I really wish my son was going back to school today

As I write this, my neighbour across the road is probably listening intently to her son as he tells her all about his first day back at our local primary in north London.

Being in year six, he was eligible to return today. Although he is only three weeks older, my son – Aaron – is in year seven. This means he won’t be back at school before the end of summer.

When the government announced that schools would reopen for some pupils from 1 June, part of me wished my September-born son had arrived a couple of weeks earlier. Then, he too, would be putting on his school uniform today and I would be able quit the hell that is home schooling.

When schools closed on 20 March I knew things were about to get tough. I am a freelance journalist so I’m quite used to working from our flat. But in a non-lockdown norm, I’m home alone.

Writing to deadline while also continuing my son’s education has been really stressful.

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He is a wonderful child and son, but like every other 12-year-old I know, Aaron requires constant supervision when he studies. And explanation. And the odd direct question to check he’s really understood things. Left to his own devices, his mind wanders.

Just like mine when I’m teaching year seven science. If my description of a membrane sounds shaky, it’s not just because I last grappled with cell biology 30 years ago. It’s also because I’m inwardly panicking about meeting my next deadline.

And sometimes not so inwardly. Over the past 10 and a half weeks, I have lost my temper more times than I care to remember, and I feel rubbish for it. Not a failure exactly, but certainly inadequate. I’m only dealing with one child. Teachers have a whole class in front of them.

So it is with no overstatement that I say home schooling has given me a new appreciation for what teachers do.

One of my many lockdown gripes has been seeing my son in his pyjamas at midday, even if he does have a book in his hand

It has also reminded me why teacher training exists. Simply being a parent is no qualification for the job.

All of which begs the question: why on Earth do some parents actually choose to home school?

Before lockdown, there were an estimated 60,000 home schooled children across the UK. It is the fastest growing form of education across our four nations.

On the Isle of Wight, one in 50 kids are home schooled. Before the pandemic, I thought their parents were a little strange. Now I think they are nothing short of bonkers.

They would, no doubt, respond that it’s not natural to be sat at a desk and under a fluorescent light all day and that it’s good for children to learn at their own pace. They might add that children learn better when they feel like learning, as opposed to when the rigid school timetable dictates they should. If they choose to study trigonometry curled up in bed at 1pm, fine. They may be right.

I’m clearly made of more overstrung stuff. One of my many lockdown gripes has been seeing my son in his pyjamas at midday, even if he does have a book in his hand.

But more importantly, I think home schooling could actually be detrimental in the long term. Quarantine has proved to me beyond doubt that kids need to play and chatter with other children. My son so misses the social interaction of the classroom, the playground and the lunchtime music studio. If he could, he’d return to school (and his band) today.

And I know he needs to engage with people who are different from him, not just his mum who loves him to pieces. He can’t do this being home schooled in our living room. It’s the educational equivalent of living in a gated community.

But much as I would like to quit the home education I know I don’t speak for everyone. Far from it. According to the National Foundation for Educational Research, headteachers are expecting 46 per cent of parents who could send their kids to school, to keep them home.

I understand their fears, but everything I have read suggests that children are at almost no risk from this virus. I know ‘almost’ won’t be good enough for some parents, however, as I see it, as we venture, carefully, out from lockdown we are all going to have live with an element of risk.  

The truth is home schooling has categorically not worked for my family. As soon as my son is eligible to return to school, I’ll send him.

Do you have a story that you’d like to share? Get in touch by emailing claie.wilson@metro.co.uk

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