Most home educators start by planning too much, then spend the next year working out what actually matters. This section covers both stages. Frameworks for building a curriculum around your child rather than a syllabus, practical tools for knowing whether you’re covering enough, and guidance on the structural questions — timetables, term structure, subject choices — written from ten years of actual practice.
This post is part of the Rhythm Not Routine series. Also in the series: A Four-Part Shape for the Home-Ed Day & Before You Close the Books: An End of the Day Checklist How many times has a home-ed lesson started and been interrupted within the first fifteen minutes because someone forgot they needed to…
This post is part of the Rhythm Not Routine series. Also in the series: A Four-Part Shape for the Home-Ed Day & Ready to Learn? A Morning Check-In for the Home-Ed Day Home education on the days it works is wonderful. Not only has the child achieved something academic or skill-based, but you were there…
This post is part of the Rhythm Not Routine series. Also in the series: Ready to Learn? A Morning Check-In for the Home-Ed Day & Before You Close the Books: An End of the Day Checklist It’s 10:30am. The washing machine is tackling the first of many loads, Mr 11 and Mr 9 are getting…
The first timetable I made for home education ran to two pages. It was colour-coded, scheduled subjects in thirty-minute blocks, timetabled a start at nine, finish at three plan, with a one-hour lunch break like a proper school day. I was so pleased with it. We lasted about ten days before it became obvious it…
Planning our homeschool curriculum used to lead to chaos within weeks. I’d start every term with a calendar full of things we needed to get through and a timetable rigid enough to guarantee we’d feel behind by week two. All it took was one lesson that was supposed to take forty minutes actually taking an…
A great education starts with access to vast knowledge; it starts, with a library! Using these resources home educators can curate a resource library to tailor home education for each pupil’s individual learning style, follow (& validate) homeschooler’s interests, and nurture their child’s natural curiosity. Online homeschooling resources allow home educators to curate a digital…
For parents who’ve decided to educate their children at home, that decision, big as it is, can often be the easiest part of the process – the tricky part is figuring out HOW to do it! What is a home education curriculum? What will home learners study? In the UK, home education curriculums are defined,…
Creating a homeschool schedule that actually works day-day starts with your family’s life outside of ‘school’. On a school-free weekday, what are the rhythms, commitments, and shape of your days that you want to hold onto? The timetable needs to work around those. Most families begin by mirroring the school calendar: term dates, Monday to…
Every child can ‘succeed’ – even if success is redefined away from academics. Academic building blocks give a guideline to help children succeed at their own pace