h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

Of course, in the UK at least, you don't NEED to send your children to school. Consider Home Education !

Highly reccomended. If your at home, you'll get things done 10 times quicker. Your kids might be able to do their GCSE's at about age 14.

Schools really are a pointless waste of time for all involved. The simple answer: don't go. They suck.

Unless of course you require qualifications.

Then when you reach 16 you find yourself sitting IGCSE examinations, much harder than GCSE's which include coursework, also becoming harder to find somewhere you can take them. The expense factor is another thing to consider.

Education Otherwise is a group which will offer some advice and support if you are serious about home education, but believe me its not as easy as it seems and we did it with 4 of our children for 9 years.

I'm currently sitting AS-levels without most of the annoyances that seem to acompany school life, simply by turning up for only 2 or 3 days a week.

You can still do qualifications. My friend, due to illness, home schooled from age 11 to 15/16 (start of secondary to GCSE), and still passed his GCSE's. Now he has come to Sixth form to do A-levels, and (like me) finding it a complete waste of time...

Despite obvious educational and safetybenifits, home-schooling can lead to terrible social problems. I've met loads of kids at camps and whatnot, who seem not to know a bit about society, other children, or friends, even to extremes as much as not having sexual education beyond ages 12-14. My advice, not that you'll listen, as I'm only 13, is to find a school that doesn't have such violent problems, or, if your really set on home-education, make sure that you know what your doing, or it can lead to serious problems.

Home education is not easy - it requires at least one parent permanently at home to oversee the children and a willingness to teach. There are inspectors and if you're not teaching then your children are forcibly returned to school - nowadays you get fined. Also the attitudes vary from county to county - in some areas it is practically impossible to opt out of mainstream education.

Qualifications can be obtained IGCSE examinations can be sat, but current (English) GCSE examinations require coursework content - this cannot be submitted from home as the work has to be set to the constituted standard and can only be set by a qualified teacher. This effectively excludes home-taught children from the GCSE examination process.

Labour's education policy does exclude home education, though as yet they have taken no direct action upon this.