Why do you home educate?

[IWillStartOnMonday]

Genuine question, not trying to cause offense.
I understand a lot of people take their children out of school if they are being bullied, don't enjoy it, it doesn't stretch them, doesn't meet their special needs etc.
What about those of you who choose to HE from the start, and never send your child to school. Why?
Do you ever worry that you won't be able to 'teach' them to a high enough level, as a person who is a specialist in that subject might?
Do they still take exams? Do you see a value in exams?

When we started it was because my children were completely exhausted by SATS pressure and my parenting involved little more than organising them so they could be at school. None of us were having a good time.

9 years (and 2 more children later, 1 with SEN) I love home ed because it's very efficient - we can do in 10 minutes, 1:1, what might take up a whole lesson in school.

It gives children the freedom to follow their own interests. Why do the Victorians just because the NC says so when your passion is the inventions of da Vinci?

Likewise it gives them 'headspace'. DD will lie on the trampoline for ages then come away with the idea for a book.

Children learn deeply because it's motivated from within.

I can support their interest with different media and trips out so their individual learning styles are met without much difficulty.

They don't feel any pressure to 'fit in', wear the 'right' clothes etc. They can just be themselves. And when someone has tried to intimidate them in the past, my kids just naturally do the 'did you mean to be so rude' look.

HE children are (mostly) lovely because they arn't trying to prove anything. You can often tell kids who have just started HE because they are full of fight. It takes a while for them to relax and just be..

The older 2 are doing GCSE's and IGCSE's (no course work) as external candidates and are planning on A levels at sixth form college.

Sorry missed a bit.
Do I worry about teaching them to a high enough level?
I'm happy to do most subjects to GCSE, the textbooks are fairly straightforward and if we can't get our heads round something there's always the internet.
DS1 did chemistry with a group of HE children because the maths made me wibble a bit and he has a french tutor to help with his accent. Most things are do-able, though you might have to get creative.
There is masses of online HE community support.

I don't HE as DC have been happy & in good schools but just had to say Great post by velvetbee!

Why, thank you (curtsys at herladyship).
Have just noticed that youngest DC's have painted the dining room table though.There are several drawbacks to having free range children.

We started because of problems at school but are continuing to HE because it is a lovely way of life. It's relaxed, flexible and ds is soooo much more motivated. Ds wants a career that requires uni so we will be getting onto exams soon but until then it is a case of learn what you like and learn it well and easily in a way that suits him. The other big big advantage is that you rebuild a brilliant relationship once more.

I started because my 4 year old told me she didn't want to go to school and be taught things, she wanted to learn things herself. I figured if she could tell the difference maybe I should have a think about it!

She was the eldest of 3 at that point, and then I had #4. The eldest three have since gone off to school (two in y7, one in y9), and I'm expecting the youngest to go next year as I have my own plans!

Yes, I knew that e.g. I personally probably wouldn't be much use for MFL GCSE's, but there are plenty of resources out there, books, websites, tutors, other HEors etc - some things just take more organising than if they're in school. Some aspects are far easier - providing opportunities for them to go much further with things than they could at school, finding time to go on outings to interesting places, etc. It balances out :-)

My kids are all grateful for and very positive about their years of home ed, and are doing ridiculously well at school :-) I think it's probably useful to go into either route, HE or school, with the knowledge that it doesn't have to be forever - do it if everyone's happy, think about changing if they're not.

The talk about HE DS at home was going around at home for some time. We had heard about HE from friends who had been teaching their children at home. We also found out about HE from other places and sources. DS had expressed the wish to be taught at home. He is independent learner and suited him.

I agree with Velvetbee there is so much educational material on the internet that allows high level of learning at home. Most textbooks are straighforward and are very good guides to learning and organising the classes at home. Children can read by themselves. If you need something extra you can get a tutor.

I started as my child has severe learning difficulties and couldnt cope with what everyone else was doing. child is MUCH happier and doing subjects that interest child, NOT what they HAVE to learn (as velvetbee says.

lessons are relaxed, and learning what child wants to learn at the mo. eg- we are heavilly into the solar system, sports (studying tennis history while watching Wimbledon and the Romans.

with help from the discovery channels and horrible histories and the like, we're well ahead of others.

With a bit of reading/writing/maths each day on top of that, we get more done in a day than child did in a mONTH at school.

Hi OP.

We left at dds request, school wasn't able to meet her needs in terms of music, which is what she wants to do.
That was the main reason but there are many other reasons we found when starting to research what it would be like to H.ed
I think far too much time is wasted in school, not enough taught in the minimum of time. We get through twice as much at home.
As for teaching, well nobody I know who H.eds teaches their dc.
After a while I found she self started and studied things she was interested in. At first I pushed the Maths and English for obvious reasons, but now she just gets on with it.
There are so many reasons why people decide to H.ed which are all unique to that family.

I would love to do it but let's see how dd gets on, she is 2.6

We started because we are abroad, and we would not have been happy to send dc to the local school for a whole host of reasons.

We will have to continue indefinitely, as ds1 has his own ideas about what is 'age appropriate' and we have tried to follow his lead, as a result it would be impossible for him to integrate into a class of children his own age in some subjects.

We are not worried about getting him to GCSE or A level standard, there is plenty of material out there and both of us are fairly highly educated. Between us we'll figure it out, or we will get a tutor to help us if we can't.

We haven't made any decisions about exams yet, that is a way away for us. But we probably would aim for him to sit a few A levels or whatever exams are useful for university entrance.

I initially became interested in HE because I felt four was too young to sacrifice so many hours when my dd could be playing. (I know Reception is meant to be "learning through play", but it's too restrictive to be my idea of play!) Soon I could see numerous benefits. If you had to ask me to choose just one of those many benefits as the main reason we now home educate each child, I guess it would be this:

Dd1, aged 13: time/freedom to pursue her interests. Home education is so efficient that it frees up huge amounts of time for her to socialise, learn more, do extracurricular activities, and relax. It's sad to see all her schooled friends having to give up things they love or else practically drop from exhaustion. At 10:30 last night I drove her and another lad home from a play they'd performed in. Because of having to fit in an audition after school and then doing homework, he'd had only a few hours of sleep the night before. If he gets the big role for which he has auditioned, he has no idea how he'll manage the travel and filming schedule alongside school. By contrast my dd, whose back is giving her trouble lately, had stayed in bed until 11 and then sat in the shade relaxing and chatting with friends for much of the day, so last night's performance was not a particularly gruelling experience for her - and then she was able to sleep in again this morning. She's now as bright and cheerful as can be.

Dd2, aged 7: I still think she learns best through play, and she LOVES to play!! I don't think children stop needing to play after their first few years of life. At this moment she is at my feet dressing her dolls and creating accessories for them out of bits of household rubbish. In half an hour we are going to the home ed chess club I run, where she'll chat with one of the other mums or play with one of the younger children (she doesn't play chess). She and her sister will then spend several hours playing outdoors with their friends. We might go to the splash park after that, if we are still full of beans.

Because I couldn't see how 6 hours a day every day at school could possibly be better than what we were doing at home! It seemed so restrictive to be going to the same place with the same people every day.

And in this weather what a relief not doing the school run!

and avoiding the awful sports days and the 'top table' and the 'dunces table' and everything else.

i LOVE HE.

There seems a wide range of reasons, and indeed ways to home school - which I guess is the point of it. Its interesting you say 'you don't teach them'. I think thats what i couldnt get my head around, i imagined a similar structure to school, but at home.
There is certainly a push in schools for more independent learning, and students as 'teachers' and taking a leading role in their learning.
Thank you for sharing your experiences.