70

Most of the wand-carriers that come from a non-Muggle family seem fairly uneducated when it comes to interacting with Muggles. This implies that they don't go to any type of Muggle school before entering into their education at Hogwarts (or whichever Wizarding school they go to), or else they would at least understand some Muggle culture.

What do children from magical families do before going to Hogwarts if they don't go to a traditional school? Is there any evidence that they're homeschooled?

Improve this question

6 Answers 6

Reset to default
64

It depends on the family. Some families send their kids to Muggle primary schools. Others home school them.

From an interview with JK Rowling:

Kai: "Where do wizarding children go to school before Hogwarts?"

JK Rowling: "They can either go to a Muggle primary school or they are educated at home. The Weasleys were taught by Mrs. Weasley."

And so were most of the children from wizarding families.

Also, J.K.Rowling's Official Site F.A.Q tells us:

What education do the children of wizards have before going to Hogwarts?

They are, as many of you have guessed, most often home educated. With very young children, as you glimpsed at the wizards' camp before the Quidditch World Cup in 'Goblet of Fire', there is the constant danger that they will use magic, whether inadvertently or deliberately; they cannot be trusted to keep their true abilities hidden. Even Muggle-borns like Harry[sic] attract a certain amount of unwelcome attention at Muggle schools by re-growing their hair overnight and so on.

Improve this answer
6
  • 14
    I hate to point out, but there's a problem with the 2nd quote in the question's information. Harry isn't Muggle-born. He's a half-blood, as it repeated MANY times within the series. His mom was a muggle-born witch and his dad was a pure-blood wizard.
    – Anne Doe
    Aug 10, 2012 at 13:45
  • 8
    Shouldn't that make him something like a 3/4 blood or something?
    – rsegal
    Aug 10, 2012 at 15:05
  • 5
    @AnneDoe Agreed. Should've been something like brought up by Muggles?
    – ykombinator
    Aug 10, 2012 at 16:38
  • 1
    If the vast majority of wizard children are home schooled, then are they effectively kept in isolation until they get their Hogwarts letter, so as to not reveal the existance of the wizarding world to Muggle children they might talk to when not "in school"?
    – maguirenumber6
    Mar 8, 2016 at 4:58
  • 1
    @AnneDoe, a moot point. The text your referring to is a quote, and thus, since the quote says "Harry", it should stay as Harry. Typically, you would add <sup>[sic]</sup> to acknowledge such mistakes.
    – Gnemlock
    Dec 13, 2017 at 5:34
15

Per JKR, they can either go to a Muggle primary school, or they are home-schooled. http://voices.washingtonpost.com/answer-sheet/was-harry-potters-education-an.html

The ones that seem to have no concept of the Muggle world must have been home-schooled. As you point out, it's the only rational explanation for why they would be so unaware of the Muggle world.

This is nothing but conjecture, but I would assume that home-schooling is preferred, since wizards under Hogwarts age are not able to fully control their magic. (Remember all the odd things that happened to Harry.) For the good of the Statute of Secrecy, home-schooling must have been encouraged.

Improve this answer
8
  • That's a really good point about them not being able to fully control their magic. This raises an interesting question about what home schooled wizards are taught.
    – Dason
    Feb 23, 2012 at 4:22
  • 1
    Well, as a home schooled kid, I can answer that. :) Same things they teach in public schools, mostly, except I taught myself. Get textbooks, read, do homework, end of lesson. Passed ACT in the 99th percentile, and graduated college President's list. So don't knock homeschooling too much. :) Although, I must admit, I never took a class at home on Muggle Studies...
    – Gabe Willard
    Feb 23, 2012 at 4:31
  • @GabeWillard You never took history or science? Those would be Muggle Studies in the wizarding world
    – Legion600
    Feb 23, 2012 at 5:04
  • 2
    @Legion600 - I don't think Muggle Studies is science, even remotely. Likely, "social sciences" crap + History
    – DVK-on-Ahch-To
    Feb 23, 2012 at 11:26
  • 3
    @Dason ...if the wizarding world know the scientific method, they're really bad at it. More likely they've just used primitive experimentation. Failing that, see fanfiction.net/s/5782108/1/…
    – Tynam
    Nov 14, 2012 at 14:05
3

I am sure they are all home schooled. The reason I say so is consider the "pure blood" kids in the book:

  1. Weasley Family
  2. Malfoy Family
  3. Neville Longbottom and so on.

None of these seem to have attended any kind of school previously, probably because then their magic won't be under supervision.

Also facts like Oliver Wood knowing nothing about basketball (mentioned in first part) is significant to the fact that pure blood families are pretty conservative themselves and don't allow their children to readily mix with muggles .

Improve this answer
2

there would usually be no wizarding primary schools because you MOST OFTEN don't send children that young to boarding school. In UK children start school as young as 3, imagine asking a 3 year old to keep secret literally EVERYTHING they know. It has been mentioned before, that there are "small pockets" of wizards in many muggle areas, but there wouldn't be enough children to warrant a full school for them. In areas with a large wizarding population, a small local (one-room) school type thing would be POSSIBLE, but it would not blend in very well with muggle locals....

Improve this answer
2
  • Given that Mr Weasley commutes daily from Devon to central London instantly, the catchment area for a wizard primary school would be the whole country, so no need for enough wizard families in an area before starting a primary school.
    – freedomn-m
    Dec 13, 2017 at 12:21
  • I know this is old but I want to note that Arthur commutes by floo powder. Given the individual nature of it and the fact that you have to pronounce where your going correctly, I don't think this is a good system for sending kids to school and portkeys might be a bit violent to send small children by if that was even possible.
    – Travis Peacock
    May 15 at 6:21
0

It seems like wizarding primary schools would also exist, for families who don't have time to home school or money for tutors. There would also need to be done less prestigious magic schools, for witches and wizards that can't afford Hogwarts. There's no proof of this off course... I'm just thinking that this would need to exist to make the world work. Hogwarts is a small, highly selective school and it would be dangerous to have witches and wizards running around without the ability to control their powers

Improve this answer
2
  • The quote above from JKR indicates that there are no wizard primary schools.
    – Valorum
    Jul 10, 2015 at 7:24
  • 1
    Canon quotes indicate that all UK wizards are offered a place at Hogwarts. Scholarships and bursaries are evidently available for orphans and the poor
    – Valorum
    Jul 10, 2015 at 7:25
-2

I think whether they are half-blood or pure-blood they are homeschooled. Unless it is Harry. He went to a public school. Muggle-borns are sent to public schools. Since they do not know that they have magic.

Improve this answer
1
  • 1
    This just seems to be a rehash of the accepted answer
    – Jason Baker
    Mar 25, 2015 at 2:09

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.