Thursday 18 August 2011

In which it is shown that home education can deliver at least as good an academic result as that likely to be gained at school

When first I told people that I would not be sending my daughter to school, there were many negative reactions. These ranged from predictions that she would be unable to get a job or go to university, to the fear that she would grow up introverted and weird. None of these things have happened. I have not mentioned it before here, although others have referred to it, but my daughter has a place at Oxford to study philosophy, politics and economics; otherwise known as PPE. Her A level results this morning were as hoped and so she is now assured of starting at Oxford in a month or so.

To my mind, the place at Oxford is not so much an endorsement of my teaching as a recommendation for home education in general. I am far too irritable and impatient to be a good teacher and gaining a place in this way at university was my daughter’s doing, rather than a tribute to my teaching skills. I honestly believe that any family prepared to put in the work and make all the necessary arrangements could do exactly the same as we have done. This proves, to me at least, that home education can be better than any school, even the most prestigious independent ones. Nobody needs qualifications themselves to undertake it, nor do they need much in the way of prior knowledge. All that is needed is the determination to push on with the project and not to be discouraged by anybody else’s opinions. I lost count of the number of people over the years who claimed that it was impossible to study science at home or take GCSEs in history without expert, professional teaching. These people are quite wrong. Anybody can teach their child any subject in the world, even if they know nothing at all about it to begin with. Parents and children learn together.

I suppose that the reason that I am putting posting this, apart from the natural parental pride in my child, is this. I doubt that the fact that a home educated child has secured a place at Oxford University is likely to become widely known. As far as anybody knows, this is the first time that a child who was completely home educated during the statutory ages from five to sixteen has been offered a place at Oxford in recent years. I would like this to become known among other home educators, not as a personal advertisement for my own methods but simply to show other parents that the thing is possible. I firmly believe that any home educating parent could do at least as well as I have managed in this field. Many of them will be able to do better. Home education is perfect for one-to-one tuition and the chances of getting good grades in GCSEs and so on is much higher with this type of education.

Incidentally, I am aware that for some home educating parents, all this is an irrelevance. I do not wish to engage any more in sterile and pointless debates about whether we should or should not teach our children without their initiating the process. The fact is that most parents hope that their children will do well academically. I am making the point here that home educating parents are ideally placed to ensure that their children do do well in GCSEs, A levels, university admissions and so on. Not attending school between the ages of five and sixteen is not only no bar to such achievements, but actually makes them more likely and far easier to attain.




36 comments:

  1. you forgot to mention that your daughter is a PC correct labour party member who belives in ED Balls M.P this is the man who sold off the UK gold at to low a rate and helped run up the public service debts we now have! dont forget to mention that she also fully supported Graham Badman.

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  2. Congratulations to both of you. That's brilliant news.

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  3. Congratulations to Simone (and Simon)!

    If you (and anyone else reading here) could spend the time to send exam results (GCSE, A-level and anything else you have) to results@home-education-exams.org.uk, I can include them (anonymously) on the website to encourage others.

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  4. "As far as anybody knows, this is the first time that a child who was completely home educated during the statutory ages from five to sixteen has been offered a place at Oxford in recent years."

    As usual - you know very little then and as is your want, once more failed to do any research.

    Sarah L

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  5. Home Education is the most assured gateway to Oxford Uni. Always has, always will be and is more certain than the Harrow and Eaton route.

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  6. 'As usual - you know very little then and as is your want, once more failed to do any research.'

    Well, I think it only fair that you give us a few details about this Sarah L! If you know of such cases, why not share them with us?

    Simon.

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  7. 'Anonymous said...
    Home Education is the most assured gateway to Oxford Uni. Always has, always will be and is more certain than the Harrow and Eaton route.'

    Could we have some more about this? I am sure that we all know about Ian Dowty's son, who spent some years at school before being home educated. Who else is there? I am genuinely interested in this and have discussed it with quite a few people, both at Oxford and elsewhere. There is of course Ruth Lawrence, but she stopped being home educated at the age of eleven.

    Simon.

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  8. 'as is your want, once more failed to do any research.'

    This is actually intriguing. I have certainly heard rumours and myths about this subject, but it is always impossible to track them down! Last October, for example, I posted about a case which I had heard and asked for further information:


    http://homeeducationheretic.blogspot.com/2010/10/home-educated-girl-offered-place-at.html

    Nobody could shed any light on this. Does anybody actually have any solid facts about this? I would be delighted to think that other home edcuated children were getting into Oxford. The problem is that the only case we ever actually see mentioned is that of Ian Dowty's son. Does anybody know of other cases?

    Simon.

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  9. That is wonderful news, Simon. Congrats to both.

    'As far as anybody knows, this is the first time that a child who was completely home educated during the statutory ages from five to sixteen has been offered a place at Oxford in recent years.'

    That's not quite true though. I did tell you in the comments section a few weeks' ago about a young woman at my son's college who got into Oxford, without any GCSE's, who had been HE'd, last year. However, she did, according to the college's university application manager or whatever his title is 'have lots of AS levels' before beginning her A level course at the college.

    I'm not really sure why you would think it's that unusual. There are, as you have often pointed out, many HE parents who don't belong to the HE community so we would never hear about them.

    That is not to take away from Simone's achievements however. Well done!

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  10. I hope your daughter has a great time. I feel this will not be the last we hear of Simone Webb.

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  11. Well done to her. I don't know of any recent HE entrants to Oxford, but I do know some Cambridge names, HE from 5-16 and completed two years so far at Oxford. I know another who was considering it but might have chosen Bristol instead (or had it chosen by results).

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  12. congratulations to Simone. I have also heard today of a young man from our local group having his place at Cambridge confirmed. I'm sure there are others.

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  13. This is interesting about Cambridge. I have heard of a few home educated people getting in there. The most well known of course was Arran Fernandez. I simply have not noticed the same thing with Oxford, but I dare say it does happen.

    Simon.

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  14. You must have heard of the book about 20 home educated young people by J Webb? According to this article by Paula Rothermel, http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00002197.htm, follow up interviews (1999) revealed that three of the 20 had graduated from Oxford.

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  15. There is also Arran Fernandez, of course.
    http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23873391-boy-who-broke-gcse-record-at-five-is-off-to-cambridge.do

    Another home educated Oxford graduate:
    http://www.dominicgkerr.co.uk/page2.htm

    Someone HE from 12 who gained a place at Cambridge after taking GCSEs and A levels at college from age 16.
    http://socyberty.com/education/home-education-my-experiences/

    Ben Poulten has gained a place at Cambridge (doesn't give a year):
    http://www.yorkcollege.ac.uk/case-studies/studies.php?idToPostToPages=950

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  16. 'You must have heard of the book about 20 home educated young people by J Webb? According to this article by Paula Rothermel, http://www.leeds.ac.uk/educol/documents/00002197.htm, follow up interviews (1999) revealed that three of the 20 had graduated from Oxford.'

    Yes, I have the book. This is becoming pretty heavy going as a result of a throw-away line in the above post. I said:

    ' As far as anybody knows, this is the first time that a child who was completely home educated during the statutory ages from five to sixteen has been offered a place at Oxford in recent years.'

    As far as I know and those to whom I have spoken, this is so. The children mentioned in Julie Webb's book were not in this category. I am not claiming any great thing here and if others know of students at Oxford who did not attend school at all, I would be pleased to hear about them!

    Simon.

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  17. I told you about one in the comment at 7.38.

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  18. Oh and another I just remembered. She was bilingual and went off to Oxford to study Italian (I think) with no A's even. The university just required a portfolio of her writing and a language test provided by my son's FE college.

    Another, from my son's A Level class, is on track for Oxford after her AS results. HE'd until age 16. Daughter of a missionary family who'd lived in Turkey.

    The A Level/Uni manager at the local FE have me these eg's of recent students so I don't think it's that unusual. All girls, which is a little odd.

    However, you and Simone have still done very well!

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  19. The one I wasn't sure about is indeed going to Cambridge, I found out late last night that she's going to Newnham College.

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  20. If you are only interested in Oxford and HE all the way through you have already been given the name of Dominic Kerr (at 16:39). I suspect there are probably far more Oxbridge/HE graduates than we know about from online lists and newspaper articles. This topic has cropped up several times on your blog but this is the first time I've heard of Dominic. As was mentioned a week or so back, not everyone thinks to publicise their achievements out make a big thing of their HE history. As you mentioned then, people working with Simone had no idea she had been home educated.

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  21. See www.dominicgkerr.co.uk/page3.htm for more details of his HE. 2 A levels at home at 15 (over a year), grade 8 in piano and violin, international fencing, county swimming... Impressive.

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  22. 7 A grade A levels (before A* grade introduced)! Beginning to wonder if this is for real!

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  23. '7 A grade A levels (before A* grade introduced)! Beginning to wonder if this is for real!'

    You don't need to wonder. If you hang out at the HE exams group, you'll see several over-achieving AS and A2 level students who opt for multiple AS's instead of GCSE's for eg.

    It's not exactly common, but it does happen. Gifted or Aspie types do very well in HE settings.

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  24. Oh I'm sure that's the case, I've seen how well my children have done, it was just the particular combination of exams, fencing, swimming and Oxford that struck me. Couldn't help wondering were he found the time for all that.

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  25. Oh, and music too!

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  26. "The fact is that most parents hope that their children will do well academically."

    I hoped that my children would want to do well in whatever field interested them and they have. This has included academics to some extent for all of them, but this was a by-product of their main interest rather than the object.

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  27. Good news Simon and Simone! Proof that HE works! Another HE success story to add to the list. I've been reading your blog posts with interest all this past year or so. I will miss reading more of your entries and the debates that ensue, since you've decided to call it a day, but I wish you all the best.

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  28. "I am making the point here that home educating parents are ideally placed to ensure that their children do do well in GCSEs, A levels, university admissions and so on."

    I agree that home education is not a bar to a child who is capable of gaining good GCSE and A level results, but not all are capable, are they? Or do you think that a child with an IQ of 90 could have achieved as your daughter did? If not, isn't it better that parents of these children aim for a more suitable qualification such as a BTEC relevant to their interests? Or should all children be pushed through the GCSE/A level sieve before passing or failing and 'making do' with BTEC or other qualifications? What is your view of alternative qualifications?

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  29. To those questioning the existence of Dominic Kerr, he's real!

    He Googled himself, this came up, and he found it so funny that he showed me (I'm his girlfriend).

    He made the website as an addendum to his CV and I've refused to let him take it down because I find it too funny: especially the photo on the front page!

    He should have put in a page about how nice he is and the good relationship he has with his family (he's going to kill me for saying this!). If HE makes people like Dom, everyone should be educated at home!

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  30. Oh, and in case anyone disbelieves my existence too, here's a photo of us Skyping: http://imgur.com/p4pZJ

    He's real, luckily for me!

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