home educated children

[wizard69]

My son , who will be 11 this year, has been home educated for the last 3 years. Taking him out of school and teaching him myself has probably been the best thing that iv'e done.He's happier, more contented,works better and has more concentration.In addition he is more sociable and confident now that he isn't forced to spend time mixing with kids that he'd rather not mix with.
What are your views on school and education?

[coco pops]

Took 2 sons out of school aged 12 and 14 . Regret not doing it sooner. Think if i could turn the clock back i would home school from start. Local education dept were good , had no problem with the 6 month inspections. Plenty of social time with other people their age out of home and it is great.

[wizard69]

coco, my LEA inspector is my old headmaster from highschool.He's really good regarding home educators which surprised me as I know of other LEA inspectors who try there hardest to get kids back into school (one size fits all, kind of mentality) But then again I suspect that he knows how cr@p his school was. My own schooling was awful and I couldnt in all honesty put my own child through that.
I really believe that if more parents knew of the option to home educate, the schools would empty.
What really gets my goat is the narrow minded bigots who insist that kids should be in school, even when they are extremly unhappy there.
However most people are surprised when they are told that school ISN'T compulsory and if they had known that they would have taken their own kids out

[coco pops]

I had a lot of people say it was illegal to home school or that my sons would not get a good education .Well ,1 son is now at Uni and the other at college.
I think parents should be told more about the option of home schooling.

[saxy_jag]

My two are grown up now, but if I had eleven year olds now, they wouldn't be going to school. You see, since they were atc school, I've spent time working for an LEA and realised how incredibly easy and how much better it woudl have been for them.

I also think that too many people get the wrong idea about home education. They believe that just because kids might not be doing the same stuff as in schools, that they're nor learning as much, when in fact they learn more, and more useful stuff at that. They also get the wrong idea about how home-educated youngsters socialise (or don't, in their eyes). In my limited experience, this is one of the uppermost things in a parent's mind when they home-educate and it seems their kids are often better socialised than school-goers.

Good luck to anyone who's doing it, or thinking about doing it.

[Theland]

I'd love to try it, but I work seven days most weeks so it would be impossible - just too much going on in the domestic scene - but I'm sure I could teach them better than the schools given the chance.

[cookiee69]

school isn't just about academia - it's about socialising and learning how to fit in.
Any child being home schooled misses on that.