Why UK home educators are losing trust in their local authorities – 2024 report findings
A major report from Educational Freedom published last September, exposed how many UK home-educating families are being let down, misrepresented, or actively harmed by their local authorities (LAs). Drawing on 818 survey responses, Freedom of Information requests, and nearly two decades of...
Actions to take against the Children's Wellbeing & Schools Bill
I know many families don’t have the time or capacity to get heavily involved in the protests - but signing and sharing a petition takes just a couple of minutes, and it does make a difference.
Our voices must be heard. We need to make it harder for the government to ignore us, and easier for them to be held...
How to customise ChatGPT for your home education style
Using the “ Customise ChatGPT ” settings can make a real difference to how useful and relevant the responses are. For home ed parents, this means support that better reflects your values, your child, and the way learning actually happens in your home. Taking a few minutes to personalise the settings helps ChatGPT understand your...
How LLMs like ChatGPT can transform learning at home
Artificial intelligence is quietly becoming a helpful tool for home ed families. Used with care, it can support learning in ways that feel personal, flexible, and rooted in real life. AI can help you reflect on what your child is already doing, build on their interests, and make sense of learning as it happens. You do not need to be a tech...
Home educating as a neurodivergent adult comes with its own challenges, and overthinking it spirals...
I frequently worry that I’m not doing enough with my demand-avoidant youngest son. Or I have a ton of great learning ideas, but can't focus on one to actually do.
My mind jumps between random, hyper-focused rabbit holes—yesterday’s included mantis shrimps, growing lavender, and...
When legislation causes anxiety: supporting our children through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill
The passage of the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (CWSB) through the House of Commons has been deeply unsettling for many families—but for my son, it has caused a level of stress and anxiety I never expected.
Like many home-ed children, he thrives in a learning...
Labour MPs have voted to back the Children’s Wellbeing & Schools Bill.
I’m appalled but not surprised.
So what happens now?
The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill has now finished its journey through the House of Commons, but MPs can still submit written questions and contact the minister on behalf of their constituents. The bill has now moved to the House of Lords, where it...
When my children first didn’t start school, I saw a hole where school would have been. The absence loomed large. I saw empty years ahead with no Back to School Septembers, and no Sports Day in July. No school plays and no class assemblies. No chatting with other mums at the school gate. No end-of-year parties or school friends. I couldn’t imagine a childhood...
What did you learn at school today? By Naomi Fisher
School isn't the only way to get an education, and the school way isn't the only way to learn. In fact, some of the skills we need at school are quite different to the skills we need in order to direct our own learning.
This table from my new book contrasts some of the skills we need to do school 'well' with the...
Exams are very strange by Naomi Fisher Do we really want our teenagers to spend their adolescence on a conveyor belt of high stakes exams?
What a strange thing we do to our young people in this culture and time.
We make them spend several years learning things that they often have no interest in, that they have not chosen and that they will in many cases never use again. We tell them...
