Articles

What do home educating families do over the school summer holidays?

When the school term ends, home education can take its own shape

End of term is almost upon us. For many families, this time of year brings a noticeable shift. School routines are winding down. Clubs and regular groups may be pausing for the summer. Exams are coming to an end. The long stretch of July and August is starting to appear on the horizon. For home educating families, summer can feel a bit...

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Home education as quiet rebellion: the power of connection over control

Why community is the quiet revolution in home education

“The most revolutionary thing one can do is to introduce people to one another.” — Howard Zinn

Home education is often seen as an act of quiet rebellion — a decision to step away from systems that no longer serve our children, and to build something smaller, slower, more human. But if Oscar Wilde reminds us that disobedience can...

School is the newcomer: why children learn best outside the classroom

The industrial revolution and the birth of modern schooling: what history tells us about learning

For most of human history, children learned by taking part in life. They absorbed skills and knowledge through family life, apprenticeships, play, and community. Learning happened as they joined in with the real work of their world; watching, listening, experimenting, asking questions, and...

Home education is creation, not escape - nurturing curiosity and childhood

Creating learning that fits your child, not the system

People sometimes assume home education is about escape, or ‘running away from the system’. As though we turned away from school out of fear, avoidance, or rebellion. But that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Home education is not an act of retreat. It is an act of creation — a deliberate choice to build something new,...

Music Technology Club: Online music sessions for home-educated teens

Music Technology Club opens new sessions for home ed learners

One of the joys of home education is discovering learning that feels truly alive - the kind that ignites curiosity and confidence. The Music Technology Club , part of Education & Bass , does exactly that. It gives young people the tools to explore music, sound and self-expression - no expensive gear, no rigid rules, just...

How a home education photography course helped a Suffolk teen find her passion

With results day around the corner, Suffolk teen Caitlin Banham is an example of how home education can transform your relationship with learning.

Teacher and founder of Aced Qualifications , Deborah Hayward, is currently celebrating the successful impact their photography course has had upon recent student Caitlin who, after being inspired by her studies at Aced Qualifications, has...

Play is not a break from learning, it is learning.

Play is learning: why play fuels education for children of all ages

Learning through play: From early years to teens

In England, play often gets treated as a nice extra, something squeezed in when the “real work” is done. But research, and decades of experience in home education, show that play is not a break from learning. It is learning. When we think of play, we often picture young children with building blocks or playground games. But the power of play...

Stop calling home educated kids ‘invisible’: why these children aren’t missing

The myth of invisible children: why home educated children are being misrepresented

Home educated children are not “ invisible ”: why being out of school is not being at risk.

In recent years, a troubling phrase has crept into media headlines and government discussions about elective home education: “invisible children”. It’s used to describe children who are not in school, as though being outside the school system means they are unseen, unknown, or at risk. The implication...

ADHD, hunter-gatherers, and education: why the system isn’t built for our brains

ADHD and home education: when the environment matters

A photo has been widely shared on Facebook recently. It suggests that ADHD is not simply a disorder, but a different kind of wiring. The sort of wiring that may once have helped humans survive in fast-moving, uncertain environments.

It is the kind of idea that catches people’s attention because, for many families, it feels true. Many of us know children who are constantly noticing...

Home education: changing the environment, not the child

When a flower doesn’t bloom, you fix the environment in which it grows, not the flower – Alexander Den Heijer

So often, families come to home education after watching their child struggle to thrive in school. They’re told their child is behind, too distracted, too sensitive, too slow, too much. But what if the problem isn’t the child?

This quote speaks right to the heart of it....

Home education as a quiet act of courage

Oscar Wilde wrote: “Disobedience, in the eyes of anyone who has read history, is man’s original virtue. It is through disobedience that progress has been made, through disobedience and through rebellion.”

It is a powerful line. And for many home educating families, it lands somewhere deep. Because many of us come to home ed through a quiet act of disobedience. Not the loud, reckless kind. Not...