take the risk f trying to get into university without formal quals. I was arguing the point that people seem to think that children who are HE never seem to take exams. Many do, and many don;t.

In schools too, you will find a great many leavers who have not gained qualifications either, and they have spent the best part of 12 years or so being 'taught' the national curriculum in the classroom.

fivecandles - you do not have to 'get into' do A levels, you can get a book and do it yourself.

I think Fivecandles dc would have found it more enjoyable doing it with others. Schools around here are the same. When they make pizzas they all go off to pizza express and see them made and make their own. They have allotments, visiting artists come in and do projects. Last week someone came in and they did a huge architectural workshop, they all make a house from boxes and set fire to them for the Great Fire of London, theatre groups come in and involve the DCs in the play, a chef has been in and done cooking-I could go on and on. You could do them at home but you would have to belong to a group.
I think the one thing that I would have hated about HE would have to always had my siblings there, much as I loved them, being apart for a few hours was great.

Mm, but there's nothing to say they would have got the qualifications if they had been at home! Can I also say there's rather an outdated view of schools and teaching here. Things have moved on since you were at school you know. We do lots of independent and collaborative learning you know. Plenty of projects, group activities, presentations, online interactive activities and research tasks. We don't do chalk and talk. At my place we don't even have lesson plans any more we have 'learning plans'. I find the implication that somehow schools take away the fun of learning and don't allow kids to learn for themselves completely bizarre. They're also in the process of introducing an extended project which would be the equivalent of a GCSE and one that would be the equivalent of half an AS Level I think.

I am afraid that the one thing I can't do is teach myself from a book-not even anything simple-I am failing dismally on crochet at the moment-I need a teacher. I had to go on a computer course. I dare say I am pathetic but I can't do it!