Home Education Info – Mountain Movers Education

Have you ever stopped to wonder why you have to apply for a school place for your child?

It all because of a little piece of UK law – Section 7 of the Education Act (England and Wales) 1996 which states that “the parent of every child of compulsory school age shall cause him to receive efficient full-time education suitable — (1) to his age, ability and aptitude, and (2) to any special educational needs he may have, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise.”

Every child has the right to an effective education no matter where it takes place.

One option is to send them to school, where a full-time education is offered.

The other alternative is to educate them at home yourself.

It is the duty of every parent to ensure their child receives an education that is full, suitable and efficient.

Any parent can choose to home educate under the “otherwise” condition in this piece of law with only a few exceptions based on ensuring the safety and welfare of the child.

“I’m am not a teacher, but an awakener.”
Robert Frost

I'm not a Teacher?

This is the same fear and statement many people make about home education. It is the primary reason given why most people send their children to school. You do not have to be a teacher to be able to home educate – you are enough!

Alot of families find themselves home educating after their child has been in school and the placement has not worked for the child for a wide variety of reasons.

In the beginning, families often find themselves in a rocky place. Society as a whole tends to view education through the narrow lens of our own educational experience. Requiring a desk, a teacher and timetable full of different topics. So we start with this unrealistic version of what we think home education should be, with timetables and the thought that we must keep our children engaged for six hours a day at a table for it to count as education.

As the world has discovered during the COVID pandemic, that doesn’t tend to work. That’s not home education – replicating school at home is the quickest sure-fire path to a backlash battle from your child that will leave everyone feeling destroyed.

A parent and child have a completely different relationship dynamic than a teacher and her pupils. A teacher is amazing at crowd controlling a horde of children whilst scattering educational content aimed at the mid-range. Seriously hats off to all those teachers out there because what you do with ever-shrinking resources and ever-increasing workloads is outstanding! Home education, however, requires and works with the deep parent and child bond of nurturing. You taught your child to walk, talk, feed themselves, abc, 123, you can help them learn everything.

Different but not less!

At school a child is taught, continually assessed, data gathered and aimed towards goals and targets that a child or even a child’s parent has no input into. Are these goals and targets relevant to them as individual beings?

Home education puts the child’s needs at the very centre. Where the parent and child go on a journey of learning together. You are not supposed to know everything and actually, it’s a really helpful skill for a child to see that “adults” are not the all-knowing gatekeepers of knowledge. That the key to learning and education lies within every single person at any time in their lives. Learning does not have a start and a finish time, that we are in a state of perpetuating learning throughout our lives.

At Mountain Movers, we know that an empowered, valued and supported parent leads to an empowered, valued and supported child. As a parent, you are the central-most informative person to your child and if you value education, you can and will know your child’s needs and work to meet them. With a huge community of support and resources to aid you. You are not alone but you are enough!

Every individual should be allowed to pursue their own interests and develop their own strengths, rather than focus on what does not interest or apply to them.
Sir Richard Branson

Making the right choice!

Whilst we feel home education is amazing we also understand that it’s one of a range of options available for families to choose from.

Home education isn’t the right choice for everyone, just like school isn’t right for every child. It’s not home education versus schools, it’s not a question of which is better because both have different values of measuring what “success” is.

Home education requires sacrifice, there is no denying that. It can sometimes require a complete lifestyle change. In a lot of ways, it is so much easier to send your child to school than to home educate so you have to really consider all your options.

Flexischooling with the consent of the headteacher can sometimes be the best middle ground. This is a means where you and the school work flexible together to meet the child’s needs.

Home education can be expensive, particularly as teens if they want to undertake GCSES, the cost can be in the hundreds per exam. There is no legal right to support from your local authority so you have to weigh your decision.

Informed Parents

At Mountain Movers, we understand that informed parents make the best decisions to meet their families needs. We aim to empower and enable families to make whatever choice is right for their children’s education at any given point in the journey.

We also believe no one should feel alone.

At Mountain Movers, you will find a vast community ready to offer support, friendship and a sharing of knowledge and resources.