Home Schoolers??

[southbucks3]

Probably a stupid question, and I have looked on Google, but cannot find the answer.
Without regular inspections how can the LA be sure the child isn't simply watching telly all day, or worse sticking envelopes or something.
I am not trying to be antagonistic. Do you have to send in regular reports on progress or something in a similar way schools do?

[sherry_d]

There are no inspections required for home ed and we are within our rights to refuse any contact with LA. I haven't dealt with my local LA because they don't even know we home ed and I have chosen to keep it that way. Educations isn't defined in law in what it entails, the child watching TV all day can still be receiving an education.

More here: http://edyourself.org/articles/FAQ.php" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Does anyone check up on home educating families?
Local authorities have no statutory duty to monitor parents' home education provision. At the same time, section 436A Education Act 1996 gives local authorities the duty to make arrangements to identify children outside school who are not receiving suitable education. Government Guidelines indicate that the authority should address the situation informally by making inquiries with parents. Paragraph 3.4 of the Guidelines says "If it appears that a suitable education is not being provided, the local authority should seek to gather any relevant information that will assist them in reaching a properly informed judgement."
The crucial part of this is "if it appears". In other words, the LA should only be gathering further information in order to make a judgement after there appears to be a problem or failure in some way. The Guidelines also direct the LA to bear in mind that "learning takes place in a wide variety of environments" and also that parents are "not required to teach the National Curriculum, provide a broad and balanced education, have a timetable, have premises equipped to any particular standard, set hours during which education will take place, have any specific qualifications, make detailed plans in advance, observe school hours, days or terms, give formal lessons, mark work done by their child, formally assess progress or set development objectives, reproduce school type peer group socialisation, or match school-based, age-specific standards."
Paragraph 3.16 of the Government Guidelines says that "If the authority is not satisfied that a suitable education is being provided, and the parents, having been given a reasonable opportunity to address the identified concerns and report back to the authority have not done so, the authority should consider sending a formal notice to the parents under section 437 (see paragraph 2.7) before moving on, if needed, to the issuing of a school attendance order."

[meerme]

un, and DIY mum, even LAs that are blatantly flouting the law have HE advisors who get on well with some parents and whose input is appreciated. However, I'll maintain that an LA intentionally misquoting the law on their website or their HE policy is an LA to be wary of as they can always change advisors or require existing advisors implement the local policy more rigourously.

In any case, it seems to me that an organisation with a vested interest in your child going back to school is not best placed as a source of information on your HE rights - especially as 80% of them are known to mislead parents - when there are so many independent sources around. sherry_d's link, for example, is one very good place to go for unbiased info.

[meerme]

Without regular inspections how can the LA be sure the child isn't simply watching telly all day, or worse sticking envelopes or something.

Good question. But why is it any of the LA's business? Did they come and inspect you when the child was two years old? 3? 4? What changes when a child becomes five and stops on the day they turn sixteen? All that changes is an artificial construct called "compulsory school age".

Do you, who taught the child how to walk and talk and wipe her bottom, become a useless parent who doesn't have any interest in the child's welfare for exactly the period between the ages of 5 and 16? There are days when I let my child do whatever she likes all day. On occasion all month. Yet she's a keen and motivated learner and years ahead of her peers academically. An inspection from the LA could have failed us miserably and required her to attend some underperforming local school where she'd be prone to losing all interest in education.

The LA has to assume that you're a good parent until they have reason to believe otherwise. Just like the police have to assume you're not a burglar. The police can't raid your house to see if you're breaking the law. The LA can't, similarly, demand to inspect whether you're breaking the law with respect your legal duty to educate your child (legally it's your duty to educate, not the school's, not the LA's).

[um]

Unfortunately some children in Birmingham attend school full time from age 4 to 16 (will soon be 17) and emerge with no qualifications and a bad attitude.
I think there is plenty of work for 'inspectors' to do and it doesn't really involve homeschoolers.
Quite what they were doing for 12 years in beyond me... I frequently seem to deal with people who cannot interact politely or manage simple instructions (we once had to go out to find a takeaway driver who could not understand a satnav, map, or directions )

The vast, vast majority of homeschooled children will go on to do far better than that and will usually excel educationally as their parents are highly supportive of them.
A recent study of 'unschoolers' (where there is no structured curriculum at all and the child learns at their own pace, even if that means starting to read at age 12) showed that they had all attained gainful employment which is sadly more than can be said of many school leavers.
Even where the child is not 'academic', I have seen that they are brought up with good values and will receive support to move into a vocation that they will enjoy.
I heard of one 'unstructured' homeschooled boy who might in school have been described as special needs, who went on to become a roof-thatcher and is doing very well as one of the few left in the UK!
My three older children have pursued academic paths and are in grammar school but my experience of being with homeschoolers who choose a different path, has taught me that their way of life and philosophy is generally very caring and nurturing, and I respect that.

Right, now to wake up dc5 and get him to start sticking those envelopes

[meerme]

'unschoolers' (where there is no structured curriculum at all and the child learns at their own pace, even if that means starting to read at age 12) ...

This concept horrifies many parents. Understandably so. Many years ago I too would have strongly disapproved of this form of education. Education? You can't call it that. Negligence would be a more appropriate term!

But that's because like other parents I was so conditioned to this whole school malarkey and had been brainwashed by "the system" into thinking that children learn best in schools, that they need to attend to acquire "social skills", that they are better off taught by a trained teacher who knows the subject ...and all kinds of other nonsense. These are the kind views many LAs have (that's why it's a good idea to keep them away).

We unschooled DS1 and left it to him to study whatever, whenever he wanted. Our focus was simply to ensure he enjoyed learning and to provide the resources and encouragement. He's 12 now, and can easily A* at least 3-4 GCSE if he took them, including Maths, Physics and ICT. In one or two subjects, like history, he may be slightly below "average", but ... so what? I'm glad we dumped the silly National Curriculum and focused on keeping learning fun and developing learning independence. DD1 has now taken the 11+ for a laugh, scored very high (without coaching), and wants to try grammar school. We're going to let her ... but only as a "life experience". I'm hoping it won't damage her education too much to be in a grammar school for a term or two.

These aren't genius kids, BTW, and I'm not just saying that to be modest. They are bright, but no more so than thousands of other children in our county. She's not old enough for secondary school yet but DD1 has already drafted a personal statement to submit with her Oxbridge application! Being infinitely more of an independent and motivated learner than most children who've been to school she should stand a very distinct advantage when taking an Oxbridge interview. Dear reader, consider giving your child that advantage too!

[Tinkers]

I haven't home schooled but thought I'd add my experience of a group of homeschooled children.
Last year I was a ref at the regional heats of First Lego league. The winning team was a group of home educated children, very mixed group in age, with the tallest boy being almost double the height of the youngest girl. They had excelled at all the various aspects of the competition and were very worthy winners. Obviously, being home educated meant they could probably spend more time preparing for the competition than other groups, but as a group they had worked well together and were a lovely bunch (tbh all the teams were).
I believe they went on the win the national competition and went to Spain to compete there too.

[meerme]

Thanks, Tinkers.

BTW, everyone, I know the topic title is about home schooling, and that's the common term, but (Elective) Home Education is the legal term in the UK; it's usually abbreviated to HE. Nobody I know uses "HS" (except maybe in the US).

We have opted out of school, don't run a school at home and are averse to the whole concept of "school". No restricting learning to the hours of 9-3. No having fixed time slots for each subject and forcing the child to stop a fun learning activity because the clock says the period is over etc.

The HE term covers both home schoolers and other home educators. Some home educators get offended if you call them homeschoolers. That's a bit silly and petty of them. But neither home schoolers nor home educators get offended if you refer to it as HE.

[succeed]

I do know of one child who attended a good comprehensive in Solihull where her very middle class parents pulled her out to educate her at home due to 'bullying'. When probed, the girl had become upset because a boy in her class threw a rubber at her (admittedly more than once). My only concern was that the solution seemed rather re-actionary and did not allow the girl to develop the social or life skills to deal with this type of issue herself . I can see there are certainly some strong arguments for HE where the child really doesn't fit into the school model or would excel much better at home, and wouldn't rule it out myself. However, I think it would be a shame if it became increasingly the norm, making our schools less representative of the community and could potentially lock a section of society away in ivory towers.

[meerme]

...her very middle class parents pulled her out to educate her at home due to 'bullying'. When probed, the girl had become upset because a boy in her class threw a rubber at her (admittedly more than once).

Are you sure you know the whole story? Taking on the responsibilities and costs of home ed is not something parents do lightly. Especially when the National Baby Sitting Service is free.

Schools don't teach social skills (the public seem to assume that children somehow magically develop empathy, conflict resolution skills etc., simply by being with 29 other kids the same age. They don't.) Children don't automatically acquire an ability to deal with bullies either, they learn instead how to become good and compliant victims and they take that "skill" to adulthood. Over a third of children in our area deregistering from school are doing so because of bullying. It seems to be a major and nationwide problem.

...could potentially lock a section of society away in ivory towers

I love this old chestnut particularly because of the irony re. locking children up and forcing them to study. But, on a more serious note, our responsibilities as parents aren't to ensure schools are "representative of the community"; it's to give our children the best that we can. HE is increasing by about 10% a year and it's the sorry state of our schools that's to blame.

I can see there are certainly some strong arguments for HE where the child really doesn't fit into the school model or would excel much better at home

HE isn't a fallback for oddballs and misfits. There are strong arguments for HE for every child. My children were perfectly happy and "thriving" in school. I took them out because I wanted them to have a proper, rounded education instead of the mush they're fed in the GCSE factories.