Home Education Matters

Those of you who wait for our new episodes to pop up in their podcast listening platforms may have noticed that no episode appeared this Sunday. Did we forget? Have we stopped recording? Emily reveals all in this mini episode.

Substack

Apple

Spotify

We don't always think of play as offering opportunities to learn in the traditional sense but what if it was actually the most powerful tool we had at our disposal, not only creating learning opportunities but making learning simple, fun and easy? This week's guest, Ruth from Play Nest Learning, shares how play based activities can be fun learning tools to build reading, writing and maths skills in the early years.

Ruth Parkinson-King

I'm a qualified teacher with experience in early years and KS1 classrooms who left the profession when my son was born and...

Has your teenager just come out of the school system? Starting home education with a teenager is a whole new challenge and in today's episode we interview Dr Naomi Fisher for her top tips for how to navigate those early days, what to expect, what to avoid and what to focus on.

And if you'd like to have a look at Naomi's new book, you can find it here on Amazon: FIND HERE (We're not affiliated in any way - just think it's a cool book!)

This podcast is a labour of love...

Charlotte and I continue our series on parenting styles by looking at practical ways to incorporate connected parenting / authoritative parenting into different challenging situations at home.

With practical advice ranging from meal times and getting ready to leave the house to verbal and physical aggression, our resident child psychologist is here with real life tips to help you handle tricky times and stay connected with your child.

This podcast is a labour of love, and time and energy and commitment and lots of coffee! It really helps us if you can follow us...

Join the wonderful Caroline and I as we engage in a fun debate looking at both sides of the AI argument. We discuss the benefits and perils of incorporating AI into your world, as well as the advantages to home educators and whether we should be AI proofing our children's futures.

And if you'd like to see our 'didn't use AI to make it' tutor directory, you can find it here: https://www.homeeducationtutors.com/

With Caroline Mukisa- Cambridge & Imperial Graduate | Maths Educator | Good Schools Guide Consultant | Home Educator An Imperial College and...

This week's episode is an edition of our live podcast we put out on youTube and on our FB page.

This little brother of our main podcast is fuelled by fun, naughtiness and laughter (just like all the best little brothers!) and in this episode we're discussing whether home education is a lifestyle choice. We all give our answer in the first two minutes so let us know your yes / no down below!

This podcast is a labour of love, and time and energy and commitment and lots of coffee! It really helps...

There are some subjects that can feel a bit out of reach for home educators, often those that involve coursework (NEA). So today we talk to Rose and Paul from Spark Creative who specialise in liaising with exam centres to help home educated children sit some of those hard to reach subjects.

We talk through the different specifications for each exam, what to expect from the coursework element and the many benefits of sitting these exams as a home educated student.

With Paul Buckby- Paul (me/tutor) and Rose (admin) run Spark Creative Education, offering...

The first in a series of chats with Charlotte where she talks to people with interesting perspectives on school, home education, parenting and more.

Expect free flowing chats and real talk, as Charlotte and her guests set the world to rights!

This podcast is a labour of love, and time and energy and commitment and lots of coffee! It really helps us if you can follow us on our social media channels and comment to let us know if you enjoyed the episode, what you'd like to see more / less of and generally...

How do home-educated children build a successful career in the creative arts?

In this week's episode, we're chatting with Helen Kenworthy about the many exciting pathways into creative industries and how families can support young people who dream of turning their creativity into a career. We explore practical ways to get started, build a standout portfolio, gain real-world experience, and develop the skills and confidence needed to thrive.

Helen Kenworthy is a coach, mentor, author, actor and specialist SEND tutor with nearly 30 years experience across the creative industries, business and education

...

Join us as we discuss the temptations and pitfalls of focusing on quantified learning with our home educated children. From AQA Unit Awards right up to A levels and beyond, we are a world that honours quantifiable achievement in academics.

But is there more to learning than that and are we, as home educators, uniquely positioned to be at the vanguard of a new approach to education that prioritises experience, understanding and passionate curiosity?

This podcast is a labour of love, and time and energy and commitment and lots of coffee! It really...

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 impossible for an AI platform? Find out in today's podcast!

With Frederik Bjørnbak- CEO and founder of GradeAid - Frederik's Website- @Gradeaidai on...

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 reassurance for families that are being thrust into the home education world.

Louisa Stanley

Louisa is a qualified teacher with over 20 years of experience and the founder of Believe and Bloom...

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 commitment and lots of coffee! It really helps us if you can follow us on our social media channels and comment...

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 and still finding space for personal boundaries and constructive support.

And we'll be doing a follow up podcast on practical steps to achieve more of...

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 language teacher for over 20 years in primary and secondary schools in France, Japan, USA and running my own language courses in Ireland and in the UK. I am also a home ed...

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 secondary school teacher and middle leader. She founded GROVE, an Autistic-staffed online organisation supporting Autistic young people, after her older child was unable to attend school. Jess recognised a gap in support for Autistic children to...

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 our various and random social media channels and generally share the podcast love!

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 parents and children to help deliver Maths. For home educating parents, I offer assistance with developing a curriculum that is based on the needs and interests of t...

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 unschooling her children.

With Alice Khimasia - Alice has been unschooling her four sons since 2010, sharing their journey through Organic Education. A former school refuser, she advocates for learner-centered environments...

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-education-uk-1347/about

To boss up: check out some of these places to get your inner activist going ...

The bill - https://bills.parliament...

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 consultancy business, where they offer educational support and activities for a wide age range of students. In addition to facilitating arts and craft activities for school-aged students...

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 and seek more tailored support from her or from our other hosts, Eleanor and Charlotte, then you can visit our mentoring website and find out how we can support...

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 spoke.

This is an old episode and an informal chat between two parents so apologies for any sound fluctuations!

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, ex-teachers, and parent carers to our AuDHD/PDA kids, who we now home educate and unschool, since leaving the education system and our jobs as teachers, over 3 years ago. After struggling to fi...

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 that it's a stimulating episode where we get a lot off our chests :)

This podcast is a labour of...

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 parents!

This podcast is a labour of love, and time and energy and commitment and lots of coffee! It really helps us if you can follow us...

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 this style.

We also discuss why behaviour is communication, how punishments and rewards can sometimes become tools of control, and why many parents experience occasional “authoritarian moments” when overwhelmed. Most importantly, we explore how reflection and repair can help...

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 their daily lives, whilst also highlighting easily accessible resources that create a fun and engaging environment for children to learn and develop through music.

Will Savage

Will...

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 rewarding approach to a child's learning.

With: Heidi Steel- Heidi Steel is the founder of liveplaylearn.org and the Unschooling Village Hub, and author of...

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 barred look at permissive parenting.

This podcast is a labour of love, and time and energy and commitment and lots of coffee! It really helps us if you...

Tackling common permissive parenting myths and talking about how this applies in home ed.

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 real life skills that can be built through studying the performing arts and how the LAMDA qualifications support your child's growth whilst also giving them the opportunity to add to their academic...

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 children with school trauma or special educational needs. And we also talk about what we can do to try to halt its inexorable progress.

In Jan 2020, following her work in advocacy...

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.

With Keith Dalby - A qualified and experienced physics teacher and head of department, Isaac Science ambassador, and AQA examiner. Delivering online tutoring since 2020...

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 about wealth and success. Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments!

With Maddy Alexander Grout- Maddy's Website - @maddytalksmoney on Instagram- Maddy's Facebook page...

January is a time for reflection and planning so we thought we'd do a podcast where we talk about our home education journeys in 2025, what we learnt, what we want to take more of into 2026, what we want a bit less of in the future and what habits we'd like to cultivate as part of our home ed world.

Grab a pen and paper and do some reflection and planning with us!

In today's podcast, I am joined by Juliet English to discuss the two main routes into home education and the changing times within the home education community.

Whether you actively chose home education, or felt that you were forced towards it by a difficult school experience, this podcast is a discussion on the differences and dynamics between both routes and how, ultimately, we become one united community.

Find Juliet here on Streams and here for the Home Education conference.

Our Christmas gift (surely better than socks and shower gel!) is a little compilation of our top home education tips. We range from resources to wellbeing and they're applicable to all ages and stages.

These tips were first published on our TikTok channel ... I know, so modern! Come and check us out on TikTok and our other social media channels ...

@homeeducationmatters on Instagram- Eleanor's Facebook group - Eleanor's Facebook page

Yes, we're reviving our Christmas Quiz tradition!

Settle down, snuggle up with the family and get ready for some nice easy questions, some fiendishly tricky questions and to have your general knowledge and home education expertise put to the test ...