School is great when it works as designed. We'll get into what that means in a bit. But school doesn't work so well when it doesn't function as advertised. If we learned anything by now, it's that school is not a one-size-fits-all proposition. Indeed, public education is not particularly adaptable. For instance, school doesn't work well for:

  • students with physical challenges
  • pupils with learning difficulties - dyslexia, dyspraxia and dysgraphia among others
  • learners with neurological conditions such as autism, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADD) and ADD with hyperactivity (ADHD)
  • immunocompromised persons and those with chronic medical conditions, such as diabetes and allergies
  • learners who've suffered psychological trauma and those with mental and behavioural difficulties such as Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (OCD)

We may go so far as to say that the traditional school model is best suited for the able-bodied whose psyche is relatively free of burden. That leaves a lot of learners on the sidelines, doesn't it?

By no means are we saying that schools and teachers don't work hard to make education a universal experience. The trouble is, school is not the same for every student. The standard education model has proved so unsatisfying that a growing number of caregivers have concluded it's best for them to take the lead in their children's education.

For many, COVID forced that decision. They may have considered homeschooling in the past and, in the end, decided against it. But then, lockdowns compelled parents to oversee remote learning sessions. Thus, the die was cast. Now, we need to talk about what COVID taught us and catch up with the latest homeschooling trends. We'll also discuss some of the homeschooling's pitfalls and how to avoid them.

The best Homework Help tutors available
Daniel
5
5 (18 reviews)
Daniel
£90
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Siddharth
5
5 (39 reviews)
Siddharth
£70
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Gokhan
4.9
4.9 (22 reviews)
Gokhan
£45
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Marianne
5
5 (12 reviews)
Marianne
£30
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Syed
5
5 (47 reviews)
Syed
£60
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Dr fouzia
5
5 (30 reviews)
Dr fouzia
£90
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Aya
5
5 (6 reviews)
Aya
£35
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Arif
5
5 (10 reviews)
Arif
£75
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Daniel
5
5 (18 reviews)
Daniel
£90
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Siddharth
5
5 (39 reviews)
Siddharth
£70
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Gokhan
4.9
4.9 (22 reviews)
Gokhan
£45
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Marianne
5
5 (12 reviews)
Marianne
£30
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Syed
5
5 (47 reviews)
Syed
£60
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Dr fouzia
5
5 (30 reviews)
Dr fouzia
£90
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Aya
5
5 (6 reviews)
Aya
£35
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Arif
5
5 (10 reviews)
Arif
£75
/h
Gift icon
1st lesson free!
Let's go

Lockdowns and Learning

We keep coming back to that infernal virus because of the educational shift it provoked. Pre-COVID, everyone functioned as though things that were would remain as they ever were. We're not picking on schools, mind you. Didn't we all operate as though life would always be every day the same?

Remote learning had long been a fact of education. Even centuries before, schools offered correspondence courses. Satellite and tele-training came into vogue some 40 years ago. For more than 10 years, the technology has been available to teach via webcam. When the virus hit, businesses made the transition to remote work nearly seamlessly. For schools, it was a different story.

A boy in a grey shirt sitting in front of an open laptop, looking bored as he engages in distance learning
Schools had a hard time getting on the remote learning bandwagon. Photo by Thomas Park on Unsplash

Apparently, there were no contingency plans in place for distance learning. Teachers had to learn how to teach to a camera on the fly. Many schools didn't initially have the equipment in place to make giving lessons possible. As days turned into weeks, parents began despairing over their kids' loss of learning time. They started arranging impromptu educational sessions on their own.

Eventually, things got sorted out and teachers did a phenomenal job with what they had to work with. Students deserve a nod too; it couldn't have been easy to pretend that sitting in front of a screen was the same as being in school. Caregivers more than earned their share of the credit. Maybe they didn't have to do the actual teaching but they served as the in-room monitor, making sure their kids were logged in and participating. Imagine how difficult that must have been for parents with more than one school-aged child.

After lockdowns and remote education ended, a substantial number of families decided to do away with third-party education altogether. They now had a taste of what home learning is like; all they needed was the curriculum to teach from. The numbers bear this assertion out. Homeschooling had been on the rise even before COVID, with just over 3% of school-aged children learning at home. Today, that percentage has nearly quadrupled.

And why not? Parents teach their kids time; everything from cooking and caring for animals to learning how to code. They are, in fact, their children's first teachers and primary role models. But would you be surprised that the post-COVID paradigm shift isn't the only why parents want to homeschool their kids?

Five Reasons Why Parents Homeschool

Flashback to this article's introduction, when we said that schools are mainly meant for the mainstream. Anyone who doesn't fit in has a much harder time with things. That was one of the main reasons for the pre-COVID, upward-ticking homeschool trend. To be fair, schools and the Department for Education (DfE) have made great strides towards inclusion and student accommodation. The Special Educational Needs (SEN) program alone proves that.

But the reasons kids don't feel whole in school are as varied as the kids themselves. Sometimes, their very distinction causes them agony. Others simply aren't comfortable in such an environment. Survey after survey shows these five reasons among the top for why parents prefer to homeschool.

Anxiety and Unhappiness

You might think happiness is not the point of school. But unhappy children do not learn well, nor could they hope to unlock their potential. Many learners are unhappy with the school environment for any number of reasons. Some don’t like crowds and noise. Others feel pressured to conform, or they simply feel too much peer pressure. We are all different; if we're placed in an environment we're not suited to, it can be a struggle to get along. Just the idea of being uncomfortable to that degree can make kids physically ill.

As for anxiety... Well, we all get anxious over just about anything. Kids have their own brands of anxiety when it comes to school. The youngest students might feel separation anxiety during the first months of school. Older learners might feel anxious over upcoming exams and studying a subject they don't understand and/or have no interest in. They may experience anxiety over having to dress out for PE, even!

Ill Health

Many children suffer headaches, migraines and stomach problems that may or may not be because of stress and anxiety. Some kids are prone to infections; they get constant colds and some suffer more serious illnesses. Have you heard that childhood asthma is on the rise? The air quality inside schools, particularly older school buildings may trigger those attacks. Many of these little illnesses cease when they come out of school.

Many parents of homeschoolers report that their kids seem happier and more at ease without the prospect of school on their horizons. They aver a return to robust health; all the constant little infections and miseries they had at school time magically disappeared. Best of all, they found their kids' desire to learn was restored.

In fact, educators are well aware that kids are quite happy to explore, discover and learn before they start school. But, short of converting to a Montessori-style curriculum, traditional-school proponents have yet to find ways to restore students' natural desire to learn. Homeschooling parents universally express relief at seeing that school had not switched their learners off of learning for good. For many, the COVID learning experiences cinched their decision to continue educating their kids outside school.

A child's rendering of a rainbow painted on a sheet of notebook paper, with an array of oil paint bottles lined up above the work and a tray of watercolours beside it
A student-led learning model may include progressive art classes. Photo by Taylor Heery on Unsplash

Bullying

Tragic stories of bullied students are not new. They've merely gotten more exposure, thanks to social media. Not that social media platforms actively encourage students to bully one another (?), only that these media have moved bullying to centre stage. Or should we say that before social media, bullying was a silent but debilitating phenomenon? Thanks to several high-profile stories of students being bullied to death, everyone now acknowledges that hateful practice exists.

But we're not just talking about kids bullying other kids. Teachers are sometimes the bully, and they have the mantle of authority that makes such cruelty seem legitimate. Trying to complain about a teacher can be difficult. Sometimes, parents choose to withdraw their kids from school and teach them at home rather than force their children to undergo the anxiety and humiliation of testifying against their teachers.

Enforcing Social Skills

Socialisation is often mentioned when people ask about home education. Apparently, everyone assumes that school is the best place to become socialised. But much of the social interaction in school is forced, of poor quality and, sometimes, disrespectful. Looking at it from the bullying perspective, socialisation can be downright threatening. And anyway, school is not the best place to learn social skills or to learn about loyal and caring relationships. Nor is it the only place.

Poor Achievement

Children have different learning needs that may be overlooked by staff who have no time to spare for individual attention. Some kids need more time to learn, and some race ahead and can be held back. Interestingly, parents often find their child’s learning difficulties, as they are labelled in school, disappear with other teaching approaches.

About the kids who have a raging intellect that the standard curriculum fails to provide enough stimulation for... Those gifted and talented students often feel stifled in the standard classroom. They get bored quickly and often get distracted. And even if they consistently earn top marks, that only proves they score better on exams than their peers. Those marks say nothing about students' actual depth of knowledge. These kids need more advanced materials to study than what's available in the classroom of their peers.

How to Get Started with Homeschooling

First, you should learn the homeschooling requirements for your area. Generally speaking, you don't have to have any particular credentials or follow a specific curriculum in the UK. Your only requirement is to ensure your learners receive full-time education. And you may start your classes at whichever time of day best suits you and them.

If your kids are already enrolled in school, you will have to write a formal withdrawal letter to their headteachers. Be sure to specify that you're withdrawing them completely. The school has the right to refuse a partial withdrawal - a situation where you teach them part-time and send them to school for the rest of their learning needs.

Be prepared for regular council visits. They have to make sure that you are, in fact, teaching your child. You will have to provide evidence that your children are receiving an education. Besides council visits, that proof may be copies of your lesson plans, samples of their school work or a statement of proof written by an independent tutor.

Although there's no mandate of what you should teach your children, it will help you to have a curriculum to teach from. You may buy a curriculum from an educational bookstore, at least at first. Once you get the hang of how curricula are designed, you might incorporate other study materials into your lessons.

You may choose to homeschool with another family or two, particularly if the kids are at approximately the same level of ability. That will add diversity to your kids' learning experience and take some of the burden and expense off of you. You and the other parents can take turns teaching class, alternating either by subject or by the day.

A light wooden surface upon which is a stack of books topped with an apple, a few writing instruments and a stack of colourful wooden blocks spelling ABC
Dedicate a space in your home specifically for homeschooling. Photo by Element5 Digital on Unsplash

Avoid These Homeschooling Pitfalls

All of that makes it sound like not only is homeschooling a piece of cake, the conditions at regular school make it absolutely necessary. If so, we're delighted to have that effect but you shouldn't let your enthusiasm carry you away just yet. Consider these final points.

Don't set up your home school to mirror traditional school. This is your chance to explore the wonders of student-led learning. Your kids don't have to sit at the table and listen to you lecture. You can conduct experiments, watch instructional videos and get as creative as you want to be.

Don't stick to a single grade-level curriculum. If your learner excels at maths, feel free to invest in advanced learning materials for that subject. If they love to read, challenge them with complex narratives. You can do that and still keep to level-appropriate materials for the subjects they need more time to get good at.

Don't teach where you eat. Kids tend to get confused if they take lessons at the same table they have their dinner on. Set the stage - literally, by converting one area in your home into a learning space.

Don't assign any homework. Give your learners the chance to explore their world outside of school, without the burden of additional assignments to complete. And, anyway, homework isn't all that effective at helping kids learn.

Enjoyed this article? Leave a rating!

5.00 (1 rating(s))
Loading...

Imogen

I'm an active energetic person. I enjoy long-distance running and have taken part in many organised events including the 2016 Prague Marathon. I'm a keen skier and love open-water swimming, when the weather is right!