LEA check ups/letter

[gentheyank]

I opted not to have a LEA visit so they requested a letter detailing the education Im providing for my kids, they said they would like to see copies of work, copies acceptable .

I do want to write the letter but Im not sure what to say or how to start it off. We are still in the deschooling stage of our HE and any work my children have done is more of the private sort, like journal entries or letters to penpals. The rest is... well we just dont leave a paper trail!

What should I say? I wanted to put something down for our records anyway, which is why I didnt mind sending them a letter about our 'progress'. I know we've done so much and they've learned so much but there's no record of it, lol.

Ill just try to list some of the things we do that qualify as education...

My kids read ALL the time. They read fiction, non fiction, science fiction. I read to them, they read to each other. We talk about books, we LOVE books!!

They watch movies, lots of movies. They even seem to catch things in movies that they didnt talk about or seem to notice before. For example: Ds and I found a book about clouds. He mentioned something about a cumulonimbus cloud and the fact that he knew what it was... He got that from watching UP! There's so many other examples like that I cant remember them!

We make extensive use of our computer. We look things up on the internet, they play games that are educational, games that arent but end up being somewhat educational (to my surprise). They play video games which end up being educational and a social experience as they help each other work out how to get to the next level... etc..

We go on out with friends, they socialise with loads of other children from various different quarters of their life. We go to church, they go to youth club, they interact with other he children as well as friends from their old school.

We are growing tadpoles, we watch the clouds for weather reports, we talk about money, how to save it, how to spend it, how to make it. They are considering ways of making money, like starting a paper round.

The list goes on and on... Just wondering if I could copy and paste that and send it in to them, lol. Would that be enough? I dont want to give them personal details about my kids, I want to keep it general 'This is what we do to 'teach' our kids' sort of thing.

what do you guys think?

We were 'asked' to provide proof of education - you do not have to do this - I did not want anyone to visit as our son was suffering from PTSD after how school treated him due to his disability. We feel that he has had enough people critise and judge. We did, however want to show what can be achieved with the right support and to show how bloody well he was doing.

We take his books/files etc along with a brief bullet point synopsis of what we have been doing to their offices, leave the work with them, and then arrange to collect it in a day or so.

To be honest, the responce says more about us being a HE family who they can 'tick a box' for than anything else. They never give any feedback which is of any use, and never offer any support, but we do our bit, andf they then leave us alone - job done as far as I am concerned!

The sort of description you have given above is certainly the kind of information that they need. You can go with something like that.

You do not need to give any samples of work; if I remember right this is stated specifically in the government guidance to LAs in England regarding home education. There is a very similar document which applies in Wales. You do not need to provide PROOF of anything unless you are taken to court. At this stage you only need to provide enough information that a reasonable person will think it likely that you are educating your children appropriately, and this should not be difficult to do.

Send the LA what you've said here.

Add that your children's work is their private property and they are not comfortable with sharing it.

Legally speaking, the local authority is not required to vet your home education or to approve it. Asking for evidence would only come into play if it appeared to the LA that there was a problem.

LAs sometimes misunderstand the Government's Home Education Guidelines' use of the word "example", as well as the grammar of THIS IS NOT AN EXHAUSTIVE LIST ASPECT meant by "eg"...

For instance, if I say my son enjoys hands-on work, I could give you the example of his making a banjo by describing the instrument to you or giving some detail of how he overcame technical problems in its construction; I don't have to prove that it exists or that it was he who made it rather than someone else etc.

"3.14 It is important to recognise that there are many, equally valid, approaches to educational provision. Local authorities should, therefore, consider a wide range of information from home educating parents, in a range of formats. The information may be in the form of specific examples of learning e.g. pictures/paintings/models, diaries of educational activity, projects, assessments, samples of work, books, educational visits etc."

edyourself.org/articles/guidelines.php#validapproaches
edyourself.org/articles/edphilgeneral.php