**A friend, who wishes to remain anonymous, has asked me to share this publicly, so others can also share it with their own friends and family. Please feel free 💜**

    
Dear all,

   
Re. Home education

    
Many of you will start to see articles/hear radio progs/watch tv series’ showing home education in a negative light. This is going to be ramped up quite a bit at the moment due to a Private Member’s Bill, started in the Lords, that’s going for its second hearing in Parliament. A Bill that wants to introduce Ofsted-style regulation to those that choose to HE (which is often one of the many reasons we choose NOT to send our children into the state school system). Aside from the fact that there is nowhere near enough money in the government’s pot (Brexit, anyone?) to start regulation, home ed will, for the next few months, take a battering in the press in an attempt to get the public angry and on board.

     
To my friends and family that don’t wholly approve of our choice, this coverage is designed to encourage those negative feelings you have. To make you feel angry about how unfair it is that you get fined for taking your child on holiday in term time and we don’t; that your children are subjected to tests and ours are not; that we can choose how our children learn – in fact, our CHILDREN can choose how they learn – while those in school have no choice but to learn the national curriculum. The list is endless. Obviously, as we all know, different horses for different courses. School and home education are different and each works well for different children. But lots of people don’t like that there is a choice and don’t like that many people choose to opt out of state education (this also includes those who choose private education, by the way). 

      
Those of us who home educate are actually saving the state around £5000 per year, per child. That’s the average amount a school place costs annually. We get no funding – it is entirely self-financed – and that’s a choice we make. So, while many people often mistakenly believe they are financing this way of life for those that choose it, they couldn’t be more wrong: By our children NOT attending school, we are actually saving the state thousands of pounds and not costing YOU a penny. 

       
If you know my husband and me, and if you know our son, you’ll know we’re just a regular family. And you may then be able to appreciate that the overwhelming majority of home ed families are not like the ones portrayed in the media. In fact, those being portrayed negatively are, in reality, probably not like that either! These people have no media-training and don’t understand how context and words can be easily twisted and edited. In the same way that most schooled families are not like those featured on programmes that show school-kids in a negative light. An illusion designed to get a reaction.

      
Don’t fall for it! It’s a ploy to get a Private Member’s Bill through government. This is how the wicked web of deceit works. 

       
Thanks for reading 😉
      

#howwehomeschool 

#ourhomeed