"7: Duty of parents to secure education of children of compulsory school age

The parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable-

(a) to his age, ability and aptitude, and

(b) to any special educational needs he may have,

either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.

9: Pupils to be educated in accordance with parents wishes

In exercising or performing all their respective powers and duties under the Education Acts, the Secretary of State, local education authorities and the funding authorities shall have regard to the general principle that pupils are to be educated in accordance with the wishes of their parents, so far as that is compatible with the provision of efficient instruction and training and the avoidance of unreasonable public expenditure." (Education Act 1996)

Many people worry that they are not 'educated' enough or 'clever' enough to home educate their own children... STOP WORRYING!!!

You can not STOP a child from learning...

...You can however limit and mould what that child learns if you restrict the scope of the learning environment... This can happen intentionally through neglect, institutionalisation or 'hot-housing'... or unintentionally through ignorance, lack of communication or misguided pre-conceptions of what it really is a child needs.

If you have loved your child, talked to your child, shared experiences with them & been hands on with them in care & play, then you have been educating your child since they were born. Why therefore when they reach 'compulsory school age', do you suddenly need to hand over their learning to a 'professional'?

"It is possible to store the mind with a million facts and still be entirely uneducated" Aleck Bourne.

I made the decision to educate my eldest son at home, rather than at school ,for a number of reasons.

Initially at age 7 he was a high achieving pupil who was popular with the staff & pupils alike, but whom the teachers (of classes of up to 32 other pupils) just did not have the time or resources to engage with & encourage as fully as he needed.

The Head-teacher expressed his disappointment at my decision to remove my son since, as he put it

"It looks good for our statistics to have more high achieving pupils enroled".

However, I felt that if my son was to fulfill his own academic potential it would be better for him to have his learning facilitated by a person who has an in depth understanding of his aptitude, interests, abilities & talents and who would always have his best interests and welfare at the fore of their agenda.

If I had been wealthy I would no doubt have been able to find an independent school with small class sizes & a child-centred ethos, who are paying their staff lots of money to give my child the time & attention required to fulfil this quite satisfactorily (there are many wonderful schools out there- i am not anti-schools!!).

But as a single parent, raising three children, on a widows pension, I did not have the financial ability to do this.

I had heard of Home Education through several family members (who are school teachers, ironically). I decided to explore it as an alternative to school & made the decision that it was the right thing for my child.

After a few years my son decided to return to mainstream education, in order to experience secondary school & see if this was right for him.

As he was now older & more autonomous in seeking out his education he did get along with his studies fairly well in this environment & enjoyed his time there.

Unfortunately the combination of his frequent ill health (caused by the innumerable bugs flying around schools) & the hands of LEA bureaucracy pushing us into a corner (under threat of prosecution) the decision had to be made to once again home educate him.

This decision was made easier by the fact that, although he was still achieving to a very high level at secondary school, neither he nor I felt that he was doing as well as he had been previously at home.

My second child started primary school during the time my eldest son was still at secondary school.

I decided to enrole her in school, despite my misgivings that she was too young ( an August child), as the Head-teacher assured me that the first two years of primary education would be "learning through play".

Imagine my dismay when, just one year on, I have a distraught 5 year old telling me she has been 'told off' at school for not being able to read & to be informed by her teachers that she must 'try harder' as she wold be sitting SATS the next year and would be 'streamed' according to the results!...

My youngest child was at school for three weeks. I stood one day and watched surreptitiously through the window of the class room for over 15 minutes.

There was one teacher, two teaching assistants, two parent helpers, one support worker and a reception-class of 16 pupils.

My son, who is normally an irrepressibly vivacious child, sat on his seat quietly as directed... and was not interacted with by anyone for the whole time I stood there...

I saw my 'not-always-so-well-behaved', normally loud & attention grabbing, bright, intelligent & happy son not only withdraw into a quiet shadow of himself, but then become invisible to those around him for his compliance.

A friend, who is a primary school teacher, once remarked to me that she feels the most sorry for the 'in the middle' kids.

She said that it is those who are quiet & well behaved, those who are not particularly outstanding on an academic level or who do not make efforts to grab the attention of those around them who get the least from the education system...

Within a week I had dis-enrolled both of my youngest children from an education service which can not cope (at least in its present state) with all of the intensive & diverse needs of the huge amount of children it has under its care.

"But what will people say?"...

I have found that, as with anything slightly off the 'norm', many people feel affronted by the thought of Home Education... as the incessant attacks upon Home Educators by the government seems to bear out!

I find that people who are not familiar with the concept can feel that you are judging them badly by taking a different view... and then try to point fingers in turn!

More often, than not, it's parents and teachers who react badly if I say "I am doing what is best for my children because i believe that mainstream educational establishments are not providing a good enough service".

They seem to feel that somehow i am accusing them of not doing their best for their children because they do use the school system.

May i state that I do not think parents who choose to school educate are not doing their best for their children, and i doubt that most people who home educate do either.

More often than not parents who educate their own children have had to think long and hard about whether this really was the right thing for their children & themselves, and make many many sacrifices to achieve it.

I understand that it is not always the right choice for every family... It is just a shame that those who are not for Home Education do not understand that their way is not always right for everyone either.

Unschooling, Free-Range Education, Child-led learning:

...are forms of home education which work on the belief that the conventional methods of traditional schooling, are counterproductive to maximising the education of the individual and that in fact it is preferable to allow children to learn through their natural life experiences.

This kind of educational philosophy is also sometimes known as the "free-range" method. Student-centred learning is led by the children themselves & facilitated by the adults, child directed play is a key tenet of the unschooling philosophy.

Read an article about 'Un-schooling' written by Grace Llewellen, a former English teacher and the author of 'The Teenage Liberation Handbook: How to Quit School and Get a Real Life and Education' (1991)