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Education

Gove encouraging H.ed

19 replies

morethanpotatoprints · 19/04/2013 18:13

Having been on the threads relating to Gove's suggestions for longer school days and shorter holidays.
Several posters have suggested they would pull their dc out of the system and H.ed, is it really a possibility the H.ed community could be the prefered way to educate children?
I am a H.ed parent btw, so no axe to grind here.

OP posts:

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pointythings · 19/04/2013 20:49

Well, I've never considered Home Ed, but am considering it now. It would be a huge financial hardship, but what Gove is doing to our children is unforgivable.

mercibucket · 19/04/2013 21:11

It crossed my mind, and I would do it for primary if the kids were younger

mercibucket · 19/04/2013 21:11

It crossed my mind, and I would do it for primary if the kids were younger

morethanpotatoprints · 19/04/2013 21:19

Pointythings.

Do you know that some parents H.ed and work as well? I am a sahm but dh does the odd educational stuff with dd when he is around.
Some parents share it between work and find it no problem. So maybe it wouldn't mean losing a wage, if you were able to be flexible.

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pointythings · 19/04/2013 21:36

morethan DH and I both have 9-5 day jobs so one of us would have to give up work, unfortunately. And Home Ed would be a last resort for me, as my DDs are happy and thriving in the school system. I'm not enthusiastic about it at all, it would be a case of being driven to it. I also have serious doubts that I'd be a good enough teacher. However, I see no choice if this goes through .

morethanpotatoprints · 19/04/2013 22:24

Pointy.

We have only been H.ed since this year and its a whole different ball game to school, and great fun. You really don't need to be a good teacher at all.
Maybe if you couldn't see any way round it would it be possible for one of you to work nights? i know some do this.

I don't think Gove has thought this through properly and can't see it happening tbh.
I was thinking earlier about all the businesses and schools operating activities after school. For example county orchestras, choirs, and private dance and drama schools. Kids would have to do these either much later at night or miss lessons to attend, or only allowed to attend on saturday, meaning far less family time. He's a nightmare

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gwenniebee · 19/04/2013 22:30

I am a teacher and I said to my husband last night that I would H.ed our dd (currently only nine months!) if this comes to fruition. It will give her an opportunity to "be a child" and give me an opportunity to teach in the way that I have always wanted to, but am not able to because of the constraints of the current system.

Elibean · 20/04/2013 15:00

I would never have considered it before, but with primary aged children I could...and with Gove chucking half-thought out ideas based on his fantasy of some non-existent golden age at primary schools on a daily basis....I would.

Thankfully, the dds' school is trying to hold on to it's own value system and bear Gove lightly. As long as they can, and I can help them, we'll stick there. But if it can't, and doesn't, we're off!

pointythings · 20/04/2013 18:21

morethan the problem is I have one in Yr5 and one in Yr7. Whilst I am pretty confident of getting them good GCSEs in pretty much everything (whilst realising the barriers to finding somewhere that will let them actually take the exams) I am far less confident about A-levels. I can definitely handle maths, history, English language and literature, French and German, but when it comes to the sciences I am much weaker, especially in maths and chemistry. I know there's support and resources, but I have to accept my limitations.

Oh, and I would work a crap job on a night shift to support my DD's education if this went through, no problem whatsoever.

I just wish Michael Gove would fuck off instead, though.

SprinkleLiberally · 20/04/2013 18:41

I've never thought about it before, but if I were to quit teaching, I'd consider it, and combine with tutoring and marking to earn a bit of money

morethanpotatoprints · 20/04/2013 21:43

Hey Pointy that is far more than I could do.
I don't think I'd get past KS2 Maths, and will be calling for help I think.

I hope it doesn't come to it for you as I know it's really not what you want at all, but I'm sure you would be very good.

Hopefully Gove is just being his usual idiotic self and hasn't put much thought into his suggestions.

Sprinkle
If this goes ahead, you will have a lot of takers for your tutoring skills.

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exoticfruits · 20/04/2013 21:59

I have only ever seen it as a last resort, after all else has failed- however I would not continue teaching with his proposals and I wouldn't want young DCs at school for long days, with shorter holidays,so it would be a real consideration.
However- the country can't afford it so it won't happen.

SprinkleLiberally · 20/04/2013 22:32

Aha! A bright side!

Saracen · 20/04/2013 23:13

"the country can't afford it so it won't happen" I agree with exotic. It's an academic question.

I do think some of the other problems within the school system (e.g. the current shortage of school places) seem to be driving more people to home educate who wouldn't have considered HE as a first choice.

That then has a knock-on effect. As the numbers of HE children increase, awareness of home education as a viable option is greater. The people I meet out and about these days seem to know a bit more about home education than those I spoke to ten years ago. Many are even acquainted with one or more home educated children.

wonderingagain · 20/04/2013 23:19

I'm sure Gove would love for lots of children to be home educated because it would cut the costs to education significantly.

Startail · 20/04/2013 23:54

Or he'd make HE illegal or at least subject to Ofsted, because he thinks he knows whats best for all DCs. He just can't believe parents, teachers and child care professionals might know what they are doing.

AvrilPoisson · 21/04/2013 00:02

HE is illegal in Germany, not sure Gove would go that far tbh. It certainly seems a nice answer to class size issue, particularly given how many extra children there are to accommodate at present in infant classes.

In reality- no, we can't afford this, and even if we could I seriously doubt many people saying they'd HE would actually do it. HE is really hard work in many cases, and by nature most people take the easy option.

exoticfruits · 21/04/2013 07:32

I think that a lot of teachers would want to go for it,as they will want to get out of teaching.

However- once Gove has sorted out the schools it wouldn't surprise me if he turned his attention to HE. Luckily he will probably be gone before he 'sorts out' schools.

TwllBach · 21/04/2013 08:12

I always thought Home Ed wouldn't be for me, and it's still not for secondary education. However, as a primary school teacher I am leaning very much towards wishing I could do it with any future DC I may have, just while they were primary age. If the longer days were to come in to force, I would definitely do it - finances allowing.

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