Home Education Matters

AI is a thorny topic and no more so than in the lives of our children and their learning. How can we use this new tool in a way that feels responsive and healthy, as well as ethical and sustainable? We discuss this and more with Frederik Bjørnbak from GradeAid, the creator of an AI based maths platform that aims to both harness your child's natural interests and get them off screens ... sound impo...

Sometimes home education isn't a choice and it's not filled with happy smiles and perfectly curated craft activities. This week we're talking to Louisa from Believe and Bloom Education who has supported numerous families to navigate the rocky road into a harmonious home education journey when they've had to embark on the journey from chaos and desperation. She shares hope, tips and lots of reassur...

The new social media ban is causing a bit of a kerfuffle online so we thought we'd discuss it with two of our home ed children. Buckle up for some big opinions and do share yours in a comment wherever you're listening to this or join our live podcast this Friday at 10.30am on all our social media channels (yes, we feel the irony!). This podcast is a labour of love, and time and energy and commitme...

Join Charlotte and I as we explore the style of parenting known as connective parenting, gentle parenting, attached parenting, authoritative parenting. It's got a ton of names but you might know it best as that lovely sweet spot in parenting where it just goes really well! Yes, those rarest of rare moments when you feel you're bossing it as a parent, fulfilling all the needs in just the right way...

Today's podcast dives down into learning Japanese when you're home educated, from the early steps through immersion right up to GCSE. Kenia guides us through the best ways to learn, what to expect in the exam and even gives us some fun phrases in Japanese to throw into conversation. 行こう! With Kenia Lopez- Hello!  I am Kenia.  I teach French, Japanese, Spanish and English online! I have been a l...

In this week's episode Emily is joined by Jess Garner who founded Gr0ve, a mentoring service for neurodivergent young people. From diagnosis and self identification to community, belonging and co-regulation, this episode is packed full of tips, insights and advice on navigating the autistic experience as a family. Jess is late-realised Autistic, ADHD mother to neurodivergent children, and a former...

Today's episode is discussing the transition from home education to college (16-18) and the challenges, opportunities and social dramas it involves. If you would like to find out more about Education Brothers (we receive no money for this promotion - we just really like what they do!), check them out here: https://www.educationbrothers.co.uk/ And remember to like, subscribe, leave a comment, join...

Dave Bradbeer guides us on a fun (yes fun!) ride through the early years and primary maths curriculum. Packed full of practical ways to cover the maths syllabus up to Key Stage 3, this podcast is full of ideas for how to engage your child with maths learning in a way that focuses on engagement, real life understanding and enjoyment. With Dave Bradbeer - I am a learning coach, working with par...

We are joined by Alice Khimasia who talks us through her wonderful, challenging, exciting, liberating unschooling route! Home educating your children is, as Alice describes, an inherently counter cultural act. Choosing to unschool them is a step even further away from the norm, bringing with it joys and challenges on the way. It's a beautiful and thoughtful discussion on one woman's experience of...

It's a topical one this week and so we've dashed out a fun and at times pretty controversial episode on the new bill. It starts out restrained and then descends into unexpected rants. What's the conclusion? It's time to both boss up and settle down. To settle down: Join the friendly little community we've established! Here is the link to join (did we mention it's free?): https://www.skool.com/home...

Today's episode is a whistle stop tour through the main curriculum subjects and how you can use Lego in your home to help you engage your child and allow them to explore the curriculum in fun and interesting ways! With Jo (Joanne) Revie- Jo is mum to four young people who she has home educated since their pre-school years, with her Husband Gavin she has a home-based tuition and educational consult...

In another of our April Autism Awareness month series, this week we have our co host, Emily on discussing her top 5 tips for supporting your child with autistic burnout. Emily is AuDHD and has three neurodivergent daughters, she utilises both her lived experience and training to share simple and effective ways to combat burnout and create more calm in your home. If you want to connect with Emily a...

If you have been with us since the earliest days, you might remember this episode with Diane and Andy as they talk together about removing their daughter Rosa from school. Since then, Rosa has grown and flourished, so I took the opportunity of re-releasing their chat with an extra section at the start where I meet back up with Diane and hear all about what's been going on with them since we last s...

In today's episode, Emily chats with the wonderful AuDHDacious Humans about the whirlwind that is home educating a child with PDA (Pathological Demand Avoidance). If your child has PDA or suspected PDA, this is a must listen episode where all three parents talk of their experiences of parenting and home educating this unique condition. Jenni Angas-Hi, we’re Martha and Jenni. We are both AuDHDers,...

Remember those New Year resolutions? Yeah, turns out that we don't either! But we thought we'd check in and see how we're all doing so far in 2026. It's also a great time for you to pause and take stock of your home education journey so far this year, see how it's mapping out, celebrate your stand out moments and think about what changes you might like to make for the rest of the year. We promise...

Today's podcast talks to the founder of the Home Education conference 'Learn Free' which this year is focused on supporting new home educators find their feet and more seasoned home educators deep dive into exams, learning and much more. You can find the link to book here: https://learnfree.org.uk/ The conference is a great opportunity to come together as a community and meet other home educating...

In this episode of Home Education Matters , we continue our parenting mini-series by exploring authoritarian parenting—what it is, why it’s still common, and how it differs from permissive, neglectful, and connective approaches. We talk about the hallmarks of authoritarian parenting, including strict rules, punishments, and expectations of obedience, and how many of us were raised with elements of...

In this week's episode of Home Education Matters, Emily is joined by Will Savage, a music educator and founder of Music with Will. Will shares his own home education journey and how music featured in that, and how he now supports other home educated children to also access music education. Will shares simple and practical tips for home educating parents to easily incorporate music education into t...

Unschooling can feel like a wild and scary place for the uninitiated! And so today's podcast is looking at gentle and easy ways to incorporate unschooling and its principles into your home education journey, in way that feel manageable and empowering for you and your child. I am joined by the wonderful Heidi Steel and she'll be giving us five ways we can dip our toes into this liberating and rewar...

Today is the first in our parenting mini series and we are starting with exploring Permissive Parenting. This approach to parenting combines many wonderful elements such as child autonomy and responsive parenting. It can, however, throw up challenges both for you as the parent and for your child. I am joined by my co-host Charlotte Webb, a Clinical Child Psychologist, to take a fun and no holds ba...

As a home educator, it is sometimes thought that performing arts subjects are out of reach. But in today's episode we explore how home educated children can access LAMDA qualifications from home. We are joined by Rosie Skinner, Principal of the Mendip Performing Arts Academy, to talk all things drama, performing arts and in particular the prestigious LAMDA qualifications. Join us as we discuss the...

Today we are joined by Jenn Hodge to discuss the upcoming Children's Wellbeing and Schools Bill which is currently going through Parliament. We talk about the history of legislation in the home education community, the details of the bill, how it will impact prospective home educators and existing home educating families, as well as its effect on all members of the community but especially childre...

In today's podcast, we chat with Kim who successfully hustled the education system in the UK and now her 14 year old daughter is happily at university. Sometimes it feels as if the whole system is pushing against us. Kim shows us just how we can push back and get our child's needs met, and more! Check out Kim's TikTok to follow her and her daughter's journey.

Today's episode is a deep dive into the Astronomy GCSE with the wonderful Physics with Keith, and as you'd expect, we also take some lovely meanders through Physics and also how Astronomy can help you in A levels as well as university. If your child is interested in a gloriously geeky and wonderfully unusual GCSE, then check out our podcast and find out more about Astronomy GCSE for home educators...

Today we're chatting with Maddy Alexander-Grout, who shares her journey from spending addiction to financial literacy. We'll be finding out some great practical tips for teaching our home ed children about money, the impact of ADHD on financial decisions and the importance of conscious spending for children and for us as parents. Along the way, we even find time to challenge a few societal myths a...