Twitter is littered with people frantically preparing for back to school. Shopping trips. Articles from businesses on how best to manage it. Preparing your small children for the start of their school journey. It’s all over the high street, back to school sales, uniform bundles and so on.
And a few quiet voices whisper that they are dreading it. That they don’t want to hand their tiny children over, or that their child is in tears daily at the thought of the return. And so I felt that I should point out, there is another way.
Home education is a perfectly legal alternative in this country. It’s a growing movement, though no one knows for sure how many home educators there are – if your child has never been to school there is no requirement for the local authority to know anything about their education. (You may read on local authority sites that you are advised to register. It’s not a legal requirement. You don’t have to have visits or get a curriculum approved, or have teaching qualifications, or submit your plans.)
There are lots of reasons to home educate, probably about as many as there are home educators. Some do it because they feel their young children aren’t ready for school at age 4. Some do it because they don’t like the system of assessment and testing. Others because their children have special needs – disabilities or illnesses that make mainstream schooling difficult to manage. And others because they want a greater degree of involvement and control over what is taught. There aren’t right or wrong reasons for it – if you think it suits your child(ren) and family and you want to do it, you can.
There’s a thriving home education community out there. Loads of local email groups, organising events and meetups for shared education or social activities. You don’t have to do it alone. You don’t have to make up all the lessons either (if you want to do it lesson style), you can buy a curriculum in a box, or a book like the core knowledge one I reviewed. There are a wealth of websites both British and American with a number of different approaches to education, early years and beyond.
The bottom line is, if you want to consider an alternative to school, there is another way. We home educators are out here, and happy to welcome you to our gang ๐
antoinette . (@divasupermum) says
we all make choices, in education, thanks for sharing yours
Ross Mountney says
Totally! I’m here too – and with children having been home educated and onto university and proof of what a wonderful experience it is!!
Momma Mojo says
I’m a new face in that club, still finding my feet. The support I have recieved is overwhelming. This post is what I wish I had read months before I made the decision. Fab. x
Katherine says
It would be great though if everyone really did make an informed choice. And everyone had proper information on all the options, at the right time – State school, independent school, home education, flexi-schooling.
Blue Sky says
I have huge admiration for you, I couldn’t do what you do x
Jax says
Some days neither can I ๐
ChildLedChaos says
Well said. Other than in the HE community, I feel a bit weird for my opinions – and my girls go to school ๐
Jax says
Which always slightly surprises me tbh. You do come across very like a home educator. Which is meant to be a complement but sounds weird.
The Monko says
This is a great post. My husband and I flit back and forth between HomeEd and alternative schools, we have a while yet, Goblin is only 34 months. Funny thing, just after I read your post, out of the blue Hublet started up another conversation about the pros of homeschooling. completely unconnected to my own musings. You have given me more food for thought, thanks.
Jax says
Glad to be of assistance ๐
Godders45 says
Thank you for this. Having had a ‘chat’ to you on Twitter, I popped on over to find out a bit more. I’m seriously exploring this route and have a wealth of website and info to trawl through before more questions come your way! LOL A great post and one that makes me think “I can do that”.
Jax says
Pretty much always about on twitter and happy to chat ๐
Mum2BabyInsomniac says
My little girl is only two so school is a way off yet but I am just starting to look into home educating her. I feel like four is too young to send her off for some much of the week and I would like to have more involvement in what she is learning. I am going to have a bit of a problem convincing Dad2BabyInsomniac round to my way of thinking but finding so many blogs about it is going to help I think as you just don’t hear much about it in every day life. I am looking forward to reading more!
Jax says
There will be plenty more coming I assure you ๐