Home Education
Created | Updated May 23, 2003
Most people assume that children HAVE to go to school. But in fact the law in the UK only says that they have to be educated.
People also tend to assume that it is the government's responsibility to educate children. However the law (Education Act 1996) says that this is a parental responsibility. Parents are required to educate their children at school OR OTHERWISE.
Many people equate the terms education and schooling. This could not be further from the truth! A lucky child MAY gain an education at school, but many more do not. Setting more and more tests and spending more and more school time coaching children to take these tests is unlikely to remedy this situation.
If one looks at people who can be considered educated it is unlikely that any two of them have reached this state of being by following the same path. Each will have assimilated the information that came their way in their own particular way and will have chosen their subsequent path depending on the way in which they did so. Each individual's prior experience and set of character traits sets the framework for the way information available to them is processed. This will not be the same for two individuals from the same family, let alone for 30 people gathered together in a classroom for no other reason than that they share a birth year. Teachers face an impossible task if they are to educate our children. Their role more usually boils down to crowd control and record keeping and coaching for the tests they are forced to make their charges take.
Once one has seen through the farce of education at school, it becomes clear that children deserve something better. Something custom designed to make optimum use of their talents while still allowing them to be children. Home Education provides a means of providing this for one's children. It must be said that Home Education can be a misnomer as much of it actually takes place out in the community. The children are not confined in a classroom all day but can take advantage of the wider world around them. They can follow their interests wherever they lead, unconstrained by bells, timetables and the opinions of their classmates.
Parents do not have to be or pretend to be teachers. Often it can be more constructive to find the answers to your child's questions with him/her in a collaborative fashion than to have them ready. Parents need to be willing to facilate their child's education. They need to interested in and aware of their child's levels of competance and comphrehension. They need to provide input and materials their child may require. They need to offer suggestions of useful and related ideas and skills that the child might like to investigate. They need to facilitate social interactions and transport to places of interest. They need to offer the child their experience of the world but be prepared for their child to have a different view. They need to respect the child and trust that children are born curious and that given access to information, it is part of the human condition to want to make sense of it. If a child is not taught that they are not good enough to be 'top of the class' they won't feel limited. In a class of one you are always top!
Of course there are Home Educators that try to do School at Home, particularly as they get started. But research has shown that as time goes by even these parents learn to trust their children and relax and let their children's interests or their desires for the future lead the way and assemble their own curriculum.
Socialisation is always a concern that other people have about Home Educated children. In reality, unless you live in avery isolated place, this is unlikely to be a cause for concern. As more and more people opt for Home Education, groups spring up for children to meet and play and learn with other Home Educated children. The internet has provided a new way for people to discover and get to know people and to organise events where more geographicly spread out people get together. Friendships can be maintained between children who do not live close to eachother if necessary through email and return visits. And of course local children do not dissappear just because your child is not in school.
Put your children first, Home Educate!
People also tend to assume that it is the government's responsibility to educate children. However the law (Education Act 1996) says that this is a parental responsibility. Parents are required to educate their children at school OR OTHERWISE.
Many people equate the terms education and schooling. This could not be further from the truth! A lucky child MAY gain an education at school, but many more do not. Setting more and more tests and spending more and more school time coaching children to take these tests is unlikely to remedy this situation.
If one looks at people who can be considered educated it is unlikely that any two of them have reached this state of being by following the same path. Each will have assimilated the information that came their way in their own particular way and will have chosen their subsequent path depending on the way in which they did so. Each individual's prior experience and set of character traits sets the framework for the way information available to them is processed. This will not be the same for two individuals from the same family, let alone for 30 people gathered together in a classroom for no other reason than that they share a birth year. Teachers face an impossible task if they are to educate our children. Their role more usually boils down to crowd control and record keeping and coaching for the tests they are forced to make their charges take.
Once one has seen through the farce of education at school, it becomes clear that children deserve something better. Something custom designed to make optimum use of their talents while still allowing them to be children. Home Education provides a means of providing this for one's children. It must be said that Home Education can be a misnomer as much of it actually takes place out in the community. The children are not confined in a classroom all day but can take advantage of the wider world around them. They can follow their interests wherever they lead, unconstrained by bells, timetables and the opinions of their classmates.
Parents do not have to be or pretend to be teachers. Often it can be more constructive to find the answers to your child's questions with him/her in a collaborative fashion than to have them ready. Parents need to be willing to facilate their child's education. They need to interested in and aware of their child's levels of competance and comphrehension. They need to provide input and materials their child may require. They need to offer suggestions of useful and related ideas and skills that the child might like to investigate. They need to facilitate social interactions and transport to places of interest. They need to offer the child their experience of the world but be prepared for their child to have a different view. They need to respect the child and trust that children are born curious and that given access to information, it is part of the human condition to want to make sense of it. If a child is not taught that they are not good enough to be 'top of the class' they won't feel limited. In a class of one you are always top!
Of course there are Home Educators that try to do School at Home, particularly as they get started. But research has shown that as time goes by even these parents learn to trust their children and relax and let their children's interests or their desires for the future lead the way and assemble their own curriculum.
Socialisation is always a concern that other people have about Home Educated children. In reality, unless you live in avery isolated place, this is unlikely to be a cause for concern. As more and more people opt for Home Education, groups spring up for children to meet and play and learn with other Home Educated children. The internet has provided a new way for people to discover and get to know people and to organise events where more geographicly spread out people get together. Friendships can be maintained between children who do not live close to eachother if necessary through email and return visits. And of course local children do not dissappear just because your child is not in school.
Put your children first, Home Educate!
