Jobseeking for Lone Parents now Compulsory

[PriorityOne]

Obviously each example is a unique one. The reasons for home schooling are multifarious. But they all have one very common thread. They save the Government an awfull lot of money. It is estimated that over 50,000 children are home educated and that total is rising year on year. This doesn't really surprise me.... behaviour in schools can be a jaw-dropping experience at times and staff are expected to tiptoe around certain children and parents, so as not to offend anyone... particularly SEN.... which is spiralling out of control. I work in a secondary school and at times, I've felt it a miracle that children come out of the system with any quaifications at all. The fact that standards in the "3 r's" has dropped so much over the years is partly down to the fact that the job is so d*mn stressful.

But the parents get no financial assistance at all. And it's ^&*%$ expensive! If the powers that be decided to just go 50/50 on what they save it would be a tremendous fillip indeed. Unlikely to happen... because it's still cheaper to send children into schools. It also frees up parents to look for all this work that's meant to be out there The Gov. are not silly.... if it was more cost-effective to have children HE, then they would be encouraging us all to do it. They won't PAY us to HE our own children in the same way as they won't PAY us to look after our own children. Farm them out to childminders though.... and that's fine. After all, how many more schools would need to be built to accommodate children currently home educated...

But the money is just one aspect. A parent home educating is with their child far more than a parent whose child goes to school. Parenting becomes a one on one 24/7 occupation without a break. No 'me' time. And it's a tough tough call. The socio-emotional aspect of this worries me though. It's not healthy for anyone to be cooped up with the same people 24/7.... whether children or otherwise. These children need to experience the outside world and learn how to deal with different situations as they arise. I don't think this can be done as effectively in HE situation because it's not real life, so to speak.

My sister home educates her two children (now age 15 and 12). It really is a family affair. She does the most work, her boyfriend does the IT stuff and I do some English and Creative writing. I can testify, for the tutor, it's hard. It is constant one on one. The situation you describe here seems v. different to the one described in this thread. You've described input from a number of people.... but OP hasn't. Unlike a school which may have a class size of dozens. In home education the child receives far more personal attention in three hours then they would get in an entire day at school. In a lot of cases yes, but this needs to be weighed up against how healthy the while experience is in term of socialising and preparing these children for adult life; warts and all.

I have complete respect for any parent going down this very difficult and expensive route. Depends on the motivation of the parent, I'm afraid...

Good luck and best wishes to the OP's friend...

Rae.

 

[ibis]

As a child i was home taught for a period of time and while the one on one learning aspect was great educationally, I missed out on the social aspect alot, hence when i did go back to school i was quite shy. I think children need to socialize with other children from a variety of backgrounds to prepare them for life as adults. Fortunately i went to a home tuition unit and flourished, Regaining alot of the social skills i felt i had lost. I give credit to the op and others for taking the time to educate their children, but whats really so bad about school??