***The following post was actually written for the UK blog. However as I was a having a 'dizzy' moment, I forgot that I was signed into my own blog until after I had posted it! I have copied and pasted it over to the UK blog, however I realise that alot of people who read my blog read it in RSS readers and would find this post anyway. Also, I have many readers in other countries and thought you might be vaguely interested in what is going on with Home Education in the UK. So, I have left this post here as well, but this will explain some of my comments and references to 'my views on this blog' etc. ***   

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 There was more than one article in the news this week about the upcoming publication of the 'Badman Review into Home education'. I thought I would put up the links to some of the articles here for your information. I will try and post more about it this week when it has been published and we know for sure what exactly it says!

Get tough on home tuition to weed out abuse, says review

(Home) school's out forever?

Home education case study – the Crawsham family

The Home Education Review - Possible Outcomes

Home education review sparks battle over lack of regulation

   I have made no secret of my views on this issue over the past years. I would love to see mandatory registration so that they know where the children are and so we are all held accountable to do the job set before us.

   I have personally met too many 'home educators' who hide behind the 'autonomous' or 'unschooling' titles to do absolutely nothing all day! I am all for younger children especially having plenty of time to learn through play and exploration, however there needs to be some sort of structure to the activities. There needs to be some sort of guidance and input from parents.

   I feel that being registered would also give a validation! We would be considered a viable option for parents to consider when looking at where to send their child to school. Hooray!

   However, I strongly oppose any move to impose the national curriculum on us, or force the use of any particular curriculum of the government's choosing. As long as we have children who can read, write, calculate and who know about history and the world around them - we should be allowed to choose just what books and materials we use to accomplish that.

   To be perfectly honest, the material used in the schools is simply a joke anyway! We can do far better at home ourselves. We have a foster daughter who has improved her handwriting more in just 8 weeks of working through one of my home education handwriting books than she did all year in her classroom! Her teacher was scratching her head till I revealed what I had been doing with her at home. She couldn't figure out what had caused the improvement!

   She is at the bottom of her class and the help available to her is non-exsistant! We are getting more accomplished at home with her after school and on weekends.

   So in my opinion, forcing the national curriculum on us would be a case of lowering the standards of those home educators who take their children's education seriously! We are simply doing a better job at home.

   Then again........maybe that is the problem here! Maybe they are simply afraid that we will put the schools to shame like the home schoolers in America do! They regularly win national educational competitions like spelling bees and outscore their counterparts in all standardized tests every single year. Maybe the problem here is that we are doing too good a job! We might make the schools look bad - and they can't have that can they?

   I'll post up again when we find out what the final report says later this week. Thanks for putting up with an editorial this time if you have read this far! LOL! My fear is simply that if we fight everything we are in danger of loosing everything! If we are reasonable and agree to at least be registered (which is the minimum requirement in all 50 states of America) then we might win the right to do the job the way we feel is best!

   I know there are those who claim that if we give them an inch they will take a mile. But there is also a case for meeting them somewhere in the middle. People like to think their children are invisible to the government if they aren't in a school or if they keep them from the medical professionals, however if your child has a birth certificate then they are known to exsist! So I dont' think we loose much by saying 'We are home educating this child'. They can tick their box that 'this' child is getting some sort of education and worry about the children who are really missing in our country!

   I laugh to think what would happen if we all registered 'en masse' on particular Monday morning! LOL! Most LA's would take a year to just process the information - let alone have any time to hassle home educators! And there would be no budget for hiring the thousands of 'inspectors' that would be needed to do just one annual visit to each family!

   At the same time we would show them just how strong of a community we can be. Hhhhmmmmm......maybe something to think about. Then we would be the ones pulling the strings if we registered when we wanted to - all in one day! (I just want to be a fly on the wall in the local LA office that day! LOL!) - Deedee