Are there any benefits of Primary school that HE can't usually provide?

[carolinecordery]

Hello all, I haven't registered my DD for Reception, which she would be eligible to start in September.
I was just wondering if you thought there were any benefits of primary school that HE can't provide. What things are good about primary school that are only available through attending?
I'm planning to HE and am convinced of the benefits of doing so, but want a rounded picture. It's easy to think of loads of things that would be, relatively, a bit crap about primary school, but is there ANY really good reason to go? DD's non-resident dad would rather she went.
Thanks, Caroline

amother - I am teaching a senior school level child and its fine. Oodles of information out there.

seeker....anger? Walk away, please. It's not worth getting angry about.

All of the above. And the simple practicalities and routines of getting up, breakfast, bags packed and out the door to learn and work each day away from the comforts and familiarities of home, which effectively is what will continue throughout the years of secondary school, college, uni and eventually the world of employment.

amother - you can HE for as long as its working for you/DC. I know families who have sent kids to school for exams, and ones doing them at home. I have no language skills but plan on hiring a tutor or there are some after-school groups that would be open to us. I've also got a "teach yourself" CD course.

CPtart was that in answer to the OP? I sometimes wonder about that, but then think all those years did me no good whatsoever (I am hopeless at getting up and was often sometimes late to work ). Plus I wouldn't want to sacrifice our lovely lazy long stress-free mornings just for that. What if the DC grow up and work from home, for themselves, or do other non-9-5 jobs?

cptart - tbh, what you've listed wouldn't be enough for me to keep a child in school. Children have their lives ahead of them to learn how to get up in the morning, have breakfast, sort their bags out and leave at the right time each day. And lets not forget there's a huge number of kids who have finished school who spend their entire day in bed because they don't work. The 'school routine' certainly worked for them didn't it?!

Cpart - I wouldn't list a lot of those things as vital for primary school, especially infant, children.

sirzy...nor senior school either.

HE isn't just about being at home....

You don't have to know about something to facilitate somebody learning - and there are loads of fantastic resources available.

The thing about "getting ready for work".by getting up early and so on. Not necessary IMHO- time enough for that.

Getting practice at doing things you don't particularly want to do, however, is important.

I agree seeker with having to do things you don't particularly want to do and face up to them....because, lets face it, that's what life is occasionally all about but facing up to an unhappy, unpleasant, injury ridden, verbal bullying ridden and down right depressing place such as a senior school where you feel completely isolated, lonely, hurt, tearful, insecure and basically disliked is not how I would wish any child to learn how to face up to things in life that perhaps we have to that'll ultimately help us in adult life.

For me I'm only HE-ing for the next 2-3yrs because DD1 will then be of school leaving age and will either go to college or out to work but I hope she'll look back and have some very happy memories of spending her previous 2-3yrs with a smile on her face, feeling safe and secure, making new friends, learning about life outside of school and I'm also hopeful that she will come out in a much more positive frame of mind rather than the depressed state she was rapidly becoming staying in an environment that just didn't help or suit her anymore.

In the short time we've been HE-ing DD1 has begun to eat again, her IBS has all but disappeared, she no longer suffers with terrible migraines (the ones you can't lift your head off the pillow), terrible sleepless nights with nightmares thrown in when she was able to doze off, she has a spring in her step again, she's extremely happy again, she'll sit for hours and talk to us rather than hide in her room and be argumentative, her relationship with her younger sister has become so strong and blossomed and if that combined with a child who is keen to learn, enthusiastic, bright and wants to do well with her life (she's already talking about her career options) then it just goes to show how HE can improve a child's quality of life beyond all hopes and wishes.

Plus she has discovered a life outside of mobile phones, ipods, computers, internet (and the nastiness and cyber bullying atittude these god awful gadgets encourage whereby friends of hers constantly fell out with their obsession with Facebook which would then result in Mondays being spent sorting the matter out - luckily DD1 never played a part in any of this but could see it from the sidelines) and tv, shutting herself away with earphones in....and discovered how much you can learn by just talking, reading a book, reading the newspaper and generally reintroducing herself to a refreshing and far more exciting life away from school.

Crikey, I'm waffling but hey ho :)

I don't agree that learning to do things you don't want to do is a particularly a good thing. I believe it could hold you back in life and encourage people to settle for second best, not holding out for what they really want. Of course nobody likes paying bills, cleaning something disgusting etc. But you would have to be unusual to not work out for yourself the advantages of doing this. So as this is a frame of mind, I believe this for what it is worth is part of nurturing that a child will pick up at home.

"I don't agree that learning to do things you don't want to do is a particularly a good thing. I believe it could hold you back in life and encourage people to settle for second best, not holding out for what they really want"

Or it could be learning that to get what you want you sometimes have to get on with some crap stuff as part of the getting to whatbyou want process? Otherwise you may be sitting there holding out for what you really want while somebody else who's prepared to put in the grunt work hours speeds past you and grabs the prize!

Why is not wanting to do something but having to going to hold you back in life? I would say that refusing to do something just because you don't want to is much more likely to hold you back in life.

Just as an example - I love teaching, and am (generally speaking) pretty good at it. I don't like doing some aspects of the role - for example I am not mad keen on APP paperwork and I don't enjoy staff meetings.

However, I cannot do the job I love without putting up with those less-than-wonderful aspects of it. By not doing those aspects, I wouldn't be 'holding out for what I really want', I'd lose a job that I love and am good at just because I wasn't prepared to knuckle down and do some yucky stuff some of the time....

Sorry to go onandonandon but Seeker I really would find it valuable to hear about your experiences of the pros and cons of being HE. If you've talked about it before and can't be arsed to go through it again, maybe a link to that thread?

I'm lost. What are you all trying to say? Are you saying that choosing to be HE is wrong because you are not facing the (possibly) not so nice aspects of school and therefore being HE is detrimental to a child's growing up and preparation for adult life?

I think what is being said is more along the lines of having a system whereby the child only ever does what they want isn't necessarily a good one. However, I doubt there are many homes that allow the child THAT level of freedom!

Society survived very well before compulsory schooling, I'm sure the HE kids will Beas successful as school educated kids in all areas of their lives!

I too would like to hear seekers experiences...

Society survived well before modern plumbing systems, I still wouldn't want to return to how it was then!!

"I'm lost. What are you all trying to say? Are you saying that choosing to be HE is wrong because you are not facing the (possibly) not so nice aspects of school and therefore being HE is detrimental to a child's growing up and preparation for adult life?"

Where did anyone say that HE was wrong?

Neleh,

No, I am certainly not saying that (I don't speak for others). I am merely responding to the very specific points other posters made, indicating whether they thought that learning to do something you don't much want to do is (in moderation) a good preparation for life after education or a bad thing.

I'm on the 'in moderation, it's a good preparation for life' camp - but believe that it is learnable through HE or through school so isn't an argument for either form of education IYSWIM? The only possible exception would perhaps be through absolutely purist autonomous HE - though as a previous poster said, even in autonomous HE, as long as the (older) child is responsible for all aspects of their learning (ie no-one does follow them around washing up brushes or whatever) they will come to realise that most things that are worth doing have a few less-than-wholly-enjoyable bits mixed in there somewhere!

Sorry- choosing to HE was wrong....

Oh right. Well that level of freedom most definitely does not exist in this house and I'm pretty sure that goes for a lot of HE families so lets stop painting all HE families with the same brush then.

When I sit and watch/listen to other girls the same age as DD1 it horrifies me and yes they all go to school. Doesn't mean to say they get up on time in the mornings, nor eat breakfast (a lot of them don't eat breakfast) and nor do they look terribly excited about going to school. They quite often forget to pack their bags correctly and nor do they arrive at school very smart/tidy/wearing the proper uniform. A lot (not all) look sloppy, messy, dirty, scruffy and swear like you wouldn't believe.

DD1 was one of a few who wore the proper uniform, clean shoes, tidy clean hair, she sorted her bag out every morning remembering to take all she needed, she never swears, she was never late for school and for the best part coped with a school day. But, unfortunately, she was bullied for being this way because it wasn't 'cool'....and was called a 'geek' for wanting to do well. And that's school for you. No thank you.

seeker....its the general consensus of this whole thread....esp from those who put their children into school.

seeker....its the general consensus of this whole thread....esp from those who put their children into school.

Colleger, the society which existed at the time before compulsory schooling did function well for most people.

Whether today's society, with two-working-parent families, a nuclear rather than extended family model, a relatively small number of manual jobs, a larger number of 'knowledge requiring' jobs, very few apprenticeships, an emphasis on the acquiring of paper qualifications as 'job tickets' and significantly higher expectations of living standards would function equally well is a different question.

I would like to see all these posts which say HE is wrong? I haven't seen one, people have said it wouldn't work for them but that is very different to saying it is outright wrong