Thank you

[rumkem]

3 years ago, i was having head and heart ache finding a school for my kid. I found and posted on the mumsnet for the first time. That was when HE was pointed out to me as an option.

I went back and re-read my posts. HOW THANKFUL I AM.

3 years on,... So happy we decided to do it then :)

Thank you rumkem, for posting this.

I point out regularly that Home Education is not well known as an option. A few posters on Mumsnet refuse to believe this.

Your post justifies the time I and others, spend here and elsewhere spreading the word and countering misinformation about what HE is and isn't, and the maleficence of some local authorities.

Home ed is definitely not a well know option. When I home eded my kids about seven years ago for one year I didn't even know others did it. I didn't think it was illegal and actually that thought hadn't even crossed my mind. There was just no way they were going to the local school. It was only when someone said, "you're home eding then" that I started to research it!

Colleger, ditto. I had no idea when our older 2 ds's were school age. We moved 250 miles and our kids had such a culture shock. From small village school of 30 kids to huge Primary schools. My one regret was ds2, he had to go to a Catholic school as his brother was given a place in the school next door. He didn't settle in, moved him when place was available, still didn't fit in. Prior to this he was at home for 6 weeks waiting for a place. DS2 had an awful time, we told teachers he wasn't right banged on tables, nothing. Ds2 at 17 has finally had diagnosis of Aspergers. The guilt and remorse I go through almost daily is unbelievable. Why is HE not publicised, and why did the LEA not tell me it was a possibility. We were just getting home omputers but the info wasn't there, you couldn't just google it.
Perhaps when I feel I have earned the right. i.e actually been a H.eder I might find the voice to campaign for this. Actually does anybody know of one I can join thats already established.

Don't beat yourself up, after all I knew about it, experienced it and then sent them back. Now that is worse! :(

Just after I dereged ds, nearly four years ago, I had reason to chat with the local Parent Partnership coordinator and I offered to talk to her about HE so she could be informed about it. She flatly refused, wouldn't touch it, said it wasn't part of her remit. I think she was scared of something that she considered so far out of the 'normal' box. She said she couldn't possibly advise parents to consider HE, she'd 'get shot' for it, yet it was OK to persuade them to apply to inappropriate special schools or persevere in mainstream placements that clearly weren't meeting the child's needs.

A coordinator at our local charity group actually backed away from me when I tried to tell her about HE. There was a genuine fear there.

It doesn't surprise me that there's so little information out there and parents are so ill-informed about HE. It's like a guilty little secret that the authorities hide away in case they're corrupted by it. They have their own little channels to go down and don't like feeling out of their depth with something that's a bit odd to them.