Page 62 - SEN116 January-February 2022

Home schooling
The wonderful world
of home education
Jacquelyn MacDonald-Fawcett presents the case for home education.
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Agrowing number of parents are now choosing to enter the exciting world of home education. This figure has risen dramatically as a result of the Covid-19 Pandemic, and fears around overcrowding in schools, but it’s fair to say that even prior to the ‘try before you buy’ practise run the whole country enjoyed (or didn’t), many of us had already decided to give it a go.
Having been a teacher and Head of Special Educational Needs in schools in Suffolk for over 12 years, I took the somewhat daunting decision to leave my career behind to home educate my then 12-year-old son. There were several reasons for this, but ultimately, it boiled down to the fact that there were just too many elements of the mainstream system that inhibited his progress. I should point out here that I am by no means ‘anti-school’; I have two other children who continue to attend good Local Authority run schools; I simply recognise that the Victorian model of education, which hasn’t had a significant shake up since the1960s, definitely does not suit every child, nor does it seem willing to adapt at a pace.
“I should point out here that I am by no means ‘anti-school’”
It’s fair to say the current ‘Generation Youth’ have had a lot to deal with; growing up in a world post 9/11, where acts of terrorism around the world are reported daily; a poverty gap that mirrors Dickensian times; Local Authorities on their knees around every issue from housing to mental health and of course, the biggest international crisis faced since the 1940s...World War Covid! Is it any wonder our young people are a little fragile?
The real question is, what have schools - by which I mean Local Authorities, by which I obviously mean the government - been
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