Home Education – getting advice and support
Now I am officially Home Educating where can I go to for advice and support?
Since starting Home Education we have found so many different websites and official forums to support our Home Educating journey both for legal advice and ideas/ projects! There are so many out there, so spend time searching for what you want or need. Two websites that we have found useful in giving clear and factual advice from dealing with your local authority to finding local groups to resources are Educational Freedom and Education Otherwise . Another useful website to show that Home education is legal is the Government elective home education guidance.
One of the best places though we have found to get advice and support is from Facebook. There are UK wide groups that it is useful to join, but the groups that are local to you offer activities, meet ups and things that are happening local to you.
We found our Home Ed tribe in the first group we attended and although we don’t still attend the group now we are still in contact with and do many activities with members that we met back then when we began! Search on Facebook for Home Education and the area you live to check out what is local to you! Keep looking regularly too as the best things often pop up unexpectedly. Over the years we have attended a variety of sessions. From social meets to sessions at the local library or museum, art sessions with different artists and visits to places of interest. Best of all though is the “not back to school” picnic that gets everyone together at the beginning of every term!
It is also worth using Facebook to ask specific questions on the local and nationwide sites such as where to access exams or tutors. You always get a good response from other Home Ed parents! Here is a couple of useful Facebook pages that I have used that are more country wide. There are always people on these groups that can offer advice and support around any aspect of Home Education. Home schooling help and support UK offers lots of useful information and support along with resources, special offers, discounts, group lessons, trips and workshops. Home Education UK Exams and Alternatives is a great page for those wanting to sit exams with advice around how where and what you need to do.
Local Home Education Groups / Hubs
There are so many local groups out there for Home Educated Children. These range from social meet ups to more specific activities such as forest school groups and sport groups using local facilities.
Online Providers
There are lots of online providers out there too, such as Learn Laugh Play We offer a huge variety of morning & afternoon live zoom lessons for primary and secondary groups with other children who enjoy learning! If you haven’t found us yet, click on the “Browse our Lessons” tab to find out exactly what we offer! Each course is only £2.50 a week per family and includes worksheets and equipment lists, a live weekly lesson with one of our amazing teachers, a link to the recording of the lesson, optional extra learning activities and access to the member area for that course, where you can share your child’s work and interact with the teacher and other parents.
For both the local Home Education hubs and online providers it is important to check out that these places have their own safeguarding procedures and staff are DBS checked too. For older children too it is helpful if they are linked to an exam centre to support the process of taking exams at a later date. We can talk about this in a later blog if you are interested.
There are so many different places you can find support and advice, but our advice is to experiment, research, try out different things and find your Home Ed tribe!
Please comment on any places of support or advice that you have found helpful and would like to share with others on your Home Ed journey.