tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post4960113172852436238..comments2024-03-20T00:30:11.702-07:00Comments on Home Education Heretic: What sort of home educating parents lead the fight against regulation?Simon Webbhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-9628766635798187062013-10-12T10:20:26.383-07:002013-10-12T10:20:26.383-07:00I think the kind of situation you describe, where ...I think the kind of situation you describe, where the parent doesn't really want to be home educating but can't back down, is worth exploring further. I think it's not uncommon among parents who start home educating as part of an "alternative" lifestyle, rather than because they want their kids to have the best possible education. In that case, sending their kids to school means both humiliation and losing their (the parent's) social circle. It's also interesting that, in many of the horrific abuse cases from the USA, parents see home ed as part of their religious duty, rather than having actively chosen it. <br /><br />Personally, I don't think any local authority should be letting parents get away with downloading an educational philosophy from the internet, as mine apparently does. Any parent who can't either write their own ed phil or talk passionately about the nitty-gritty of their children's education should be a cause of concern. I'd hazard a guess that that nearly all the abusive parents fall into that category (although possibly not the artificial insemination case). <br /><br />Anyway, I'm not really sure what the answer is to this. It might help if local authorities could be seen to offer support to home educators, rather than just checking up on them, perhaps supporting families for whom home ed isn't working to help them settle their kids into school. But I don't see that happening any time soon!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-66515373208868759052013-10-12T03:35:48.531-07:002013-10-12T03:35:48.531-07:00'The last thing you'd be likely to do is b...'The last thing you'd be likely to do is bring them home to irritate you all day.'<br /><br />A very good point, unless you are familiar with the sort of circumstances which often lead parents with children on the spectrum to deregister their children from school. Obviously, as in the case of Julie, who comments above, it is sometimes a carefully considered step taken for the benefit of the child. Equally likely, is that it is as a consequence of a row with a teacher or a gambit to force the local authority to offer a place at a different school. Sometimes, these things misfire and then the parent, unwilling to back down, is stuck with the kid at home; which was not really her intention at all. This is to say nothing of those children who have been removed at the suggestion of the school, because they find themselves unable to cope with a child. I will be doing a post about this kind of thing. Over part of the summer, from May to July, I was working at a special school and I want to share some of my experiences there.Simon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-87227966157576850062013-10-12T01:37:12.217-07:002013-10-12T01:37:12.217-07:00Common sense also tells us (most of us, anyway) th...Common sense also tells us (most of us, anyway) that if your child with special needs gets on your nerves that much then you'd welcome as much time for them at school as possible. The last thing you'd be likely to do is bring them home to irritate you all day.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-71904591335501007862013-10-12T01:15:32.751-07:002013-10-12T01:15:32.751-07:00'Does not that make me less likely to harm my ...'Does not that make me less likely to harm my child?'<br /><br />The first thing to consider is that those who neglect or harm their autistic children will always be a minority; despite the fact that the rates of abuse are so much higher than for children without special needs. Most parents do not neglect or abuse their children.<br /><br />The next thing to bear in mind is that those greatly increased rates of abuse for children with ADHD, autism and so on, are based upon children who are at school and not at home with their parents all day. Common sense tells us that if a child with special needs gets on your nerves so much that you neglect or abuse him, then this treatment is likely to get all the worse if the safety valve of having the kid at school all day is removed. This of course applies only to those parents with a tendency to such conduct; not the majority who would not harm or neglect their child under any circumstances.<br />Simon Webbhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10865289865412656573noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7881402584568285627.post-8563395275244169602013-10-12T00:54:47.485-07:002013-10-12T00:54:47.485-07:00Personally I found removing my autistic dd from sc...Personally I found removing my autistic dd from school made my life ( and hers - which was the aim) much less stressful - it was the sight of the primary teacher rushing across the playground to tell me exactly what she had ( or hadn't) done that day which was a major source of stress to us all. Does not that make me less likely to harm my child? Julienoreply@blogger.com