Home schooling

[Dragonfly Fi]

Home schooling isnt necessarily more 'relaxed' you can studying things much more indepth one on one so actually the amount of learning can be much much more (even when only homeschooling a couple of days a week )

also you can flexi school, which some would say is a great medium

 

[Minchin]

As a primary school teacher who also has experience of teaching special needs I felt a strong need to post in relation to some of the above posts.

Ok, so many people, sadly, have negative and very unhappy experiences of school and that is pretty shit. I can see how that would sway many to see home schooling as better than going to school. I was lucky enough to have a very positive experience of school. I think that schools are creative, fun, exciting places to be. Not just 'institutions'. I don't believe 90% of the nations schools are not decent. I can see why people may want to home school for all the great reasons of home schooling - my personal opnion would be that if I choose to home school my child they would be missing out on all the amazing things being part of a school community brings (this wouldn't ring true for all those who have no good experiences of school). I know it has been said that you can achieve these things through many home school groups etc but I don't see how it can be the same?

I would like to reply to some of Bigbumps comments and couldn't work out best way to address each point so have copied and pasted, here goes...

With regards to schooling

in an institutional facility (such as a school you would:

be expected to eat lunch at exactly the same time as others - usually this is not a problem for people to eat lunch at the same time (and place) for children that it is a problem (and there are a fair few at my school) we make other arrangements
be expected to use the bathrooms and toilet on time and when acceptable - children are encouraged to go at break times, if they need to go other times they can and do.
be expected to hone your learning to fit in with those around you, no steaming ahead and no falling behind maybe in some schools which ofsted have assessed as failing and are therefore put into special measures with things in place to improve them. However, you should not be expected to hone your learning to fit in with all around you. Every child is different and teachers shoudl allow some to 'steam ahead' and support those that learn at a slower pace. I know I do.
be expected to be moderately good at every subject, not too good and not too slack at anything Children are expected (and I only speak for primary here) to take part in all lessons (unless for example, they have specific learning needs that would mean they would have no benefit from taking part in a lesson, for example, some of my children with speech and language problems wouldn't learn french) I don't think teachers expect children to be moderately good at all subjects. I know Im not so wouldn't expect my kids to be. But I do expect all kids tohave a go at everything because we create an inclusive environemnt in our classrooms where we help and encourage each other even if we find it hard.
be expected to wear a uniform which made you match your peers I think wearing a unifrom is a good thing. It unites children and they are all part of the same team.
be expected not to display too much individuality, in learning style or in social interactions
I encourage every single member of my class to express their individuality and so too does my school as a whole. All teachers have regular and ongoing professional development to ensure they are aware of the different learning styles of children. No-one learns in the same way, teachers should be aware of this.
not be negatively or positively disruptive or involved in a class, involvement must be across the board and disruption must be dealt with.
I'm not sure what you mean by this point. Maybe this refers much more to secondary? 'disruption' has negative connotations and obviously any 'negative' disruption would need to be 'dealt' with in the appropriate way that corresponds to the dispruption. I think children need to learn when it is and is not appropriate to disrupt. Positive disruptions to a lesson or to teacher talk time (as in children adding their views) should be encouraged. I'm not sure what involvement across the baord refers to but I do have quieter/noisier/more involved/less involved (in different lessons) children but they are all different and as teachers we just try to encourage all and help them to grow in confidence; to always try and have a go.
bullying must be tolerated to a certain extent and dealt with severely beyond that, a level on 'get on with it' must be enforced,
awful that bullying is tolerated anywhere. Not in any school I went to and any I have taught at.
In home schooling

you can have SOME say in what you eat and when you eat can be dictated by things such as when you got up or how active your morning has been for example I think it is important to have some routine so getting up at at the same time and going to the same place to start the day in the same way, for me, is not a negative thing. Routine is something that is aprt of life and is important to leanr-this is a life skill which is what I would refer to as a 4 year old 'getting ready for working life' Also, at school you could eat more or less of your lunch if you were more or less hungry, (that's what I do, although am usually very hungry!)
you can use the loo when you need to, not when you are expected to
Usually you have to go in breaks but if kids want they can go, and me too if I'm desperate (which I was all the time when pregnant-I ask a teaching assisstant to watch the class for a few mins)
you can adjust a childs learning to the child, if they steam ahead in some subjects but suffer a bit in others this can be catered for, the only important thing is making sure sufficient time is given to both
Again, I feel any teacher in any school should be able to do this.
you will not be expected to wear a uniform or to match your peers (which actually shows up many perceived 'imperfections' in a child rather than cloaks them in indifference as some would argue)
My opinion is a uniform unites. I'm not sure how they show up 'imperfections'? If children can't afford unifrom in our school (many can't) we have an excellent second hand system. It removes the potentially divisive issue that children come from very different social and economic backgrounds.
you can be individual, creative and balance your time to suit that, if a child is very engaged in an activity, a class can be moved and rejigged so they can keep their creative streak
I would say that schools can do this too. We do a lot of project work in class. Children can often choose how to present things. e.g. write, or dance, draw graphs or sing. For some things anyway.
bullying will be noted quickly as all individuals will be well known to the teachers (often parents or friends parents) so small acts of bullying 'you smell' or whatever will be seen and dealt with sensitively, rather than escalating to the point where a person is hurting or negative communication techniques have fallen into place.
I also believe the majority of schools would do this, teachers should know all individuals well (even in large secondary schools) and be able to see slight changes in kids behaviour/demeanour etc.

A bit of an essay but I felt a strong need to post!
I am very passionate about teaching, I love it and love my school. Big bump; I can see you are very passionate about home schooling. I just wanted to share my opnions and experiences.

 

[AugustMum]

Well said Minchin

 

[Squeakz]

wss x
ILl be able to reply in full tomorrow no pc just phone n its too mych touble x

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

i'm passionate about choice... what worries me is that people dont see the benefits in home/flexi schooling and believe the only option is to send their children to a low quality educational facility.

bullying is a very wide thing, no teacher could ever notice every remark made to a child or know them well enough (out of 30) to assess how they are affected by it. Bullying in a school is generally dealt with once it gets bad enough to be 'noticed' or obvious enough to be reported.

When i was at school, i found it very difficult to eat breakfast in the morning and i would go into school and be starving by 11am, there were no options for decent dinners at school (well, there were, but they were only available to children from poor backgrounds who got supplied dinners) so i went undernourished for most of my school career.

Perhaps schools have changed massively now, but given the increasingly low wages offered to new teachers, and the increasing size of schools, i cannot see how that would be possible.

If you are learning about Romans at home, you can visit Roman villas, forts, baths etc rather than having to apply to take a number of children on a tour of the places, its much more dynamic in that you can chop and change what you are learning about or continue on with a subject if the child enjoys it lots.

Homeschooling is 1 on 1 or 1 on 2/3... a school environment is often 1 teacher (plus 1 teaching assistant maybe) to up to 35 pupils. To think that the education is as mouldable in a school environment is just simply incorrect, there is absolutely no way you could mould an education to thirty children like you could to one.

So your school allows individuality? Does it allow piercings, hair cuts, hair colourings, hats etc? Because no school i went to did, children would be desperate for ANY bit of individualism they could get their hands on!

It depends what sort of child you have, if you have an academic child they might well thrive in school but if they are too extreme either way then the system will fail them i am sorry.

There are a few good schools in the country, but they are few and far between and if you are lucky enough to live near one thats amazing! If not though, homeschooling is definitely an option.

 

[Squeakz]

I'm sorry I'm not meaning to offend but I think you obviously had a sh*t school because evrything you say I'm sorry I think is wrong and believe is wrong purely from personal experience. Schools do accomodate a lot of people at once, but surely diverse thinking from different pupils, techersn. And environments is a good thing?? What happens if your child asks you a questuion and you have no uidea how to answer? I'm sorry but having a masterss or doctorate or even a ba/bsc hon in any degree doesn't mean your 'intelligent' enough to teach a child anything at all- from I know from PERSONAL experience. Do you believe that schools should be shut down?? I'm sorry but I'm confused?!! I thought u had a postgrad degree...where was that from.....????surely an educational institute.... I'm sorry but I pity the fact that you apparently had a horrendous experience at a school and consequently think its fine to generalise to EVERY school or any system that fauiled you.

 

[Squeakz]

I wish you the best in home schooling your child, lemme know how your child reacted to watching caesium reacting with dihydrogen oxide or pulse lasors in a vacuum...... X

 

[AugustMum]

I dont really think bringing the fact that you can't wear hats in school into the argument/debate/discussion of different interests is relevant.

I hope I never came across as hating home schooling. I just wouldn't do it as I feel that school made me who I am (even though I really wouldn't like to go back to school lol). My LO will be going to school but will not be going to the same one as I did.

I do find the statement about you being unnurished a bit of an over [FONT="]exaggeratetion though. In every school I knew of, school dinners were available for all, but free to those on a low income. But obviously, there was always the option of bringing your own food.

I also found the comment earlier about teenagers being night owls a little odd :/ You say that they are expected to learn after as little as 5 hours sleep. Im sorry but....5 hours sleep? Maybe if they went to sleep earlier they wouldnt have this problem. I went to sleep at 10pm with no problems.

I'm only writing this because even though you say that homeschooling should be an option because some of us are a little sceptical of it, it feels as though you are attacking schools and almost trying to make those of us who are chosing to send our children to schools, feel bad about it. There have been some excellent points both for and against both normal schooling and home schooling. I guess it all comes down to personal experience and also the availability to chose either one of these.
[/FONT]

 

[FebMum2Be]

One thing I liked most about school was the uniforms, kids can be cruel and when we had non uniform days a lot of bullying would start from it because one kid didn't have branded clothes or shoes, which is so sad.. My secondary school actually stopped non uniform days because of that reason.. Also I fully believe children should be able to express their individuality, but I don't believe this comes in the form of hair colour, piercings etc.. If we are talking about education I think the individuality should be about the way they learn, how they express themselves from the inside rather than the latest going trend. I learn things better by reading rather than listening, after 2 failed mock exams due to us listening and taking notes, I went to my year head and explained I can't take it in and listen for that long, she spoke to the teacher and I was allowed to sit quietly and read and take notes rather than listen and I passed.

We were encouraged to use the bathroom at breaks but weren't denied the chance to go at any other time of the day.. I think the lunch at a set time is a good thing, we try to get our babies in routine from a young age so why should we stop this as they get a little older, I looked forward to lunch in school, and came back much more refreshed ready for the other half of the day.

I do think the point you made about the Romans is good, it's great that you would be able to go out and explore maybe a bit more hands on than you would be able to at school, parents could also do this with their kids outside school, actually think I might remember this one myself for when Odhrán attends school.

I have nothing against home schooling/going to a school, I truly believe each person has their own choice and will make the right choice for them and their children, as said in a previous post, I don't think I could offer Odhrán everything a school could education wise, and that's my sole reason for him going to school x

Edit: We had a class of 25-35, and once the lesson had started and if we were set work to do teachers would always come around, sit in-between us and help whoever needed it, they were also available after school in the library if there was anything we needed help with or any extra information on. It sounds like you had some bad experiences I can barely fault either school I went to x

 

[Squeakz]

Ps can just agree with melio and fm2b Says and I have no problem with home schooling if its right for the person but to say going to school is 'wrong' I disagree with, and I feel that's what your saying and I would take any opinion seriously on the matter however iof that's the opinion you're implying and had an. Education in an institute and proclaim that to be good then I don't see the how you can fighjt so adamantly that 'regular' schooling is wrong or inappropraite X

 

[Froslass]

i'm passionate about choice... what worries me is that people dont see the benefits in home/flexi schooling and believe the only option is to send their children to a low quality educational facility.

I don't think anyone at any point actually said that this was the only option? Previous posters have said they can see the benefit in home schooling and flexii schooling - but every school is diffrent, not every school is of a low quality.

bullying is a very wide thing, no teacher could ever notice every remark made to a child or know them well enough (out of 30) to assess how they are affected by it. Bullying in a school is generally dealt with once it gets bad enough to be 'noticed' or obvious enough to be reported.

I was bullied at school, severely. I ended up in casualty with broken ribs, and NO ONE, not even me saw it coming. These guys one day decided to beat me just cause I went to church. The school delt with it very well. We had an anonymous "bully box" in place where kids could put their worries and fears if they felt they were being bullied at all..

When i was at school, i found it very difficult to eat breakfast in the morning and i would go into school and be starving by 11am, there were no options for decent dinners at school (well, there were, but they were only available to children from poor backgrounds who got supplied dinners) so i went undernourished for most of my school career.

My mum refused to let me leave the house until I had eaten breakfast whether I wanted to or not..if I was running late, she'd always give me money to buy something at the mid morning break..Your school not providing any meals sounds a bit odd...schools have an obligation to feed the kids, albeit they charge for the meals, but thats life.

Perhaps schools have changed massively now, but given the increasingly low wages offered to new teachers, and the iincreasing size of schools, i cannot see how that would be possible.

In the same way you feel we can't see the benefits of homeschooling, its clear from this post you were unfortunate enough to have really bad experience with your school, which I'm really sorry for. Not every school is like this though!

If you are learning about Romans at home, you can visit Roman villas, forts, baths etc rather than having to apply to take a number of children on a tour of the places, its much more dynamic in that you can chop and change what you are learning about or continue on with a subject if the child enjoys it lots.

School trips are fun though!! Going off with a group of your friends to someplace new, away from parents?! I loved all my trips!

Homeschooling is 1 on 1 or 1 on 2/3... a school environment is often 1 teacher (plus 1 teaching assistant maybe) to up to 35 pupils. To think that the education is as mouldable in a school environment is just simply incorrect, there is absolutely no way you could mould an education to thirty children like you could to one.

I agree, you cannot expect to be able to give each child in a class of thirty the same individual help and attention that you would be able to with homeschooling. I don't see this is a bad thing though. Not all children need it, and infact i think it's good for kids to be more independent in their learning, not always having constant guidance. In the school I went to though, primary and secondary, if a child needed that sort of attention in order to learn, then it was arranged. Smaller groups of children would be given one to one time during the day if needed.

So your school allows individuality? Does it allow piercings, hair cuts, hair colourings, hats etc? Because no school i went to did, children would be desperate for ANY bit of individualism they could get their hands on!

To be honest I think it's irresponsible parenting letting a child of primary school age dye their hair whatever colour they want, hats were fine, as were ear piercings.

In secondary school there were no restriction on your personal appearance at all,(my hair colour was forever changing!!) as long as you wore your uniform. Hats were fine, as were peircings, tatoos (if visible).

It depends what sort of child you have, if you have an academic child they might well thrive in school but if they are too extreme either way then the system will fail them i am sorry.

There are a few good schools in the country, but they are few and far between and if you are lucky enough to live near one thats amazing! If not though, homeschooling is definitely an option.

I'd be interested to see where you're pulling this "fact" from.

 

[Froslass]

I too have no problem with homeschooling, and would honestly consider it if i thought I could do a better job than my local school.

It's right for some families/kids, but not right for others xx

 

[Zazu]

Just interested to know how home schooling works in terms of qualifications if there is no syllabus? Do home schooled children get recognised qualifications? If not, how do they get jobs that require specific qualifications? I'm a bit confused.

Personally I'm all for my boy going to school, but do not have a problem with home schooling x

 

[Dragonfly Fi]

Wow, feels like a school playground in here! Perhaps if things were not so heated and personal I would continue to express a difference of opinion (which is okay actually girls, I wonder where you learnt it was not? *whistles* )

I HAVE to say, however; that most 12 year olds I know who are home schooled, are able to spell proficiently better than some of the above posters.

Nothing more to add on the subject, I am afraid I am no longer comfortable with the 'firing line'

Take care

 

[cosmicgirl]

I HAVE to say, however; that most 12 year olds I know who are home schooled, are able to spell proficiently better than some of the above posters.

ooh miow

 

[pinkymum]

Wow! That's a bit much is it not?

 

[cosmicgirl]

Talking about grammar big bump, you have a few commas in the wrong place there, and a word in capitals lol

 

[pinkymum]

I HAVE to say, however; that most 12 year olds I know who are home schooled, are able to spell proficiently better than some of the above posters.

ooh miow

I blame typos and auto correct!

I don't know enough about this subject to say anymore

 

[pinkymum]

Talking about grammar big bump, you have a few commas in the wrong place there, and a word in capitals lol

Cosmic you make me laugh

 

[Squeakz]

Yeah I'm bad at it but on my phone so don't care.........pahahhaha!!