The choice to home educate is made for many different reasons, and at different times during a child’s life. Some parents make an early lifestyle choice, where they decide from the very beginning that their child will be home educated. This has proven a very successful route for many people all over the world, who go on to have very successful lives and careers.

Alternatively, sometimes the choice to home educate is made during a child’s school education, with them being pulled out of the school so they can continue their education at home. This can happen again because of lifestyle choices, or simple because the parent is unhappy with the level of education their child is receiving in the school.

We cannot avoid the issue of potential discrimination within the school systems also. There have been several lines of research which strongly suggest that even to this day, there is a bias against children of African and Caribbean descent. Unfair treatment can range from children or young adults being unable to represent their own culture in the way they wear their hair or clothes, to the fact that Caribbean children are often more likely to be excluded from schools at both primary and secondary level. This being a reflection of some form of bias (unconscious or conscious), rather than on the behavior of the children. When we look into the curriculum and compare it to what we may consider important for our children to learn, those two things are often not entirely aligned, especially concerning subjects such as history. So we can see why these issues may lead to home educating, rather than trying to correct the flaws within the system. Here at OTLE, especially as we have both an African and Caribbean background, these are issues that are close to our heart.

Home education can also be a forced decision where the child is being bullied or severely let down by the school system, or has special educational needs that are not being catered for within the school system.

Whatever your reason for home education, we’re here to help, so don’t hesitate to contact us!