A little bit blowy up here in the islands but I like days like this. They make you feel alive. It has been a busy day with lots of emails to reply to over morning tea. I love getting emails from my readers and I have spent some time reflecting on the common themes that have emerged through the year. This is helping me plan as Scottish island mum prepares to move into 2014. I always have a flurry of emails asking questions about home school. I probably don't say as much as I could about that on this blog but there is always so much to say here! I am planning an ebook on the topic but not just aiming it at parents who home school. There is so much parents can do to enliven education for their children and the plan is to limit the theory in the book but put in as many ideas for activities as I can. It may turn into two books; one for primary and the other for secondary. I am also thinking of running a short online course for parents considering home schooling as a way of helping them make up their minds and prepare for the changes that need to happen in order to accommodate home school.
Newer readers will not know our story so a brief reminder might be useful. We began home schooling when we moved to the island 10 years ago. We did, initially, give the small village school a go in the hope that the children would find that a better learning environment than the large town school they had previously attended. But after two years the writing was on the wall for the Doubleday family. Pete and I are both qualified and experienced teachers and we wanted our children to get excited about learning but that was just not happening. In England they had been suffocated by the introduction of SATs tests as the schools spent so long 'preparing' the children for the end of key stage tests. The results of which would decide their place on a league table. Horrid. Ten years ago Scottish education was mildly better with less emphasis on testing but as we did the move to the island that began to change. In the back of our minds we also had an anxiety about the currency of the exit qualifications in Scotland. Working in a university for 10 years I had witnessed the difficulties we faced with students applying from Scotland. Their Standard grades were not quite as high a level as GCSEs and the Highers were no where near the level of A levels. This poses a problem about currency for me although I am by no means making a negative comment about the standards in Scottish education. I think these are in tact and on a par with their English and Welsh neighbours. My comment relates to the levels at they fit into the National Qualification Framework.
The qualifications were a minor concern. Much more important was the apparent lack of passion for learning. Questions about their school day were met with weak and worrying answers and this was made even more acute when we had a life changing conversation with Harry at the age of 8. Harry had added up the total number of hours he spent in school and then calculated the amount of time spent actually learning. Even for teachers we were shocked. So much time was being wasted on what I always refer to 'crowd control' that the learning was getting squeezed out of the day. It made no sense to Harry and it made no sense to us so the decision was made to give home school a go. That was 10 years ago and we have never looked back. From the off the children became instantly engaged with learning new things and home school sprung to life with the most amazing vibrancy and we had found a passion for learning in our children. It had just been well hidden when they were in school.
I am a huge fan of experiential child centred learning and home school has allowed us to follow this philosophy so that each children can develop at their own pace and work towards their developing interests and passions. Early on it became clear that Molly was looking towards a career in conservation and so research proved that she would need an university education. That meant that traditional academic qualifications would be required and we opted for GCSEs. We have always said that all the children must have Maths and English but beyond that the choice is for them to make. Molly did 6 GCSEs knowing that she needed 5 to go onto A level courses. I do not, and will never, agree with the system where children do 10+ GCSEs. It is far too many and puts far too much pressure on our young people. Molly studied hers in two batches allowing her to take 3 at time. She took 3 at the age of 15 and passed with ABC grades and then she took 3 at the normal age of 16 and passed with A*AB. In the mix was psychology which very few schools offer at level 2 but she found it to be an excellent subject. She studied through a distance learning college with an online tutor and we were also supporting her. She was then due to go to College to study for her A levels but right at the last minute they lost all their funding and no other college nearby offered Environmental Studies A level that she clearly needed for a career in conservation. So Molly was back into home school for her A levels and she passed 3 A levels (BCC) and also took psychology onto AS level and got an A for that as well. She had 5 university choices and received 5 offers and got 120 more UCAS points than she actually needed to go to her first choice university. Molly is now in her 3rd year at the University of Lincoln studying Conservation Biology with only 11 other students. She did very well.
This shows that you can home school and your children can still end up with conventional qualifications that 'speak well' to the university system. That said I would not recommend the A level stage as that is particularly demanding and Molly was ready for a change at 16 so we were all so disappointed by her course losing funding. Being denied what they want is quite a common occurrence in the school and college system. I wonder how many young people are disappointed by not being able to take their preferred options onto GCSE? On a small island our young people are sometimes prevented from taking a subject because the school can not recruit a relevant member of staff. We had none of those problems.
Harry is next in line and completely different from his sister. Harry learns through practical application before applying the theory and you would never describe him as academic. You would, however, describe him as intelligent. There are many forms of intelligence and I was not convinced that Harry would have succeeded in school because most schools focus far too much attention on the academically able students. So from about 13 years we encouraged Harry to consider more vocational routes and he decided that fitness was his preferred area. Once his Maths and English were out the way he was free to follow that goal. A little word on Maths and English though. GCSEs are at level 2 on the National Qualification Framework and it is now possible to take both Maths and English level 2 qualifications through distance learning with 100% coursework assessment. This suited Harry much better and he actually achieved a distinction in maths which is the equivalent to an A* at GCSE. This boosted his confidence enormously. When we began looking at level 2 qualifications in the area of health and fitness we quickly realised that they were too easy for him. So Harry has just finished his first level 3 (equivalent to an A level) diploma in Health and Fitness and about to start a second on Sports Nutrition. Once that is completed he will have the equivalent of two A levels and this would allow him to enter university at foundation degree level. He won't go to University because he is not interested in that route but you probably see my point. There are many ways to get qualifications that 'speak to' the university sector and Molly and Harry have travelled very different routes. Once Harry had his Maths and English he jumped straight to level 3 because he was able to do so. Remember that Harry is no academic!
What I love most about our home school journey is that we didn't have to start considering their exit qualifications until they were 14 (in Molly's) case and 16 in Harry's case. Prior to that we created our own form of education that spoke to their interests and got us out and about as much as possible. We were not driven by a national curriculum and we did not study in subjects. I remember one day Harry coming in to tell me that there was frog's spawn in a pond where builders were busy developing a site. We all feared for the emerging tadpoles so we promptly made a pond out of a large plant pot and, when the builders had gone home, we harvested the frog's spawn and relocated it to our pond. We then read up on oxygenating pond plants before going back to the pond in the development site and harvesting those. There began a whole project on frogs which ended very happily with a good group of frogs merrily jumping about our garden eating the slugs that were trying to eat our vegetables! Excellent. All of the project will, no doubt, feature in the National Curriculum somewhere and a teacher could tick some important looking boxes but we weren't interested in that. We were thrilled to have bred some frogs - end of story.
George and Max are the last two to move towards their exit qualifications and George has already made his choices. Max is only 13 so we are not at that point yet. A common question I get asked is would I have chosen home school if we were not experienced teachers. The answer is always a resounding YES. I do not deny that being a teacher helped but when you start looking online you will see that there are whole curricula out there for you to access. Distance learning has exploded in the past 5 years and the choice is now mind-boggling. There, for me lies the attraction of distance learning as there is so much choice that young people can find their own, very individual pathways. The other question I get asked all the time relates to social skills and the need for other children. I won't deny that having four children created an ideal size to teach and that I might have felt different if I was considering home educating an only child. Beyond that our children have always joined clubs along the way, especially the boys. A huge amount of research has been done on the effects of home education on social skills and in all the cases I have accessed the home schooled children have scored higher on the tests to evaluate social skills than the children educated through conventional schools. The myth of home schooled children having poor social skills is a useful one because I can tell you that the Government do not want to encourage home school. They could not monitor it or control it and that makes them nervous. Of course there will always be some people abusing the right to home school by taking their children out of school and then doing nothing to educate them. These, however, are in the minority. The majority of home schooling families take the option very seriously and have a wonderful family life as a result. The final question is, perhaps, the most relevant and that relates to the commitment factor. Parents are nervous about the commitment they would need to bring to home schooling. They are right to be nervous. It is a massive commitment of time and effort but, without doubt, the rewards make it all worth it. You get to spend as much time as you want with your children and family life is very relaxed and rewarding. You do have bad days and you do wonder why you have chosen this route from time to time. But overall you never look back.
Let me finish by being very clear. Home school is not the right choice for everyone. It was the right choice for us but for many others school is a better choice. The sacrifices can be huge. Pete and I both gave up very well paid careers to dedicate our time to home school but in doing so began to measure our lives beyond money. If you are considering home schooling as an option you need to do your homework and once the decision has been made you need to deschool your child(ren) before introducing your own version of education. I have advised many sets of parents over the years and not all of them have chosen home schooling and I think that is right. I am not, however, backing away from my criticisms of the education systems available in the UK at this time. They are all far too pressurized and focus too heavily on academically able children. They do not respond well enough to children who learn in different ways and they are also far too assessment led rather than learning led. You may disagree with all of that and that is your right to do so. We made the decision to home school at a time when it was a real taboo subject but it is less so now and all I would say is do make sure you are aware of all the options available to your child. I think this is particularly critical for 16 year olds in England and Wales as all young people have to now stay on in education until they are 18. The hint is in the word education. There are many routes to education at 16 and do have a look and see if there are more suitable options available for your 16 year old. I am not sure putting a lot of 16 year olds into school/college is the answer as I can't imagine all of them want to be there. I can see a big problem looming on the horizon as this new policy is enforced. Every year since Harry has turned 16 I have had to defend our distance learning choices to funding bodies which is irritating. However, every year I have won my case. It is, perhaps, progress of sorts.
If you are considering home schooling or would just like to add value to your schooled children's education do let me know and I will add you to a rapidly growing list of people interested in my ebook and/or online course.
We watched The Great British Year as part of home school this morning and if you haven't seen it you can catch it on iplayer. It was a delight and very educational. There are to be four programmes; one for each season. As a result of the first programme George is keen to learn more about Red Kites and Max wants to study frost.....perfect. And I want to grow more snowdrops on the smallholding.....it is really important to learn alongside your children. One of my favourite moments occurs when one of my children teach me something I didn't previously know.
Until tomorrow. xx
No comments:
Post a Comment