Home Education vs Homeschooling
Why terminology matters to home educators
When you choose to educate your child outside the school system, the words you use matter more than you might think.
In the UK, the preferred term is home education. It reflects a legal and practical reality: parents or carers take full responsibility for a child’s learning, shaping it around their interests, needs, and pace.
In contrast, homeschooling is a term more commonly used in the US. Some UK local authorities use it too, but usually to mean something quite different - children who are on a school roll but receiving their education at home temporarily, often through school-arranged tuition. That’s not the same as elective home education.
Home education vs school at home
For many of us, the word homeschooling feels limiting. It suggests recreating school at the kitchen table - timetables, worksheets, and teacher style lessons. But school and education are not the same.
Home education is broader, more flexible, and often child-led. It’s not about replicating school, it’s about building something entirely different. It can look like trips out on a Tuesday morning, baking bread while learning ratios, or deep dives into dinosaurs, space, or Shakespeare. It’s a way of life that encourages curiosity, confidence, and connection.
Language shapes perception
Words influence how others see us. They shape public opinion, media narratives, and political policy.
When we use the term home education, we help define ourselves on our own terms. This matters when we’re speaking to local authorities, MPs, journalists - or simply explaining our choices to friends and family.
Over the years, many of us have had to correct assumptions, challenge intrusive questions, or explain again that we’re not replicating school at home. Choosing the right language can help reduce that burden, giving clarity and legitimacy to what we do.
Avoiding confusion and reinforcing understanding
Many local authorities still misunderstand what home education involves. Using the term homeschooling can feed that confusion. It may suggest a narrow, structured model that doesn’t reflect the diversity of home educating families across the UK.
Being consistent in using home education helps paint a clearer picture. It signals that learning happens in many forms - not just through textbooks, but through play, projects, conversations, and lived experience.
It also helps parents themselves shift away from a school mindset. Words matter internally too. Hearing and saying home education reminds us that we’re not simply filling in for a missing teacher, we’re choosing something different, and often richer.
Shaping the story
The media plays a powerful role in how home education is seen. When headlines use the word homeschooling, it’s often attached to negative stories - about safeguarding, isolation, or poor outcomes. These don’t reflect the reality most of us know.
In contrast, the term home education is more often used in thoughtful, accurate pieces - ones that highlight autonomy, creativity, and personalised learning. By using this term ourselves, we help steer the narrative in a more honest direction.
A small change that makes a big difference
Our words carry weight. Choosing home education over homeschooling may seem small, but it helps define who we are, what we do, and why it matters.
Let’s keep using language that reflects our values - autonomy, trust, individuality, and respect. The more consistently we use the right terminology, the more clearly we can be heard.
Sometimes I have to use the word homeschooling in articles and headings, as Google's algorithms favour it, reflecting the platform’s USA bias, not our UK reality.
