Home-schooling splits opinion as number dropping out on rise
You have a child and at four years old you send him or her to school. Right?
That might be what society dictates to be the norm but more and more parents are deciding against this and are choosing to home school their children instead.
Figures released last week showed the number of home-schooled children in the Black Country and Staffordshire rose by a quarter in the year to 2019.
Home schooling your child is certainly unusual. Despite the increase, there were still only 1,356 children registered as being taught at home in the Black Country and Staffordshire last year. The largest secondary schools have more than that total on their roll alone.
For the traditionalists, the increase is a cause for alarm. There is discomfort about children being kept out of the apparent all-seeing eye of the school system.
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders says "it is our view that young people are best served by attending a school".
More than 100 councils have also expressed concerns that some parents who opt for home education may not be able to meet their child's needs.
So what it is that convinces some parents their children are better off at home?
Megan Reece, a singer from Wolverhampton who appeared on BBC's The Voice, said she became disillusioned with schools and what they had to offer her children, Jamie, 12, Finley, 10, and Taylor, eight, who were all home schooled for the early part of their education.
She said: "I believe although schools offer a great and well-rounded education I think children miss out on vital skills for life. I don't think they are prepared for a lot of things.
"I read an article recently which said schools should bring back home economics and I think children aren't being taught basic skills.
"Back in the 70s my mum was taught how to sew and iron. Not everyone wants to be a stay-at-home mum but knowing how to run a home is important.
"I don't want children to think education is restricted to a classroom environment when there is so much to learn around them, that they are put in one room where they must not talk and they must listen."
Parents can choose to de-register their children from schools if they wish to home school them. They can expect infrequent visits from home education officers but, aside from that, they are largely unchecked, something which causes concern among some education leaders.
But others argue parents know what is best for their child and should be left to educate them how they see fit.
Ms Reece, 33, also dismissed the "myth" that home-schooled children's social skills may suffer from not being at school around other children as they grow up.
She said: "We found out there were over 300 home school families in Wolverhampton and we quickly got to know where the meet-ups were. My children ended up with friends of other ages not just their own age.
"They get to talk to a lot more people without having to be told to shush. They end up with more of a social experience than people would think."
Ms Reece believes schools are often too results driven and focused on meeting targets that individual needs of pupils get forgotten.
She said: "Schools aren't for individual students. They are about round figures and what results are. Schools are always looking to achieve as schools and forget about individuals and what they are facing.
"When I was at school I was badly bullied and that got overlooked because of the push to succeed in exams."
The mother-of-four said she would advise other parents to follow her in home-schooling children.
She added: "A lot of people presume you have to have some sort of teaching qualification. They don't realise that they have that right."
