Home Education UK

A NEW BILL EFFECTING HOME EDUCATION

A new bill has been proposed into the House of Lords: HL11 2017 by two Labour Lords: Baroness Morris of Yardley on behalf of Lord Soley I would strongly suggest people contact their representatives immediately and (politely) express their displeasure at this attack on families and parents.

Is Bullying an issue you are facing?

Bullying remains the main issue for those parents who withdraw their children from school to home educate. Of those who ever sent their child to a school to educate, 45% report bullying as a reason for the move and it's higher among those children who have SEN issues. Home education can be a part of the solution, but if you are still exploring solutions, Here are some organisations who support bullied children.

Were your children "off rolled" by your school?

Off rolling is where children face issues in school such as attendance, behaviour, SEN's, achievement etc, with which the school is unable or unwilling to help. Under these circumstances, some schools 'encourage' parents to off roll their children. Parents in this situation sometimes find that the situation has been mis represented to them and don't realise no further support will be offered by their local authority. We are trying to discover how widespread this practice is. If this has happened to you please contact me with the details in confidence. Thank you.

Educational Heretics Press

I also run EHP, a press dedicated to challenging educational dogma with many books of interest to home educators.

We have an extensive back list of of nearly 90 books many of which are kindles covering many issues of interest to home educators.

Home Education - a human right

"The respect of parent's freedom to educate their children according to their vision of what education should be has been part of international human rights standards since their very emergence."

(The Special Rapporteur to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights 8th April 1999)

UK law is clear, parents are responsible for the education of their offspring regardless of whether they are in school or out of it. In law the right to an education is an obligatory right, it may neither be denied to, nor refused by, a child.

Thus since children may not refuse education and there is no academic consensus on what constitutes an effective education, we believe that the state must be flexible in defining what a 'suitable' education is.

Even though the law expresses the right to home educate as a parental right, it is my belief that, in the same way that young people have the right to decide upon medical procedures, a specific education should not be imposed upon them. This is not only right in principle but in practice too since intrinsically motivated learning will most readily "achieve that which it sets out to achieve". Ultimately, education cannot take place against a person's wishes.

Joy baker

Joy Baker was a mother who, during the 1950s, fought hard for the right to home educate her children. A Video of Joy Baker being interviewed in 1960 exists.

The authorities fought back, removing them and treating her, and her family barbarically. Thankfully, such over reaction is not acceptable today, but had she not fought for the right or had she lost, it's unlikely that home education would be an option to families today.

She wrote a book about her experiences Children in Chancery (no longer in print), and you can read about her struggle in a book called Joy Baker was published by EHP.

Kindle publications

A short Guide to Home Education in England

A new inexpensive Kindle answering many of the questions people most frequently ask about home education. Ideal start to the conversation or for helping to reassure concerned family and friends.

Simple and easy to follow links from a list of headings to short replies usually less than a page long. Highly recommended to those new to home education. Intended to spark and guide informed conversation.

I Home Educate Because...

Why 92 families chose to home educate their children, in their own words.

While the reasons are as diverse as the families themselves, they follow a common thread of care and concern. All are focused on their children with a concern for their futures in a world of ever greater standardisation, testing and regimented curricula that pays little attention to their child's actual needs and aptitudes. A collection of short explanations, simple to read and hard to dismiss.

EHP Kindles

Many EHP books are available as Kindles, often at very low prices, with more to come. Eventually our entire backlist of nearly ninety books will be converted.

Remember, there are app's for all brands of smart phone available, so you can build up your own library of 'read anywhere' EHP titles.

Rethinking Learning to Read

Harriet Pattison's highly successful new book taken from her PhD. Rethinking Learning to Read sheds light not only on how home educator's children learn to read but how they learn generally. Harriet's work has much broader implications than simply learning to read Challenging the accepted wisdom of 'learning as a function of being taught.' Recommended reading for educators and home educators, especially those who are struggling to find their way forward.

Can't Go Won't Go

examines and challenges the current thinking on school refusal and the blame culture that permeates it.

Taking real life stories of the way families were treated it arms parents with an insight to how it's perceived. It ends with an brief look at school refusal and home education.

Home Education Journal

Published between 2006 and 2015, 16 issues of the Home Education Journal. Now available as Kindles, in just 5 heavily discounted volumes.

Each with dozens of articles and news on issues of interest to home education. A great, and inexpensive introduction to the world of home education.

volume 4 covers articles written at the time of the Badman Review and home educators responses.

Get a free A4 poster

Many parents are still unaware that home education is legal, or if they do, where to find support.

This poster could be put up anywhere parents and children might benefit, You could ask to put this up on your Library for example. Down load the poster today, print it, post it somewhere and help a child learn free.

Sales

contributes a little to my time and costs running HE UK and pay for future EHP publications.