Free Range Education

[Rhona]

Have any of you been home educated, or tried it yourselves?

We live in an area with a thriving, very sociable, elective home ed community and it's kind of on my radar at the moment, just whilst our little ones are very little - not for exam study years. I have a couple of friends who already 'Free-Range' but thought I'd ask on here, what with the diverse folk/lifestyles frequenting these pages.

Any experiences you can share?

[Aberdeenplotter]

no experience but I strongly feel that it isn't just the education in terms of the curriculum that children learn at school. They also learn about society beyond the boundaries of home and their place in society.

Just my viewpoint

[bearded bloke]

Yep,as AP say's ^^ also school is the place where you make your lifelong friends.

[zazen999]

I don't know anyone still from school. And home ed has its own social network where kids learn about society. One of those things is that society itself is a diverse beast.

[Feral007]

I don't know if I could have home schooled my kids - with their imagination I would have been hard put to stop them learning everything there was to know.
But having had 3 kids at school I discovered that unless they were easy to teach, and only wanted to learn what was set in front of them, it could be a big problem.
As for life long friends. I know of children and teenagers other than mine who have been bullied beyond belief, which is not something I think kids should be exposed to. This little ex batt we have is reminding me of the bullying years with the kids

My kids went to Montessori in the early years and altho they don't remember much about it, I think their love of learning came from being fostered there. I think the high school did it's best to knock that out of them. In the finish they left school, as they wanted to learn stuff that was interesting and at their level (way above the curriculum) and also because the subjects they were interested in (Engineering and Physics) were not being offered at the school. One is now teaching himself Programming online.
I do think home schooling is an issue for the kids who have parents who want no one else to have any input into their child's thinking. At Montessori I don't think there were 2 kids from the same ethnic background, which made learning about culture/the world/food/beliefs and everything else very interesting. Most home schoolers join a social group and also take their kids to after school activities so they do meet lots of people and have lots of social friends. Some schools here even have special times set aside for the homeschoolers to join the local school once a week/fortnight for a lesson on something. And the Distance Ed place has 2 week 'Residence Schools' so all the distance ed kids (farms etc, who home school) get to know each other.

I've become a fan of it, which I never thought I would.

[Alison]

A friend of mine home schools and finds it very challenging and is constantly wondering if she is doing the right thing. It probably helps that she is a trained teacher, although not originally for that age group (her children are primary age). Not too sure what she is going to do when they get to senior age. Personally it's not something I would do as I think there are a lot of social things that you get from school, one of them being meeting a wider range or people (harder, although not impossible with home schooling). Another friend chose not to pick the nearest school which had very high scores as she felt it was too narrow in it's education, the one she chose is, on paper, not as good, however her kids are flourishing in a very mixed environment with kids from a much wider range of backgrounds (the nearer one was very middle class and identikit kids). That said, your kid will only ever do well if any schooling is backed up with how you all are at home (and a bit of luck ). Have you visited the local schools at all? Might be worth a look, if you like one of them then great, if you feel uncomfortable then home schooling is possibly the way to go - a very personal choice.

[Seahorse]

I didn't/don't homeschool but I can see the attraction. I have friends who do it, with variable results. I think the biggest issue is that you need social interaction with other homeschoolers and don't just live in a bubble with no socialisation for your children. It sounds like you would have that. Another other issue is do you have the time, expertise and energy? (I don't :/). If you don't want to homeschool till 16/18 (which would be pretty hard!) you also need to think about secondary schools' admission policies. Lots of them have 'feeder schools' and are already over subscribed. The chances of a homeschooled 'unknown quantity' getting a place somewhere competitive might be slim.

[Two_Sheds]

If you're thinking about doing it ... spend a few months as a school volunteer first. Dip your toe in the water, get a feel for the curriculum etc.

I work in a primary school, with special needs children. They all need one-to-one assistance, but the Govt is never going to pay for that, so it's 12 kids to one teacher, and lots of them get left behind. I can see the attraction of home-ed, esp. if your children have any kind of special need.

[petal]

I have taught home educated children upon their integration to examination years in school. They have a miserable time, socially. They tend to be somewhat advanced in all other respects, due to the one to one that Two sheds commented on. Surprisingly independent free thinkers too, I expected clinginess.

[Darwin.]

My wife is a management accountant and I'm a science student so we're no dummies but I still doubt we'd be clever enough to educate someone. We'll both help out with homework and add little bits and pieces they don't learn at school but that'll be it.

Looking back we seem to remember school as being easy compared to work and as being the happiest time of our lives. When I actually think about it I absolutely hated it, I was far too quiet and didn't mix well and found it hard to get motivated to learn. Bullying is a bigger problem now than it ever was and I do worry about that end of school for our kid but home school as was mentioned above may leave someone with very little social skills and very few friends outside family members.

[marchogaeth]

We always felt we should put our children into the local school and then make sure that (all) the children got their entitlement, not just ours. However, if this doesn't feel like an option for you, I would visit as many local schools as you think you could happily travel to. Don't take your children, at least to begin with, and really try to get a feel of what happens in each one. I don't mean the hoop jumping but all the cooking, gardening, hands on learning through play stuff.

As I teach in Wales, I can't talk about the English curriculum but we have learning through play for a substantial part of learning up to 7, lots of outdoor activities etc. Having said that, each school is quite different. We had a parent bring her child in today who had looked at several schools before choosing ours. Also remember schools can change overnight - different teacher/head teacher.

Secondary schools are my worry area especially that first three years when they aren't exam fodder so can slip under all sorts of radars.

There are plenty of good resources on line to support EHE.

[WendyC]

Bullying is a bigger problem now than it ever was

And your evidence for this is? What I do think is different is that most institutions, and I would include schools in that, are more open in admitting that bullying takes place and have procedures dealing with it.

[Potstubsdustbins]

I think I agree with Wendy, I was at secondary school in the late 1950s leaving in Jan 1962.

It was then as most were a single sex school and bullying was rife. You had to learn to stand up for yourself very quickly or you would go under.

I can still remember quite clearly the name of the biggest bully, one of the few names I can remember from those days.

Potty

[veggiechicken]

I was bullied in school too - it was to be expected when you were short, plump, four-eyed and poor. I soon learnt how to fight
I think the type of bullying has changed though - we didn't have mobile phones and cameras - or designer clothing. If we were lucky we had a school uniform that fitted and a satchel.
Time to bring out the 4 Yorkshiremen sketch

[Potstubsdustbins]

I wasn't short or plump, just specci 4 eyes, and round our way most were poor. Bullying was purely physical in those days.

Life changed when a new headmaster arrived a certain Mr W Hadrill a very fair man but he ruled with a rod of iron, well a bladdy big cane actually.

He had a way of dealing with the bullies that would be frowned on today but it certainly worked. He called them out at morning assembly held them down over a chair and applied said cane until they were sobbing their socks off exit one bully.

Potty