Responses and suggestions from other home educators – main reason you started
What was the main reason you decided to start home educating?
We had our 3 boys in an amazing Montessori school just out of Boston, MA. USA. They built confidence, skills and found drive to progress. We have not been able to find a school in Australia to provide the same environment for our kids. So they were each losing who they were, losing confidence in themselves and consistently feeling excluded. … the opposite of what we want for anyone
My mum was a montessori teacher in Massachusetts when we lived there, incredible school. Then when we moved back to the UK she ended up homeschooling all my little sisters because of the lack of good school options. Now I live in Australia and I’ll be homeschooling my little ones xx
I just really wanted to home school my child.
I realised that alot of what is taught in schools are filler content, they don’t get the basics right before moving onto the next topic.. kids are graduating & they can’t even read properly.
The system is broken…
Travelling around Australia in a caravan
Mainstream society is a system my partner and I are keen to drop out of as much as possible.
My eldest son’s whole personality changed when he went to kindy aged 5. (He had been to a small community preschool and never had a problem.) He cried every morning once he went to school and did not want to go. He displayed aggressive behaviour towards his two younger sisters after school, something unimaginable before he went to school. Even picking him up at lunchtime made no difference.
After one term I was convinced home education was the only answer. He never went back to school and his three sisters never went at all. I got my son back and we never looked back. He is 42 now with children of his own (eldest 21) and he continues to make me very proud every day. Ironically, he was employed as a learning support assistant in a local primary school for many years, supporting young boys who were not coping with school. I am so glad he didn’t just “fit in” to school or we never would have found what was an amazing lifestyle for 28 years.
I studied education at uni and got very disillusioned as I finally became aware that all mainstream institutional schooling (even Uni) is intended to alienate kids from society, and shape students with serious indoctrination, having a one size fits all lackluster curriculum, basically a series of arbitrary hoops for everyone to jump through and be judged upon so that they can be ranked for future employment. Knowledge might be power, and education may be liberating, but what schooling does to most kids is anything but empowering or liberating. I didn’t birth a kid to be separated from them for most of their waking childhood only to feed them to the job factory and social conditioning project.
Because my mum homeschooled all my younger sisters, because my partner and his brothers were all homeschooled and because some of the most clever, creative and kind people I know are homeschooled.
We were starting every school morning in tears to the point of vomiting sometimes, tears after school too. Self-esteem issues due to certain teachers and their methods. Even had one who often sharply tapped my son on the head if she felt he wasn’t paying attention ( he has sensory issues btw ) .
Homeschooled for 2 years now and still dealing with leftover trauma from school years interfering with love of learning but the lifestyle suits us SO much better and I wish I did it sooner. I still feel sad for the time he spent in school but grateful we are free now.
Schools
Bully Principals and teachers not understanding or supporting my children’s needs.
The system is broken
School couldn’t cater to their needs & learning style.
Bullying throughout first year of HS & having nothing done about it. My son was not engaging in any classes & his teachers failed to tell me this. He was just another “number” in the classroom.
My daughter was a high achiever until after covid. Her confidence went down hill & I found out on her last semester report that she was struggling in all her subjects -No communication whatsoever!!
Because children should spend most of their time playing. Preserving childhood was a big factor for me.
Eldest- school was not meeting their educational needs , Second- in only 8 weeks developed some serious school trauma and was on their way to school refusal , Third- because we were already, I asked them if they wanted to attend school and they said no.
My child was not coping at school and they were unable to meet his needs.
Childhood is too short to spend it sitting inside
System not able to cater to many neurodivergent kids. Saying they know best and in the meantime bit by bit the system broke my child. On the one hand saying they can personalise education, yet still expect the child to fit within a box.
Mostly the fake hierarchical competitive structure that exists in schools, and schedule for learning that does not always suit everyone. Also the prep teacher was a scary control freak more interested in herself than the learners. We also had connections with existing home ed families who exampled great outcomes, so we already felt part of the community and knew we would find support amongst it.
Poor student/teacher ratios meant child was not getting sufficient help. Low level Dyslexia – To give them back their childhood and foster creative and self-driven individuals
Social anxiety
School just wasn’t working for my eldest
Covid
Massive bullying issues and the useless things they were being taught
Due to very few staff left on school grounds and no health and safety protocols. Flu was never accepted on school grounds but since covid landed its a virus free for all. Childrens health is no longer a priorty just school attendance numbers.
Too much politics & time wasting as well as some teachers on a power trip.
Eldest was, at the beginning of grade two, 6 months behind in everything with a massive speech delay. At the end of grade two she was 18 months behind with no speech delay. Grade two taught her that 27 – 9 = 20, because she was deemed not ready to borrow tens. It also taught her that she couldn’t attend fortnightly assembly because she couldn’t “afford to waste learning time.” To quote my 7 year old, who may not have been speech delayed anymore, but her expressive language wasn’t that advanced.
The school blamed my sons autism instead of stopping the bully. They didn’t care about him at all and just made his life miserable. He was 7 when he snapped and kicked the crap out of the bully. (No injuries) That was when they decided that things had to change and they suspended my son. The bully was never punished.
Schools not understanding mental health, bully teacher, no academic support when needed.
The pandemic… not feeling safe to send our children to school because of high Covid circulation in school environments.
Here in the UK there’s a huge increase on parents pulling their children out of schools and home educating them… different reasons but mostly because the schools aren’t helping the child and their needs, bullying from other children and teachers etc…..
Bullying, ostracism absolute lack of support or adjustments.
My youngest Daughter getting Maths and Sports pushed on her like there is no other reason to exist, she knows she is not good at math and she hates sports at least the ones in the curriculum, and when pressed for assistance the requests would fall on deaf ears, nothing was done, quite simply she is not getting the math or P.E. schooling she needs or wants, and her science teacher seems to act like he hates certain children in her class and that makes her very nervous, and no student can learn when they fear the teacher hates them or their friends.
Youngest child (son) is ADHD/Autistic and is not getting the level of schooling he is ready for, there is a push to have him meet “expectations” that his mind cannot deal with leaving him angry at the end of almost every day to the point that he no longer wants to go to school even to see his friends.
We have not started Home Schooling fully or properly yet, but the more they attend the more I am seeing the need to. (there is no disrespect toward my sons teachers and school staff they are doing the best they can with what they have.)
