Gransnet forums

Education

Home schooling

(157 Posts)
Bambi Sat 21-Feb-15 11:25:22

Do you have any experience of home schooling either through your own children or grandchildren? I don't, and would like to know other grandparents thoughts on the matter, as it is about to happen to two of my grandchildren. I have concerns, but wonder if I am just being 'old fashioned'.

mongol Wed 17-Jan-18 10:15:22

[url=https://www.nytimes.com] New York Times [/url]

mongol Wed 17-Jan-18 10:14:46

Hello everyone, was interesting to read your article. Usually i'm reading <a href="https://www.nytimes.com"> New York Times </a>, but now i will read you too! (https://www.nytimes.com)

iCustomBoxes Thu 30-Nov-17 20:07:22

Home schooling is effective for the childrens because must have to go school or second option is there is a lot of online support for home schoolers,there are sites with worksheets and ideas.

gabrielfreed Thu 30-Nov-17 13:48:58

I think this is normal practice. Especially if the family often moves from one city to another and so that you cannot lose time, you can study at home. This can be done together with the tutor or yourself, as there are services (like AnswerShark) that help and where you can find information about different subjects. Also, courses on sites edX, Coursera, Khan Academy will be useful.

trisher Wed 25-Oct-17 20:51:26

Can I say firstly that the families described as being unwilling to actually teach their children when keeping them at home are probably the same families who do not support their children in school. It isn't anything to do with home schooling it is a social problem.
As far as children being taught something at a certain time, well actually that sometimes isn't the best for the child. If a child's grasp of the concept of numbers is poor introducing fractions really isn't a good idea, but schools have to do it Home educators can consolidate the numbers and then move on to fractions.
It is a question of finding out what suits an individual child and then making that work.

annsixty Wed 25-Oct-17 19:21:46

2 of my GC are still home schooled. I do not think it is ideal, my GS got reasonable GCSE results but not as good as he was forecast while still st school.
The 15 year old is still to " be tested" .
Their Mother ( my D ) is not uneducated, she is currently doing a masters in early years education but I think they are missing out.

Grandma70s Wed 25-Oct-17 18:48:28

This is all very interesting. I’ve often wondered how it works. I would never have dared to do it myself, but I quite like the idea. I am not very happy with state education in this country at the moment, though it’s partly the luck of the draw. My son pays out a fortune in school fees for his children, because their local state schools aren’t satisfactory.

trisher Wed 25-Oct-17 18:07:40

My DS was out of school from the age of 14. Was he home schooled?- well sort of. He took the opportunity to pursue his interests and to recover from the stress formal education had subjected him to. He had an active social life as he was in the Woodcraft Folk and he also saw some of the people he had been at school with. Eventually he went to an FE college and got a B.Tech then on to Uni. School really isn't the ideal place for some children.
Children who are home schooled are seldom isolated.

BlueBelle Wed 25-Oct-17 17:19:02

What you describe as home schooled Miepl cooking a meal reading maps sewing buttons on and using a washing machine are all things I taught my children outside of their school life ....I also see the running a shop that’s true I live near a home schooled family delightful well adjusted polite children who help run their fathers shop after they reach 11 the younger ones walk the dog and take their grandmother out in her wheelchair in ‘school time’ My next door teenage neighbour is homeschooled and spends the whole day on his xbox in his bedroom How do I know because his window is always open and I can hear all his whoops when it goes right and his swear words when it doesn’t and no I m not in my garden all day but it doesn’t matter what tine of day I go into the garden he is ‘at it’
However I have another friend with an autistic 6 year old who has chosen to keep him at home and he does lots of outdoor work with trees and animals and nature and seems to be thriving
I truely believe the social life and the ability to be part of a group is every bit as important as the education itself

I know I couldn’t do it so admire anyone who does it well but think because there is so little interaction with officials it can be easily abused

Nonnie Wed 25-Oct-17 16:45:43

My niece home-schooled her 4 and was part of an organisation which helped them mix with others who were also home-schooled.

The eldest graduated with a First from Queens and went on to do a Phd. Second graduated and is now a Montessori teacher, third is at uni. They all seem very well adjusted and quite widely travelled. I certainly don't think they have missed out on anything.

PM me if you would like her to contact you and give you further information.

george1234 Wed 25-Oct-17 16:40:33

I'm very happy with my this decision.

www.2000days.net/montessori-nursery/

george1234 Mon 23-Oct-17 08:58:58

Hi Bambi,

Home Schooling is good for small kids up to an age of 5 years. When I was a kid, I have done my education from home up to age 5. And I also prefer same for my kid.

jillianpetrova Thu 07-Sep-17 08:38:27

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

Franbern Wed 06-Sep-17 15:19:51

Surely, all good parenting includes some aspect of Home Schooling. Children are only actually in a school environment for a few hours for five days a week, approx. 39 weeks of the year. The rest of the time, the learning is done at home. All my children attended full-time school, but I also taught them to sew, read a map, cook meals from scratch, and use normal home machinery and shop sensibly and the basics of home economics. They also attended many out-of-school activities - but felt that the cut and thrust of school helped to set them up for future lives in employment.

Miep1 Wed 06-Sep-17 14:05:20

I home educated all my children at one stage or another, at various ages. I didn't follow the same curriculum as school, but they certainly learned! They could cook a proper meal, read a map perfectly, sew a button on, use the washing machine and run a 'shop' including doing the books for it. One became a chef, one works with disabled children and horses and the other is a photographer. I'm quite sure they missed # all when they weren't being 'normally' educated.

Serkeen Wed 06-Sep-17 12:35:22

Hi Bambi

My youngest hated the secondary school environment and much as I tried he would fret every single day.

So I decided to home school him but under estimated the enormity of it all.

I ended up paying for a home tutor.

However my opinion of it all is that they do miss out on the social aspect of actually going to school.

I think if needs must and there is no other option fine, but otherwise much healthier to go to mainstream.

Franbern Wed 06-Sep-17 10:46:58

The special school my Gs attended was excellent at teaching him management techniques and getting him to learn to consider other peoples feelings. They also restricted (to one hour per day) use of of any type of computer. This helped to encourage social skills.
He still struggles in this area, but thanks to that school now knows when he is having trouble. His 6th form college has allocated to him a small area for his own 'time-out' when he feels it is necessary. The SENCO department there is also extending his social abilities in many ways. They only permitted him to do one A level the first year, now in his second year he will continue with that one and start a second one. His third A level will not commence until he has completed his first one.
However, my point was that I know that many cash-strapped Local Education Authorities are leaning on parents with Sp. Needs children to Home School them, even though those parents may not have the desire nor the abilities so to do. It is a short-term cheap option. Unfortunately, short-termism seems to be the answer to everything. Many of those children will go on requiring state assistance for the rest of their lives, whereas good special school for a few years could enable them to become useful citizens in the future.

midgey Sun 03-Sep-17 12:32:49

There is already a shortage of primary places and soon will be not enough secondary places, in some areas parents are being told to home school! My granddaughter has been home schooled for awhile. It is a huge commitment and costs can be high, but she has been happier and more relaxed. She is a clever girl with lots of interests.

Imperfect27 Sun 03-Sep-17 12:32:33

It is really encouraging to read so many positive experiences of home schooling. However, I think it can only be as useful / helpful as the dedication, application and support of the parents / home-tutors allow. When a child has learning difficulties that mean they cannot thrive in the state education system, it seems particularly worth consideration, but I think there is a risk that some parents will remove their children from state education for the wrong reasons or without the skills and network systems to properly support their child.

I know of a child who was supposed to be home-schooled but was actually very neglected. The child's life seemed to consist of being taken to a long round of coffee meet ups and there didn't seem to be sufficient checks in place to ensure their well-being and learning progress. They were initially removed from school in year 1 because it was perceived that they were being 'bullied' when really they lacked certain social skills that school might have helped to build.

I wonder what checks are in place these days - this happened about 20 years ago, but this child struggled through primary age and became withdrawn / mentally ill and unable to attend secondary education until later teens, - and by then still not able to read or write well and therefore very disadvantaged in life.

Nelliemoser Sun 03-Sep-17 12:26:49

How did that double post happen?
paperbackbutterfly I am with you completely on this one.

In the county I live in they had no one monitoring home schooled children for months.
The less engaged parents just cried "home schooled" when the could not be bothered to get their kids up in the morning.
It really depends on whereabouts you live.

Nelliemoser Sun 03-Sep-17 12:16:03

Franbern He is obviously clever but what are his social skills like?
About 8 yrs ago our local social services decided that if a child with ASD could manage in an ordinary school they would not get any extra support.

Which totally ignores the social difficulties many people with Aspergers encounter because of poor social skills. There is little support available for that group.
A near relative has Aspergers and his social skills are not good at all. He has been made redundant several times, he reacts badly to "could do better" evaluations at work and eventually stops working or gets made redundant.

What employer is going to put up for long with someone who cannot produce the work being paid for in a reasonable time. This person has grown up with this condition long before it was ever recognised so had no chance of getting any support.

Never mind qualifications, effort is needed to try and support people and guide them with these social difficulties as much as possible.
There is an awful lot of loneliness in this group of reclusive people (mostly men) who are unable to deal with normal social interaction.

*High-level autistic (used to be called Aspergers)." Why has that been changed? What is wrong with "Aspergers"?
"High level autistic" sounds to me as if the person is severely autistic.

Is this back to the attempt to PC disabilty? Most blind or deaf people prefer to say they are blind or deaf and disliked that "impaired" or "handicapped" lable that was used a good few years ago.
Rant over.

Nelliemoser Sun 03-Sep-17 12:14:39

Franbern He is obviously clever but what are his social skills like?
About 8 yrs ago our local social services decided that if a child with ASD could manage in an ordinary school they would not get any extra support.

Which totally ignores the social difficulties many people with Aspergers encounter because of poor social skills. There is little support available for that group.
A near relative has Aspergers and his social skills are not good at all. He has been made redundant several times, he reacts badly to "could do better" evaluations at work and eventually stops working or gets made redundant.

What employer is going to put up for long with someone who cannot produce the work being paid for in a reasonable time. This person has grown up with this condition long before it was ever recognised so had no chance of getting any support.

Never mind qualifications, effort is needed to try and support people and guide them with these social difficulties as much as possible.
There is an awful lot of loneliness in this group of reclusive people (mostly men) who are unable to deal with normal social interaction.

*High-level autistic (used to be called Aspergers)." Why has that been changed? What is wrong with "Aspergers"?
"High level autistic" sounds to me as if the person is severely autistic.

Is this back to the attempt to PC disabilty? Most blind or deaf people prefer to say they are blind or deaf and disliked that "impaired" or "handicapped" lable that was used a good few years ago.
Rant over.

Franbern Sun 03-Sep-17 10:46:08

My eldest Gs is high-level autistic (used to be called Aspergers). Managed at Primary school with Teaching assistant. Secondary school had (what seemed to be an excellent) SEN department who were sure they would be able to support him. Within the first term it all fell to bits. He could not cope, school could not cope. He became clinically depressed.
Research by parents found an excellent Special school, but it was horrifically expensive and would mean weekly boarding there. LA tried every way possible to avoid this and there main suggestion was Home Schooling. Totally and absolutely unsuitable and impracticable. This is what the LA kept pushing - if my D and SiL had agreed to this it would have got the LA out of a hole, but would have been disastrous for Gs and his siblings, etc.
Eventually, my D and SiL built a case to oppose the LA's decision about this special school. They did point out that although the school was so expensive, it could mean that three or four years payment there, could avoid having someone on benefits for the rest of his life.
They won their appeal and Gs went to this school. At 16 he took his GCSE's, achieving excellent results, and asked to go to 6th form at the local College near home. Here he is doing his A levels (slowly). No more expense for his LA. How good it was that my D and SiL had both the educational and legal knowledge to fight their LA.
However, there are so many cases of children who are having severe difficulties in the education system virtually being forced in Home Learning, even though their parents do not wish it nor really have the ability to carry it through.

chrisjames Mon 10-Apr-17 12:20:42

Message deleted by Gransnet. Here's a link to our Talk Guidelines.

janeyxx Sat 09-Apr-16 11:36:54

I home school my son for 2 years now any advice will be happy to help also try tesshomeschool.com