Home Schooling

Focus and concentration

One of the upsides of home-education is the opportunity for a child to develop unparalleled focus and concentration. A good home environment naturally enables a child to study with very limited distractions. Although early lessons should ideally be limited to just 30 minutes (in order to make sure each subject receives equal treatment), a relaxed atmosphere can certainly help a child to become a very effective learner. From personal experience, where wifi was very limited due to satellite difficulties in a very rural area, the upside was that reading became the default go-to activity and that made learning, and control of distractions, much easier.

Keep lessons short

Facing 9 or 10 GCSE subjects from home calls for diligent planning and expert time management. One of the delights of home-education is the freedom to learn without the constraints of the school bell but, the fact is no home educating parent can hand on heart say how long they think it will take them to reach the end of a full specification. Knowing your child and the content that has to be covered is not an exact science and it is difficult to predict in advance how long will be needed.

Half an hour lessons are also a good length in terms of focus for a young child. 30 minutes on a one-to-one basis, as a parent, is quite long enough. As a general rule 2 hours a day at Key Stage 2, three hours at Key Stage 3 and four hours at Key Stage 4 should be appropriate; you will need to evaluate this for yourself based on your knowledge of your child and may wish to discuss this with any tutors you are working with.

Whilst it would be expected that a tutor would prepare a lesson in advance, as a home-educating parent you really don’t need to. Approach the subject as a student and learn together; read through the text book and discuss everything. Encourage your child to make notes where appropriate.

Continue to observe school holidays

It is important to have some defined breaks so that your child can undertake all their favourite pastimes. Knowing a break is on the horizon can also give a child something to look forward to.

Stay positive and keep your own school learning experiences silently under wraps

One of the most enlightening aspects of facing your entire Key Stage 3 and GCSE schooling as an adult (at the side of your children) is how incredibly well the entire curriculum joins up and knits together. As adults and teachers venture off down their own chosen path, it is easy to cast aspersions on the entire curriculum. More than 160 countries across the world follow the UK curriculum because it is robust and rigorous. Overall, each subject is carefully thought out to open doors to opportunity, and it is your job as a parent to explain those opportunities and which careers depend on that learning. In time you will understand the relevance and you will enjoy the content. It will make far more sense to you as an adult than it ever did as a child and you will relearn lessons with renewed enthusiasm. Stay positive. If you found a subject difficult as a child it doesn’t matter. Your child is not you and you are not the child you were all those years ago. Remember, you are only trying to reach the standard of a 16 year old. With time and patience you will begin to really enjoy your shared journey. It is not necessary, or even advisable, for parents to enter exams as well.

Your child’s strengths and weakness, interests and aspirations may well be very different from your own. Don’t therefore make the presumption that you should only focus on your subjects because that is where your strengths lie. Beyond the facilitating subjects that make the career path ahead a little smoother, you may want to look at the options and consider some of the variety from classical civilisation to business studies.

Don’t get too far ahead

Sometimes, parents do discover that they cover the ground far quicker from home than their child would at school. This means that they are ready for A levels or university earlier than they anticipated. It may be worthwhile to slow down and explore more subjects because a young person also needs to be socially and emotionally ready to take that next step and academic achievement is not the only issue here. Even if there is no intention to secure more qualifications than 9 or 10 GCSES and 3 A Levels, added learning is a good thing, starting university at 16 or 17 can come with a whole set of complications.