Be honest, I want everyone's views......what do you think of home ed???

[3Ddonut]

I suspect this may get nasty, but please try to keep it nice ladies (and gents) I really like the idea of home ed, I would dearly love to home ed my dc but there are some problems, firstly I work 3 nights a week and my dh works 2 full days,my eldest dd is 5 and she really loves school, but some of things that she says about school unsettle me, I always said that it is their choice if they want to go to school or not, which is why she is there and my ds is in nursery but I wish she'd want to stay home and the longer that she's there, the more I feel that we're wasting time...

I've read a lot of the other threads and see that you can do some home-ed stuff alongside school but I don't think that it's enough for me, I want them to remain interested and not be moved on from one thing too quickly or forced to spend time on things they dislike.

We're already a close family because of mine and dh's shifts there is nearly always someone in the house and we get to spend a lot of time with the kids. I suppose I'd just like it to be more of the same.

My main concerns are that the dc would resent us for it in the future (although I would not take a happy child out of school) I also worry about the effect of home ed-ing the children would have on future employers and university places, I do worry about the socialisation aspect although the kids are in a few groups and are very social, they interact well with adults as well as other children, I'm concerned about how much time I'd have to work with them with working full time myself (no opportunity to cut hours)

I'm going round in circles at the min, I think my ds would be more open to the idea and I'm considering not sending dd2 to nursery at all.

The other biggie is that the school they attend is out of area and it's a really good one, they wouldn't get back in there if we deregistered, I've considered flexi-schooling but I feel that would bring more problems than solutions....

OK, Open fire!!!

maybe I would send my kids to your school...

But there is a school across the road from ours

balls, back to the HE then....

Honest, smiley face???? is that a little white lie????!!!!

right, I'm off to work, will check in later (about 3am) but will post back tomorrow evening, thanks!!!!!!!

Nope, total truth!

mb as a teacher I can relate to everything you have said and do feel some Heds have a negative view based on maybe their own experiences years back in different schools.

I can imagine good home ed is better than poor school ed. Really I can, because the system at the moment does seem to be emphasising exams and hence spoon feeding the kids to pass. That is not good as it makes the kids lazy, and lacking real desire to learn.

But on the other hand common sense tells me that the majority of home ed cannot be as good as school ed because as MB says being a parent is not the same as being a teacher. We do have degrees, we do have experience and we do have training. Why is it these are ignored?

Wouyld you all take up home surgery..ooh maybe a bit of do it yourself dentistry I wonder if some of these views are part of the negative and lowly view society has of teachers and teaching. We are proffessionals honest, the MAJORITY of us are actually quite good at what we do!!

Coming very late to this thread and haven't read the thread but my views are

I need a break from my children (physical and emotional)
They need a break from me (ditto)
They need to learn to accept another figure of authority or role model in their lives other than dh or I
I have to accept that another trusted adult can be an authority figure or role model to my dc

But I am not anti HE - only for us atm. WHo knows what could happen?

I agree being a parent is not the same as being a teacher MO, we know our children better than you, despite your degree (I also have one), you have no experience of looking after my children (I have been doing so since birth).
Also, good home ed is better than GOOD SCHOOL, not poor school. How much of your teaching is specifically tailored to the individual needs of one the 30 children that you teach? None it's tailored to educate 30 children to roughly the same level, regardless of learning styles or interests. We teach at the right time of the day, when my children have energy and inclination, not between set times dictated to by the authorities. My children learn what they're interested in, she doesn't have to wait until she's 8 before she's allowed to discover Ancient Egypt.

I can't tailor it to 30 different neads. I do differentiate a fair bit.

But likewise you cannot have the subject knowledge and experience of 12 different teachers. and that does have an impact.

Both have advantages and disadvantages.

MB. Are TAs used in secondary classrooms?

(mine are still primary age.)

Martian dont forget that for most of childrens school careers (till 16) they are only taught by 1 teacher, its only the last 5 years where teachers specialise. Primary school age children only have 1 teacher a year or sometimes only 1 teacher every 2-3 years. I only had 4 different teachers through primary school. So the subject specialist argument is not valid for children pre 11. Also, some people that home ed primary school children do end up sending them to secondary school if they have a good local school because they decide that it is the best thing for them at that time. I am sure most parents would struggle to "teach" post 16 but them many HE kids would be doing courses at FE colleges or open uni degrees.

My Yr 2 ds has specialist teachers for sport, swimming, ICT, RE, Art, Music, singing, PHSE and French. Appreciate not all schools will be like this, but just as most families HE differently, schools can vary too.

We do have degrees, we do have experience and we do have training. Why is it these are ignored?

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I think this is probably the problem my SIL has - she sees our choice to HE as a devaluing of what she is trained for. I just see it as a very different way of educating.

I've never wanted to to send them to school, and while I understand the arguments of the more vocally anti-school HE parents, I don't have a problem with parents delegating education to schools. I don't think teachers are monsters, or inadequate, nor do I base anything on some horrendous personal experience of school.

We just made a decision to educate our children ourselves.

Oh, and about 'boys' being something they miss out on. Too bloody right. Until they're at least 30.

We use TAs in the classroom bubble, all secondary schools do AFAIK.

re having one primary teacher, yes, they do have one teacher but he/she is normaly primary BEd trained. and for some subjects schools often prefer to use a subject specialist, particularly for things like science, languages and music.

Other teachers' PPA time is arranged around it.

Like Ladymuck , my two have a range of teachers from year 3 onwards.

SueBaroo said...
"...she sees our choice to HE as a devaluing of what she is trained for. I just see it as a very different way of educating.
I've never wanted to to send them to school, and while I understand the arguments of the more vocally anti-school HE parents, I don't have a problem with parents delegating education to schools. I don't think teachers are monsters, or inadequate, nor do I base anything on some horrendous personal experience of school.
We just made a decision to educate our children ourselves."

I really like this.

But I also think all children start formal ed way too young at 5 (not to mention those spending hours on end in preschool settings)...

©

Can I say at this point that I hate the term..'delivering the curriculum.'

What's wrong with 'teaching?'

OK. As you were.

MB. WRT my question on TAs at primary level.

DS1 and 2 seem to spend a lot of time being taught/supervised by TAs. DS1s 'extension' group for literacy was with a TA.

I'm sure these peole are enthusiastic etc....But they are not teachers. I know two, for example, are parents of children in the school. One has an NNEB and the other an NVQ3 in Early Years (ie. not relevant to 7 and 10 year olds.) They are no more qualified to teach my children than I am.

I understand that it will be a qualified teacher planning the lessons, but as the NC prescribes what needs to be taught when - surely a literate, numerate and motivated parent is as capable of following the NC up to the end of KS3 as a TA?

I would say that there is still a considerable input from a trained TA who will be working under the direct guidance of the trained teacher. That teacher will have been trained in teaching the level of the class. The teacher will be planning the resotces, the method of assessing if the child has actually learned.

That teacher will also be monitored by their line managers, lessons observed. the teacher will have to be seen to be covering the work. they child's progress will be monitored (to death if we are being honet here )

but no comparable level of monitoring will be done in the HE scenario, as others have posted all that needs to be done is a statement of educationalphiolosophy and an outline of things done. the child's work does not even need to be monitored.

When HE is done well, I'm quite sure it is done very, very well. When it is done badly it can be catastropic for the child.

A badly trained or substandard TA or teacher would be expected to be identified. Not always, but at least the checks are there. No such safety net is there in the HE situation.

I'm a trained teacher, and I'm not capable of teaching my primary age children as well as their teacher do, in my opinion. I can't cover the range of topics, because I haven't had primary teacher training. One of the biggest problems that I face in secondary is working with children who cannot read and write, and I can't help them because I simply don't know how.

and in secondary our TAs do not teach classes, they support the extra learning needs of children with SEN, an equally important, but very different job and set of skills.

and off to bed, night night!

ptwg you said "Martian dont forget that for most of childrens school careers (till 16) they are only taught by 1 teacher"

What strange school did you go to?

by secondary school all subjects are taught by specialist teachers and have been for years.

and

"Primary school age children only have 1 teacher a year or sometimes only 1 teacher every 2-3 years."

again, not true, see mb's post.

as others have said this isn't about having a go at Hed, just getting the facts straight about teaching in order that OP can make an educated decision!!

Sue baroo I understand your way of thinking, that makes sense to me, and I can relate to wanting to do it your own way.

But that's very different to some other posters who don't seem to realise how insulting it is to devalue teachers and their experience claiming we're not capable of teaching their child.

MB - "One of the biggest problems that I face in secondary is working with children who cannot read and write, and I can't help them because I simply don't know how."

!!

I don't understand how this happens !!??

MB - "One of the biggest problems that I face in secondary is working with children who cannot read and write, and I can't help them because I simply don't know how."

MicrowaveOnly - "But that's very different to some other posters who don't seem to realise how insulting it is to devalue teachers and their experience claiming we're not capable of teaching their child."

So who wasn't capable of teaching these children basic literacy skills until they got to MB in secondary school then? Aliens? It does happen, shockingly frequently according to the figures for children leaving school without these skills and without qualifications.

There are bad teachers, good teachers and great teachers. There are some teachers who suit some children and some who are better for children who learn in a different way. But rarely can one teacher be a GREAT teacher to ALL of 30 children at one time. With 'personalised learning' at home a parent can adapt to whatever the child needs to suit their learning style and change whenever something isn't getting through to them. A teacher can't they have to meet the needs of the majority of the students in the class. That's fine - that's what teaching a class of 30 children is about.

I'm not anti-school, I know there are great teachers, but I think its more a case of GOOD HOME ED is equal to GOOD SCHOOL and POOR HOME ED is equal to POOR SCHOOL than good HE better than poor school. And that the best option is the one that suits the family and child best.