Classics, philosophy, philology, home economics, the nature of money and how it is issued, geopolitics, geology, anthropology, debating skills, the list goes on. We (should) spend a lifetime learning. It’s impossible to cram it all into the school years. Secondary school teachers, in my experience, seem to be particularly susceptible to intellectual hubris and a peculiar parochialism. Always a pleasure to meet exceptions.
Information technology goes a lot deeper than achieving proficiency using an expats’ forum. We are living in the dawn of the information / AI revolution after all. Incidentally, France lags behind in this and other areas. The general standard of IT literacy among the French I have met is shockingly low. Same goes for maths - and the finer details of the French language itself flummoxes most French everyday people! The education system here is indeed elitist and arguably produces a 1% with “emperor of the world” mentalities and 99% burdened lifelong as humiliated “losers”.
As a straight A student all my life, I have complete confidence that I can help my children achieve their potential and to develop the concentration and focus necessary to study, revise and excel in both coursework and examinations.
How do they get in to university if they are homeschooled
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No Irene I understand what you were saying but I spent most of my life working with young people suffering from prickly egos and chips on their shoulders. No more.
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Then I wish you all the luck you are going to need.
Izzy x
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It’s lamentable that you didn’t choose a more fulfilling and apposite vocation or that it didn’t equip you with more fortitude. I recall my grandmother’s words about egos, “The people who annoy you the most have the same bad traits as you.” - words for us all to reflect on perhaps. 
I suspect that you used the term glibly but I am not really a great believer in luck - a positive attitude, hard work and graciousness are more potent markers of success. Have a great weekend.
Most homeschooling takes place with younger children. One odd aspect of this discussion (I am indeed finding much of it odd!) is the assumption that you have to choose either home or school education once and for all. You don’t - my guess is that most home-schooled children also experience school: either it didn’t work for them, or (more commonly I think) they are home schooled when young, then go to school when they are older either because of the need for more subject specialism or exam courses. But it’s perfectly possible to sit exams as external students too - thousands do so.
Behind this assumption is, perhaps, an even odder one: that home educators haven’t thought through all the issues around team sports and other collective activities, socialisation, subject specialisms, exams, etc - but that people with little experience of home education, or knowledge of the support infrastructure available to it, very cleverly understand it all!
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@Dan_Fox - can I politely request that you choose your wording carefully before posting again. Whilst your posts have not yet (quite) breached our T&C, they are distinctly borderline and verging on the unpleasant.
I have no wish to spend my weekend policing this thread so I would appreciate your understanding.
Have a nice weekend.
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Hi Cat,
Thanks for your message. Please may I reassure you that my wording has already been subject to the utmost care? Does it state in your terms and conditions that we must all have the same opinion? I enjoy lively and honest debate. Is this not welcome here? If so, I will politely say “adieu” and leave you all to nod at each other and share articles from your favorite news sources. During this short thread I have been the target of ad hominem attacks (“brainwashed cultist”) yet I don’t see you wagging your finger at these forum members. What exactly have I done to offend you or anyone else? How have I been unpleasant or disrespectful? Can you give me specific examples? (Happy to wait until Monday so you can enjoy your weekend.)
I’d wager that you, among others, may be prone to projecting your own negativity on to my words - perhaps reading them with the angry voice inside your head rather than anything approaching mine. Please be confident in my most honorable and respectful intentions. I hope that you will not persist in this wrongheaded approach to forum moderation.
I think the French Law (way back when) … gave parents the right to choose the school… not the right to choose home-schooling… 
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Dan, my post was addreesed to Izzy not you.
Please do not lament over an imagined unfulfilled life. I cannot think of a more enjoyable and rewarding way to have spent my life. But old habits die hard and when I find myself analyzing a person’s behavior and thinking how best to instill a little self awareness in them I know it is time to walk away before I start planning a survival course for them.
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Thanks for the clarification Geoffrey. Perhaps a private message to Irene would’ve been more appropriate in this context? Certainly any attempt to “instill self-awareness” in others is futile and oxymoronic and it’s no bad thing that this has become apparent to you. I hope that your remaining years bear ample fruit.
To which I would add «trite» 
I used the term “oxymoronic” not “moronic”. I hope that you too are not erring into ad hominem attacks and that this misquotation was simply a case of your copy n’ paste skills temporarily falling short of “tech guru” level.
Note section on the word, “guru”.
Had I been as lacking in fortitude as you diagnosed I imagine I would have been distressed to have my hard work written off as futile. Was that your intention to distress me?
Fortunately some of my former charges still keep in touch with their old YOT officer and are kind enough to pretend to be grateful.
Instilling self awareness might simply boil fown to putting an overcocky arrogant person into a situation that shows them their limitations or it mihgt simply mean holding up a mirror and encouraging the person to look into it. Sometimes they see a person full of hubris accusing another person of hubris.
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Perhaps it was a slip of your fingers excessively keen to score a point 
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Hi Geoffrey, it was certainly not my intention to add one jot to any residual vocational stress that might be lingering yet. Stress / distress / unresolved traumas, call them what you will, should be addressed—sometimes best via professional counselling—lest they take a serious toll on your health. Rather, it was your declared intention to leave the forum due to having spent too long dealing with “prickly egos” which indicated several things to me: 1) that you may be very skilled at spotting prickly egos for whatever reason—and 2) perhaps you might have fared better by choosing an alternative vocation—at least one that equipped you emotionally to engage in reasonable online debate without throwing your metaphorical dummy out of the pram at the fledgling signs of a healthy discussion with a set of varied viewpoints.
Perhaps we could refresh our awareness of the topic of this thread and return to it presently?
I suspect you’re recognising the futility of arguing with a set mind, @anon51582117
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Thst is so funny. Thank you for giving me a laugh to take away with me.
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