I have been musing lately about the recent past; a sad habit of many as they approach their twilight years. Those able to remember the fuss over the publication of Graham Badman’s report will perhaps recall that shortly after it came out, I had a couple of articles published in newspapers about home education. These were my personal views on the subject and they provoked a storm of protest from some other home educators.
I did not understand then and still do not to this day, why reading the views of another home educator who disagreed with one’s own views could cause so much rage, but we will let that pass. What I have found curious over the three years or so since this happened is that the most aggressive of my critics have shown that they were actually following a fad at the time and had no real commitment to home education. I am not going to name any names here, but am talking about mothers who became heroines of to home educators for their Freedom of Information requests and so on.
One of the most well known figures in the campaign against Badman was only home educating her daughter because she had not been able to persuade her well-off family to shell out for a private school. This has since been done and the child is now attending a good, independent school. Another only ever wanted to keep her child at home until she was 11, always having the aim of getting her into a grammar school. She has now done this. Three other women who were both extremely active in fighting Badman and also very angry with me, have now sent their children to school.
I do not say that it is wrong to send children to school, but it is odd to see people who are one moment utterly gung-ho in favour of home education and the next packing their kids off to school. This has confirmed what I suspected at the time, that the real cause of their anger at me was that I had decided to home educate my child for no other reason than that I wished to home educate. This was and still is rare in the British home educating scene.
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it was fuss and real angry over crazy old Badman because of what he wanted to do such as his mad ideas about forced home visit and seeing the child on its own with out the parents in the same room somethinh you and your daughter fully support? if it had been passed if you had refused a home visit you would have been served with and SAO his report his still used by some LA.s to scare frighten people into home visit which as you know there is no legal requirment to have one. if home educators ahd not created a fuss Badman report would have been made law! something you wanted?
ReplyDeleteUnitil LA understand that many parents have been left donw by there school or LA staff who often tell lies nothing will change and the war goes on!
for the record Peter been home educated since the age of 7 and will be going to college in septeber 2012
It had nothing to do with home educators making a fuss. It was political expediency.
Delete'Peter been home educated since the age of 7'
DeleteThat's a long time to be plugged into Chess software packages and being influenced by an illiterate and aggressive, abusive oaf.
"I suspected at the time, that the real cause of their anger at me was that I had decided to home educate my child for no other reason than that I wished to home educate."
ReplyDeleteThis seems a very strange conclusion from the information given. Either you've plucked a reason out of thin air or you've left a lot of information out. Either way, this conclusion makes no sense based on the information given.
'Either you've plucked a reason out of thin air or you've left a lot of information out.'
ReplyDeleteI suppose that I assumed a bit of background knowledge. Most of the parents who appear on forums and lists, as well as those one meets in real life, have reasons for home educating other than that they simply wish to do it. Their children's special needs are not being catered for, their kid was being bullied, they could not get the right school, the school would not let the child take time off for chess; all sorts of reasons really, almost none of them choosing freely to educate their children because that was what they wanted to do.
The fact that my motive in home educating was purely educational seemed to irritate some parents who had had bad experiences with schools or who had, as they saw it, been forced to home educate because they could not get their own way with their child's school.
We home educated from the start. I began researching HE when my eldest was 1. We've probably met 100's of home educators over the years at various groups and camps as well as spending time on various lists but luckily I've never experienced your problems with others.
DeleteWell we home ed just because we want to. Daughter did do three years at infant school but we had no terrible experiences - we just reckoned it would be more fun to home ed, which I think it has been. Son has never been to school and I would be astonished if he ever chose to go. You still really irritated me with those articles though, Simon! I think, if I remember rightly, that it just seemed rude and badly timed. I also think that you haven't met a very wide range of home edders in real life and so had developed a slightly odd view of what other people were doing and how they lived their lives.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I think the home ed world is pretty extreme in many ways. I sometimes read things from 'homeschoolers' that make me shudder and wonder how different the world can look through different eyes.
' I also think that you haven't met a very wide range of home edders in real life and so had developed a slightly odd view of what other people were doing and how they lived their lives.'
ReplyDeleteThis is a perfect example of how a distorted view can come to be accepted as normal. If by not meeting a wide range of home edders, you mean that I was not involved in any home education organisations, this is partly true, although I belonged to EO and HEAS. However, neither those parents who belong to groups like that, nor those on the forums and lists are necessarily typical of home educating parents in this country. There are very many parents, in fact the great majority, who just get on with home educating without becoming involved with any other home educators. I have always known quite a few people of ths sort, in fact I knew them back in the 1970s.
Those who spend too much time on Internet sites concerned with home education are apt to start thinking that they are encountering a wide cross section of home educators. This is not so; this is a small subculture. The wide range of home educators are those who belong to no clubs or organisations and are just not sending their kids to school. Most are unknown to anybody other than, in many cases, their local authority.
Oh, you misunderstand me. I agree that the lists are not very representative - and I guess the national organisations probably aren't either because people tend to join when they start home edding and then drop their membership later. I mean local groups. I must have met hundreds of people over the years - some choosing to home ed for a short while, some who have been doing it for twenty tears, some who do sit down book work every day and some who don't. I have met people motivated to home ed from the start by beliefs about children and learning and people who have been all but forced to home ed through lack of suitable services from the LA.
DeleteI don't claim that I have met a representative sample by any means but I have met a pretty wide range and some of those people have become very close friends. I think it's been through those connections that I have come to realise that whatever label people apply to themselves (autonomous, child-led, structured, eclectic...) most people's approach is to try to work out what is best for their child.
Of course you're right that there are a lot of people who just get on with home educating without making contact with others. Our local list now has more than 500 members but gatherings and groups don't attract all of those at once - thanks goodness.
Webb says-Their children's special needs are not being catered for, their kid was being bullied, they could not get the right school, the school would not let the child take time off for chess; all sorts of reasons really, almost none of them choosing freely to educate their children because that was what they wanted to do.
ReplyDeleteThen you suspect those parents like us to welcome the local LEA into our house with open arms as if nothing has happend? the same LA that said no? there no way on earth there would ever be welcome here! people are dam angry with the treatment and half truths there get from Local LA officers and the poor service that is got from some schools
Unti lA's address people children complaints over issues and not try to cover it up make out nothing has happend then nothing will change
Easy to see why they gave you a hard time. The Dalai Lama would undoubtably end up with the irresistible urge to punch you in the mouth.
DeleteCan't help but notice that you haven't had any luck on finding a job yet?
You should try the Job Centre or the local paper...get someone to help you read through the ads and fill in the forms and you might be in with a chance.
That is a good point.
DeleteParents whose experiences with the LA have been extremely negative, in that the LA has not met their child's needs, are naturally more likely to be against legislation which gives LAs more power to be involved in their children's lives. I'm sure that Simon understands this really.
It follows that they would also be unhappy by articles by a fellow home educator which backs the idea of that legislation.
It doesn't excuse the rudeness and hysteria that followed, however. Simon actually having to leave the HEexams list as a result of people's hysteria was like some kind of witchunt. Very wrong.
Old Mum
Seconded, my thoughts exactly. Thanks for expressing them for me, Old Mum! Simon does tend to phrase things with an antagonistic/devils advocate slant, but as you say, this doesn't excuse the more extreme responses (though it must be said that people often spoke up in his defence).
DeleteOld Webb fully supported Graham Badman as did his daughter what do you expect from people who are unhappy with there LA to say to him well done?
ReplyDeletePeople who have been let down by there LA's the lies they tell are dam angry and demand a much better service from them we would never allow an LA into our home over our dead body!
'We would never allow an LA into our home over our dead body!'
DeleteLianne and Martin Smith had similar beliefs.
Now that Peter is moving on to college, perhaps it is time for you to also move on? It's not good to be stuck in the past, so resentful of something bad that someone did to you years ago that you feel you have to comment on a daily basis about it here.
ReplyDeletePerhaps there is something constructive you could do with your energy?
Just some friendly advice.
Old Mum
nope its impossible to move on until we get justice for the lies and half truths that where told about us by our LA/School we so dam angry
ReplyDeletejust cos sometihing happened in the past dont make it go away it makes it worse cos its no resolved! andthe bloody civil servant in London for the department for education they a waste of space to doing f all to help yet we pay there wages
you have lies and half truths told about you im sure you not say oh dont worry about its ok nor would Webb
until complaints are resolved it will never go away
We know all about how Hamoshire LA work and there tell lies!
its construtive to point out that about how LA do tell lies and say things behind a family back
there help mess up part of his home education as we had to spend so much time fighting there lies i never forgive them or the officers! its not over!
Plain to see that you're one messed up individual.
ReplyDeleteYou've made it very clear that you were unfit to home educate. Your wife should have realised that you don't have the ability to read or write let alone teach, quite why she allowed you to be responsible for Peter's education is a mystery, viewed even as irresponsibility. To be honest, I don't feel as if she had much of a choice. From the way you've presented yourself here it looks as if you're very domineering and as if you have the potential to be belligerent and maybe violent if you don't get your own way.
Perhaps Hampshire authorities had those concerns too. Concerns which they couldn't voice adequately or practically and it was an expedient decision to muddy the waters with half truths and...'lies' and 'incompetency', a light hand. Your son was undoubtedly somewhere on the 'at risk' list and you were being monitored. You were very lucky, one complaint about almost anything could have sent the authority into protection mode.
Maybe you've hidden your tracks very well.
From the way you've communicated here, I wouldn't trust you, I don't like you and I'm quite certain that anyone who has met you in RL comes away with a similar feeling.
i dont like you as for being monitored we where not your talking crap your unfit to home educate to as you made it quite clear you support LA that tell lies about people have you told your children that telling lies is ok? im afraid i cant dominate my wife she is rather a tough cookie her self! you not want to cross my wife i can assure you of that! for your information it was my wife who wanted to home educate get you facts right!
ReplyDeleteThat all seems to confirm the worries that some people have regarding home education and inadequate parenting.
Delete'i dont like you as for being monitored we where not your talking crap your unfit to home educate to as you made it quite clear you support LA that tell lies about people have you told your children that telling lies is ok? im afraid i cant dominate my wife she is rather a tough cookie her self! you not want to cross my wife i can assure you of that! for your information it was my wife who wanted to home educate get you facts right!'
ReplyDeleteIt would be interesting to know whether the child whom he was supposedly educating has English skills as atrocious as those of his father!
It would be interesting to know if the child has interpersonal skills as atrocious as those of his father.
Deleteno much better lol you in support of lies to? do you tell your kids that lieing is ok? are you a keen badman supporter like Webb?
ReplyDeleteYou appear to be one of the few cases that justify and lend credibility to the role of Mr Badman.
DeleteThere are many, many faces to child cruelty and inadequate parenting, in your case you have presented yourself as ignorant,confused and unaware of appropriate behaviour/conduct. In short you are a poor specimen of fatherhood, a good father would have realised his uneducated limitations and not have burdened his child with such a legacy.
The most likely concerns raised by HCC would have been Child Neglect and Psychological/Emotional Abuse. You have been walking a very, very thin line, an act or failure to act by a parent or carer may give grounds to remove a child to care.
ReplyDeleteThe act or failure to act covers risk of death, physical or emotional harm, abuse or exploitation.
Continuous Refusal of a childs needs is neglect. The inability of a child being able to interact with other children, is also neglect.
Inappropriate excessive demands and excessive criticism are viewed as psychological/emotional abuse. It's been noticed that you're obsessive regarding 'lies' and have made claims that you've been somehow persecuted.
Sometimes your communication points in the direction of you being neglectful and psychologically/emotionally unreasonable .
that is a load of old bullcrap but most worrying is you belive that! come round here and say that to our face im in most days.
ReplyDeletei take it you also agree with LA officers telling lies? have you brought your child up to tell lies? or where you abused as a child do tell us?
We only have your word that the LA officers were telling 'lies'. Lies and truth are quite complicated concepts both being subjective.
ReplyDeleteYou ask whether I was abused as a child. By raising the question it's more than evident that you have a perverted understanding of abuse. You ask whether I raised my children to tell lies...well, I raised my children to understand both truth and lies and recognise the consequences of using both. You appear to have a childlike naivety and very simplistic/rudimentary understanding of integrity and deceit.
And finally ...I doubt that anyone could mistake your opening aggressive statement which exposes a clearly belligerent and volatile personality.
I got the written proof that Hampshire LA officers told lies and we still working on geting justice for the lies that where told about us. Our own county councillor was very un happy to see that lies where told by his officers! come round and we show you the lies that where told by hampshire LA.
ReplyDeletesounds to me like you belive that people we pay to work for us such as LA officer should be allowed to tell lies? why is this? have you told your children that it is ok for LA officers to tell lies about people?
Didn't this all happen quite a few number of years ago? I would have thought and expected that the whole matter had been dealt with by now.
ReplyDeleteUnless of course you're taking vexatious actions against certain members of the LA.
Are you funding the legal action yourself?
Perhaps you should explain the lies on here.
no its not been dealt with what do you mean by that? and yes we are looking into legal action against certain officers and wil lbe fundingit ourself! i explained some of the lies in the lastest thread check it out
ReplyDeleteI 'checked it out', and it's very unclear. Was your son 7 years old when you removed him from school? He's 16-17 now.
ReplyDeleteHow many years ago were all the lies considered a valid concern?
It's doubtful that your vexatious case would reach court, in effect it cannot. The law firm that handles such a case can find that they're open to disbarment.
nope your wrong its not vexatious if written lies are told about Peter/family by Hanpshire LEA the family have the lies down in writing legal action is going to be taken there is no time limit in law about this.
ReplyDeleteour solcitor is very happy with the evidence we have shown him!
Do you think that your solicitor would be happy to see how you're stalking Julie or Simon and Simone?
ReplyDeleteThat's clear evidence of you being vexatious, a law firm can be disbarred for one single case.
bullcrap again i dont stalk Julie just a bit of light banter think she big enough to take it and give some out!
ReplyDeleteyou work for an LA do you? Vexatious is a word there use when you went agree with them!
legal action is goign to be taken over lies that where told we have it in writing the lies by LA officers
do you bring your kids up to tell lies? have there been to hospital for anything serious?
wont
ReplyDeleteSomebody's found a new word - this could spread like wildfire if we're not careful. Unless Peter also brings cases against Julie, Simon and Simone, the issue of vexatious litigation will not come into play. It's to do with multiple court cases, not multiple comments.
ReplyDeleteJulle ok a bit misguided over here views on home education and her sucking up to HCC but she not like that old Webb and Simone who both got into bed with Graham Badman
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