Home Schooling - are you for or against?

This is from a US article but you may still like to read it Claremont.

I do however think there is a big difference between elective home educating and home education being essentially "forced" on someone - maybe out of desperation.
Anyway, here's a snippet:

What percentage of homeschooled students go to college?

The estimate is 50% of homeschooled students go on to attend college. Clearly, many negative homeschooling statistics are a myth, as there is no difference between public school percentages and homeschooling.

What’s more:

96% of colleges report having at least 1 to 200 homeschooled students.

Many are wondering are homeschooled students successful.

Homeschooling vs public education statistics show the percentage of homeschooled students that go to college and graduate is higher than that of their public school peers. It stands at 66.7%, while 57.5% of public school pupils finish college.

^Here is the article - all sources are at the end:^

markinstyle.co.uk/homeschooling-statistics/#:~:text=Many%20are%20wondering%20are%20homeschooled,public%20school%20pupils%20finish%20college.

Same for me. In some countries, home schooling is properly monitored, and the children have to follow the same Curriculum and take the same exams. That means that at secondary stage, parents have to group up to find qualified teachers for some subjects, or pay individually.

Children who are homeschooled in the UK are not monitored-and it means that those children will find it almost impossible to go into Further Education, university and therefore, so many professions.

I think the biggest issue with home schooling, in the UK is that it’s not really monitored sufficiently, from a safeguarding perspective.

I agree that for some children home schooling is much better for them.

I could never have home schooled any of my own children. I cannot think of anything worse tbh.

So long as the parents ensure they hook up with other home schooled children, do combined trips, have their children join some outside interest groups, ie Guides, Scouts, clubs and ensure when teaching secondary school children that this s truly what these young want.

Given our rather limited education system if these home schooled children wish to partake in more formal education at 6th form or Uni, parents will have to ensure that their children are able to pass the requisite entrance criteria.

Also, school is about so much more than formal learning, they learn to mix, socialise, learn competition is a good thing, learn to win and lose gracefully.

It may work for some, but not for me, I’m afraid.

Most home educated children I've met have taken exams (including my own family).

AuntieE
If a home schooled child is to have the qualifications necessary to get into a university, training college or the forces, he or she is going to need to take exams around the age of 17 or 18, and most home schooled children will not know enough to do so.

And your evidence is?

In my opinion, no child, except one with very poor health, should be home schooled.

Part of education is socialising children and teaching them that different groups of people do things differently and hold different views. They are n ot going to learn these things if they stay at home, either being taught by their parents, or by a teacher employed by the parents. After all, who would chose a teacher that has radically different view to those they hold themselves?

No parent, whether a teacher or not, nor any one teacher can be expected to have sufficient knowledge of every subject that schools teach, so home schooled children tend to be good at the subjects whoever taught them enjoyed and was good at, and ignorant of anything else.

This is not a good preperation for adult life. If a home schooled child is to have the qualifications necessary to get into a university, training college or the forces, he or she is going to need to take exams around the age of 17 or 18, and most home schooled children will not know enough to do so.

Freya I think isolation is not something home educators will generally approve of you know. And having met (over the years) hundreds of home educating families I can't actually remember any who were isolating their children.

Also, these days, there is checking.

If anyone wants to know more, here's some info.

www.educationotherwise.org/
www.gov.uk/home-education

Home schooling. Most definitely not. No social interaction for children, how are educational standards met, no checking by Gov on those , and no watch on radicalisation.

Lovetopaint037 your way would not have worked for us! The amazing and wonderful thing about home educating is the flexibility and the way your child can follow their own path.

Attention to the curriculum would have been pointless. If you want to follow "the curriculum" I see little benefit.

A schoolfriend of mine was quite brilliant.

I was watching a morning chat show one day, the Matthew chap who presented before Jeremy Vine.

She was discussing homeschooling, she'd taught her son and he ended up going to Oxford.

Worked for them. But I could not do it, I have zero patience.

Depends on the situation. If going to school presents real problems and not just not liking it, then probably home school with a proper structure. Washed, dressed and ready to work or pay a visit to somewhere educational such as a museum, art gallery etc. Attention to the curriculum and a visit from an educationist to ensure what is necessary for the academic performance, security and happiness of the chikd

I should say my 5 are all adults now of course!

My 5 home-edders are all doing fine - one is home educating her boys and one is flexi-schooling her daughter. One has his children in school.

But yes, to do it well (or even well enough) is a HUGE commitment.

I know someone who never went to school and never left his mother’s side until he was sixteen. He was clever but never played or worked with another child and had no social interaction. His mother was very solitary too so his whole world was himself (at the centre), his mother and his grandmother.
He grew up odd but surprisingly normal in some ways.

Like others on here have already mentioned I think it rather depends on circumstances. Some people talk about home educating their children and their life sounds pretty idyllic to me and as a child I would have loved it and they are obviously getting a good education. But I know one family where they are 'home educating' their children and this is not the case at all. In fact I am not sure any actual education is happening and they barely leave the house (no SEN involved, although Mum may well have some mental health issues). I do think in these sorts of cases a bit more oversight from the local education authority would be a good idea to either encourage the parents to do the thing properly or send the kids back to school.

Absolutely agree Mollygo you took the words from my mouth.

Everything I wrote on 27/02/2021 still applies as far as I’m concerned.

If you have the time, the energy, the knowledge, or the knowledge of where to find what needs to be taught, and the funding to home educate, then by all means go ahead.

It’s a huge and ongoing commitment.

What we know, particularly the part about the increase of children with poor language skills over the last few years since children were at home during Covid, shows it is not for everyone.

I would consider it if my children were young.
Provided we could abstain from DEI/trans indoctrination.
I'm not sure it is possible to avoid it though.

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It is a no from me. I know my chilren would have hated it and I certainly would!

I home schooled our adopted son who has Downs Syndrome. He attended a primary school for his reception year, but it was clear he needed to attend a special school. We were much less than impressed with the one in our area, and so it was decided that I should home school him. It worked out really well and as our eldest girl was a primary school teacher when he was young he was permitted to go on school trips with the other children, so he didn't miss out on anything. When he was of secondary school age my husband was a head teacher and his school was going on a trip to Austria, as one of the teachers was unwell I was asked to take their place and our lad went with us too. He thoroughly enjoyed himself.

In order to encourage him to write, I suggested he wrote letters to his favourite celebs on TV, which he did. Most of them wrote back and some invited him to visit them.

It kept him very busy indeed. I was looking through the three albums I put them in, there are about 80 replies to his letters in them.

He has three Blue Peter badges and has done many interesting things.

He is now in a care home not far from where we live. After my husband's brain haemorrhage in 2006, I wasn't able to give our son the attention he deserved. He is really happy there and is very busy indeed. I always check on him by telling him to pack his bags and come home to look after Mum and Dad, he says, 'NO, NO, NO'! Poor chap that would be a fate worse than for him!!!

My daughters friend has started to home school her 3 children, she is a remarkable woman, she and her husband run a dairy farm, she has many strings to her bow as a campaigner for farming, part time model and promoting farming in education.
In the time it took her to get the children ready for school and drive them twice a day she can educate them.
They are lovely children and the parents ensure they are socialised.

Really a good idea

Depends on the relative quality of the home and the school.

It IS an old thread... but still quite interesting.