Home ed a place to really let rip and debate

[singingmum]

OK so it seemed needed so I'll start.
I HE.It is best fro my dc's in my opinion and that of my dp.
Why? Well a number of reasons really.I'll be short as have tired fingers from posting on other HE threads where anyone who wishes can see the full story.
My dp,my brothers,my friend and myself all attended the same comp over diff years.It was crap.
I actually became bored of learning the same stuff over and over again.My dp and brothers were pigeon holed for having learning difficulties(ie dyslexia)and were taught very badly and left to rot.My friend could learn much but was often left to it and did not do as well as she could.
My son had mega probs caused by nursery and am not putting either of my dc's go through that as my ds is bright but may have aspergers and my dd has dyslexic tendencies.
So as everyone has been letting rip indiscrimenently(bad spelling sorry)I thought I'd put it all in one place.
Let rip ladies and gents

MB - surely a child who is keen enough on say Biology to choose to study it at A level, would be keen enough on the subject to source any additional learning input they might need from specialists? As an adult I do that, why not a child? why are they limited to what their parents are interested in?

Riven, I was a research scientist for 7 years( oxford, Edinburgh and St andrews), and then worked in the pharmaceutical industry.

Then I became a sciene teacher.

SV, my point was that children may not be exposed to people with degree level understanding, and thus may not wish to study a subject further.

I could do a great job of enthusing my own kids in the sciences, but would find it hard to enthuse them in, say, MFL. If my child had no particular initial interest in MFL, that avenue would have been close off to them.

My parents had no interest in science, and neither did I until I had the good fortune to have an excellent teacher.

But they might also benefit from expert and experienced guidance.

Riven, I also use the internet extensivly, have set up message boards and wiki spaces for my kids.

Agree the NC can be limiting.

But people do need to be taught sometimes. And you are better taught by people who actually understand the stuff.

DD2 is currently (well not right at this moment obviously) havign a whale of a time messing around on bunsen burners with a science group of children up to 6 years older than herself. She's burned dead, dying and living leaves and talked about the different results, she's burned magnesium, and made fantstic glass "twists" (unfortunately she didn't have enough breath to blow glass bubbles), none of which DD1 (year 9, top sets) was able/allowed to do at school (elf and safety ). OK, she may not know exactly the chemical compositions of the various copper sulphate whatsits she made (can you tell my science is limited?), but she can tell you exaclty the processes she followed, and why different experiments gave different results. So if she wants to do Chemistry GCSE, she already has a lot of experiential knowledge, to which the theory can be added. None of that woudl have been covered in Year 4 at primary school.

Being taght physics by a geographer (or the other way round!) would be grim I think.

But the grimness is more an argument for more expert science teachers, rather than less, don't you think?

I'll happiliy agree that the school system isn't perfect, Oh how I'll agree . But I think that it is probably ureasonable to expect people to learn everything from scratch.

Would you think it helpful to learn to drive from someone learning alongside you?

would also like to add that MB is a star for staying on this thread and defending schools and (most) teachers

MB I don't much agree with you about being limited to what one's parents find interesting. My ds is just 4, and I have already found myself having to keep one step ahead of him in various topics that he is interested about and I have no clue about.

I am also amazed at the breadth and variety of experiences that we have together in a typical day just from wandering about together looking at things and talking to people. We have recently watched and spoken to:

tree fellers working on some willow trees

a man fishing

an artist who climbs buildings around Europe as performance art

a textile artist

a woman with epilepsy who uses an assistance dog

a horticulturalist.

None of these are areas that I have a particular interest in (in fact I would have said I did not WANT to learn about fishing, for example, but in actuality it was very interesting and I learnt new things).

We learnt quite a lot on each occasion either from speaking to / observing the people and from following up ds's questions afterwards, via the library, internet, etc

I think the community we live in is an incredibly rich source of education and that unless you are keeping your child away from the community in some way, that they will find their own interests, and that those may not happen to be the same as yours.

and MB, about the "one teacher" thing, I don't think I am responsible for very much of my child's learning at the moment, at all

the world does that for me

I couldn't possibly teach him everything he needs to know, but everywhere we go we meet people who CAN, and he is only 4 atm

we are only just starting and I find it very exciting

well, we do a little neuroscience in the A2 curriculum. Good thing I worked in neurophysiology/ anatomy post grad

and by then they already have a foundation in general science that will stand them in good sted for their degree course. For example an understanding of the action poetential in the neurone relies on you understanding the basics of the strucure of the cell membrane.

Most science degrees ask for science A lebvels, with some reason

DD1 has a Spanish-but-lived-in-Glasgow-for-10-years teacher for French this year - she's a very dedicated teacher, but has been the main reason for DD1 dropping French for GCSE.
DD3 on the other hand, had a year of French conversation with a teacher at her Montessori school (who is French), and has remembered almost all of what she learned, plus has a lovely French accent to boot. DD1 struggles with "dez fritts".
Totally agree with specialists for where they are needed, totally disagree that schools are always the best place to find them.

also, we're trying to compare what's needed for 4 year olds with what's needed for 16 year olds - HEing parents of older teens as far as I can see, do tend to outsource the "teaching" part for specialisms. With a 4 year old, it's highly unlikely that the average parent can't keep up/stay slightly ahead.

Agreed. Mostly

I'm not HE, aviatrix, but I am in the very fortunate position of having an excellent state primary school right on my doorstep.

I couldn't home-educate because I work full-time (in the education system).

It raises all kinds of interesting questions.

I don't think that expert knowledge is only found in schools. But neither do I feel that they ae never found in schools.

If I'm honest I have no beef with HE at all (with the expection of HE to avoid subjects).

I do take issue with the 'I can teach my child anything because I will learn alongside them and this is as good as being taught by an expert'. If people seek out expertise, great, fantastic, superb! If they expect every child to 'work out' everything from scratch, they will be disapointed. What we teach kids nowerdays is often so complex, they need expert help. I sometimes see myself as having apprentices that I have to lead, if that doesn't sound too airy fairy. I'm teaching them a craft.

I really don't think it matters where you find the help. But in spite of people's experiences to the contrary, you can find it in schools.

And on that happy nore, I'll go now, to re-jig my lesson for the lower sixth form set on meiosis. Because my expert knowledge tells me we may be in for a bumpy ride tomorrow!