My interest in home ed doesn’t go back as far as yours so I bow to your greater wisdom. But I do feel that I’ve seen more insularity in home ed of late, perhaps a post-covid thing. (If it makes a difference I’m in the U.K.)
I do think it cuts both ways though — here at least I’ve felt recently a reluctance from other home edders to get involved with community stuff, almost as if the wider community is seen as ‘The Man’ (you know, as in ‘stick it to The Man’) but also I’ve seen some community orgs acting like ‘The Man’. Eg I recently organised a home ed visit to a local museum and we were followed around, and kids constantly picked up on the most minor things (pushing interactive buttons ‘too hard’ etc).
Idk I do feel home ed has changed a bit here. More parents taking kids out of schools (often due to trauma, and/or undiagnosed neurodivergence) rather than home ed as first choice, which maybe changes the landscape a bit? Idk?
Thanks for commenting, Ruth. Yes, I think that can change the landscape somewhat. And as the popularity of home education grows, it's probably inevitable, especially when the increase in numbers has been at least partly due to Covid restrictions. My observation has long been that families either tend to become less formal and reach out more or they stop home education. If there is lots of material for them to read and role models of folks who've been doing it for awhile (and if they have the inclination to reach out and learn), then many families often begin to understand the less formal ways of helping children learn. And they educate their communities, often just by being out there. Your museum visit sounds unfortunate; I hope the staff there can eventually relax.
Gotta love when people try to catch you out about a topic they know very little about but assume they’ve somehow figured out!!
My interest in home ed doesn’t go back as far as yours so I bow to your greater wisdom. But I do feel that I’ve seen more insularity in home ed of late, perhaps a post-covid thing. (If it makes a difference I’m in the U.K.)
I do think it cuts both ways though — here at least I’ve felt recently a reluctance from other home edders to get involved with community stuff, almost as if the wider community is seen as ‘The Man’ (you know, as in ‘stick it to The Man’) but also I’ve seen some community orgs acting like ‘The Man’. Eg I recently organised a home ed visit to a local museum and we were followed around, and kids constantly picked up on the most minor things (pushing interactive buttons ‘too hard’ etc).
Idk I do feel home ed has changed a bit here. More parents taking kids out of schools (often due to trauma, and/or undiagnosed neurodivergence) rather than home ed as first choice, which maybe changes the landscape a bit? Idk?
Thanks for commenting, Ruth. Yes, I think that can change the landscape somewhat. And as the popularity of home education grows, it's probably inevitable, especially when the increase in numbers has been at least partly due to Covid restrictions. My observation has long been that families either tend to become less formal and reach out more or they stop home education. If there is lots of material for them to read and role models of folks who've been doing it for awhile (and if they have the inclination to reach out and learn), then many families often begin to understand the less formal ways of helping children learn. And they educate their communities, often just by being out there. Your museum visit sounds unfortunate; I hope the staff there can eventually relax.