Learning

By law you are required to provide an efficient, full-time education suitable to the age, ability, and aptitude of your child, and any special educational needs they may have.

There is no definitive measure of suitability, because each child is different. If you home educate, it is up to you as a parent to decide what constitutes a ‘suitable’ education. For some this is a fabulously liberating prospect, and for others it is daunting!

You know your own child best, so decide for yourself, but for a general idea of what others get up to, the information/advice below has been provided by some home ed parents. It is a good idea to also do your own research to find out more and to work out which style(s)/philosophy(ies) might be most suitable for you and your child.

Early years (3 to 5 years old)

Learning at this age focuses on building the foundations for later learning, and although some children can read and write at this age, there is no expectation for any child to be able to do so. Learning through play, stories, songs and everyday life are the usual approaches, but some add in a more specific learning programme, such as Kumon (repetition and worksheets), or learning methods and tools as described by educational philosophies such as Montessori. 

There is no right and wrong way because every child is unique, but many studies do suggest that for (possibly) most children, formal teaching too young can have negative effects: https://www.psychologytoday.com/us/blog/freedom-learn/201505/early-academic-training-produces-long-term-harm

Children develop very differently at every stage, so when you compare children’s learning, you are rarely comparing like with like. However, it can sometimes be reassuring or informative to know what the national curriculum for England says:

(Note that there is no requirement to follow the National Curriculum or any other curriculum in home ed.)

Art (and writing)

A child is never too young to create, be it a mud pie, a tidy pile of bricks, a colourful finger painting, or a ‘Picasso inspired’ playdoh sculpture, but some believe that you should not put a pencil/pen in a child’s hands until all the muscles to use that tool have developed. However, just as many would disagree, so be guided by your child, how interested they seem in it, and what you know about them. If in doubt, read around the subject, observe your child, and then make your own mind up.

Website that may (or may not) be of help: Home – Teach Handwriting

Humanities

Topics that fall broadly under subjects such as history, geography, politics, and religious studies naturally come up in every day life, conversation, and play. For example, religious festivals that you or your family or friends celebrate; countries you might visit or see in a book or a children’s television show; the weather; what life was like in ‘the olden days’; etc.

Literacy

Some don’t try to teach reading at the Early Years stage and choose to do it when the child is older, and/or allow it to happen naturally when the child is ready. Others familiarise the child with letters, letter sounds, single digit numbers etc. through daily life, observations and interactions, but don’t take it further until either the child expresses an interest in knowing more, or until the child has developed enough to take that knowledge further. Some may go straight into formal teaching.

You are never too young (or too old) for a story. Early on, most home educators focus on enjoying literature rather than the reading/writing side, so finding books the child likes, and spending time looking through them and talking about them with the child tends to be most home educators’ top priority at this stage. Talking about books, looking at pictures in books, making up stories together, visiting libraries, listening to audio books etc. are all good ways to ‘normalise’ books and stories.

Music & language

Some will start music lessons and language lessons at this age, but usually in an informal teaching style, with methods such as Suzuki or learning language through play being preferred. 

Numeracy

Some children just ‘get it’ and others need more time. For those who like them, there are simple workbooks for 3+, but many prefer the hands-on-numeracy approach of, for example, counting pennies, weighing out in cooking, cutting apples up into bits, etc. There is no norm of what is expected for numeracy and maths in early years in home ed.

Practical subjects

Science, cooking, gardening, sewing, sculpture (Play Doh) etc., all tend to be taught as fun hands-on activities at this age. Motivation for tackling these subjects tends to be because you are doing it anyway. If their child doesn’t enjoy it, most move on to something that they do enjoy. 

Socialisation

To be ‘socialised’ just means to be able to mix with others. LAs (and others) are often concerned about the ‘socialisation’ of home ed children but the reality is that home ed children mix with lots of other children and adults, and can often socialise well with children of different ages, compared to school where children spend the majority of their time in a class with the same aged children.

Home ed 3 to 5 year olds, like all other 3 to 5 year olds, sometimes fall short of behaving in a way that is socially acceptable; the upside is that whatever your child does, someone else’s has probably done something similar or worse. There is huge variation at this age, just as you would expect to see in any Early Years or Reception class, but if you think you have any serious issues, or the problems don’t seem to improve over time, talk to your health visitor or GP. ‘Challenging behaviour’ is often a sign that your child is struggling with something, such as developmental or learning differences, physical health problems, or neurodivergence.

As for mixing with others, there are a number of home ed groups for this age group. Generally, they focus on outside play, stories, craft, singing, nature and ‘sport’, and are really an extension of what they may have done in toddler groups and pre-schools.

Sport

There are sport activities for all ages of home ed children, with the focus usually on team work, having fun, moving one foot and then the other, working out which way is left and right, and taking turns. If you really value sport in the very conventional sense of the word, there are lots of after school/out of school local community activities, such as ballet, dance, football, rugby, gymnastics, swimming etc, and even then, in this age group, the focus is usually on having fun.

Cross-curricular

At this age, the home ed world tends to be highly cross-curricular, with learning being mainly through play and not separated into separate subjects. The emphasis is on development, learning skills, and enjoyment.

If you have any concerns that your child might not be developing as you would expect, be it physical, social, ‘educational’ or in terms of communication, you can talk to your health visitor or GP. 

More information about developmental delay can be found here: https://contact.org.uk/help-for-families/information-advice-services/

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Primary years

In the school system, this equates to Key stage 1 (school years 1 and 2, ages 5 to 7) and Key stage 2 (school years 3 to 6, ages 7 to 11). In home education there is no such distinction or expected standard, it is just what your individual child is interested in/able to do at that point in their lives. 

Many parents completely ignore the national curriculum and many home ed children are far advanced in some areas and have yet to look at others. Their style and method of learning just doesn’t fit the curriculum, but if you are wanting it…

Skills, knowledge and abilities of children at this age vary greatly in the home ed community. Some will not be able to read and write yet, can’t sit still, and have minimal concentration. Others are competing nationally in their chosen sport, acting in the West End, working towards their first set of GCSEs, have grade 6 in at least two instruments, and can list every capital city in the world! Most children sit quite comfortably in their own space between these two extremes. Children can’t help but learn, and there is so much they need to know by the time they reach adulthood that, for most things, it really makes little or no difference what order they do it in. 

For most home ed children, if they aren’t learning what you would expect from a conventional UK education, they will be learning other things, such as how to climb up trees, dice a carrot, make up stories, make friends etc. (Sadly, none of that is in the National Curriculum.) There is only so much you can fit into any one day, so home educators pick and choose their own learning priorities for their children, often in collaboration with their children’s own priorities and interests.

Even at this stage, maths and English are some people’s ‘panic areas’ as most people are only too well aware that in order to do most things post-16, you need a minimum of GCSE maths and English language. For this reason many home ed families use workbooks to cover these subjects. At Key Stage 1 and 2 level, it is perfectly possible to get through a whole academic year’s work for English and maths combined in three months by doing a maximum of two hours work a week.

Choosing topics

Some home educators follow a curriculum; some have their own philosophies about what should and shouldn’t be learnt at certain ages; others just follow the child’s interests and will go into quite some depth; others follow topics as they arise and learn in quite a cross-curricular way; and most have plenty of hands-on learning and experiences, such as numerous ‘school trips’ and ‘practicals’. Most home ed families do a mixture of all of the above, to a lesser or greater extent.

Academic rivalry

As learning tends to be so varied between families, home educated children generally do not compare themselves academically against their peers at this stage. This is because a) you don’t get the same benchmarks as you would get in school e.g. tests and certificates, so comparisons are more difficult to make, and b) as everyone’s lives and interests are so different, very few people are doing the same things at the same time, so no one can see how far along anyone else is. It is far more common to see academic rivalry occurring between siblings. The closer in age the siblings are, the more pronounced this becomes.

On the up side, your friends are not your academic rivals. Most home educators and their children wish everyone well in all their endeavours. Someone else’s success is not your failure and vice versa. Children can also have great confidence in their own abilities as the praise they receive is not undermined by someone else doing better.

On the down side, without benchmarks and other children to compare yourself to, some children think they are useless because they find some things difficult. They are unaware that everyone finds something difficult when they first learn, and they start to give up. They can also start comparing themselves with older siblings, adults and trained professionals, all of which can reinforce the idea that the child is somehow lacking compared to others, further undermining an already low esteem. How a child will react to the absence of direct competition will vary from child to child. On the whole, most do better for its absence, and learn to run their own race, but that is not true for everyone.

Art, craft & design

This age group is usually willing to explore (or reject!) anything you put in front of them, but art is generally somewhere near the top of the list. There are great resources both in Cambridge and surrounding areas and in London. There is always demand for art groups for this age group. Some like the structure of a set project, such as the Explore and Discover Arts Award, but others prefer a more free-flow approach. Cost can be next to nothing if you have a parent who is able and willing to pull everything together, or a group can get an art teacher in and each group member pays towards the cost, which varies according to how much the teacher charges, how many are in the group, and venue costs.

It is not uncommon for some families to avoid arts and crafts all together, usually because the home ed parent doesn’t feel confident in that area (the exact same thing can be said for any subject, but for some reason ‘I can’t do maths’, and ‘I’m not creative’ seem to be the top ‘I don’t know what I’m doing!’ areas). However, generally speaking, if it is not embraced at this age, the child will probably not come back to it later as a career choice (it is very difficult to ‘compete’ with fellow artists at GCSE and A-Level who have been doing art all their lives, if you have only just started). However, there are no ‘never’s in home ed!

English and Literacy

There is no distinct age at which most home educated children learn to read, and research shows that the age range of home ed children learning to read is much wider than schooled children. Anecdotally speaking, the majority are probably reading independently by about 7 or 8, but it is not uncommon to see some children start later, even as late as 11 or 12 years old, and then catch up rapidly with their peers.

There are arguments that children who learn to write later have a better ‘writing style’ as they haven’t picked up the sloppy ‘bad habits’ that children who have been writing for a long time do, but on the other hand, learning later can lead to frustration and a reluctant writer. There really is no right and wrong. It is entirely child/parent/family dependent. Different children even within the same family can have very different outcomes. 

Some say that your child will naturally learn to read, spell and punctuate all on their own if you read to them a lot and if they have access to plenty of different reading material (fiction and non-fiction, books, magazines, comics, instruction manuals, subtitles on TV programmes, etc.), but many have found that not to be the case. As ever, it is completely child dependent. Some say learning to read should never be a battle, they will all get there in their own time if you make it a positive experience. Others say that their child would never have learnt to read if they hadn’t battled them early on. There is a lot of research about children learning to read, which you can deep-dive into if you want to. It is really a question of which method you believe is the most suitable for your child, and if you lose heart part way through, you can always switch. 

There are loads of wonderful on-line programmes and websites for helping you to teach your child to read, and many different reading schemes. The Cambridge libraries stock quite a few different schemes and you can often buy a whole reading scheme at a greatly reduced cost through The Book People, who often sell to parents through schools: www.thereadingpeople.co.uk. Sometimes books are sold through local home ed groups second hand, and charity shops are always a real winner.

Workbooks are usually supplemented with other home ed groups, educational tools or learning experiences. It is fairly easy to find a home ed activity for this age group for English, or if not, you can easily find enough people who would be willing to join a group you set up or help start one up with you.

  • The Cambridge literary festival can be a great resource, although to see an author can be expensive . They have a spring and autumn festival. http://www.cambridgeliteraryfestival.com
  • The Cambridge Festival of Ideas can also be a great resource crossing over all the humanities and occasionally giving a little nod to the sciences, if that year’s theme happens to combine the two. Most lectures and activities are free, and there is always something directed at children. It runs in the autumn. https://www.festivalofideas.cam.ac.uk

Geography, history, anthropology, earth sciences & nature studies

All very popular subjects at this level in home ed and generally strongly facilitated by parents of children in this age group. 

There are often voluntary run community groups that follow this line of education, which is greatly helped by having such fabulous resources on our doorstep, such as the Botanical gardens, Wimpole, Wandlebury, Cambridge museums, Paxton Pits, Milton Country Park, Anglesey Abbey etc.

Easy to start up, will nearly always get the numbers to make it worth your while, if you can’t find a group currently doing something in this field that would interest you and your family, do consider organising your own. It is not as hard as you might think.

Humanities subjects (history, geography, politics, and religious studies) naturally come up in every day life, conversation, and play, and at primary age there are many online or other resources for exploring topics in more depth, for example, religious festivals and celebrations; countries you might visit or see in a book or a children’s television show; the weather and climate; what life was like in the past; etc.

Language

By age 11, some home ed children are well on their way to communicating with the world in more than one language, while others never try anything more exotic than English. The biggest thing that holds people back from doing languages in home ed is cost. If you cannot do it yourself, you are looking at paying a tutor possibly £25 a week for the next 5 to 10 years. There are some home ed language groups being run by tutors, and it is cheaper to do it in groups, but generally not as good as one on one.

Some have done language exchanges, but if they are going to do this most wait until secondary school age.

Others follow a world-schooling approach and travel to different countries to experience different languages, cultures etc.

Maths

There is a real range in how this is taught at this stage in home ed. Workbooks are very popular, and are a surefire way of making sure you are meeting the national curriculum. However, many say that you can learn everything that is in the KS1/2 maths curriculum through everyday life and games. Most do a mixture of the two approaches but again, it depends on the child and the parent’s home ed style. A few might use a tutor or on-line school for this level.

There are some who find their child can/want to go much further, more quickly in this subject. If your child ‘gets’ maths, that is quite do-able.

Occasionally, maths home ed groups pop up, but generally speaking there seem to be fewer home educating parents with a maths degree compared to an English or science degree. Few feel comfortable leading groups on subjects they don’t feel passionate about, and so maths usually remains a solitary occupation.

Music

Some home ed children have individual music lessons by the time they are in this age group, but by no means all.

Music is very expensive, not only for the lessons and exams, but also the instruments themselves. A cheaper alternative is often to find another child/teenager/student who is at grade 4 and upwards to start teaching your child the basics, at a greatly reduced price. Some home ed families will advertise their lessons on the local groups, or you can ask on the groups to see if anyone is willing to come forward and take on the job of teaching your child.

You can rent an instrument from most instrument shops, which you can return if your child doesn’t enjoy it or buy if your child wants to continue. You can also borrow an instrument from Cambridgeshire Music: https://www.cambridgeshiremusic.org.uk/individuals/lending-resources/

Local music groups that are popular with many local home ed children include:

Other music workshops and events, but by no means all, are:

Practical subjects

There are plenty of activities and interest in these types of activity for this age group. These can include anything and just depend on who is willing to organise them at the time. Some examples of activities that have been available in the past are baking, carpentry, pottery, horse handling, gardening, sewing, crochet, cookery, and IT (coding etc).

Science

Some follow workbooks at this level, and others choose to do science through their own experiments, resources or groups. There are usually primary-aged home ed STEM groups/classes being run. In Cambridge, there is also:

and the Cambridge Science Festival that runs in March and is organised by the University, with most events being free.

Socialisation

For this age group there are lots of trips, groups and meet-ups organised, providing plenty of opportunities for children (and their parents) to socialise. If you can’t find something you and your child would like to do by way of social activities, you can always set something up and invite others. Some children prefer to socialise in smaller groups or one to one, and this too is perfectly possible within the home ed community, even if it takes a bit of time to organise/set up/find others who want to socialise on a smaller scale. Online socialising is also an option for children who find it harder to leave the house, or who need that as a stepping stone to socialising in-person.

People who don’t know any home ed families will often judge home ed children more harshly than others, as they may not agree with the principle of home ed, or they believe some of the stereotypes portrayed in the media. General themes that tend to keep coming up are: home ed children are emotionally immature but academically advanced; and home ed children are emotionally mature but academically poor. These are huge generalisations and the reality is a lot more varied and nuanced, depending, as always, on each child and their abilities and needs.

Home ed tends to have a higher number of children with SEND, whether diagnosed or undiagnosed, and it is generally accepted that home ed has a higher percentage of children that don’t fit the ‘standard’ in some way. This is not the result of home ed, but a consequence of school education not being able to meet the needs of many children.

Home ed also has children from every walk of life, country, family background and religion you can think of. This provides the opportunity for all home ed children to be tolerant, understanding and respectful of those that are different to them, allowing for a greater level of socialisation than you might find in any one specific school. As they say, when you have met one home ed family, you have met one home ed family. They are all different as are their children.

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Secondary years

In the school system, this equates to Key stage 3 (school years 7 to 9, ages 11 to 14) and Key stage 4/GCSE (school years 10 and 11, ages 14 to 16).  This is the stage where home ed parents often panic and buy up every textbook and workbook going, some or all of which rarely or never get used!

By this time, many parents have ditched even trying to look at the national curriculum (but should you want it: https://www.gov.uk/national-curriculum/key-stage-3-and-4 ), but they will do other things that follow much of the same material as the curriculum, such as using workbooks, online schools, finding tutors in the subjects they know they want to cover at GCSE, etc. Sometimes, people continue at secondary age with what they were doing when their child was in year 6 and then move straight on to chosen GCSEs when their child is ready, rather than having to stick to the same timings as the school system.

Choosing topics

At this stage, a lot of people start cutting out the things that their children don’t enjoy. The main subjects that stay are the core subjects that people often take for GCSE, and any others that are of specific interest to the child.

This works well for some, particularly those that don’t ever plan to take an academic route, but occasionally, now grown-up home educatees have been heard to say that they wished their parents had made them do subjects that they didn’t, because they felt they didn’t have the basic knowledge that other people had when they went on to do further or higher education. Of course, it is never too late to learn a new subject, and GCSEs and equivalent qualifications don’t have to be taken at 16, as in the school system.

Unfortunately, time and money do not allow home educators to offer the large range of subjects they might like to, so at some point you do have to pick and choose. This is the same as schooled children who only go on to study 5 to 10 subjects at GCSE and are only allowed to choose a couple of those; but when you take the full responsibility for everything, you can often feel you are failing regardless of the reality of things. Having a list of priorities for your child’s education and closing your eyes to the world around you really helps. Plotting out possible exams/future careers/academic routes for your teen can also help alleviate the stress of feeling you are floundering around in the dark. Your child doesn’t have to take any of those routes, but it does give you the comfort of knowing there is a future for all children, regardless of whether they get a certain number of GCSEs by the time they are 16 or not.

Children who come out of the school system at secondary age because school is not working for them often have mental health issues or are in burnout, sometimes with health concerns, and sometimes trauma. In these situations, parents who push the ‘academic’ before solving the other concerns generally go backwards rather than forwards. Prioritise mental health and wellbeing. It is sometimes said in the home ed community that a child needs a month for every year in school they have had, to recover (or ‘deschool’). The longer a child has been in school, the longer the recovery may take, and if there are emotional and/or physical concerns as well, this often needs to be longer; some may never do formal academic work but thrive instead in a self-directed/autonomous/autodidactic form of home ed. It is perfectly possible to catch up later, when the child is more able to cope with the demands of formal academic learning. Some wait until their teen is able to do catch-up GCSEs at college alongside, for example, an apprenticeship.

Academic rivalry

As children head towards GCSEs, academic rivalry does start to rear its ugly head, no matter how much you try and keep it at bay. Not surprisingly, this can also come from parents. As a parent, this can get emotionally very difficult as there is a very fuzzy line in home ed between who is an acquaintance, a colleague and a friend. Parents will gauge how well they are doing as a home educator by seeing how well their child is doing academically. It is completely irrational, but most of us feel inadequate, judged and fraudulent an uncomfortably large amount of the time, so it is quite understandable. It is so much easier to support each other in a detached manner when your children are at different stages, but you do need the support of other people going through the same thing as you, too. There are no quick fixes to this as it is so much a personal issue, just lots of compassion and self-awareness. We are all guilty of looking over the fence every now and again, but too much looking over the fence always spreads back to the children, and puts huge pressure on to them to achieve.

Art, craft and design

People either drop them completely or start to take things to the next level. Groups doing these kinds of activities stop around this age, so arts, crafts and the like become more of a solitary activity. The Bronze, Silver and Gold Arts Awards are often a winner and can be done separately or as a group. Groups are far more motivational for those completing the awards (it is a lot of work if you do them properly, but you can squeeze through with the bare minimum if you feel so inclined), but getting the commitment from other families can be tricky.

English

Workbooks are still a big feature for this age group. English groups are also very common. Some colleges will do courses for home ed children and those excluded from school from about 14, with the aim of taking the GCSE at 16. Tutors are not uncommon, and neither are online school and courses.

Humanities

Things start to take a more academic turn with people looking towards GCSEs, but many will also drop these kinds of activities and subjects as they are not necessary for many career paths.

Languages

If you haven’t already been doing a language from a younger age, a few take one up at 11, others wait a bit longer and then do the GCSE from scratch in about two years, and the rest generally don’t do one at all.

Tutors or groups tend to be the preferred option as, although you can do languages through online schools and textbooks, getting exact pronunciation etc. is easier if someone can pick up the subtleties of what you say in person or one-on-one.

Ancient languages often start to sneak in at this sort of age, with Latin being the most common.

Maths

Tutors, workbooks, online courses and online schools are increasingly common as the children get older. Not necessarily because they are needed, but because parents are so aware that for most future directions, their children really need maths and ideally the best grade in maths you can get.

At 14+ there are courses in some colleges for home ed children and those unable to attend mainstream schooling, with the aim of getting them to pass their maths and English GCSE in a couple of years time.

Science

Some use workbooks or online courses at this age, some use a tutor, and others set up or join groups studying science. Those that think they may want to take science further after GCSE will often start to put a lot more work into the subject at this stage, but most have it as a kind of ‘back-burner’ (or should that be ‘bunsen burner’?) subject. Often the science they are less keen on starts to get dropped. The Science festival is still very popular for this age group, but the lectures start to take precedence over the hands-on activities. Those that are still into astronomy, or have recently taken up a passion for physics, get a lot out of the public open evenings at the Institute of Astronomy. Home ed parents sometimes also organise a group to do some practical science lessons at Cambridge Regional College to cover the practical element of science GCSEs or IGCSEs; ask on the CHEF home ed Google group.

Socialisation

Social groups become really important at this stage.

Your child might find their perfect buddy in home ed groups and activities, but equally they might have to just ‘make do’ with the company that is available. This is the same for all of life, so it is great training for learning to get on with whoever is about, but it does also mean that some children can feel quite lonely. It is for this reason that many children take up activities outside of the home ed community, in order to mix with people who are of a similar age and have the same interests as them.

There is often a sizeable number that leave home ed and try school in year 7, and of these, some realise it’s not working for their child and come back to home ed. There are also many who have attended school throughout primary but do not thrive in secondary, and therefore come out of school to be home educated; this is nearly always due to mental health, bullying, emotional trauma, neurodivergence, etc. These children are rarely able to go straight into socialising with home ed children. Each child and their situation is very different, so this may not apply to your specific child, but if one was to generalise, many of these children need time to recover before they feel comfortable actively mixing in the home ed community, and pushing things too soon can often lead to resentment. It is a very different environment and, for those that have been conditioned to a school system and culture, suddenly adjusting to what is considered ‘normal’ in the home ed world can be challenging.

The older they are when they come out of school, the less likely they are to try and integrate into the home ed world. This isn’t a negative thing, it is just finding what is right for any one individual as they forge their path towards adulthood.

GCSEs/IGCSEs

For GCSEs and equivalent qualifications in home ed, children often take GCSEs when they are ready, rather than when the rest of their academic year are taking them. 

Sadly, a lot of the fun of home ed vanishes when you are working towards exams. It has its moments, when you work in a group towards a qualification or go on trips that support the work you are doing, but for the most part, you find yourself stuck at a kitchen table looking through textbooks far more than you might like.

Generally, people find you can do the black and white/’right or wrong’ subjects much earlier than the essay subjects. So, subjects like maths, the sciences, geography, environmental management and languages often get done earlier, and subjects like English, history and religious studies get completed later.

However, people also try to leave the subjects they are planning to take at A-level until last, so that they get continuity and don’t have time to forget all they have learnt in that subject before moving up to the next level.

Some do all their GCSEs in one go at 16/17, others spread them out over multiple years. As a parent, it is much easier if your child does them over three or so years, because switching between teaching/marking that many subjects can be overwhelming, not to mention financially difficult (yes, you really do have to pay for each and every exam your child takes in home ed, generally between £150-250 per GCSE subject). It is also worth doing some research on university application requirements, if that is the likely path your child will take, as some might require GCSEs and A-levels to be taken at a certain age or within a certain number of years.

Many hire a tutor for one or more subjects, some use online courses, and there are lots of self-paced GCSE resources online; and of course there is the occasional high-achiever who can do every subject incredibly well and all on their own, but this is extremely rare!

Most home educators have historically opted for IGCSEs (International GCSEs), as the GCSEs used to carry coursework which you could not easily get marked for as an external candidate, but now that the coursework element has gone from a lot of subjects, home educators have more choice. However, not all exam centres will accept private candidates for all boards. Most home educators flit between Pearson/Edexcel, Cambridge OCR, and AQA, but not all boards do all subjects, and even if they do, they will have different syllabuses, so you have to look through them all to see which is the best fit for your child.

There are also multiple support groups for home ed families taking exams on Facebook, both generally and for specific subjects.

Syllabuses

As syllabus information gets very exam/subject specific, I’m just going to give you the general information here.

When picking your syllabus, have a look at what others have written in the HE Exams Wiki first, https://he-exams.wikia.org/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki. There is so much useful information in there, it can really make a difference when picking and choosing. But unfortunately, there is no easy way round it, you do have to look through each syllabus for the subjects you are interested in and then compare and contrast them across all boards. It is long and boring and you might find yourself fretting over small differences between them. If you decide to opt for one board for everything, at least you know you (probably) won’t end up with an exam clash. Those doing exams with multiple boards have to check thoroughly beforehand whether the exams they are doing are going to be at the same time or not. Unfortunately, the exam boards only give you a probable exam timetable when you book in with exam centres, but they can, and at times do, revise them nearer the time, so you can still find yourself having to talk to the exam centre and trying to find a way round it.

Those who really don’t want exam clashes may take their exams at different times of the year (not all exam centres offer this). You also need to double check the syllabus has not just changed or is not about to change. This is made clear when you click on the syllabus which will be available from the exam boards’ websites. The change isn’t a bad thing in itself, but if you wanted an open-ended time to work for the exam you may be limited by when that specific exam was coming to an end, and you can’t necessarily use the old past papers for revision practise if the old ones are too dissimilar to the revised syllabus. Generally, they are not hugely different, but just sometimes it can make things difficult for you if your child relies on them a lot. (Past papers are available for free on the internet, but printing them out uses up a huge amount of paper and ink.)

Subjects that are reliant on coursework, such as drama, art, music etc., are often quite tricky for home ed students to take, as finding an exam centre that will take you as an external candidate is very difficult, so many opt for doing a Gold Arts Award instead. If you are looking at continuing into A-level at college, you do have to check that the college will accept that as a substitute, but for the very determined, doing the actual GCSE is not unknown.

Many subjects that have a practical element, such as the sciences and geography, offer an ‘alternative to coursework/practicals’ option when you register for taking an IGCSE. These papers are usually 45 mins long and fairly straightforward. It helps if you can actually have a go at doing the practical at home before hand, but watching YouTube demonstrations, revision and past papers is often enough.

For maths and the sciences, you will also have to decide between the ‘core’ or the ‘extended’ syllabus. The core syllabus is easier, but your top possible mark is a grade 5/C . The extended syllabus allows you to go right up to an 9/A* but any mark below a 3 is ungraded.

Recommended texts/textbooks

The syllabus will recommend a number of texts/textbooks to follow. Ideally, you want the most up to date. It can be helpful to look though other people’s textbooks before you commit to any one specific textbook, as they can be very expensive. The books generally say all say the same stuff, it just comes down to which style you like the most. Many people jump between several and take different bits from different books.

Tutors/online schools

You can do it all without using any tutors, and most do, but you might not necessarily feel comfortable doing that. Others use online schools, such as Wolsely Hall, Kings InterHigh, or Oak National Academy, but some online schools and courses have very mixed reviews, and some cost a lot of money, so it’s worth doing your research and asking other home educators.

If you do feel you need a tutor, getting a personal recommendation is nearly always the best option, and many can recommend tutors who teach online, which means you are not limited to your local supply of tutors. There are home ed Facebook groups specifically for finding tutors, or you can ask on the national home ed exam forums and local home ed groups.

Motivation

You can get quite far just with books, if your child is motivated. If they want to get to the next stage of their career/academic life (and the vast majority do), they will become motivated because there is no other way around it. If they want to go to college they will also be motivated to work, because post-16 colleges won’t let them in without certain subjects at certain grades. If your child is still not motivated, it may be worth looking at other routes and options, as it could be a sign that this is the wrong direction for them. It might well be that they need a path that doesn’t use exams at all. It might be difficult without maths and English qualifications, but not impossible, so don’t lose heart; it may just require a bit more creative thinking to solve.

GCSEs/IGCSEs are just a means to an end, so when you think about how many and which ones you want to do, it is sometimes easier to work backwards and look at where you want to be and what you need to get there. If, for example, university is your end goal, and you plan to get there via sixth form college, see what you need to get into your local college. Many sixth form colleges only need 6 GCSEs (or equivalent). Some apprenticeships will take you with just a couple of GCSEs, as will some BTEC courses in Further Education (FE) colleges.

It is also possible for some children who are normally educated at home to attend state-funded FE colleges (including sixth form colleges) on a part-time basis to receive tuition in specific subjects. If you are interested in this you should ask the college concerned if it has any such arrangements; however, colleges are under no obligation to do this.

The National Careers Service is a free careers service for adults and young people aged 13 and over in England. The National Careers Service provides confidential advice and guidance to help your child make decisions on learning, training and work opportunities. The National Careers Service website can be accessed at: https://nationalcareersservice.direct.gov.uk/Pages/Home.aspx

Post-GCSEs

A-levels, other international qualifications and Open University can be done at home by home ed teens, but due to the complexity and the financial burden of completing these types of qualifications at home, far fewer home educators continue with home ed after year 11/age 16.

For home ed options at 16+, look at  https://he-exams.wikia.org/wiki/HE_Exams_Wiki

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Home education styles & philosophies

A · C · D · F · H · M · N · O · P · R · S · W

A-Z home educating styles and philosophies

No two families will home ed in exactly the same way, and very few will ever fit the exact description of one style of home; in fact, most probably wouldn’t even say that they had a single ‘style’ and that they are using a mix of approaches or styles, and most will try different styles at different stages. There are a number of styles and philosophies that come up time and time again; this is a very brief and simplified summary of what many home ed families are doing.

It is definitely worth doing your own research into different styles of home education. A good starting point is this website: Styles of Home Education. – Educational Freedom.

If you are a home educator and would like to add to this list, or to expand on any of the styles listed below, please contact us through the website contact form.

Activity-based learning (learning through trips)

This can involve lots of trips out where the child (and often parent) learns from people that know what they are talking about, i.e. tour guides, experts etc. These are supplemented by lots of hands-on, practical activities at home. These are usually cross-curricular rather than studying subjects separately.

Autonomous learning/self-directed education (also known as unschooling and child-led learning)

Self-directed education is education that derives from the self-chosen activities and life experiences of the learner, whether or not those activities were chosen deliberately for the purpose of education. In the younger years, it resembles early years education where children are free to choose from a variety of activities and resources, toys and books, and experiment, discover and learn through those, with the help of an adult facilitating, joining in, and talking with the child. As children get older this continues but with the chosen activities and interests gradually becoming more sophisticated, more goal-oriented and more focused on mastery of subjects or skills that the child needs to reach those goals.

Unfortunately, there are some who criticise this form of learning as neglect. Neglect is not caring what the child does and doing nothing to help facilitate their learning. Self-directed education is a well-thought out educational philosophy with research to back it up. It is child-led, with the child learning through their chosen activities, but the parent is very much present and acting as a facilitator, enabling the child to learn by playing together, offering and providing resources and activities, through conversation, through introducing new things, etc., and to broaden their horizons and interests. The child ‘learns how to learn’, rather than learning specific facts, although they will learn lots of specific facts and skills relating to their interests; for example, a child who loves horses and wants to play with toy horses and go horse-riding will naturally learn a huge amount about horses, animal care and behaviour, and can also learn hands-on/’real life’ numeracy and literacy through pursuing these interests. 

To find out more, this website is a good starting point: What is Self-Directed Education? | Alliance for Self-Directed Education

Charlotte Mason

Charlotte Mason education is focused on nature, broad-spectrum learning and ‘living books’. The method is based on the philosophy that the child is a person and we must educate that whole person, not just their mind. A Charlotte Mason education is three-pronged: Education is an Atmosphere (the surroundings in which the child grows up), a Discipline (the discipline of good habits—and specifically habits of character), a Life (academics – give children living thoughts and ideas, not just dry facts).

To find out more: What is the Charlotte Mason Method? – Simply Charlotte Mason

Child-led learning: see autonomous/self-directed learning

Classical conversations

This is a method of Christian home education: Home – Classical Conversations

Classical education

Classical education home ed involves teaching based on the three stages of learning: the Grammar stage, the Logic stage, and the Rhetoric stage. The Grammar stage involves learning facts, memorisation, and knowledge gathering. The Logic stage is when reasoning and logic begin to be applied to the knowledge. The Rhetoric stage completes the Trivium and is when the student learns the skills of wisdom and judgement. This site explains it quite nicely: https://www.thehomeschoolmom.com/homeschooling-styles/classical-homeschooling/

Deschooling

‘Deschooling’ refers to the adjustment period after your child has come out of school and begun home education. Local Authorities sometimes see this word as a ‘red flag’, so it is advisable not to use it in letters/reports/emails to them, but it does not mean that no learning is taking place (under section 7 of the Education Act, it is your responsibility to be providing a full-time, efficient and suitable education for your child from day one of home educating).

It is generally advised by experienced home educators that deschooling takes at least one month for every year spent in school (e.g. 4 months if your child was at school for 4 years); in other words, the longer your child has been in school, the longer the period of adjustment will be. This is a huge generalisation and some children will take less time or much longer to adjust; there are many other factors that will affect the deschooling period, such as any SEND your child may have, how difficult their school experience was (e.g. if there is school trauma), whether any siblings are still going to school.

During this period, learning is more unstructured and child-led, and the focus is on relationship building and enjoyment of activities, without formal teaching, worksheets, learning hours, curriculum, etc. During this time you can also be observing your child to see what learning style suits them best, making connections with other home ed families, going on outings, etc.

For more info: Deschooling – Educational Freedom website.

Distance learning

This means following courses provided by external educational institutions, e.g. online schools, Open University etc. Some have better feedback than others, so if you are thinking of using one, it’s worth asking around.

Forest school/outdoor learning

You need good outdoor clothing for this one. There are plenty of forest schools in the local area offering sessions to all ages, but there is no reason why you can’t do it entirely by yourself in your own back garden or local park. The idea is you hang out in nature. A lot. There is an underlying philosophy to accompany all that fresh air, which is worth reading if you want to get the most out of it.

Home Education co-ops

Not always advertised on the big lists/forums, but they are essentially groups of like-minded home educators coming together to teach their children as a group. Most tend to be once a week. They all have very different styles and approaches to learning. You do have to be careful that you don’t meet up so often as to become an illegal school, but most home educators don’t have enough time for that anyway.

Montessori

Named after Maria Montessori. Lots of pre-schools follow this approach, but very few schools are Montessori. The method is based on self-directed activities, enabling the children to be independent learners and collaborative members of society. Nature features a lot, as do practical activities and games. Even learning to read is a hands-on activity, with making the shapes in sand, finger painting or playing with wooden letters. There are a huge number of Montessori materials out there, used by both prescriptive followers and those that like to dabble in multiple educational styles.

National curriculum

Written by the government for use in all state schools, but it is optional in academies, private schools and home education.

Outsourcing

Paying someone else to do it. Can be distance learning, but can also be private tutors, both online and in person. If this is the approach you are considering, getting personal recommendations is very useful. Ask on the home ed groups. 

Play-based learning

Learning through play. Often done in the first part of a child’s education, and used in many of the educational philosophies on this page. In home education, this can continue well beyond the stage at which it typically stops in mainstream school; this is very beneficial for many (or arguably all) children.

Project-based learning (also known as interest-led learning)

Known as ‘unit studies’ in the US, it is a cross-curricular approach to learning by following a project the interests you, looking at the focus from many subject perspectives, and take it right through to its natural conclusion. Although focusing on a single topic, the project will follow many strands of investigation, generally including history, geography, art, maths, literature and politics, in one form or another, depending on the child/parent’s interests and the resources that present themselves. Can be self-directed or parent-directed.

Reggio Emilia

Reggio Emilia has become a globally recognised philosophy that celebrates children as competent, curious researchers capable of constructing their own learning. In essence, it could be summarised as self-directed project-based learning, but with a whole philosophy behind it. To find out more:

Steiner (also known as the Waldorf approach)

Named after Rudolph Steiner, it is a holistic style of education (mind, body and soul) that focuses on developing a child’s imagination, free thinking and social responsibility. Academic subjects start creeping in in the senior years, with all earlier years focusing on creative development. These links will give you a start:

School at home (also known as homeschooling)

Known in America as ‘traditional’ style. Those that follow this approach have a curriculum, timetable, formal work structure, set work stations/desks, set break times etc. If you are thinking of taking this route, most in the UK follow the national curriculum (https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/national-curriculum), but there are many others you could consider, possibly even mixing it up with other styles/philosophies of education.

Structured/semi-structured/unstructured learning

One man’s ‘yellow’ is another man’s ‘green’. They mean whatever you want them to mean, but generally structured means lots of sitting down at a desk doing formal work, unstructured is generally taken to mean lots of child-led learning through play, and semi-structured is anything in between.

Thomas Jefferson (also known as Leadership Education)

This is much more of an American thing: https://tjed.org/about-tjed-learning/. It’s based on the belief that people, especially children, learn differently at different ages, and therefore there are different phases for learning certain lessons.

Unregistered alternative provision

Usually only known about by word of mouth and can be an option for those that need very specific educational care where a school place cannot be found that meets needs. There are more now than there used to be, due to the school system becoming more rigid and therefore more children being unable to attend. They can change quite frequently (some closing down, new ones opening up) so it’s hard to give a list but try this website, which lists registered alternative provisions (you will need to ask around in the home ed community to find out if there are other ones not registered with the council): https://www.cambslearntogether.co.uk/cambridgeshire-services-to-schools/alternative-education-provision-directory

Unschooling: see autonomous learning/self-directed education

Waldorf: see Steiner

Workbook-focused learning

Every subject covered by workbooks. This method might be used alongside any of the others, to a lesser or greater extent, or ignored completely. If you are following the national curriculum, you will probably have most of your learning delivered through workbooks. 

Work/skills-based learning

Like an apprenticeship, you learn what you need to for your future career and not the other stuff. Can be really good if you have any severe learning difficulties that mean that you would struggle hugely to pass exams; you have such a passion in something that your really don’t want to take any time away from it; or you have been left so scarred by academia that following the exams route is causing mental health concerns.

Equally, it can be very difficult in current British society to follow your choice of career without the minimum of a GCSE/iGCSE or equivalent in maths and English.

Worldschooling

Learning through travelling. Can be confined to one country/region or be worldwide, and can be for a few weeks or for several years. People who take it up range from the international elite to the single parent in a camper van.

There are a number of online international worldschooling communities. This website is a good starting point for more info: What is Worldschooling? Full Guide 2026.

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Further details

Thankfully, there are hundreds of books, websites and social media out there giving far more detail than it’s possible to provide here and will describe the thousands of different learning techniques, styles etc. that are available to you. Ultimately, what learning experience your child has is completely dependent on you and your child and their needs. Although this can feel like a huge weight of responsibility at times, if it is a weight you are willing to bear, it can also be incredibly rewarding and a hugely exciting challenge, bringing your family much closer together.

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