More parents choose to educate children at home
I really strongly oppose this. I know that anecdotal evidence does not prove an argument, but...
As a councillor I had an ongoing irresolvable case of a family that wanted rehousing. the reason was that the kids were being bullied on the Estate where they lived. There were no criminal incidents, no police involvement. Just name-calling and taunting alternating with ostracising. I found the parents to be very weird and angst-ridden. The children were home educated. I then met the children. they were even weirder than the parents. I'm not justifying the bullying that came from the local kids. but part of going to school is about learning to mix. Many home educators cite guides, swimming etc as situations where their children learn to socialise. But it simply isn't the same.
I didn't go to nursery or playgroup. My mother is an intensely private person, almost to the point of being anti-social. So I rarely had friends round, whether as a toddler, or even into my teens. My two toddler friends - the daughter of a family from church, also called Geraldine, and the boy next door, Andrew - who were the same age as me, both moved away before I started school. I made a really good friend at swimming called Owen. I felt closer to him than anybody at school. But there was no encouragement to develop that friendship. Although we were only six, it was a little bit of a romance - entirely innocent, of course, not even any kissing!
I eventually became a social being when I went to secondary school. You have to there. At that age.
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