UK Homeschooling Resources 2023

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There are many reasons why you may be considering homeschooling your child.

Your child may respond better to the freedom to learn at a speed that suits them. Maybe your child has endured bullying, has been excluded from school or has special needs. There are as many reasons to home educate as there are children.

Whatever your reason for home education, you will need as much support as you can.

Here are the best resources for those home educating and homeschooling children in the UK, with information about how to educate at home, free resources for home educators in the UK for KS1, KS2, KS3 and KS4, GCSEs, iGCSEs and A-Level study at home, as well as how to organise the home school day and the legal aspects of home education.

Homeschooling - Where To Begin

GOV.UK If you are considering homeschooling your child, the very first place that you should go is the UK government website, which outlines your legal responsibilities with regard to homeschooling your child. It also includes lots of advice on the national curriculum and any help that you can recieve from your local council.
The Home Schooling Association is a community of home educators which provides home school families with opportunities to network, share experiences, and give them a voice to shape the future of alternative education.
Schoolhouse is Scotland’s national home education charity, dedicated to supporting learning outside the school system, supporting home educators and potential home educators, and ensuring that they receive fair, consistent and equal treatment in their dealings with local authorities and other services.
Education Otherwise is a membership organisation that provides support and information for families whose children are being educated outside school. It also supports families who wish to take direct responsibility for the education of their children.
Home Education Advisory Service (HEAS) is a national home education charity based in the United Kingdom. Their aim is to provide good quality advice to home educators in the UK about the legal and practical aspects of home educating, as well as advice on good quality educational materials.

Primary Education Homeschooling Resources KS1 and KS2

EdPlace is a subscription based app which covers English, Maths and Science across the National Curriculum in Key Stages 1 to 4 (age 5-16). They blend the best online tools with leading resources, which are 100% aligned to the National Curriculum and created by qualified teachers.
The Maths Factor is Carol Vorderman's maths tuition site which teaches through online videos, fun tasks and tests to build a child's confidence in Maths. Matched to the National Curriculum it is aimed at children from ages 5 to 11.
SparkleBox has a huge collection of useful downloadable resources which is completely FREE to download. They are aimed at younger children.
Teacher's Pet has unique and engaging classroom content and everything a teacher or homeschooling parent could need all under one roof, with masses of content that matches the National Curriculum and Early Years guidelines.
Science Museum Group has learning resources to support KS1, KS2 and KS3, with contributions from all the museums in the group, which along with London' Science Museum also includes the Railway Museum in York and the Science and Media Museum in Bradford.
Teach Your Monster is a free educational website focusing on primary reading and maths, funded by the Usbourn Foundation. It has lots of maths and reading games which can be played on a computor and it is also available as an app for iPhone or Android.
Twinkl offers a huge range of primary level teaching materials which cover everything from maths and english to science, history, languages, religion, geography, computing and PSHE.

Secondary Education Homeschooling Resources KS3 and KS4

Secondary school may be the time where homeschooled children consider re-entering mainstream education, as they approach GCSE and A-Levels.

However it is possible to study both GCSEs and A-Levels completely online.

EdPlace is a subscription based app which covers KS3 studies as well as English Language & Literature, Maths, Biology, Physics and Chemistry up to GCSE level and is created by qualified teachers.
Neon Edu offer live online classes, mentoring, quizzes and assessments aimed at children from year 7 right through GCSEs and up to A-Level in Physics, Biology, Chemistry, Mathematics, English, Spanish and French . They focus on achieving the high grades required for admission to top universities.
Oxbridge Learning offer online courses for GCSEs and A-Levels, and have not only the usual subjects but offer some of the more difficult to find A-Level subjects such as Classical Civilisation, Business Studies, Law, Computor Science and History of Art. Or why not try GCSE Astronomy, Psychology or Sociology. They also have a number of vocational courses in Counselling, Health and Social Care and Childcare amongst others.
Cloud Learn is a dedicated GCSE & A-Level online learning provider, which will also arrange exams for students. Their philosopy involves harnessing emerging technologies, embedding social platforms and using digitised distance learning materials so you can learn in a format that suits you.
Open Study College has over 650 distance learning courses. You can choose to study with a printed course pack or by using e-learning courses, with tutor support throughout your course.
InterHigh is an online school and sixth form college allows pupils to study the British curriculum, in full or in part, from home, anywhere in the world. They offer homeschooling support for parents and guardians who home educate.
ICSLearn offers GCSE, iGCSE and A-Level distance learning courses with tutor support.
NEC The National Extension College offers online study for students aged 13 and over. School aged students recieve extra tutorial support. You can study GCSEs and A-Levels and some professional qualifications are also offered, as well as courses on creative topics.
Oxford Learning College work with highly respected education partners to provide quality home study courses for A-Levels and Accredited Diplomas worldwide.
Wolsey Hall Oxford have courses from Primary and Secondary and through to IGCSE and A Level to students in the UK and in over 100 countries around the world.
Duolingo is a free language learning app which gives you the opportunity to learn dozens of languages. It won't prepare you for a GCSE, but is an excellent way of reinforcing language learning and widening your child's vocabulary outside of the narrow language curriculum.

Tutoring

If a child needs 1 to 1 teaching or support in a particular subject, tutoring may provide a cost effective solution.

Superprof UK are an online platform to help parents and students find private tutors for school subjects and adults to find coaching for anything from languages and musical instruments to fitness and finance. Mainly aimed at students studying at A-level and beyond. Book your course on Superprof and get the 1st hour for free.
MyTutor also is a platform for finding 1 to 1 tutoring, aimed at students from KS2 (7 years old) to A-level. Offering all the most popular GCSE and A-Level subjects, they work on a pay-as-you-go basis rather than requiring a subscription.

Beyond The National Curriculum

MEL Science is a science subscription box company that combines hands-on experiments with VR/AR technologies to engage kids in studying science. Each month kids reciev a science kit which contains up to 7 exciting & safe science experiments curated especially for children of all ages.
Smithsonian Learning Lab This US musuem organisation puts the treasures of the world's largest museum, education, and research complex within reach.It is a free, interactive platform for discovering digital resources to help you understand history, art, culture, and the sciences through inquiry and analysis.
GoNoodle is a US based website which is designed especially for kids (age 4-10) to get moving using Dance, Sports, Exercise, How-tos, Yoga, Stretching, Deep breathing and Mindfulness. You can also download the GoNoodle App for Android.
Scholastic Learn At Home is another US site from educational book publisher Scholastic, with stories, educational videos and craft activities.
Storyline Online streams videos featuring celebrated actors reading children’s books alongside creatively produced illustrations. Readers include big name celebrities such as Viola Davis, Chris Pine, Lily Tomlin, Kevin Costner, Annette Bening, James Earl Jones, Betty White and dozens more.
TED-Ed has hundreds of TED-Ed Animations and TED Talks designed to spark your child’s curiosity, along with thousands of other video-based lessons organized by age-level and subject.

Learn Coding

Computors are not going anywhere, and learning coding is both fun and exciting for kids. Here are some places to learn coding, aimed at kids.

Scratch is a free programming language intended for teaching kids coding, provided by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Learn how to animate, create music and make a game.
Code Kingdoms is a subscription service which teaches your kids how to become coding experts by learning to develop their own Roblox games and Minecraft mods. Starting from an beginners level kids can learn valuable Java and Lua coding skills.

Higher Level Educational Resources

OpenLearn the home of free learning from The Open University. Your child could find new topic to explore, or dig deeper into something that fascinates them, with a broad range of topics from history, sports, business, languages, the environment, politics and law as well as science, maths and technology.
Class Central has a list of over 600 free online courses from universities around the world. If your child has a special interest in a subject and is beyond school level in their study level they may find something to challenge them here. They tend to be focussed on science, maths, computers and engineering topics, but there are also courses on art, music and social science as well.

Homeschool and Home Educating Blogs

If you are considering homeschooling, you might be able to get a taste of what you are letting yourself in for with these homeschool bloggers who share their homeschooling journey.

Home Education in the UK was created by home educator Sue nearly 20 years ago and is still regularly updated with information about UK home education issues and advice.
Free Homeschool Deals is a frugal living homeschool site with useful ideas for homeschool families throughout the world. As well as thousands of printables, it has articles about keeping the cost of homeschooling to a minimum.
Simple Homeschool is a multi-contributor US homeschooling blog with articles on how to homeschool, organising your day as well as addressing some of the philosophical aspects of homeschooling.
The Guardian have home education news and regular topical articles about homeschooling.

If your children are approaching exam time, you might also find our extensive list of free revision resources for 11+, GCSEs and A-Level useful as well.