Yahoo contact lists

[streakybacon]

Do you mind if I pick the brains of those who might know, about the use of Yahoo lists?

I'm helping my LA with some of their new documentation and the latest one they're working on is their parent guide. They've asked me to look through existing guides for parents, issued by LAs, and to comment on what's good and what's not so good.

One thing I've noticed is that none of them I've looked at so far links to the local Yahoo lists as a means of networking with other home educating families. I find this odd - whenever advice is asked for on forums etc the recommendation is always to make contact through local groups and usually Yahoo or FB groups are mentioned.

I've noticed that our local Yahoo lists don't have as much traffic as they once had and I'm wondering if this is the case elsewhere too, and consequently if they aren't in use as much as they used to be. FB seems to be more popular - driven by the change in technology I suppose. I have been recommending to my LA for years that these addresses be given out routinely to new home educators but so far it hasn't been happening. It seems to me that there needs to be a mechanism for new families to make initial contact and this has (in my experience) been the main way to do so. Am I missing something? Or are some LAs trying to retain control of EHE in their area and taking on responsibility for networking themselves?

TIA.

Hi streakybacon, I am delighted that your LA has asked you to help them rewrite their documentation. By contrast, my LA has responded to all offers of assistance with "don't call us, we'll call you".

In our area people have been asking the LA for years to add local HE contacts to their list of suggested resources which they distribute to families who have deregistered. Time after time they agreed to do so and never did. They finally did so last year, but I think there is still no mention of us on their website. I believe they were embarrassed into it at an LA meeting which included some "well-networked" HE parents as well as some "isolated" HE parents. The latter were quite cross upon discovering there was actually a large and active HE network on their doorstep which had never been mentioned to them - very ironic as the LA bangs on about how disadvantaged children can become due to the "social isolation" they are bound to suffer after leaving school!!

Anyway, because some of our LA staff are in the habit of misleading families ("home visits are a legal requirement" etc), we strongly suspect they didn't want us to communicate with each other because that makes it harder for them to get way with that sort of behaviour. A strong HE network also makes it harder for the LA's home ed team to justify its budget by claiming to play an important role in supporting families: once we have found each other, most of us report that we get better support from each other than from the LA.

You say you have also been ignored by your LA in the past when asking them to publicise local HE groups. Perhaps it is the same story, or perhaps they just couldn't be bothered because they didn't see the importance. In case it is the latter, maybe it is worth expressing to them quite strongly the importance that many HE families attach to mutual support, especially in the early days.

Anyway, in answer to your question, in our area we have:

A bare-bones website designed to signpost people toward the Yahoo list: Google searches now list our website higher than that of the lying bastards LA.
A long-established, busy Yahoo list which is more about exchanging information than about support or chat
A modest-sized Facebook group which is very chatty
and a handful of smaller local special interest groups on Yahoo and FB, e.g. for people who live in a particular town.

I am delighted that your LA has asked you to help them rewrite their documentation
Don't get too excited - they ask me to do a lot of things but don't necessarily take notice of my feedback! I think there's an element of feeling the need to formally consult with the public but they seem to feel less obliged to act upon it. But I do try to point them in the right direction when I can.

I've found similar when I've attended my LA's informal meetings for home educators - those present are always strangers to me who have approached the LA directly when considering HE and have no idea that there is a vast network of other people out there, organising events and the like. I have often wondered if my LA deliberately doesn't give out the Yahoo information because they want to retain control of local home educators - I have no idea why they'd do this but then I admit to being very cynical and there seems to be no other logical explanation. It's five years since I first suggested that the list addresses should be made known and it's still not happening. An information pack I helped to compile never saw light of day either.

It seems to me that there are two separate strands of home educators - those who find out about HE for themselves, through friends who already HE or online through forums like MN, and those who go to their LA for information and follow their lead. My aim would be to bring those two groups together so they can make their own decisions about how they want to HE, who they want to associate with etc. I got the impression that those I see at the LA meetings have very little information about what goes on locally, and they certainly didn't know about regular groups and classes that have been operating for years (all known to the LA from information I've presented to them).

Anyway, thank you for your input which is very helpful. I agree with your thoughts on why some LAs mislead the public too. I'm pleased that your LA (for all its faults ) does direct towards Yahoo as I've long felt that this is a gateway contact list that leads to wider networking opportunities once a family establishes itself with existing home educators. Everyone needs to start somewhere, don't they?

Onwards and upwards .

Hi

I've met with a number of different LAs over the years, usually in a group with local home educators. There's only been one LA which has explicitly said no we don't want to signpost to anyone who might discourage families from having contact with the LA, and since we're not sure who would do that, we don't signpost to anyone's group, just to be on the safe side.

Usually they say some variant of "we have to be careful what we put on the website" "we can't be seen to be recommending anything" "there are restrictions about the links we can put up". Sometimes they then add "but we do TELL parents when we meet them..."

Many LAs don't realise that the local and national networks can provide a huge amount of information about exams etc, they seem to think it's just coffee morning type interaction.

Another reaction I've had is "you don't understand, the kind of families I meet would never join your group" (and yes, we do challenge and query that when we come across it, seems to bear out the coffee morning theory)

So I guess I would say just keep pushing the rock up the hill.

Thanks Fiona.

That's interesting about some of the reasons you've heard for not sharing contact information. I suppose I can understand that LAs might not want families to be discouraged from engaging with them, but it's still removing their right to information, and making choices for themselves.

I suppose it shows a lack of understanding on those LAs' part about how the HE community operates, if they think it's all about coffee mornings and 'stay away from the LA'. Quite disappointing, really.

Most of the parent guides I've read do have contact details for home ed organisations such as EO so they do seem to want to give out some networking information. The Yahoo lists seem to be a glaring omission though.

Many LAs don't realise that the local and national networks can provide a huge amount of information about exams etc, they seem to think it's just coffee morning type interaction
The thing is, mine does realise what our local groups are like, what they can offer, and how valuable they are. They claim to understand the need for families to network with others in the same position, yet they are hanging on to information that would enable them to do so. It's not, in this case, about getting them to understand the benefits of local networking because they already do. My difficulty is getting them to do what they agree to.

Back to my rock . Thanks again - all very helpful.

Some LAs have explained to me that they give link to EO because they think EO helps families to teach their children at home, and/or that the local contact volunteer has somehow been handpicked and undergone training, and - similar to their idea about the national charity, they think the local person will give tips on teaching and finding tutors.

That's a pretty shocking degree of unawareness, given that these people are allegedly in a position to advise and guide new home educators.

I believe my LA is subtly trying to get me to take on the role of intermediary between them and the home ed network. Sadly the only way I could consider it is if they are prepared to be honest and transparent about their intentions, and that looks a way off yet.