Education: No school - what a result

Now that they are in their twenties or thirties, how have the first children of the home-education revolution fared? By Julie Webb

Thousands of children are now being educated at home as more parents resist the homogenous approach to schooling. But how do these children do in adult life? Are they misfits, unprepared and unqualified for society's rigours? Not so, according to a selection of home-educated adults.

It's more than 20 years since a small band of brave parents launched a support group for families opting out of school. Education Otherwise, the organisation they founded, now has thousands of members. It expands as custom-built education becomes more and more attractive than the increasing rigidity of orthodox schooling.

The children of those early days, many of whom I talked to as teenagers, are now adults in their twenties or thirties. Of course, 20 self-selected respondents are not a sample on which to base sweeping statements about home education, but they can suggest features which have led to success for individuals. Equally, their thoughts about the problems involved, sometimes reflected in plans for their own children, can be constructive for those dealing with similar difficulties now.

All of them had some occupation, either studying, employed or self-employed, looking after young children or doing voluntary work - often a combination of activities. Lifestyles varied from running a website design company in the middle of London to an idyllic existence in Somerset recording wildlife for the local conservation trust.

Tom Ball, at 24, is running his own web design company. He was educated at home by his mother, a teacher, until he was 14. He then spent some time at a sixth-form college, before spending another year at home and then on to Cambridge University. Two other children in the family were also home educated, although the middle brother opted to go to school when he was nine.

"It was always our choice whether to go to school or be at home," recalls Tom. He settled easily in to being educated at home. "It's what life was," he says. One of his earliest memories is learning algebra using the kitchen scales to weigh paper bags marked x and y.

"Home education worked very well for me," he said. "I got pretty independent and was used to organising myself from an early age." But, asked if he would do the same for his children, he responds: "I'm not sure I would find the patience."

One in three felt home education would only be an option for their children if school didn't work out. Some felt their parents sacrificed careers and interests which they would be reluctant to give up. People who had been totally home educated felt this less strongly, suggesting that their parents had found a way to cater for everybody's needs. Half the parents of my interviewees were disillusioned teachers. "My Mum had been a primary school teacher," ran one typical response. "She said she used to get kids coming in bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, and leaving at 16 sullen and bad- tempered. She used to say `somewhere in the middle it's gone wrong!' and she didn't want that to happen to me."

Many interviewees appreciated the unlimited breadth of curriculum available to them at home, as well as being able to study a topic for as long as they wanted "without having to switch off at the end of an hour when the bell rang".

The opportunity to follow avenues of interest which appeared unexpectedly was also greatly valued. "Some of the best learning will come from problems," said one of the three Oxbridge graduates I spoke to. "If we were doing an experiment and it didn't work, we'd ask `Why?' For example, we were doing caterpillars growing into butterflies, and the caterpillars got eaten by maggots from the inside. It ended up being very much more powerful because it was real and inter-active."

Traditional areas of creativity also flourished, due mainly to the lack of time constraints but also, perhaps, because of a family culture of imaginative approaches to life suggested by adopting an unconventional education. Most interviewees had been involved in serious writing, drama, art or music, which continued to give them pleasure. One girl had become a puppeteer at the age of 12, and another had explored several artistic areas before deciding it was music she loved most, leading, eventually, to a PhD.

The oldest home-education chestnut trotted out trotted out by critics is that it creates social isolation. In fact, my sample confirms previous research suggesting the opposite is true. Home-educated children mix with a wider range of ages and types and their social skills are very often exceptional.

Time to be themselves, encouragement to acknowledge and discuss their feelings and to learn to empathise with people in many different settings, contributed in some cases to early maturity. One home-educated mother, herself home educating, talked of the importance of emotional education, something increasingly recognised in the world of work but still neglected by conventional schooling. "I was not capable of making relationships when I came out of school at the age of 11 - having the time out helped me to get myself sorted," she said.

The variety of reflections and the quality of their analysis suggests that being home educated had not resulted in any kind of indoctrination by parents - a common fear. These were examples of adults able to think for themselves with independent, fulfiling lives.

Education Otherwise PO Box 7420, London N9 9SG (send A5 SAE) or call 0870 730 0074

`Those Unschooled Minds: home educated children grow up' is available from Educational Heretics Press, 113 Arundel Drive, Bramcote Hills, Nottingham NG9 3FQ, priced pounds 9.95