Who Home Schools? Tell Me More!

My cousin did this. I have no expertise on this but I know she put a huge amount of effort into ensuring her daughter took part in a wide range of clubs and sports so she was integrating / socialising / arguing / playing with loads of other kids as often as possible. 

We”ve home school both our boys. IMHO the school system doesn’t work and has its focus arse about face (no doubt a few will defend it) Happy to give you our experiences but I’ve not got the time to type that much on this site.  It’ll probable crash by the second paragraph 😀 PM me with an email addy

My sister did it with all 3 sons.

We're doing it with two.

Posted by: v7fmp

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1) Your initial reasons.

One child wasn't getting his needs met and school refusal got very challenging. We resisted for ages but have found much better behaviour and a happier home all round. Other child joined because it turned out he was quite depressed with school. Both are very capable. 

2) your home situation before you started. IE: One parent not working? 

We all work from home and wife was a university teacher for years. Now she works independently and chooses her workload. She's done an immense amount of research to find good options for the kids. Most of it is actually from America but will not prevent them from being able to do anything they want to in future.

3) How you changed your home situation to accommodate. IE: Did someone give up work? Or reduce hours?

Not really. Kids now get decent sleep and have more time to do other things rather than spending time travelling and doing pointless homework.

4) How has it changed your child?

It's taken time but there's been a massive reduction in anger and tears from one. The other one is happier and now engages with his work again. Has friends all over the world and better self esteem. 

5) Any regrets? Or best decision ever?

Definitely no regrets.

6) Any advice, tips, resources that can educate me on it further?

There seems to be a lot of different ways to do it. I'd recommend doing a lot of research and finding out what suits you and your kids.

We sort of did

 Our daughter didn’t attend any whole day at school in Y9-11, due to ill health. The school provided 4 hours per week of tuition in our house. My wife was in and out all day with her dog minding business. Technically this isn’t  home schooling. We didn’t really do much teaching

In y12 and y13 my daughter registered with the open university. This was breaking the rules, you can’t start home schooling at 16. She completed 2 open university units and this was sufficient for her to gain university entry at 18. She had good gcse from her time but at school which helped

So a few things from my experience. 

Lots of things in life need 5 gcses with maths and English. 

Help can come in lots if ways. I’ve just arranged for an ex student of mine to provide, i think monthly, support to a colleague who is teaching her son igcse physics. They’ll just chat through things that have cropped up that mother and son aren’t sure about. So think outside the box hire things might be done

igcse sciences don’t need practicals so much easier for home schoolers

I express the opinion that being left by yourself all day every day would be tough for any young person

For years 7 & up there are some online schools, including Ofsted inspected ones, that we're looking at.  Obviously there's a cost involved but it's a lot less than a private school and in some cases, you may be able to get assistance with the fees if you have an EHC. 

Our daughter's really struggled with going to school pretty much since the enforced Covid layoff which hit her, and 1000s of others, just at the critical juncture of going from a lovely primary to starting at what we have/had of a Hitler-youth camp of a secondary school. + although I work from home, there's no way I could home-school her as well, so an online school looks like a great option.  They are often used by people living overseas or whose children might be travelling a lot for sport. 

Edit - "I express the opinion that being left by yourself all day every day would be tough for any young person"  - the online approach definitely helps avoid this.  There's a curriculum, scheduled lessons every day, you see the teacher, they see you, you can 'chat' with your fellow pupils, do clubs with them, etc.

We did if for two years with our girls whilst we travelled round Europe in a van. My wife is a qualified teacher so there were no issues with the local authority. We had no qualms about doing it as both girls were getting frustrated at school as they found the pace of learning not fast enough for their ability, and they were not being challenged enough. Best couple of years of our life and the girls learned far more than they ever would have in school.

If you are going to do it though, best be quick as I think the government is planning to make it a lot more difficult in the very near future.

From 30 + years in the primary education system. Give it a try but don't forget the future. No matter what you feel, exams are where it all ends. From personal experience, every single home school situation I have come across is usually the result of parents' with unreal expectations of the system and very sadly, mostly, too lazy to organise themselves to support their kids in mainstream schooling.  It can work and not all parents are as above of course but maybe ask yourselves why school isn't working. It does for the most special of kids.  Good luck, it will be a full time job to keep standards up. 

@chaos plus your daughter wasn’t on her own. You might have been busy most of the time and in another room, but you were there. I kind of regret saying that last bit I’m all for people finding their own way through

 I think a friend home schooled and now both daughters play rugby for Scotland 😊. She was a teacher and will have poured her life into those girls 

https://scottishrugby.org/sisters-are-doing-it-for-themselves-and-scotland/

We did if for two years with our girls whilst we travelled round Europe in a van.

Have met a few families travelling with kids and these kids seem to be more self-confident, curious, outgoing and generally more rounded than kids I know who are fed through the normal system (wherever that may be).

Thanks for all the reply's, good to hear experiences and thoughts on it. 

We arent committing to anything yet, as there is lots to research and discuss. We know a couple of families that have done it with positive results (ultimately the kids are nice, successful young adults). But know that wont always be the case!

Posted by: alpin

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We did if for two years with our girls whilst we travelled round Europe in a van.

Have met a few families travelling with kids and these kids seem to be more self-confident, curious, outgoing and generally more rounded than kids I know who are fed through the normal system (wherever that may be).

Yes we met quite a few on our travels too. The UK school system generally teaches kids to be compliant little workers, but not so much to think for themselves, or to realise that getting good grades at school is not often a predictor of future success.

Yep, we did this, although my wife would call you out for the terminology.  We home educated, not schooled.  The difference being that you don't need to replicate school at home to give an education.  In fact, the flexibility to do other things is one of the strengths.

To answer your questions:

1, My wife was a teacher and utterly disillusioned with the system.

2, She never went fully back to work after having kids, so we were managing on one income.

3, as per 2.

4, Change? Don't know, they never went to school.  However, they are now both beyond school age and are great people.  Eldest is working and doing well for himself,  Daughter is now in college and considering options for Uni.

5, No regrets.

6, Read up on the law, it's not exactly what the local authorities are likely to tell you it is.  Look into online groups, there's plenty of advice out there, not all good though.  Find local IRL groups, being lonely working at home is a myth, at some points, my kids were out doing stuff in the real world 3-4 days a week, they both had/have a wide circle of friends.  Don't try and replicate school at home; the school system of teaching is designed to make it manageable for one teacher to manage a class of kids.  At home with a 1:2 ratio there's no need to do any of that.

On point 6, I could go on and on, but perhaps I've said enough for now.

thanks for sharing your experience Harry. More food for thought.