I was discussing the trials of school with another Home Education (HE) parent… “Early mornings and bloody homework! Awful!” Almost all the HE kids mine grew up with are now in school, and despite the many good things about school, not even I (a schooled parent) agree with the huge amount of homework schools insist on. Anyway, I digress.
Home ed when kids hit teen years is almost problematic, and it’s a stage that needs dissecting academically – maybe there’s a PhD in my future.
School or rather discussions about school start featuring when the HE social scene begins to ebb because almost everything and everywhere that can be visited has been explored or families/friends move away or an awareness of ‘grown up’ exams (GCSEs, etc) emerges or boredom sets in. The change is even more pronounced for lone kids. I think covid also played a terrible part in recent years – it feels like HE in general post-covid is much more subdued. My boys tell me they now appreciate HE so much more for all the places and activities they would have missed out on if they had attended school, but they also say that there isn’t much for teens in HE world.
I do wonder if it’s also because teens become more discerning and can no longer be persuaded to try new places/things or maybe parents start becoming more aware of the passage of time and the future. Future of the young adults …and of that parent who gives up career, capital, etc to allow their children access to an alternative existence.
Like many hardcore HE parents, I’ll always advocate for HE, and if we have our time again, I’ll secure work I can do remotely, rather than traditional accountancy, and world-school from birth till they tell me to stop.
HE Hub 