Homeschooling (in the UK) questions?

Question

I don't get on with high school. I hate the kids, the structure, and the way lessons are taught and lack of choice.

I've been doing some reasearch, and have found out that there are online courses that can be done. Does anyone know any good ones? (and that are cheap, or maybe free?)

Also, is it true that the council have to give me a certain amount of tutoring per week?

Does it matter that my mum might not be knowlegable in the subjects?

One last question, how can I persuade my mum? to let me? If I bring it up, she will assume it is because of bullying (I have had trouble with that in the past), but, it's not that. Also, she'll say it's just a phase, and that I'll out grow it, but I know I won't. I've hated high school from year 8 (I'm in year 9 now), and personally I can't see myself succeding because I always take days off because I detest it so much.

Answer 1

I home educate both my children (15 & 12)! It is hard work and requires a lot of commitment on both sides. To be at home being taught doesn't mean it's a doss!

The Education Act states that a child should be given an education according to their age ability and aptitude at school or otherwise (this is a paraphrase, but the act's wording is similar!). Home educators educate under the 'otherwise' category!

As for curriculum - I use a Christian one which gives a high standard qualification and is recognised by most universities and medical training hospitals. I don't really know about other ones except for The Open Learning Centre which is a distance learning company (see link below).

If you are having problems in school I think that home educating would be the best option for you as you would be in a secure environment.

IF your mum does agree to teach you at home she will have to write a letter to the head teacher in your present school who then has an obligation to tell the LEA - your mum may then have a visit from the Education Welfare Officer! If you are working well there is no need to be worried about him/her visiting as they will only check on you! My local EWO last called in 2000!

All the best and I hope it works out for you!

I've posted some links to home ed support groups as well!

Answer 2

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Home_school...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compulsory_...

Homeschooling – also called home education or home school – is the education of children at home, typically by parents or guardians, rather than in a public or private school. Prior to the introduction of compulsory school attendance laws, most childhood education occurred within the family or community, with only a small portion of the population attending schools or employing tutors. Currently, the great majority of children in developed nations receive their formal education in public and private schools.

In many places homeschooling is a legal option for parents who wish to provide their children with a different learning environment than exists in nearby schools. Some of these families make this choice on religious grounds.Many do it because of a dissatifaction with the schools in their area or with the institutional effect of school in general. It is also an alternative for families living in isolated rural locations and those who choose, for practical or personal reasons, not to have their children attend school.

Homeschooling may refer to instruction in the home under the supervision of correspondence schools or umbrella schools. In some places, an approved curriculum is legally required if children are to be home-schooled.[1] A curriculum-free philosophy of homeschooling may be called unschooling, a term coined in 1977 by American educator John Holt in his magazine Growing Without Schooling.

Contents [hide]

1 History

1.1 Schooling in the United States

1.2 Beginning of the modern homeschool movement

1.2.1 John Holt

1.2.2 Raymond & Dorothy Moore

2 Demographics

2.1 Australia

2.2 Canada

2.3 People's Republic of China

2.4 France

2.5 Germany

2.6 Republic of Ireland

2.7 New Zealand

2.8 Slovenia

2.9 United Kingdom

2.10 United States

3 Motivations

4 Methodology

4.1 Unit studies

4.2 All-in-one curricula

4.3 Student-paced learning

4.4 Community resources

4.5 Unschooling

5 Cost to families

6 Legality

7 Supportive research

7.1 Test results

7.2 Social research

8 Criticism of homeschooling

8.1 Philosphical and political opposition

8.2 Criticism of supportive achievement studies

8.3 Financial Obligations

9 References

10 See also

11 External links



[edit] History



Frontispiece to Fireside Education, Samuel Griswold (Goodrich).

Thomas Edison attended compulsory school for only three months.The earliest compulsory education in the West began in the late 17th century and early 18th century in the German states of Gotha, Calemberg and, particularly, Prussia.[2]

[edit] Schooling in the United States

Public schools were gradually introduced into the United States during the course of the 19th Century. The first state to issue a compulsory education law was Massachusetts, in 1789,[2] but not until 1852 did the state establish a "true comprehensive statewide, modern system of compulsory schooling."[2]

Prior to the introduction of public schools, many children were educated in private schools or in the home. During this period illiteracy was common and many children were never properly educated.[3] It was common for literate parents to use books dedicated to educating children such as Fireside Education, Griswold, 1828, Warren Burton's Helps to Education in the Homes of Our Country,[4] 1863, and the popular McGuffey Readers, sometimes bolstered by local or itinerant teachers, as means and opportunity allowed.[5] In contrast, Raymond Moore asserted that the United States was at the height of its national literacy under this informal system of tutelage.[6]

After the establishment of the Massachusetts system, other states and localities gradually began to provide public schools and to make attendance mandatory. In 1912 A.A. Berle of Tufts University, (not to be confused with the Adolf Berle who was a delegate to the Paris Peace Conference) asserted in his book The School in Your Home that the previous 20 years of mass education had been a failure and that he had been asked by hundreds of parents how they could teach their children at home.[5]

[edit] Beginning of the modern homeschool movement

[edit] John Holt

In 1964 John Caldwell Holt published his first work, How Children Fail. A teacher, and an observer of children and education, Holt asserted that the academic failure of schoolchildren was not in spite of the efforts of the schools, but actually because of the schools. Not surprisingly, How Children Fail ignited a firestorm of controversy. Holt was catapulted into American popular culture to the extent that he made appearances on major TV talk shows, wrote book reviews for Life magazine, and was a guest on the To Tell The Truth TV game show.[7] In his follow-up work, How Children Learn, 1967, he tried to demonstrate the learning process of children and why he believed school short circuits this process. Such claims fail to account for the success of many schools, nor allow for the fact that diverse public and private schools in the US have a wide variety of teaching methods and philosophies.

In neither book had he suggested any alternative to institutional schooling; he had hoped to initiate a profound rethinking of education to make schools friendlier toward children. As the years passed he became convinced that the way schools were was what society wanted, and that a serious re-examination was not going to happen in his lifetime.

Leaving teaching to publicize his ideas about education full time, he encountered books by other authors questioning the premises and efficacy of compulsory schooling, like Deschooling Society by Ivan Illich, 1970, and No More Public School by Harold Bennet, 1972 (which went so far as to offer advice to parents on how to keep their children out of school illegally). Then, in 1976, he published Instead of Education; Ways to Help People Do Things Better. In its conclusion he called for a "Children's Underground Railroad" to help children escape compulsory schooling.[7] In response, Holt was contacted by families from around the U.S. to tell him that they were educating their children at home. In 1977, after corresponding with a number of these families, Holt began producing a magazine dedicated to home education: Growing Without Schooling.[5]

A former WWII submariner, with no professional training in education, Holt's philosophy was simple: "... the human animal is a learning animal; we like to learn; we are good at it; we don't need to be shown how or made to do it. What kills the processes are the people interfering with it or trying to regulate it or control it."[2] It was no great leap from there to arrive at homeschooling, and Holt later said, in 1980, "I want to make it clear that I don’t see homeschooling as some kind of answer to badness of schools. I think that the home is the proper base for the exploration of the world which we call learning or education. Home would be the best base no matter how good the schools were."[3]

Holt actually wrote only one book about homeschooling, Teach Your Own, 1981, and continued to hope for more expansive reform within education until his death in 1985.

[edit] Raymond & Dorothy Moore

Almost simultaneously, in the late 1960s and early 1970s, educational professionals Raymond and Dorothy Moore began to research the academic validity of the rapidly growing Early Childhood Education movement. This research included independent studies by other researchers and a review of over 8,000 studies bearing on Early Childhood Education and the physical and mental development of children.

They asserted that formal schooling before ages 8–12 not only lacked the anticipated effectiveness, but was actually harmful to children, particularly boys (due to their lag in maturity). The Moores began to publish their view that formal schooling was damaging young children academically, socially, mentally, and even physiologically. They presented evidence that childhood problems such as juvenile delinquency, nearsightedness, increased enrollment of students in special education classes, and behavioral problems were the result of increasingly earlier enrollment of students.[8] The Moores cited studies demonstrating that orphans who were given surrogate mothers were measurably more intelligent, with superior long term effects – even though the mothers were mentally retarded teenagers – and that illiterate tribal mothers in Africa produced children who were socially and emotionally more advanced than typical western children, by western standards of measurement.[8]

Their primary assertion was that the bonds and emotional development made at home with parents during these years produced critical long term results that were cut short by enrollment into schools, and could neither be replaced nor afterward corrected in an institutional setting.[8] Recognizing a necessity for early out-of-home care for some children — particularly special needs and starkly impoverished children, and children from exceptionally inferior homes — they maintained that the vast majority of children are far better situated at home — even with mediocre parents — than with the most gifted and motivated teachers in a school setting (assuming that the child has a gifted and motivated teacher). They described the difference as follows: "This is like saying, if you can help a child by taking him off the cold street and housing him in a warm tent, then warm tents should be provided for all children — when obviously most children already have even more secure housing."[9]

Similar to Holt, the Moores embraced homeschooling after the publication of their first work, Better Late Than Early, 1975, and went on to become important homeschool advocates and consultants with the publication of books lik

Answer 3

home education doesn't have to be difficult or expensive, and your mum does not need a degree in teaching either.  Teachers dont learn everything they need to know they learn how to teach classes of kids and all sorts of other things... when you are learning at home its a whole different issue.  

I am a parent who home educates her children.

Oh and btw the library is free to join!  Children dont even pay late fees and if you ask nicely they will get you any book you need.

I bought a lot of books on Amazon, ebay etc ..they were all reasonably priced and for my son who was previously in school I simply bought him the next books up to what he was doing.  Each book cost around £10 and there wasn't that many to buy.   Your mum will need to sit down and work out a plan with you, and after that you need to be the opne who is dedicated and can do your work without shirking off.  Its easy that way - we get all done by lunch time and they can spend the afternoon doing other things.  

People are so negative toward home educators - the first thing that say is about socialization - and my answer is quite simply first that my children do not have a problem with mixing with all sorts of people. and after that education is first priotity - you dont go to school to learn how to mix with other people.  

I will warn you this is not the place to be asking for advice - the majority of peoplehere have never as much as home educated their hamster so cannot give you the answers you need.

GOOD LUCK

Answer 4

Hey there, i totally sympathise with your situation! I hated high school but stuck it out and decided to go to sixth form through the same school. I managed to last three months and hated it so much I decided to leave. I went into employment and decided last year that I wanted to do my A levels but didnt really wanna be the oldest kid in the class (now 22) so I started looking round for home courses and found the national extension college. You have a tutor for each subject and a binder for the year with all your work in it. All you have to do is arrange your exams through your local high school or college. I'm now in my second year of sociology, history and law and so far its going great. I've had a look on the site and they also do GCSE's. It's definitely worth checking out...http://www.nec.ac.uk/colleges/category-b...    

                  

As far as trying to convince your mum explain to her that your not happy at the school and you have done some research and you know you would be better off studying from home. Studying from home also shows you have more discipline as its very easy to think "oh i'll have a rest today insead of doing any work" so your mum will really have to push you to do it but I dont think it's extra work for her unless its very different from the A level courses.

I really hope this helps and good luck  :)

Answer 5

Talk to your mum about it.

I know that the schemes seem tempting but they are not always as good as they look and are often for pupils with severe behaviour or learning difficulties and they have to have lots of referrals from various teachers, and often educational psychologists etc.

Your Local Education Authority could help you find out about the options available in your area including a change of school.  There may be someone in school who can also help you but they may be biased towards your school.

If your mum agrees then homeschooling is certainly an option and not overly expensive from my experience.

Don't rush into anything, think carefully and look at all your options.

Answer 6

Home schooling material is not cheap. Have a look at:

http://www.oxfordhomeschooling.co.uk/GCS...

No, the council will not provide you with tutoring per week - otherwise lots of people would be doing it!

Not knowing the subjects will of course make a difference...that is why teachers have to have a degree - preferably in the subject they are teaching.

If you continue to 'take days off' then your parents will get a visit from the Educational Welfare Officer and could end up in court, swiftly followed by a fine or, at worst, prison if you continuously fail to attend school.

Go and see your school's Connexions Adviser and see what might be done to improve things for you by the school or possibly by even moving schools. You will, at least, have somebody who will help you and you will have acted responsibly which will help your case.

Answer 7

Catzathome's advice is very good.

Getting started is easy, your mum writes a letter to the school saying you are now being taught at home - and that's it! Look at the education otherwise website for sample letters.

No, you won't get tutoring from the council - that's for things like long term illness, severe difficulties in school etc.

Your mum doesn't need to know everything, or be qualified in any way. You will be able to find out lots yourself.

As for persuading your mum, well, that's harder because it will need input, help and support from her. Get her to look at the education otherwise website (it's a home education organisation) so she can be a bit more informed. Lots of people have worries about home education (eg socialisation) that are actually unfounded, so a bit of knowledge can help.

I started home educating my daughter in October and I think she is the happiest she has ever been - and she's learnt masses and made loads of new friends - so good luck!

Answer 8

its going to be a full time job for your mum, but it can be a rewarding one, im not sure about the laws about it etc, but i know its possible, i am thinking of home learning my son. he has alot of problems and hates school due to diff things, but i will be watching your question for other answers, good luck and all the best for the future.

Answer 9

Well catz and ichthus9 took all the words out of my mouth. Very good advice there.

I home school my two children 7 and 13, well the one who is 13 is gonna start this monday. Whenever i go out with my daughter during school days, a lot of people ask me why she is not at school and when i tell them that she is home educated, they dont know what to say most of the time or they dont know what i mean :))

Your mum doesnt have to have a degree to teach you, look at me, i still dont know where to start with the 13 years old! But we are going to make plans for the year to come.

And with a positive report from the local authorities has boosted my confidence.

Explain to your mum that you wanting to stay home doesnt mean you wont learn, show her the differents websites about homeschool. If she is as cool as me she should be persuaded :))

I wish you all the best.