The Best Homeschool Curriculum: U2 Tuition's Comprehensive Guide to Homeschooling UK
A Guide to Homeschooling: UK
The number of families choosing to homeschool their children has risen recently. Parents are increasingly dissatisfied with different elements of the school system, or find that their child's special educational needs (SEN) can be better met at home. Whatever your reason for considering it, homeschooling is a brilliant opportunity to expand your child’s learning, tailor their education to their individual needs and interests and to enhance their academic progress.
Children in the UK must be in full-time education until the age of 16, however there’s no legal definition of what "full-time" entails to constrain your homeschooling hours. Homeschooling consists of much more intensive, one-to-one lesson time which means your child probably won’t need to do a conventional full school day of lessons to get the same benefits. Equally, there is no legal requirement to follow the national curriculum which means you can enhance and vary your child’s learning according to their interests and in the way that best suits them.
However, homeschooling requires a lot of planning and organisation to be effective. This guide will provide guidance on the best homeschool curriculum for your child, tips on how to structure homeschooling (UK) and links to useful homeschool online resources to support your child’s education. Just because you’re choosing to homeschool your child, doesn’t mean you have to be their (or their only!) teacher. Our experienced educational consultants, who specialise in the provision of bespoke online homeschooling, can help you design the best curriculum for your child and assist you in providing top tuition every step of the way.
The Best Homeschool Curriculum for Primary Learning
At a young age, homeschooling offers children the possibility to explore learning. With homeschooling, learning is no longer bound to the classroom but can happen out in the park, in museums or galleries. This means you can bring learning to life in new, exciting ways and bring out your child’s creativity.
The amount of time you should spend homeschooling your child will vary according to their age. Younger children will be have a shorter attention span and only be able to manage shorter “school” hours each day. The advantage of homeschooling is that you can adjust lessons to fit your child’s attention span. Younger learners may prefer learning in 30 minute focused chunks, with lots of creative and engaging activities throughout the day. The best homeschool curriculum for primary students will be focused around the core subject areas, with lesson lengths tailored to the student.
For older primary school learners, you may want to focus on a homeschool curriculum targeting 11+ preparation. This is another great advantage of homeschooling as you can choose to follow the 11+ curriculum rather than the national one to ensure your child is prepared to sit the ISEB pre-test and 11+ exams.
Working with an online homeschooling tutor specialising in the 11+ curriculum will ensure your child expands their subject knowledge and skills beyond the requirements of the national curriculum and receives targeted support and preparation to ensure they excel in the entrance exams. U2 Tuition has a great team of online homeschooling tutors who are experts in 11+ preparation, having attended top UK Independent schools and gone on to attend Oxbridge and other top UK universities.
We also recommend all primary students engage in at least one co-curricular activity a week to allow time for creativity and beyond the syllabus exploration. These activities should help develop their skills and, crucially, give them social contact with other students their own age. Our co-curricular division, Minds Underground, runs a variety of online co-curricular clubs that are ideal to supplement online homeschooling, giving students the classroom experience of working with other keen students.
Children over nine might like our Debate Young Minds Club where they can learn foundational debate skills while debating topics like “This House Believes That Kids Should Have More Say in Family Decisions” or “This House Believes That Voting Age Should Be Lowered to 16”, allowing them to build confidence and argumentative skills. Debate can also be a great way to enhance your child’s 11+ preparation and grow their confidence before an interview! Or your child might want to develop their keen interest in STEM with our STEM Young Minds club, designed to inspire students by teaching them about exciting scientific breakthroughs and teaching them to think as scientists.
All our clubs run weekly through term time. To view all the options available and find out more, click here.
We also offer individual masterclasses designed for younger learners which your child could take alone or with a friend. Perhaps your child would enjoy taking a masterclass in the art of letterwriting to learn a new skill and improve at a common 11+ exam task. Or they might enjoy learning to code by coding a maze or developing a Caesar Cipher!
Our co-curricular division Minds Underground was founded with the aim of developing a love of learning in students and offers endless possibilities to learn from experts in each field.
Useful Online Homeschooling Resources:
Here are some great online resources to support online homeschooling for primary learners:
Oxford Owl: A library of educational resources and free ebooks
BBC Bitesize: Great games and activities to support the national curriculum
Roy the Zebra: KS1 punctuation, reading and spelling activities
The Best Homeschool Curriculum for GCSE and A Level
When homeschooling for GCSEs and A Levels, careful planning is key. GCSEs and A Levels are important qualifications for your child’s future and so it’s really essential to take the time to plan and get it right.
Step one is selecting their subjects. Most students take 9-10 GCSEs and 3-4 A Levels. At GCSE level, it’s advisable for your child to study core subjects such as English, Maths, and at least one Science.
Then you need to think about choosing the right exam board. It’s important you take some time to compare the different exam boards and curricula available to find the right one that suits your child’s interests and learning style. Some things to think about are:
Content: Different exam boards will require the study of different topics
Assessment style: Some exam boards may have a higher coursework weighting, others will have more written exams. Think about what fits your child’s strengths.
If you’d like help working out what exam board is the best fit for your child, or helping decide what subjects they should study, our expert educational consultants would be happy to speak with you and your child to decide what subjects and exam boards are best for their future.
Once you’ve picked an exam board, spend time going through the relevant specifications in depth to understand exactly what your child needs to know. You may also want to review recent examiners’ reports as these can provide key insight into exam technique and performance.
Typically, GCSE and A Level students should receive around 25 hours of one-to-one homeschooling or online homeschooling per week. As you gain a sense of your child’s strengths and weaknesses, you can vary and adapt this to match your child’s needs.
U2’s educational consultants are experts in providing online homeschooling. We can help you with the logistics of organising and planning your child’s GCSE and A Level online homeschooling curriculum to take the stress off. Our educational consultants can discuss the options available, help you choose subjects and exam boards and handle logistics like registering for public examinations or creating a homeschooling timetable that gets everything in! We also have a team of online homeschooling tutors who are specialists in their subjects and can support your child through their GCSE and A Level homeschooling journey.
Co-Curricular Clubs: Keeping Online Homeschooling Fun and Social
Minds Underground’s Online Co-curricular Clubs offer homeschooling students an exciting way to enhance their learning experience while gaining valuable skills beyond the standard syllabus. These clubs provide a unique opportunity to engage with other keen learners in an interactive, virtual classroom environment, fostering collaboration and giving students a chance to interact with their peers in a classroom setting.
We run clubs in a vast range of subjects. Your child might want to work on honing their debate skills with our DebateMinds club (learning advanced argumentation techniques to debate topics like “This House Would Implement a Universal Basic Income for Students”) or on developing their interest in STEM with our STEMMinds club where they can learn the scientific answers to the questions they’re curious about (e.g. Why do things go bang?).
Students could also join our Design Engineering Club where they will get to work on their own independent Design Engineering project, or Psychology Club where they will be introduced to different topics within Developmental Psychology, Neuroscience and beyond.
Whether your child is interested in exploring STEM, Psychology or honing their Debate skills, our clubs allow students to discover new interests and build their critical thinking skills in engaging group sessions. View all the clubs on offer and book your child’s place now.
How to Structure Homeschooling: UK
Creating a structured learning routine lays the foundation for a successful and enriching educational experience and creates stability for your child. For primary-aged children, the best homeschool curriculum should revolve around the core subjects (English, Maths and Science) while allowing ample time for engaging activities that foster creativity and play. If you can, try and plan regular out of the “classroom” trips that allow your child to engage with learning through real-world experiences, making it more enjoyable (see our dedicated post on the value of adding art galleries to the curriculum!) Incorporating co-curricular clubs into your weekly schedule is also a great way to enhance learning as they provide opportunities for social interaction and skill development. Read our dedicated guide on the best extra-curriculars for students.
As students transition to GCSE studies, the emphasis on structure becomes even more vital. You should aim to allocate at least three hours per week for English and Maths, and then two hours per week for other additional subjects to create a balanced timetable that devotes enough time to each subject. For A Level homeschooling, it’s important to set clear academic goals within your child’s study plan to ensure they are progressing through the syllabus and developing key critical thinking and argumentative skills. You may also want to push your child academically by incorporating an independent research project within their homeschool curriculum. U2’s team of specialist tutors are able to lead research projects in a variety of subjects from Quantum Magnetism to Collective Architecture, pushing your child beyond the syllabus and developing research and essay writing skills highly valued by universities. Find out more here.
An example online homeschooling timetable for a GCSE student.
The best homeschool curriculum for GCSEs and A Levels should complete all content at least a month prior to the final exam. This ensures your child has sufficient time to revise and review any challenging material in advance of the exams. Mock exams are also another crucial component to consider for GCSE and A Level homeschooling. Schools typically conduct mock exams in January to give students a chance to get familiar with the exam format and we recommend you replicate this experience. Our homeschooling tutors can create mock exams for students to test them and prepare them for the real thing.
Why Choose U2 Tuition for your Online Homeschooling?
We work with only the best tutors, graduates from Oxbridge and other top UK universities who are highly experienced and passionate about teaching their subject. Lessons with U2’s tutors are sure to be engaging and exciting, pushing student’s beyond the boundaries of an exam board syllabus and making sure that they cultivate a love of learning and a curiosity for it.
U2’s educational consultants can help you create the best homeschool curriculum for your child. We are able to support with all aspects of the homeschooling process, from selecting subjects and exam boards, creating online homeschooling timetables and matching your child with the perfect tutor in each subject.
Carrying out your online homeschooling with U2 Tuition means you will have access to a range of exciting co-curricular opportunities not offered elsewhere. U2 Tuition’s co-curricular division, Minds Underground, was founded with the desire to foster a love of learning in students, take learning beyond the boundaries of the curriculum and to get students to understand why they study what they study. As a result, we have created a whole treasure trove of learning and co-curricular activities and experiences that are perfect to support your child’s online homeschooling experience. Our clubs, masterclasses, research projects and summer schools are incredible opportunities to learn from subject experts and to get your child excited about learning.
We do not believe in a one-size-fits-all approach, so our approach to online homeschooling is flexible and designed to suit your needs. Whether you’d just like U2 Tuition to assist with providing specialist tuition in a few subjects and providing supplementary co-curricular support, or to handle the full organisation of your child’s online homeschooling, we’re happy to support you on this journey.
Book a free initial consultation here to discuss more.
U2 Tuition’s Online Homeschooling Programme:
An online homeschooling tutor can take the stress out of homeschooling. U2 Tuition’s educational consultants can enhance your child’s education by creating tailored homeschool programmes that suit your child’s educational needs. We create a personalised study plan designed to target your child’s goals and match you with specialist tutors who deliver expert tuition.
Our Process:
Initial Consultation: We begin with a free initial consultation to discuss your homeschooling needs and work out how we can best support you. We will discuss your child’s skills and areas of interest and come up with a strategy for homeschooling that best suits your needs.
Tailored Tutor Matching: We carefully select tutors who are subject specialists, with a degree from Oxbridge or other top UK universities in the tuition subject. We send these tutor CVs for you to review and decide who will be the best fit for your child.
Initial Assessment: Before your first session, our tutors will build a profile of the student. In the first session, our online homeschooling tutors will carry out a further initial assessment to get a strong sense of your child’s strength and weaknesses and come up with a tuition strategy. After every session, tutors provide detailed lesson reports that include written feedback about your child’s performance and engagement, as well as setting homework tasks in between sessions.
Customisable Programme: You may want U2 Tuition to take care of all of your homeschooling needs, organising your child’s curriculum and creating an online homeschool timetable, or you may prefer us just to help out fill in the gaps with a few subjects. We offer a flexible approach to online homeschooling designed to suit your needs.