Oh man, just what you've touched on here makes it very clear that educating in the US and the UK are very different things in some ways (your children get vaccinated AT school?!).
Texas (where I live) has no oversight on homeschooling at all. You don't have to register with the state in any way, so it's legally very much open. (I have mixed feelings about this, but that's a conversation for another time).
Culturally/locally, I've found that the easiest way to find community have been being plugged in with a Church. On my side of town, most homeschoolers are Evangelical Protestant, on the other side of town is where all the Catholic homeschoolers are. They don't all belong to the same parish or church, but they all attend one, and find their network by word of mouth through their church connections. Religious reasons are HUGE motivations to pull your kids out of school here, and a lot of the group homeschool activities (co-ops, field trips, etc) are planned within those groups.
If you're a secular homeschooler, at least in a smaller city, you'll have a more difficult time. When I've met secular/non religious homeschoolers, it's at the public library run homeschool group or the one run at the local science museum. They're ironically a bit less organic and are dependent on an outside institution noticing that homeschoolers exist and offering something for them.
That’s really interesting. There are relatively large religious groups in UK homeschooling too and you’re absolutely right that being part of a religious group gives you a ready-made network which isn’t available to non-religious families. This is very interesting to ponder.
(And your children don’t get vaccinated at school?!)
Nope, you have to make a dedicated appointment for it at their pediatrician. Most families do it over summer break. The only medical related thing that's done large scale by the schools that I'm aware of is screening for spinal scoliosis.
Even when they're babies? Do you have family doctors that do adults and children?
I'm guessing some of the differences have to do with it being government healthcare versus a private insurance system...I didn't realize it would look so different at the point of access though!
Here if you need a dr (because your child has an ear infection, for example), you call your local GP (general practitioner) surgery and hope for an appointment. Some places are better than others. If you go regularly you’ll see a different GP every time because there are several at each surgery. Although actually for an ear infection they don’t give antibiotics anymore so you wouldn’t bother! A very small number of people have a private GP who’s like their family doctor, which is a lovely idea but financially impossible for most. For more serious things you go to the GP who will refer you to an NHS specialist. The variations between national healthcare systems is a fascinating and bewildering topic!
When they're babies you have health visitors though, right? Here in NZ we have a few different options of Well Child providers who check how things are going at specific ages.
I grew up as a homeschooled ‘student’ in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. My mum still runs the local home educators’ Facebook group, which became over time the main avenue for new homeschoolers onboarding (just in Geelong of course). Victorian home education on-boarding takes a decent bit of confusing paperwork, and so new people often take to the Facebook group to ask for help in filling out the requisite ‘lesson plan’. When you know how to do it though, it’s easy - the regulators don’t actually care much at all what you put, as long as you tick the boxes. Long story short, I think an important part of an ‘onboarding’ package would be an easy-to-understand run-down of local regulation (and how to get around it, too!). :)
Why did the union get banned? Even though it will be a few years before I officially homeschool it would be nice to know the state laws in one easily accessible place and have it on paper vs. online. So far if I see a mom with an older child at the park during school hours I ask if they homeschool. That’s been my only way to connect in person so far since I don’t have social media. That and just searching online. Most of the families I know that homeschool have like 5 kids and they are all older, about to graduate, etc. and since their family is larger I think that keeps the mom occupied enough at home that she doesn’t seek a community or co-op lol.
Gosh, this is so tricky isn't it? It's something that I have been thinking about a lot lately.
When I first started home educating, the best way to join the local community was via the local Facebook group. So many Facebook groups have slowed down or died since 2020, and now everything seems to be on WhatsApp. For established home educators, who are already in the community, the WhatsApp groups are amazing, making for sustained friendships and ease of organisation, but if don't know anyone, how do you join those WhatsApp groups? Once in the WhatsApp groups, I think our local community is pretty quick to support new (and old) home educators, including with reports, access to things like the flu nasal spray, and local home ed activities.
In Cornwall it seems that the Facebook groups are still the best way to get connected and find out what's on (although I do wonder sometimes if there's a WhatsApp group I'm missing), but the issue is there's about 4 different Facebook groups all technically doing the same thing.
Most of my connections have come through word of mouth and it feels like the community down here is very split in terms of approach and attitude and so you'll find that a few groups draw the same crowd of people and finding a group where you fit can be tricky.
Funnily enough I did get a pretty helpful email from the LA when we deregistered with info about how to access the different health services that would normally be done at school, a few links to things like the national curriculum and a bunch of online resources and a cheery 'If we can help in any way just drop us an email'. Given the bad rep they have I was pleasantly surprised!
Oh man, just what you've touched on here makes it very clear that educating in the US and the UK are very different things in some ways (your children get vaccinated AT school?!).
Texas (where I live) has no oversight on homeschooling at all. You don't have to register with the state in any way, so it's legally very much open. (I have mixed feelings about this, but that's a conversation for another time).
Culturally/locally, I've found that the easiest way to find community have been being plugged in with a Church. On my side of town, most homeschoolers are Evangelical Protestant, on the other side of town is where all the Catholic homeschoolers are. They don't all belong to the same parish or church, but they all attend one, and find their network by word of mouth through their church connections. Religious reasons are HUGE motivations to pull your kids out of school here, and a lot of the group homeschool activities (co-ops, field trips, etc) are planned within those groups.
If you're a secular homeschooler, at least in a smaller city, you'll have a more difficult time. When I've met secular/non religious homeschoolers, it's at the public library run homeschool group or the one run at the local science museum. They're ironically a bit less organic and are dependent on an outside institution noticing that homeschoolers exist and offering something for them.
That’s really interesting. There are relatively large religious groups in UK homeschooling too and you’re absolutely right that being part of a religious group gives you a ready-made network which isn’t available to non-religious families. This is very interesting to ponder.
(And your children don’t get vaccinated at school?!)
Nope, you have to make a dedicated appointment for it at their pediatrician. Most families do it over summer break. The only medical related thing that's done large scale by the schools that I'm aware of is screening for spinal scoliosis.
Over here almost nobody has a paediatrician!
Even when they're babies? Do you have family doctors that do adults and children?
I'm guessing some of the differences have to do with it being government healthcare versus a private insurance system...I didn't realize it would look so different at the point of access though!
Here if you need a dr (because your child has an ear infection, for example), you call your local GP (general practitioner) surgery and hope for an appointment. Some places are better than others. If you go regularly you’ll see a different GP every time because there are several at each surgery. Although actually for an ear infection they don’t give antibiotics anymore so you wouldn’t bother! A very small number of people have a private GP who’s like their family doctor, which is a lovely idea but financially impossible for most. For more serious things you go to the GP who will refer you to an NHS specialist. The variations between national healthcare systems is a fascinating and bewildering topic!
When they're babies you have health visitors though, right? Here in NZ we have a few different options of Well Child providers who check how things are going at specific ages.
I grew up as a homeschooled ‘student’ in Geelong, Victoria, Australia. My mum still runs the local home educators’ Facebook group, which became over time the main avenue for new homeschoolers onboarding (just in Geelong of course). Victorian home education on-boarding takes a decent bit of confusing paperwork, and so new people often take to the Facebook group to ask for help in filling out the requisite ‘lesson plan’. When you know how to do it though, it’s easy - the regulators don’t actually care much at all what you put, as long as you tick the boxes. Long story short, I think an important part of an ‘onboarding’ package would be an easy-to-understand run-down of local regulation (and how to get around it, too!). :)
Why did the union get banned? Even though it will be a few years before I officially homeschool it would be nice to know the state laws in one easily accessible place and have it on paper vs. online. So far if I see a mom with an older child at the park during school hours I ask if they homeschool. That’s been my only way to connect in person so far since I don’t have social media. That and just searching online. Most of the families I know that homeschool have like 5 kids and they are all older, about to graduate, etc. and since their family is larger I think that keeps the mom occupied enough at home that she doesn’t seek a community or co-op lol.
I don’t think it was banned, I think it just ran out of steam. I’m guessing the eighties was a low point for homeschooling in the UK!
Yes I have also made contacts simply by asking strangers in the park if their child is home educated. Luckily I don’t mind talking to strangers!
Gosh, this is so tricky isn't it? It's something that I have been thinking about a lot lately.
When I first started home educating, the best way to join the local community was via the local Facebook group. So many Facebook groups have slowed down or died since 2020, and now everything seems to be on WhatsApp. For established home educators, who are already in the community, the WhatsApp groups are amazing, making for sustained friendships and ease of organisation, but if don't know anyone, how do you join those WhatsApp groups? Once in the WhatsApp groups, I think our local community is pretty quick to support new (and old) home educators, including with reports, access to things like the flu nasal spray, and local home ed activities.
In Cornwall it seems that the Facebook groups are still the best way to get connected and find out what's on (although I do wonder sometimes if there's a WhatsApp group I'm missing), but the issue is there's about 4 different Facebook groups all technically doing the same thing.
Most of my connections have come through word of mouth and it feels like the community down here is very split in terms of approach and attitude and so you'll find that a few groups draw the same crowd of people and finding a group where you fit can be tricky.
Funnily enough I did get a pretty helpful email from the LA when we deregistered with info about how to access the different health services that would normally be done at school, a few links to things like the national curriculum and a bunch of online resources and a cheery 'If we can help in any way just drop us an email'. Given the bad rep they have I was pleasantly surprised!
That’s a very encouraging response, well done Cornwall!
It is definitely tricky finding the home ed people that you click with, particularly with it being such a diverse community.