Home Schooling

Although it is compulsory for all children to be provided with full time education, this does not necessarily have to be in a school. Many parents (though exactly how many no-one can be sure) choose to educate their children at home.

This is not an ideal situation for every child practically due to the constant attention and feedback needed for it to be worth while. Either the parent teaches the child directly or a private tutor is hired. It must be borne in mind though, that either situation has financial drawbacks for the family budget – the costs of paying for the tutor or the loss of earnings due to the parent not being in paid employment instead.

Whoever teaches the child must be able to cope with all necessary subject matter at the required level and the time taken in the long term should not be underestimated. If the child was previously in full time education, the permission of the Local Authority must be sought before taking the child out of school. In some cases, evidence of recent work completed will need to be sent or an inspector will want to see a demonstration of a typical home class. If they are dissatisfied with the progress made or the standard of education provided, they may be ordered to return to school.

There are many benefits though to home schooling. It is an opportunity for the relationship between parent and child to develop in a way it couldn’t otherwise. With one-to-one tuition all the attention is on the student and learning can progress at a natural rate and difficulties in understanding any of the work can be dealt with before moving on.

A parent is also more likely to know their child’s academic strengths and weaknesses and can build lessons around them. It provides opportunities for more flexible experiences such as visits to libraries and museums, and it avoids the issue of bullying, which may have been the deciding factor in home schooling in the first place.