Beginning Home Education: Honest Lessons from Our First Days
As my 13‑ and 8‑year‑olds headed back to school, my daughter and I were beginning home education. We both felt a little bit naughty at first — she stayed in bed later than usual, pulled on comfy clothes, and actually had a say in what she wanted to learn that day. It felt strangely liberating.
We started gently, with a walk to the village. I needed to pick up some shopping and register with the GP. In the Co‑op, the man behind the till asked, “Are you looking forward to getting back to school?” “I’m not going back,” she mumbled, and I explained that we were home educating. He gave us a blank look and moved on. Out and about, I felt as though people were staring — as if we were doing something wrong — but I know I’m prone to imagining judgement where there is none. We had a picnic, chatted, and enjoyed the freedom of the day.
Our First Day of Home Education
Once we got home, we actually did loads. She wrote a story full of imagination and surprisingly strong spelling. I set her some arithmetic tests and she flew through them in minutes — clearly maths is going to need bigger challenges.
We watched a German story online, even though German is new to both of us. We looked at the vocabulary, then watched the English version to compare.
We played a time‑capsule game with World War II objects and listened to stories of evacuation. And, in an attempt to prove to her father that I won’t just focus on arts subjects, we watched a video on augmented reality. Me showing interest in anything physics‑related is rare, but I was genuinely fascinated.
Learning is lovely — but this day felt magical. It took me right back to the early days of motherhood with my first son, when I relished every moment. Talking, laughing, discussing, snuggling up… there’s so much to recommend this way of life.
And just to prove we can be a little offbeat, we went into the front garden, built structures out of bamboo sticks, and planted sunflowers.
The Second Day: Slowing Down
The next day she was tired. Experienced home educators — and my teacher brother — tell me that one‑to‑one learning is far more intensive than school, so we don’t need to replicate a full school day. I’m trying to trust that.
What I Love About Home Education
- Quality time together without the tight deadlines of school
- Learning side‑by‑side — genuinely joyful
- Closeness, both physical and emotional
What I Worry About
- Feeling odd about doing fewer hours than school — I don’t want to let her down
- Finding the right balance between school‑style learning and creative freedom
- Her reluctance to write things down — I don’t want to give in, but I don’t want to turn her off learning either
- That “naughty girl” feeling, as if we’re skiving and might get caught
And now I’m seriously considering taking my 8‑year‑old out of school too. My daughter is keen — she likes the idea of company while I’m doing other things. My son is eager as well, though I need to unpick his reasons before making a decision.
So far, beginning home education feels… OK. More than OK, actually. It feels promising.
I’d be grateful for comments, tips, advice, and contacts as we move into our second week.
Every woman carries moments that shaped her. If you feel ready to share one of yours, you’re welcome to add it to my What’s Your Story? space — a gentle corner of the internet where real voices matter.
Glad it is going well!
Hopefully this will really help her out. She will more than likely gain more general life skills too?
Xx
Glad to hear it went well. On the hours thing, have a think about how much of the school day is spent changing subjects, moving from place to place, repeating instructions multiple times until everyone has the right book, saying George, don’t do that, and so on. Then have a think about how much actual focused teaching/learning time there is. Not nearly as much as you’d hope, and if you look for one to one time it’s hardly any. Make sure you leave some downtime for both of you.
A great first post on HE Kate! I started off with just me & my daughter before her brother decided to join in 6 months later!
Sounds like it’s going really well and you’re both benefiting from it.
Your being 1:1 with her will feel more intensive but, like @liveotherwise mentioned, there aren’t constant interruptions from other members of a class and the teacher having to give out instructions over and over.
With regard to her writing skills, you’re right in not forcing anything at the moment, keep at it with gentle persuasion and hopefully she’ll gain more confidence.
You could both cut out words from newspapers and make structured sentences/tell stories etc.
There is so much to learn from day to day and life skills, but make sure you both get some downtime too, running around a playground and frisbee throwing etc.
Sounds like it’s definitely been the right decision!! I think I’d have loved a day like the one you described here, when I was younger. 🙂
Congrats on making the decision to home educate. I think the toughest part is making the decision in the first place and things just fall into place from there on.
It really is true that you don’t need to put in so many hours – We used to do a couple of hours a day most days and that was plenty. I used to love the days when the boys got their work done first thing so by 9am we were free to do other stuff as the work was done for the day!
my big regret is actually doing too much ‘formal’ learning – I wish we’d just spent more time on the creative fun stuff and more days out etc as both boys were ahead of their peers when they went back to school after 3 years of home -ed so I could have, and should have, eased off a bit.
I used to worry a lot as I always felt i wasn’t doing enough and I wasn’t good enough to teach them. I realise now I needn’t have worried at all about that.
yay go you guys! i love that you are so motivated and you ought to celebrate that not question yourself
I have no doubt your daughter will thrive as will you!
thanks for linking up with #MagicMoments (sorry im late getting round)