What do you think of home schooling?

In Germany it's not allowed at all. A punishable offence. However, during lockdown schools were shut completely and we took in our eldest grandson and did his school work with him. We had a zoom meeting every morning with our grandson's teacher and the rest of the class ( half the class, as it was more easily manageable). We were all given instructions on what exercises to do that day. He was in his first year so we were teaching him the basic letters and simple addition. DH is a retired teacher and he came into his own in the situation.

Our son and his wife wouldn't have been able to do this as they were both WFH. The other grandparents looked after the two-year-old.

It was great fun while it lasted but we couldn't have kept it up for long.

Grammaretto

Where are those children now Blondiescot?
It would be nice to hear that they weren't damaged by the experience.
My DBiL was sent to a Free/progressive school and appears to have been happy there. He is on the autistic spectrum. The school closed down, I think because of drugtaking.
What a minefield school can be!

I've no idea, unfortunately - they moved a couple of years ago (leaving their rented house and garden like an absolute pigsty, I might add), but I've no idea where they went. They didn't really interact much with any of the neighbours.

Where are those children now Blondiescot?
It would be nice to hear that they weren't damaged by the experience.
My DBiL was sent to a Free/progressive school and appears to have been happy there. He is on the autistic spectrum. The school closed down, I think because of drugtaking.
What a minefield school can be!

Antonia

It depends on how much time and effort parents put in. There is a vast gulf between children who are actively taught, with opportunities for socialising, and those who are simply removed from school under the guise of homeschooling, and then left to amuse themselves for most of the day.

This, absolutely, I have friends who home schooled their son and he was very actively taught, had ample opportunities for socialising and has turned into a very well-rounded young man who is about to go to university.
On the other hand, we had neighbours a few doors along who believed everything should be left to the children to decide - they even made the national papers because of their approach to this - the children got to decide everything from what time they got up in the morning (or indeed if they got up at all), to pretty much everything the family did. There were no rules whatsoever. How do children who've grown up like that ever fit into 'normal' society? At some point in their lives surely they have to learn that there are rules, etc?

I can’t think why I would personally want to nor can I believe that my children would have wanted to be educated at home. I could understand it in families who go on amazing adventures for months or years but not for stay at home families like ours.

Most of the ones I have come across do not want their children being taught by and mixing with non Christians. There are a surprising number of them even here, locally. Their choice ,of course and the children I have met are all super polite and well mannered but I still feel that something is a bit ‘off’.

Copper3

My sister chose to hs her 3. The eldest works on a farm and seems quite happy, the middle one sat two GCSE's in English and Maths this summer and failed. The youngest (14) is very behind in basic English/Maths skills. However, my sister has taken them to museums and hs groups. They have attended some other activities too, but the children are very quiet and non-conversational.
She didn't want the hassle of the school run and thought she could educate them better!
Her children have no qualifications in any subject, but hopefully they will find their way in the world.
I personally would have invested in a private tutor.

This should never be allowed to happen. Those parents are making a choice that will impede their children's future forever.

Many countries do not allow hs for that reason, and others insist on the Curriculum to be followed and same exams to be taken, with strict guidelines to be followed, regular inspections and testing, and exams taken at the same level at all stages.

I'm sorry to hear that Copper but on the other hand who knows how school would have been for them?
I taught for a while(crafts) in a Rudolf Steiner school which was often criticised by outsiders as less than a good academic education.
However most from each year group went on to higher education, became doctors and lawyers etc.

My own son, who was underachieving at his local high school, suddenly decided to wake up work hard to get into a good university. He achieved 3 grade A Highers from scratch in a year. We were amazed. This wasn't at RS.

I think as long as a child is happy and the parents believe in the system they have chosen; it is child centred and not all about school stats, they should be ok.

My sister home schooled her four kids for several years, until the oldest one demanded to go to school because she was sick of only getting to play with kids younger than her. This in spite of my sister mixing with plenty of other home-schooled families and their all doing joint activities.

My sister's kids all went to secondary school (local comprehensive) and all did very well indeed by anyone's standards. Three of them have PhDs, including two from US Ivy League unis and one of them despite being totally deaf from the age of five (meningitis), which suggests to me that it's not really schooling that makes the difference but a child's determination and academic intelligence.

Note: I qualified 'intelligence' with 'academic' because I don't think academic intelligence is the only useful kind.

I would certainly home school now. My children went to small rural schools which were very good. I think it is the social aspect of school which I dislike now. To say that HS children miss out is wrong. They can participate in all the out of school activities that other children do.

They don't get taught the ridiculous curriculum that is now included in some subjects, they learn to work by themselves without other pupils disruption. I know HS children who have gone onto university to study nursing, law, administration and more.

It is a lot of work and requires a lot of dedication, but is very rewarding.

My sister chose to hs her 3. The eldest works on a farm and seems quite happy, the middle one sat two GCSE's in English and Maths this summer and failed. The youngest (14) is very behind in basic English/Maths skills. However, my sister has taken them to museums and hs groups. They have attended some other activities too, but the children are very quiet and non-conversational.
She didn't want the hassle of the school run and thought she could educate them better!
Her children have no qualifications in any subject, but hopefully they will find their way in the world.
I personally would have invested in a private tutor.

I was a mature student out of necessity when my children first attended school. I would have home schooled them without hesitation but time constraints didn’t allow it. I spent every single evening with them doing homework revision etc.

I supported them in further education I knew my children needed friends around them as they were timid especially my son. Who witnessed a nasty divorce and needed more socialising and companionship that home schooling would not have provided at the time.

I agree annodomini I couldn't have home schooled mine.
A woman I know proudly announced they were homeschooling when her DD was a baby.
She did begin, to be fair, but later on she sent them to school announcing that the schools had improved!

Who is doing the 'schooling'? I wouldn't have felt very comfortable, trying to educate my children, despite having a decent degree. I would also have felt very limited by having to be around all day working with only my own children. Parents who do this must be very committed. Should both parents be involved or does most of the teaching fall to the mother? Or perhaps,nowadays, when many people are working from home, both parents are able to play a part.

It depends on how much time and effort parents put in. There is a vast gulf between children who are actively taught, with opportunities for socialising, and those who are simply removed from school under the guise of homeschooling, and then left to amuse themselves for most of the day.

There is a lot of mixing across classes though, in assemblies, productions, breaktine etc, quite a few classes are mixed year group now. Also 3 year olds and 10 year olds are very different, the differences in capability obviously disappear in adult years.

I also think like notspaghetti that the social side can be hit and miss
School is the first time in your life when you are arranged by age - the next is the old folks home.
I like to have friends of all ages.

Before Ofsted and league tables and attendance as a judge of how good schools are, it used to be able to get the best of both worlds, negotiating a kind of Mx and match that suited the individual.

Not any more because it will affect the statistics on which schools are judged.

That was when we put children first.

One of my granddaughters was home schooled for about three years. I was one of her teachers, - English. I now feel that she did not have the more rounded education which my other three grandchildren had. But in her case it became impossible for her to attend school due to issues. Sometimes it is for the best.

While DGS is travelling he is being home schooled. He will be out of school for 6 months. He will probably fit back in fine as he is mature and outgoing. He does maths each day with his mum or dad. His general knowledge and world geography knows no bounds. He's 10.
He wasn't enjoying the classroom before he left due to noisy open plan composite classes.
He misses his friends quite a bit. He dislikes competitive sports.
A group of Home Schoolers used to bring their DC to the community garden where I helped. They had their own allotment sized patch and I would show them how to string onions and other garden crafts.
It wasn't very different from when the school children came along except there were fewer of them.
I was impressed to hear that my DGS's music teacher never went to school herself and yet she is a brilliant teacher

The social side of school is very much overrated I think.
True friends come along in many forms and "arrive" in your lives differently.

Where, otherwise than at school, is it useful to only socialise with 30 plus people born in the same academic year as you? Where else might you need to spend every day in the same room as 30 plus similarly aged people?

How will this very limited form of socialising benefit you in adult life?

Just wondering.

Galaxy you are right. My grandchildren are involved in swimming clubs, cricket, games cafés, scouts clubs, gymnastics, martial arts, dance and drama. There is a huge number of homeschoolers in their area and so much going on!
Home education is not about staying at home!

There are many reasons parents do home schooling themselves or pay for online teaching - apparently there are online schools too. I Would
worry about their social skills but suppose there would be local activities the children could enjoy.
The social side of being in school is very difficult for some children who may have autism or similar conditions. Parents decide what they feel is the correct course of action for their children . Each to their own !

Not sure where you are living but we were homeschoolers many years ago here in the UK. Three of our grandchildren are home educated now.
In "our day" there were as many reasons for home education as there were families with none in our immediate circle who did it for religious reasons- and a smattering nationally. In America I think there are more. There always were quite a few in America.

Why would they not be involved in sporting activities, football teams, scouts etc do not have a requirement to attend school. I have some concerns about children where there are safeguarding concerns going unnoticed. I also think that for some children with additional needs families may find homeschooling the best option.