Is homeschooling the best option?

silvercar

Mojisola said:

silvercar said:

If it was the best option more people would do it.

It isn't the best option for everyone - just as school isn't the best option for every child.

If both parents need to work full-time or are carers for other people, if they aren't confident in their ability to teach a range of subjects or just plain don't want to.

For some children and some families, it is the best option.

Clearly for a small minority it is the best option. But those cases aside, if it was the best option for the majority then the private school sector would be smaller and the home schooling greater. There are many children in private schools whose parents could afford to arrange home schooling if it was generally the best option, but they choose to send to school.

Mojisola

silvercar said:

if it was the best option for the majority then the private school sector would be smaller and the home schooling greater. There are many children in private schools whose parents could afford to arrange home schooling if it was generally the best option, but they choose to send to school.

When you pay for a child to go to a private school, you're not just buying the education, you're buying other things as well like the kudos and  the connections that are made in the hope that they will pay off in the future.

[Deleted User]

It isn't for everyone, but I did it with my child who is now adult, very intelligent, has good friends and a really good job, so don't think home schooling will necessarily disadvantage your child's future  in any way. You may find it helpful to look into https://www.educationotherwise.org/  

Spendless

silvercar said:

Mojisola said:

silvercar said:

If it was the best option more people would do it.

It isn't the best option for everyone - just as school isn't the best option for every child.

If both parents need to work full-time or are carers for other people, if they aren't confident in their ability to teach a range of subjects or just plain don't want to.

For some children and some families, it is the best option.

Clearly for a small minority it is the best option. But those cases aside, if it was the best option for the majority then the private school sector would be smaller and the home schooling greater. There are many children in private schools whose parents could afford to arrange home schooling if it was generally the best option, but they choose to send to school.

For those parents who I'm guessing you mean could afford a private 1-1 tutoring for all subjects, they choose private schooling instead for things like the sports facilities/teams that their child could have, the superior drama departments, the field trips that they can go on with peers as well as any connections made.

1-1 tutoring IMO is the very best education a child can have  because the learning style is catered to the individual who has 100% of the attention and it's what my DD ended up with for the last 6 months of her schooling, paid for by her state school who had made such a botch of dealing with her problems, combined with attending another nearby state school part-time, sure she had to take reduced subjects over what happened (it didn't matter it was enough to get her on to the next step) and wasn't at the very highest grades (again didn't matter for the same reason)  but she passed everything with good enough grades. 

Malthusian

Mojisola said:

When you pay for a child to go to a private school, you're not just buying the education, you're buying other things as well like the kudos and  the connections that are made in the hope that they will pay off in the future.

I'm sure this is true of Eton and Harrow, but I went to a mid-ranking private school and most of us never saw each other again apart from a single reunion booze-up around ten years after leaving. Nor did any of our employers care where we did our A-levels.
As Spendless says, people overwhelmingly choose private schools over private tutoring because they want their kids to benefit from socialising, sports etc.
If you are rich enough to afford 1-to-1 private tutoring then I doubt you really need to go to a posh school to form connections - you already have your parents.  

Mojisola

Malthusian said:

Mojisola said:

When you pay for a child to go to a private school, you're not just buying the education, you're buying other things as well like the kudos and  the connections that are made in the hope that they will pay off in the future.

I'm sure this is true of Eton and Harrow, but I went to a mid-ranking private school and most of us never saw each other again apart from a single reunion booze-up around ten years after leaving. Nor did any of our employers care where we did our A-levels.
As Spendless says, people overwhelmingly choose private schools over private tutoring because they want their kids to benefit from socialising, sports etc.
If you are rich enough to afford 1-to-1 private tutoring then I doubt you really need to go to a posh school to form connections - you already have your parents.  

Very few home-schooled children have 1-to-1 professional tutoring - parents teach and enable the children to learn for themselves and parents share their skills round the home-schooling groups.

If the state schools had the facilities and the low class numbers found in even mid-ranking private schools, they would be able to accommodate children who find the current set-up difficult to cope with.

I was a teacher and a governor at a state school but my children ended up getting most of their education at home because of poor health - that gave me an insight into how beneficial home education can be for some children that I hadn't realised before.

silvercar

Malthusian said:

Mojisola said:

When you pay for a child to go to a private school, you're not just buying the education, you're buying other things as well like the kudos and  the connections that are made in the hope that they will pay off in the future.

I'm sure this is true of Eton and Harrow, but I went to a mid-ranking private school and most of us never saw each other again apart from a single reunion booze-up around ten years after leaving. Nor did any of our employers care where we did our A-levels.
As Spendless says, people overwhelmingly choose private schools over private tutoring because they want their kids to benefit from socialising, sports etc.
If you are rich enough to afford 1-to-1 private tutoring then I doubt you really need to go to a posh school to form connections - you already have your parents.  

My son regularly meets up with old school friends. In fact he has a whole social circle from friends he was at school with 10 years ago. It is a small private school and focussed on supporting kids to do well in exams and to become decent adults, it was a very nurturing atmosphere. I would say the academic standard of the intake was very average as there is a well known private school nearby that focuses on high results. We made this choice because by 11 I could see him becoming a wild child if he followed on from his primary to the feeder secondary.

HampshireH

OP I've read this thread with interest.

If you're working school hours how would you ensure your child is using that time appropriately to cover the learning. Also whilst working full time and then doing home learning with your child on the evenings and weekends when will you get any down time?

I've made the assumption you don't have other children?

If your child sometimes wants school and sometimes doesn't would the school consider Flexi approach? Where a day a week or perhaps your child would consider a college environment instead for part of their learning?

I am a single parent and I work school hours so my child has to do some work on their own and then some with me either during the week or weekends. 

Stateofart

Teacher here.  Homeschoolling rarely works.  Stunted academic performance and social skills are two of the biggest problems. 

Savvy_Sue

Stateofart said:

Teacher here.  Homeschoolling rarely works.  Stunted academic performance and social skills are two of the biggest problems. 

Which is not to say that school attendance ALWAYS works, and you never see those problems in schools!

Don't get me wrong, my 3 went through the school system, and did very well, but I remain relieved that was the case. For some children - and it may be a tiny minority - school is not the answer.

Home education is definitely not for the faint hearted, and very hard work for all concerned.