What am I supposed to teach?

One of the most daunting aspects about starting to homeschool your child is worrying about what you are going to teach them.

The National Curriculum doesn't have to be your curriculum

For homeschool families in the UK, you don't have to follow the National Curriculum exactly as a school would. You actually have more freedom over what you teach and how you teach.

It is useful as a guide of what a child should generally know or learn at a given age. But you don't have to follow it religiously. This is especially true if your child has special needs.

Start with the basics

Maths and English are core subjects taught in UK schools and should form a significant proportion of the time spent on learning. Primary school aged children do both of these subjects every day in UK schools and you should aim to do this too. Include other subjects that your child is interested in and those that you know would be good for them. One benefit of homeschool is that you can also add subjects that are not often taught in schools. This could be a subject such as Coding or a family language not usually offered in schools.

What level is my child at?

If your child has been struggling at school, it can be difficult to know what level they are at in a given subject. This makes it tricky to know where to start.

The easiest thing to do is just give them some work and see how they get on with it. If they find it easy you'll see and you can give them something else in the next lesson. If they struggle, you've found an area you need to work on.

For more detailed diagnostics, you can supplement your learning with online learning tools like IXL or Prodigy. They both provide detailed information on what level your child is at in Maths and Literacy. They both support the UK National curriculum so give a good comprehensive answer. They also adapt the topics they present to your child depending on how well they do in particular topics.

Learning outside the 'classroom'

Do include some physical education into your timetable. Finding opportunities for sports lessons or tutoring during the school day are difficult. However there are lots of options for sports activities in after school clubs. Check local listings. Enrolling your child in some of these will satisfy their need for physical education as well as providing valuable socialising opportunities. You'll also get some free time back.

Do look into Forest schools in your area as well. Some of them provide special dates for homeschool children to join a group session.

You don't need to have it all planned out

Don't try to plan out the whole school year or even a whole term. Start with the first week and have just a few days mapped out in detail.

Once you actually start teaching you can then plan and adapt as you go to fit your child's needs. With homeschool you can be more flexible in your approach.