Educational Freedom is a non-profit organisation providing Home Education information and support. Our primary purpose is ensuring all Home Educators have access to FREE information and support. We aim to provide everything you could ever need to know about Home Education.
A great way of ensuring your Home Education journey goes smoothly is to read all of this website. The menu at the top will help you navigate each section.
Making the decision to Home Educate can be daunting. But be assured that there is plenty of support out there! There are lots of families that have been in your situation, and we have supported tens of thousands of them.
Read through all of our website to learn all about Home Education. Use the menu to navigate through all of our pages especially the WHAT TO DO FIRST page for your country. Navigating through each page in turn really will help you understand everything you need to do. Then move on to the dealing with the LA section.
PLEASE NOTE: MOST PAGES SHOULD NOT BE READ AS A STAND ALONE PAGE, ENSURE YOU READ THE INFO IN OTHER MENTIONED PAGES TOO.
Where to find us after you've read our website.
Here’s a sneak peak at our public FB page feed where we share factual info as well as fun memes. Join our closed group for advice and to chat to other home educators.
After deregistration, some local authorities may make informal contact to ask about your educational provision. It is important to understand that parents are not legally required to accept home visits. Communication can take place in writing. Providing a clear and concise written overview of your educational approach is often sufficient. Keeping simple samples of work, photos of activities, or a brief learning diary can help demonstrate that suitable education is taking place. Responding politely and calmly is usually the most effective approach. Being informed about your rights significantly reduces stress during these interactions.
When families first start home educating, many make the same mistake. They try to recreate school at home. A timetable goes on the wall. The kitchen table becomes a classroom. Lessons begin at 9am and run through the day. At first, it feels reassuring. Familiar. Structured. But very quickly, many families realise something important: If school didn’t work before, copying it at home is not going to work. https://educationalfreedom.org.uk/the-hidden-danger-of-home-educators-recreating-school-at-home/
A common misconception is that parents must ask the local authority for permission to home educate. In most cases, this is not true. If your child attends a mainstream school, you simply write to the headteacher requesting deregistration. The school must remove your child from roll. You do not need approval from the local authority. The only exception is if your child attends a special school under an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP). In that case, the school requires permission from the local authority to remove your childs name off the special school roll. Understanding this distinction is important because uncertainty can cause unnecessary anxiety. Home education is a lawful choice. Being informed allows you to act confidently and calmly during the transition process.
We have many decades of hands on Home Education experience between us and many years as a professional support service.
Our team is made up of people from all walks of life, and all styles of Home Education.
We never have, nor will we ever, charge Home Educators a fee to access our website, personal support or anything else.
However, we do have costs such as web hosting, so feel free to donate.
Our aim is that our website contains everything you should need to know.
Beyond that we have a Facebook Page where you can connect with other Home Educators and our amazing admin team. We also have the option to contact us, for those times where you don’t have Facebook.
Staffordshire website design and website SEO by Fellowship Studios.
