I don't think Isabelle will ever go back to formal education (well she may choose to as an older adult but not anytime soon with people her own age). At the end of year 11 she will not be able to get good grades in the minimum number of GCSEs that she needs to access anything else. She won't be encouraged to go to college because she will be needed to look after Jace and the baby, plus any other babies that come after.
Esme enjoyed school the least and doesn't seem like she wants to go back anytime soon, so she might not. I do think they have confused saying she benefits the most with actually it's that she likes it the most, which isn't the same thing. If she went back she would be even further behind than she ever was, on top of dealing with all the talk of her dad (at least Isabelle can say he's not related to her) and having so long away from people her own age.
Isla would struggle, and I think by the time they even consider sending her back it will be too late. She loved school, she seemed to do well there and was proud to talk about what she was learning. She didn't seem to struggle with any of it, but it would be a shock to go back and find out how far behind she is when she is young enough to probably believe it when she's told they are currently doing just as much as if they were in school. She's also struggling the most socially right now and her social skills would likely be far behind children her age if she went back in a few years time.
Jace and baby will probably end up at school, there will be no ifam left by then so no youtube, there's no way to just leave younger primary aged children to just copy work off the internet so it would be too much work and not much point if they don't need them for vlog content. Isabelle will probably do the school run and maybe finally make some friends that she hasn't met online.
We've all seen articles about how far behind children got following lockdowns and that's with going back to school in between, being with staff who actually have the skills to help them catch up, some learning taking place online, and a lot more social contacts than the Inghams have had in over a year now. If only short times out has had a big impact, then what do they really think this is doing to those girls?
This just breaks my heart to read, especially for some reason regarding Isabelle, she is now so closed off to education....it’s so sad!
I was thinking about them this morning on the walk to school with my children and suddenly realised the main issue is this....the Ingham children aren’t just missing an education but also life skills that are VITAL to growing up.
As an example this morning....we were away some of the weekend and my daughter woke up this morning in a state about her homework not being completed. Now...she had all week, plus sat morning, and I kept saying to her “get it done or you will run out of time”. She didn’t. She cried, we walked to school in the rain with her snapping at me, I told her “but you knew about your homework and the need to get it done early?” She eventually said at the school gate, how sorry she was that she snapped at me and that she would have to face the consequence. You know what?! It’s a horrible life lesson....I feel terrible but part of me thinks she NEEDS to learn about;
1) priorities
2) time keeping
3) organisation
4) dealing with emotions of stress and working through it all
5) working to deadlines
The Ingham children will NEVER learn these things. Ever. And the above is all a massive part of living in the real world! They do what they want, eat what they want, don’t follow laws or rules....HOW is this setting them up for real life?
Big cuddles and hot chocolate for my daughter tonight, I hope she’s ok
Life is unfortunately not one long endless, sugar filled, doughnut eating holiday like the Ingham Family pretend it is. God help those girls going into adult life. I feel for them, I really do.