Articles

Life skills for children and teenagers: practical ideas by age

What everyday skills do children need for real life? Explore practical life skills for children and teenagers, organised by age, with activities, home education ideas and free UK resources.

Learning how to cook a meal, manage money, catch a bus or deal with an unexpected problem might not sound as exciting as studying ancient history or exploring space. But these are the skills that help children find...

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There is more than one route after 16 for home educated teenagers

What can home educated teenagers do after 16? UK guide

College, apprenticeships, qualifications and other routes. A practical guide to post-16 options for home educated teenagers in England, including college, A levels, vocational courses, apprenticeships, Functional Skills, work and continuing home education.

One of the worries that creeps in as home educated children become teenagers is what happens at 16.

When they are eight or nine,...

Home ed burnout: why homeschooling can become exhausting

Home education burnout: When it all feels too much

Home ed burnout: when you’re tired of being responsible for everything. Why homeschooling can become exhausting, even when you still know it’s right for your family

There are plenty of articles about starting home education . How to deregister. What resources to buy. How to find groups. How to reassure worried grandparents that your child won’t spend the next ten years feral in a hedge....

Home education and GCSEs: preparing for exams without losing the plot

A practical guide to GCSE preparation for home-educated young people

GCSEs have a peculiar effect on otherwise sensible parents. One minute learning is centred around the young person and their interests. Then suddenly, somebody has bought forty highlighters, opened a spreadsheet and announced that Tuesday at 10.15 am is now “simultaneous equations”. I have taught maths for over 15 years, so...

Reflections on keeping curiosity and creativity at the heart of learning. Cresconova Labs

Keeping curiosity and creativity at the heart of home education

A beautiful mess: reflections on keeping curiosity and creativity at the heart of learning How passion-led projects can bring subjects together through real-world learning

As a home educating parent of twenty years, and now CCO of Cresconova Labs , I’ve watched ideas about curiosity-led learning play out in real life. I started as many parents do, with subjects kept separate: time for maths,...

15 easy French activities for children at home

Simple screen-free ways to bring French into everyday learning

Learning French doesn’t always mean sitting down for a formal lesson.

For children already learning French, short, playful activities can help reinforce familiar vocabulary without reaching for another workbook. For complete beginners, they can be an easy first introduction to the language, with no pressure to remember...

What Is Deschooling? A UK Home Education Guide

What is deschooling? For us, it meant giving our son room to breathe before working out what home ed would become. Leaving school is a big adjustment for children and parents. Deschooling gives families time to find a different rhythm, rediscover how their child learns and work out what home education might actually look like.

You’ve sent the deregistration letter. Your child is home. And...

Not going back to school in September? A guide to starting home education

Not going to school? Home educating instead?

September has a strange amount of power. The shops fill with uniform, lunchboxes and stationery. Social media fills with first-day photographs. Conversations turn to new teachers, new classrooms and the question every child seems to be asked in August: “Are you looking forward to going back?” And if your child isn’t going back, it can feel as...

Sparking STEM IGCSE Biology Hub review. The Home Ed Daily.

Sparking STEM IGCSE Biology Hub review: flexible learning when life interrupts

Why flexible online learning matters when family life changes. Home ed does not always follow a neat schedule. Recorded biology lessons give families room to learn around real life.

I missed our monthly June update about the Inspire To Learn IGCSE Biology Hub. The reason is quite simple. Life took over.

My husband had a mini stroke, on top of other family caring responsibilities, our...

SEND reform could remove key EHCP appeal rights

SEND reform: the EHCP appeal rights families could lose

In his final appearance at Prime Minister’s Questions, Sir Keir Starmer addressed people across the country who “ struggle to be seen or heard ”, telling them they were the reason he entered politics.

For many SEND families, the Government’s latest reform proposals appear to point in the opposite direction.

A new...

Moving from interest-led learning to GCSE preparation without losing what works

How home-educated teens can move from interest-led learning to IGCSEs or GCSEs

For years, learning may have felt quite natural.

Your child became fascinated by a subject and followed it as far as they wanted. A question about volcanoes turned into Geography, Science and documentary watching. An interest in Greek myths led to reading, writing and History. Maths appeared in baking,...