Home Schooling

[gness]

Though Smo's thread went a little wonky Shar's views on home schooling were really interesting.
My daughter's school closed at the start of her GCSE course so five families decided not to enrol their children in a new school but to educate them together ourselves for two years. We did employ redundant teachers and it was the best thing we could have done. Had I my time over my children would be home educated......any thoughts?

[Sharingan]

Did your daughter enjoy it too Gness? I would really have hated to have to go to school.xx

[Sqad]

Yes.....I thought that it was interesting as well.

Any thoughts? Yes.
I was brought up by parents in a two up and two down council house, both were uneducated and grandad was a labourer on the railway. No way was i going to get an education at home and even when I attained a place at Grammar school, my homework was an imposition on the relaxation of my parents and i had to go upstairs in the bloody cold bedroom with a bedside table as a desk.

Home Schooling was for the well off.........not the likes of us and indeed the surrounding area.

When i go to Grammar school, it was fantastic....I was competing at sport and also in my studies with boys of differing classes "working class" and "middle class" I found it mentally and physically stimulating.

I could not have got that by being educated at home......"my" home anyway.

[cazzz1975]

I am just curious, do homeschooled children study and do proper gcse exams/coursework? what happens after gcse's?

[gness]

She did Shar...but she had attended a small private school til then because the local schools were so bad. A financial struggle but worth it. She loved the two years of home schooling...she is very focused and knew from the age of five that she wanted to be a geologist so the education suited her very well. She joined and am dram group which gave her a very wide circle of friends and she never missed out socially.
She did well at a larger school where she went on a scholarship for A levels but she really didn't enjoy that.

[Sharingan]

No Charlie I have never attended school except very briefly when I lived in Germany a few years ago but that was a Steiner School so very relaxed as well and only for a few months.

[gness]

A similar background Sqad......home education would not have worked for me......my mother had a fit if I "wasted" my time reading a book and, although bright enough, I wasn't allowed to go to Grammar school as it would have taken me away from the Catholic school. Girls didn't need an education. My education began when I left home at fifteen.
Cazz, my daughter followed a GCSE course supervised by the teachers who had been made redundant when her school closed. They kindly put their careers on hold for the two years to teach our children for four days a week. It worked well.
The head of Kimbolton School had seen our children interviewed on TV about their education and contacted us to offer her a scholarship to attend his school...something we couldn't have afforded but for which we were , and still are, very grateful.

[Sharingan]

This is the Education Otherwise homepage link, that gives lots of legal advice and tips about good practice for home schooling for anyone wondering about the actual legal framework surrounding it.

http://www.educationotherwise.net/

[Sqad]

\\\The head of Kimbolton School had seen our children interviewed on TV about their education and contacted us to offer her a scholarship to attend his school.\\\

Excellent School.....played cricket against them for my school on many occasions.

[gness]

Thanks, Shar. x

[jim360]

How easy was it for you to meet and play with other children Sharingan?

[gness]

She did well there, Sqad as anyone with an opportunity like that should. It's a lovely and interesting school. She didn't "enjoy" it as much as her earlier education but that was probably suddenly being in a large school.

[Sharingan]

Very jim. When I was smaller I used to do ballet and gymnastics at clubs, met other kids at the local pony club, played girls rugby lol, did various martial arts and met lots of people my own age via those. I also have a lot of siblings and they have all been home schooled as well and have lots of friends. The one thing I will say is that I have always tended to prefer the company of older people which might be down to being home schooled, but it might be because I don't like a lot of things most people my age like because I've never been subject to peer pressure. I also think that it makes you more assertive, not having to go into an environment where non conformity leads to you being descended on by a pack of 'popular' people wanting you to be like them. I can choose my friends from a vast age range and do. xx

[jim360]

Well that was the only reason I could think of for not going for home schooling, risks to social life. I guess with proper care there are none. Thanks for the reply.

[Sharingan]

You're welcome xx

[LazyGun]

It is interesting to hear someone who appears to have had a really positive experience with home schooling.

The debate about its relevance and suitability is usually coloured by the correlation between religious belief of the parents and the desire to home school, and whether such schooling offers the child a decent chance at developing social skills etc.

[Connemmara]

even though we had some cruel nuns I adored school - comprehensive - wonderful friends, holidays down south to the Irish school area called Gaeltacht
we were in Lunia. Great laughs. only13 and away from pop and mom - we all thought it was great. and for 6 weeks too. brill

[AlwaysConfused]

I like the idea of home schooling. However, the classroom environment is a great place to learn to debate, defend oneself and of course, to learn social skills. Also, to mix with children from different backgrounds.

[Sharingan]

That's why I had to theoretically attend the Steiner School when we moved to Germany Lazygun. You can't home educate there because they fear the production of insidious societies, so we had to find a work around with that, which we finally did.

[yogasun]

Sharingan Out of interest how do you manage with home schooling for all the scientific experiments etc. I can remember some quite potentially dangerous ones which involved a lot of equipment, etc.
Also at grammar school (I had a similar experience to Sqad but my parents were supportive but not that well educated) we did dissection for A level Zoology. I expect that's all gone out the window with health and safety etc.