Health and Personal Development of young adults

For many years I have been involved in the personal development and health of teenagers and young adults. I have gained an insight into the way their minds work (or don´t work) and the reasons for many of their behaviors. There is nothing that will surprise me at this stage in my career and all sorts of information will land on this blog. Hopefully some of it will help!

The Home School Curriculum
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 @ 12:07 AM

Since I have been back in the UK this August I have noticed just through my general research that the number of home schoolers in the UK has risen over the last 5 years. I cannot remember exactly how I got onto the topic but once I did I started to find some very interesting facts .

I had become more aware of home schooling during my time in Spain when I had a colleague take up a position as a teacher with a family of three children who were being home schooled. Home schooling was also something that was brought to my attention on a number of occasions at the school I was teaching at where a request would be made in the staff room for anyone who was interested in helping out various families who had moved to Spain. There were quite a few families who had moved to Spain and for one reason or another had decided to educate thier children at home .

I would imagine that the reasons for home schooling a child in Spain would be differant to the reasons for doing the same in the UK.

For a start it is legal in the UK and yet sits on shady ground in Spain where it is still deemed illegal.

For that reason there are no Rules for home schooling in Spain.

Home educators in the UK do not have to be trained teachers, nor do they need any special qualifications to educate their children at home. Some British home educating families choose to use a structured 'homeschool' curriculum that they can get online. Some of the parents pick and choose school-type text books from bookshops; some use the Internet and libraries to find suitable educational resources; some follow the children's interests and do little or no teaching as such.

In other words, there are no hard and fast rules for how families go about their home educating in the UK. It's up to each family to ensure that their children receive appropriate education, which will vary from child to child.

The subject of home Schooling is a very broad one as you can imagine and there are a number of online companies specialising in this area .For this reason I have focused on the Homeschool curriculum. Where do we get our curriculum from and where do we get our resources?

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5 Comments

Patricia (Campana) said:
Monday, November 12, 2012 @ 11:54 PM

Home-schooling is legal in the UK but it isn’t common. Most parents in the UK that have the time to homeschool either lack the required level of education/intelligence to do so successfully or have enough money to send their children to private school.

I understand that the local council also has to be informed...

Kathy said:
Tuesday, November 13, 2012 @ 1:20 PM

Yes patricia ,

I believe that the reasons for homeschooling in the Uk can vary .
Some of the reasons could be bullying, truancy, maybe special needs or even geographic isolation such as shetlands etc .
I do know that although the numbers are still quite small in the Uk they have increased.

Laurie said:
Sunday, November 18, 2012 @ 10:12 AM

Actually I've come across quite a lot of home educators that have degrees and actually do have the 'intelligence' necessary to educate their own children, and these children have then gone on to become Doctors and Teachers themselves. I also know home educators who don't have degrees and their children have gone on to become very successful!

More and more parents are home educating now to have an active part in how their children learn and develop as individuals, instead of letting the system raise their children. As well as those who educate for the reasons shown above.

I think it's harsh to say that most home educators in the UK are lacking in intelligence to do a good enough job or don't have enough money to send their children to private school as that isn't the case for most.

Kathy said:
Sunday, November 18, 2012 @ 10:58 AM

Hi Laurie,

the comment I made was that many parents may feel inadequate because they feel they may not have the qualifications. Sorry if this comment was interpreted to mean that they did not have the intelligence...not at all .
I am a firm believer that the most important quality in being able to teach a child is your ability to communicate and your ability to inspire them. Qualifications mean nothing. In all my years in education I have met some very highly qualified people who should not be teachers and vice versa. Teaching is one of those professions where personality is key.
As regards the money for Private school .I know that there are parents who have more then one child and when they weight up the cost of private schools then home schooling seems a better option.
However that would be a personal choice and not because they cannot afford to send their children to private school.

eggcup said:
Saturday, November 24, 2012 @ 8:13 AM

I had to home school my son for a while and what I found was that he got a lot more done at home, as I extended the day to cover all the travel time, so he would work from 7.30am to 4pm with a 15 minute break in the morning and half an hour for lunch. In school, it would have been 8.45 to 3pm with a 15 minute break and an hour for lunch. We got so much more done, like 45 minutes Maths every morning, instead of three times a week in school and I could cater to his specific weaknesses, so he improved in a short space of time. We used to fit in some time on maybe 8 out of 10 of the subjects every day (instead of 5 subjects in school). The negatives were that I couldn't help him with his Science (I've always been rubbish at that) and the worry that he would become socially isolated, spend too much time in the house, too much time with me and not enough time with children his own age. Also, I lost a lot of my freedom and couldn't get down to my own work in the same way as I had to keep checking he was sticking to his timetable.

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Kathyd
In my position as coordinator of Health and Personal Development at an FE college in N.Ireland I am responsible for the Personal and Professional development off teenagers and young adults. I have worked in this field for over 35 years and have seen and researched most of the issues that surround this age group. To that end my blog is my personal thoughts ( for what they are worth) and articles that hopefully will give a parent a different perspective in bringing up their teenager.

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