Why on earth home educate??

[plainjayne123]

I am an extremely bright (top first from Oxford, PhD, post-doc, research career etc) person and I push my children to acheive their most at school etc, but I cannot see any reason why anyone would choose to home educate. I would go so far as to say it's selfish to keep your child at home and inflict upon them your idea of what they should learn and become. Hope to get some good reasons!

[CheerMum]

plainjayne, I home ed my daughter so that I can lock her in a cupboard all day and teach her nothing. Was that what you wanted to hear?
I have no idea why you have started this thread, other than to be insulting and to demonstrate your own ignorance.
I would offer to educate you as to the joys of home education but I'm far too busy actually doing it!

[ChazsBrilliantAttitude]

plainjayne
Have you asked your children what they want?

I don't HE and I suspect I wouldn't be very good at it (bit of a control freak) but can see why it works. I have learnt a lot from the HE threads and it has made me focus on the fact that my children are autonomous from my interests and ambitions for them.

I have seen in my DSs' school last year the amount of pressure some of the parents put on the children at exam time (Yr4) I let DS1 do what he thought was necessary. He did OK but not brilliantly but by allowing him to have some control over how he worked he is now setting himself goals for the Yr5 exams and working with me to see how he can achieve it. What he learnt from being given some control was worth more than any exam mark.

I think HE can really suit some children and families because it fits in with the personalities involved just as school suits some children.

[IWipeArses]

Why have you started this thread OP?

[flussymummy]

Because our children are happy at home?
Seems like a good enough reason to me!
We all enjoy it and the girls can work at their own rate, learning about the things that are interesting and important to us all.

[flussymummy]

And another thing... You said "most schools do a reasonable job" - what if we actually feel that we can do more than a "reasonable job"? Or that a "reasonable job" is not good enough for our children?

[TheDarkestNight]

Remember everyone, OP went to Oxford, so don't get too complex in your answers. It's not Cambridge . Disclaimer: I am joking! Some of my best friends went to Oxford yadda yadda.

OP, I don't think you're telling the truth. Surely an essential part of research is being able to think laterally? Surely you understand why people HE, you just wouldn't do it yourself, or you disagree with it?

[chocolatecrispies]

Troll??

[morethanpotatoprints]

Definitely a possibility.
The OP certainly hasn't anything intelligent to say.
so

[Colleger]

plainjayne , you are a classic example of someone who has received an education but is clearly not educated.

My children are educated.

[FlamingoBingo]

how would you feel if a HEor wrote this, PlainJayne?

"I am an extremely bright (top first from Oxford, PhD, post-doc, research career etc) person and I want my children to be confident and curious their whole lives like I am etc, but I cannot see any reason why anyone would choose to send their children to school. I would go so far as to say it's selfish to make your children go to school and inflict upon them the state's idea of what they should learn and become, including the stifling of their curiosity and personalities if they're one of the many children who end up with shite teachers and bullying peers. Hope to get some good reasons!"

Hmm??? Doesn't feel so nice, does it? Fortunately, most of us HEors are a little more open-minded than you are, and are aware that there could well be pluses and minuses to school as well as to home education. Most of us have weighed up those pluses and minuses and found that it makes the most sense for us to home educate. We wouldn't have been able to do such deep thinking about such a vital issue were we as narrow minded as you appear to be. Maybe it's because I'm not an Oxbridge, PhD, post-doc, sun-shines-out-of-my-highly-educated-arse alumni? I don't think so, though...

[AmberLeaf]

Oxford my arse

[madwomanintheattic]

What is it with the trolls today?

Are you related to the daft 'American' with speech issues?

Please tell me this isn't going to go on all winter...

[sieglinde]

Hi, OP. I have a D Phil from Oxford myself, am an Oxford academic, and I homeschooled my son for 18 months and have been homeschooling my daughter for 2 years.

Why? Short answer - what my daughter wants isn't offered by any existing school.
Longer answer - in her case this is Greek, Latin, French, German and lots of English and History, with good solid grounding in maths. In my son's case it was theoretical physics at 13.

Am I selfish? Erm, why? Oh, I see - you mean to keep them away from their peers. Because that's what school is for? Not everyone wants to do group work. Why not read Quiet, by Susan Cain... my daughter was also very shy when at proper school, and is now almost precociously confident.

Your turn. (Battens down the hatches... lights blue touch paper and retires...) Why do you choose the state system? How did you come to lose faith in the brave old world which most of our ancestors lived in, where children were taught mostly at home? Are you uncomfortable with independent learning? With articulate children? Are you concerned that there might be privelige or underprivilege or some deviation from some norm?

[plainjayne123]

Reason for post - a friend of mine mentioned she had a friend who home educated, my immediate reaction was shocked, I didn't know there was a community of people who did this, apart from maybe some eccentrics who think the state will corrupt their minds or people who want to produce children ready for university at 13. I wanted to know why people do it and if there was something I was missing. Putting my immediate reaction as to why not to do it in the OP I guess I thought would create discussion which it has. I think there have been some very good reasons, apart from the reasons which mean your child would not fit in at school.

[sieglinde]

Thanks, Jayne. Good to know you've found some answers helpful and enlightening.

Personally I've never wanted or tried the all-homeschooling route. But at some ages/stages it's worked well for my children, better tbh than private school, which we have also tried. IMHO, the more choices there are the more chance there is to find a good fit for the individual child.

My children are keeping pace with or a bit ahead of their peers in core stuff - my son though is very bright and has often found school very dull. (No, he really is - we now have the exam stats to prove it..) My daughter was cripplingly shy which meant she tended to be miserable - she's also bright, though in other areas than my son. But we are not going for any kind of Ruth Lawrence trajectory..

Obviously my husband and I actually have formal qualifications, though lots of HE parents don't - that just makes it a bit more work, or perhaps a bit more pricey.

Good luck with your enquiries - HE is as varied as schools...

[plainjayne123]

sieglinde
That is very interesting to HE along with school when that would be best for the child. My birth children are doing well at school and seem very happy but if they were unhappy HE is an option I think I would consider temporarily. I also foster a young child with serious diabilities and HE is something that is good to have as an option for the future.

[IWipeArses]

"I think there have been some very good reasons, apart from the reasons which mean your child would not fit in at school." What does this mean?

[madwomanintheattic]

Ok, if you are genuine...

The reason you are shocked is because you are completely institutionalised, having been squeezed through the 'education system' all the way through past phd, with doubtless nary experience of anything else.

Most families that homeschool are aware of the process of 'deschooling', to allow children to 'reset' and get away from the sausage factory expectations and dictation a concerning learning. Parents often take longer to de school than the kids concerned, because they have a much greater period of institutional ideation to overcome. In your case... ...

It just sounds like such an exteaordinarily strong over-reaction to something that millions of folk do, that I'm flabbergasted that such a self-defined authority hasn't grasped the concept.

Maybe, as an academic, you ought to pop down the library and read a few books. Try the John Holt stuff, and then have a look on the shelves. Lots of theory for you to get your teeth into, lots of new stuff from current educational theorists once you have got the sense of history.

In fact, I would be surprised if you don't start to desire it for your own kids once you lose the sheltered outlook and start to question the institution itself.

[madwomanintheattic]

[madwomanintheattic]

Mine are all institutionalised, by the way. They are just as comfy in the system as you are. (With the exception of ds1. He's as miserable as sin but so institutionalised he doesn't realize what's making him miserable. )

[julienoshoes]

Ted Robinson make give you more food for thought plainjayne123

[sieglinde]

ommmward, a kindred spirit! Me too, and that's my motive also.

[ommmward]

:) Hello, Sieglinde, lovely to meet you. Does your name link to your discipline?

[FlamingoBingo]

Hello lovely, Ommmward How are you?