What are the downsides of HE?

[Bubble99]

We are seriously considering HE for our two oldest boys (7 and 10) - We have read so many positive experiences from here and EO but would also like to hear any negative views from those who have HE.

Just want to have a balanced view before we take the plunge. And it does feel like a huge, but much needed, decision to make.

TIA

I'm not having a strop.

I've just supported my initial statement. Had some interesting responses and replied to them.

You obviously are not that happy at my posting, as I don't HE.

Fair enough. I thought this thread was open. I've not posted on the HE support thread (I don't think) as I don't feel that I can offer anything to the tread.

But if I'm wrong and this thread is 'closed' , fine. I'll stop.

But I'm not in a strop.

mhc, that is a good facility, we don't have a meuseum that good near us for scinece. Good one for archeology, but not the other physical sciences

Oh and one of the most valuable assets of a school that I would like my children to be able to access is an enthusiastic, inspiring teacher who knows their subject inside/out. Don't necessarilly need all that 'kit' if you've got a teacher like that. Sounds like your school and students are lucky to have you there.

MB, please don't stop posting on HE threads.
Your links to projects etc are fab.
Of course this any one can post on here.

well, that is kind of you.

The kit is a real bonus though, particularly for the kids who are not naturally vusual/auditory learners. It can be a deal breaker for them IME

mb I enjoy your input. Please don't stop posting - it's always good to be able to see both sides.

I think the point that was trying to be made is that, on this particular thread, the OP was trying to get an overview of the downsides to HEing from an experienced HEer's viewpoint. We do it day in, day out and the few downsides we actually encounter are probably very much different to those that non HEers would envisage being downsides. (I think this is evident from the point that none of us sees the lack of technical equipment as an obvious downside...) It's not that your viewpoint is any less valid. It's just that, in this case, I think the OP was really looking for the practical downsides encountered on a daily basis. And only an HEer can respond to that. Hope that makes sense!

Please don't stop posting.

MB "it can be a deal breaker for them IME"

So you're saying that you have known teens who were seriously considering leaving school for HE, but the wondrous kit available was what motivated them to stay?

No, I'm saying that for kinethetic learners, being about to use the kit allowed them to learn.

the deal breaking, being that without the kit , they wouldn't have learned

Don't want to say, as I like my privacy!

our neraest science place of any size is 90 minutes away by a fairly swift car. Public transport would be longer, and more expensive. And while it is great for the 'experiential' side of science....ie they can make them see things that go 'WOW;' it really isn't that much use for the real benefit of hands on experimentation.

We have another great 'experiential' meuseom 2 hous in the oppsotite direction.

But both of these are too far to be used on anything other than an occasional basis

MHC, my son is dyspraxic, and finds the written stuff hard. Thankfully his science teacher is a real 'hands on guy'

I woudl also say, that it can be difficult getting a group of children of the same ability level together to do group work. That's the one thing DD2 is missing about school. Obviously it depends on where you live (and what kind of HE you practice) as some areas have more HEers than others (we're a bit limited here as the schools tend to be quite good, and there are plenty of private schools around for them as want).
Re science kit - DD2 did a science course with a tutor who had "home" bunsen burners - they did glass blowing round her dining room table, much to DD1s disgust as she wouldn't have been allowed to try that school. But certainly, it woudl be difficult to collect together all the stuff a good secondary school woud have.

I don't think the local secondary has got anything like that much equipment, as its only got 450 pupils, I honestly don't think it could afford all that equipment. It only had a modern small sports hall a few years ago which was only built because part of its running costs could be recouped by renting out the equipment to the public.

ah, ours is 1300

My old school was about 1400 pupils and was a good place, but then again I was thick skinned or my Mum says I never came out of a book long enough to hear my tormentors.

Wow!

Thank you for so many responses. Mr Bubble and I have both found them very useful.

The main issues are the class sizes and the 'one size fits all' nature of the NC. I am sure that this is a problem in all state schools, not just ours.

We have one son who is less able and struggles with literacy and another who is more able (G&T in literacy and numeracy, which is an arbitrary classification IMO.)

The school does what it can to support them both. 'Extra push' groups for our less able son and extension groups for our more able - but ultimately the funding is not there to maintain this help on a permanent basis.

Many of their peers go to Kumon groups or receive extra tutoring after school but I could not ask my child to do a full school day, then Kumon etc, then homework/reading.

What I'm trying to say is that neither of our boys is reaching their full potential at school. One (our 7 year old) is beginning to label himself as 'stupid' and is losing confidence and self-esteem. The other is bored and frustrated at having to spend 2 lessons covering something that he grasped in the first ten minutes of the first.

We know that they both enjoy and benefit from the smaller group work so the next logical (to us, anyway ) step seems to be HE.

In addition we want them both to love learning again. We are anticipating using the NC as a guideline and then seeing where it leads us. We would like them to be equipped for any path in life they choose - we want them to gain formal qualifications so will steer them towards GCSEs and A levels. We are planning to enrol them at the tutorial college for GCSEs that Mr Bubble went to. DH was a 'school refuser'- after prep school he went to a high-pressured top public school and hated it.
He eventually persuaded his parents to let him leave and go to a tutorial college where he took GCSEs and As in small groups with a lot of one-to-one tutoring.

I have had no problems convincing him that HE may be right for us and he is, in fact, more keen than I am.

We are self-employed (we run two daycare nurseries) which, ironically, we set up as we could not find the type of nursery we wanted for our children. So HE feels like another stage of the journey in providing what our children need. We both work part-time in the nurseries and a lot of my work I do at home in the evenings (menu planning, ordering etc) I cook each day but now also now have a cook at each nursery for basic prep and washing up. I am functioning as an 'executive chef'
We anticipate sharing the HE and our younger two are at our nursery for a morning session each day. We may well go on to HE them as well.

Thanks for reading my ramblings.

Bubble Sounds as if you have it planned really well and have thought it through.
We are totally opposite you in that we are having to rebuild DS's self esteem, by going way back and taking it slowly. No critisim at all, I commented that his 't' was to short (in writing) and he physically curled into himself and refused to do any more.
So, slowly, slowly, catchy monkey.

bubble that was a glorious post to read

I love your life

I think we're going to need to do the same for DS2. He has no confidence in his abilities at all at the moment.

It seems to me that state education has become so politicised. The 'extra push' group for DS2 coincided with the looming end of KS1 SATS. As soon as he was pushed up enough the extra help stopped.

I am a parent governor so understand the pressure that schools are under to deliver the right results. It just seems that they are motivated by a government that wants to win another election, rather than what our children need and deserve.

Politicised? Bubble, what on earth are you saying? That nice Mr Brown and his politicians have an agenda beyond providing the best possible services with our tax money? How on earth could you imply such a dreadful thing?