scp -pr /home/simonh me@backup.net:/home/me/backups

• recursive copy (r), maintaining permissions (p), of a directory;
• fine for smallish backups.

• copying each file incurs an overhead — significant if lots of small files;
• in this case, use tar and copy only one file. . .  

tar cvzf - /home/simonh | ssh me@backup.net "cat > simonh.tar.gz"

• With regular/frequent backups, better to copy only changes — new/changed files:

rsync -av -e ssh /home/simonh me@backup.net:_backups
    #
    # ...not "/home/simonh/" which backs up each file and directory 
    #    within /home/simonh...