The Independent, the Guardian, and the BBC all have articles on the reported rise in the number of school-age children being educated at home. According to the latest figures over 16,000 young people are now homeschooled – a threefold rise in eight years. However, doubt has been cast on the reliability of these claims as the rules and monitoring surrounding home-based education are vague and unclear. I would very much like to educate Benjamin (my son) at home until he’s about 7 – especially as my wife’s a primary school teacher. As far as I understand, in some Scandanavian countries children do not attend school until this age and they still top the world league tables, so there’s no advantage in starting formal education too early as far as I’m concerned. :)