Home education

[loodledoo]

My DH is really keen for me to home educate our DD, she’s currently only 18 months so we’re a way off but I’d be really interested in others experiences of home educating their children in the UK. I’d love to know what a typical day looks like and what resources are available to you in your local area to help with home educating, such as groups with other home educated children, and what made you decide home educate your children/ what you think the benefits are, please. I’m looking into this now because if we do decide to home educate I’d like to do some sort of home preschool prior to her being primary school age. Thank you so much in advance.

Find your local group usually on Facebook most will welcome people along even with kids as young as yours. My dd is 14 now never been in school and on the whole it’s been a great choice, she’s never been isolated has met some lovely friends and attends many groups both home Ed and out of school stuff. Home Ed groups are less of a thing now she’s older but when she was small we could have been at something every day within an hours drive. Obviously if you are in a big city or area where there’s lots of home edders you’ll have more of a community.

Fact is @loodledoo there is no such thing as a typical day. All HE families do things differently. That’s the beauty of it 😊

And even within a family, the routine changes as your child grows. Our HE days look very different today to how they looked 3 years ago or 6 years ago. As my DC have grown everything has evolved and changed.

I would highly recommend you join your local HE group on FB. It doesn’t matter where you are, every town/county in the Uk has a FB page now. Some areas have a higher concentration of HEdders than others but as a style of education it has grown exponentially in recent years so we are everywhere 😁

I've found secondary much easier!

Most home educators don't try to be their child's teacher though, so parent's GCSE knowledge doesn't tend to be relevant.

Government information. Look at similar for your LA.

https://www.gov.uk/home-education

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/elective-home-education

This is really good to know, thank you.

Thank you very much, this is really helpful.

Thank you very much.

One of the best places to find out Whats going on in your area for Hone E’d is Facebook - Hone E’d is very much ussr generated, so a lot is going to depend on your area.

This is good to know, thank you.

Thank you, I’ll take a look.

Thank you, this is really helpful.

We literally lived in wellingtons and hoodies - it was a local joke.

I miss those days so much. Back to being isolated again.

Do you feel that you could teach her to read, write, maths? I know I couldn’t.

It’s actually really easy to teach a child to read and write and do every day maths.

I do, however if we do decide to home educate and I don’t feel I can provide her with what she needs then we would get her a tutor. I want to provide her with a good quality education whether she is home educated or school educated.

Why do you think school is an unhealthy form of socialisation - my DT’s loved seeing their friends every day at school and the additional play time at breakfast and after school clubs. They hated it if I collected them early as they were enjoying games with their friends.

How do home educators ensure their children reach school leaving age ready to go to university / other route that requires specific qualifications as a condition of entry? Clearly it's possible and many do manage it but I don't really see how a parent can teach to GCSE or A -level standard without subject specific knowledge. Is it a money thing (paying for tutors)?

Even at younger ages, how can home educators be sure children are reaching their potential and not falling behind their peers in key skills/ knowledge which could limit future options? Again, I am sure it's perfectly possible to have a 10 y/o for example who has been home educated and is happily gaining knowledge and skills, but the thought of DS not learning effectively because of my lack of skills and complete lack of experience as a teacher was what put me off home ed. I'm just interested because I know there must be a way to keep a child on track or there wouldn't be happy home-educated adults (I have met a couple but didn't feel it my place to ask!)

This is something I’d be interested to hear responses to. I think for us if we do decide to home educate, we would need some help from tutors, as I really want our DD to get a good quality education.

How long is a piece of string?

It depends entirely on what works for the individual. And, whi ever said that an individual must hit milestones as proscribed by our education sustem? Last time I looked there are a wide range of peopld pursuing a wide range of pathways from a wide range of age groups.

It’s far better for people to go at theif iwn pace than to bd pushed through what is little more than a farming factory conveyor belt.

But, at yhe risk of sounding boastful, whrn my child ended bavk in formal education they were assessed as being two years ahead of their peers who had remained in school

How do parents who delegate their educational responsibility ensure their children leave school ready to go to university?
Actually I guess most don't do they? Is it 40% of schooled children that don't even pass their GCSEs?

How are primary school parents ensuring the 40% of children that don't reach the expected standard in SATS reach their potential.

I know some children achieve well in the school system but it seems like a big risk...

Not to mention the 35% of secondary school children who are bullied and the rampant sexual harassment.

Excellent points.

I think your comments require a closer breakdown of the data underlying outcomes.

Vulnerable children (disadvantaged) do particularly badly and make up a large proportion of those that underachieved.
The proportions of children who reach at least national standards, who are not classed as disadvantaged, are higher.

However, in many cases, home education isn't going to improve outcomes for this group.

Christ so he wants you to be nice little wifey at home all day, and to deprive DD of a normal childhood and education experience too.
Send her to school and get back to work!

Do you have figures on the proportion of dusadvantaged children who are NMW educated? Because my first instinct is that it wouod be minute, for a variety of factors. A high proportion will be in the care system - so schooled - and care system outcomes are universally poor.

Of course, we should just accept that 40% of children are bullied and failed at school 😆