HomeSchooler.org.uk

"Dear Sir/Madam, (education.editor@guardianunlimited.co.uk)
I am writing with regard to your article with the appallingly inaccurate headline: "Children educated at home at severe disadvantage, study shows".

http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2009/oct/13/home-education-badman-inquiry"

Don't read this without a strong cup of tea in hand.

"The county council, in a quiet, rural area of England, couldn't believe its luck. A troubled teenager in care (let us call him John) had just been thrown out of the last of a dozen schools.

But just when everyone thought there were no options left, along came the perfect solution: a couple, volunteering to foster him.

Mary and Daniel (not their real names either) had never sent their own daughters to school. Mary was an evangelising home schooler, convinced she could make a better fist of it than state or private schools."...more...

And I thought they were children, not pupils!

"Parents who teach their children at home will be vetted for any convictions related to abuse following recommendations in a report today.

The Elective Home Education Review was launched in January in the aftermath of the Baby P case in Haringey, north London, to ensure that home education is not used by parents as a “cover for abuse”.

England has been identified as having one of the worst systems in the developed world for keeping track of children in home education. Figures from a recent TES investigation show that approximately 35,000 children are not receiving a basic education...."...more...