What is Home Education?

Home Education can be described as a choice made by parents to take responsibility for the education of their children, either at home or in a manner of their choosing, instead of sending them to school full-time (Department for Education, 2019). The term home education is interchangeable with elective home education or home schooling. Home education can either be full time or part time. There is no funding for home education, so parents are responsible for any associated costs, which also includes exams and resources. This is something to consider if you are thinking of educating at home. 

Home education is on the rise. As of autumn 2024, the Department of Education reported 111,700 children were in home education, a rise of 21% from the previous year which was estimated to be 92,000. The increase is due to many reasons, including children's mental health, and children's needs not being met. 

If you intend to home educate, and your child is currently in school, then you must let the school know your intentions and according to gov.uk they must accept. If you wish to do part-time at school, however, the school are allowed to refuse. If your child has never been enrolled in a school, you are under no obligation to inform the local authority, but they do advise that it is strongly recommended as they may be able to provide you further support. There is lots of information on the gov.uk websites with guidance of what to do, so please do take time to have a look especially if you are withdrawing a child from school.

It is worth noting that according to the Elective Home Education Guide: for parents, parents are not required to: 

• Have a timetable, set hours of education or follow school hours, days or terms.
• You may wish to do this but you do not have to. 
• There is no legal requirement to follow the National Curriculum, make detailed plans, mark work, give formal lessons or provide a broad and balanced curriculum. 

These are just some of the things that are not required when home educating. You may choose to do them, but you do not have to. Please take a look at this document as it provides information and expectations set out by the government. 

Once you have decided to home educate, you may need to think about what it will look like for you and your family. I had no idea there were different styles or methods of home education until I started talking to parents that were doing it. These approaches consider things like structure, whether learning takes place outdoors or indoors, is child led, formal, play led.

The Charlotte Mason method focusses on learning through using ‘living’ books, being in nature and hands on learning. It aims to develop the whole child not just the mind. Another style is the Waldorf approach which again focusses on the whole child and involves a more child-led approach to learning. Children learn though experiences and not using worksheets or text books. Other approaches include:

• Structured
• Unstructured
• Semi-structured
• Classical
• Eclectic
• Montessori
• Unschooling

If you need further support in developing a potential approach for home education, doing further research will hopefully give you an understanding of the possibilities. I do believe it is important to find what is best for you and your family, and not be pigeoned holed into one style or another. 

Before I was told about these different home education styles, I already knew in my mind what I was going to do. For me, I'm not concerned if my approach fits into a particular "box". I'm happy and content with my plans (it could all change in September!). So if you already have an idea about what you may do, please don't feel that you need to squeeze into a particular box or give your home educating style a name. It is your style, your approach, and that is all that matters. If, however, you need more advice and guidance about how to structure or approach education in your home, then looking further into existing methods may be very useful and informative.