When it comes to choosing subjects to take at GCSE level, there are two things to consider: What subject does your child want to study? Will the qualification be accessible if you’re not registered with a school and need to sit the exam as a private candidate? There is a wider range of subjects than you might remember from your time in school, so there are some interesting options available beyond the usual Maths and English – why not try Arabic, Business or Global Citizenship? However some subjects have what is called ‘NEA’ or Non-Exam Assessment sections. These are things…
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About six months ago I had the idea of creating a GCSE planner. I kept coming across recommendations for courses that looked great, but weren’t right for us just yet, or exam centres we might be able to use in the future, and I wanted somewhere to keep them. I also wanted somewhere to keep track of our big picture plans, so I knew we were on track at this important time. So I started making one. And as I did, I thought of all the things that needed explaining before the planner made sense. So I made a guidebook…
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Here’s how to use electives to take All The Cool Homeschool Ideas and actually make some of them happen in your home.
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Are you still planning your homeschool year? Not sure how to make all the pieces of home education fit? Mixing GCSEs and younger children and no idea how to make it work? It’s something we all struggle with. It’s taken me a while this year but I think I’ve got our plan for next year tied down now… at least in pencil. Of course what works for us won’t exactly translate to anyone else, but it’s still useful to see how other families plan for home education so you can steal the good bits 🙂 This is how I do…
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One of the main benefits of home education is leaving space to wander. That might mean a physical wander – an afternoon nature walk, a break outside when tempers are fraying, picking fresh peas for an afternoon snack – or it might mean a mental wander, time to follow the rabbit trail of a new idea, time to look up the answer to the question right then, time to read the new book or play the new game as soon as it comes out. It could be a wander down a new craft, a new sport, a new endeavour. It…
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We’re figuring out the shape of our homeschool year using my new free academic yearly calendar – come join me!
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Last week, I did a talk on planning and review at the Learn Free conference (replays are still available if you sign up in the next few days!). Afterwards there was a Zoom Q&A which unfortunately didn’t get recorded. So this is my best attempt at writing up what we covered for those who missed it. Anyone who was there and remembers other comments, please do add them! The benefits of planning. We liked having systems for lots of reasons, mostly that it helped us to feel more confident and settled, and less drifty, about the day ahead. And flexibility…
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Reviewing is the key to confidence when you’re home educating.
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There are all sorts of reasons why you might want to dedicate part of your day to more formal learning activities – to something that looks a bit more like school. If that’s you, here’s some tips on how you could approach it.
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In the small group coaching I’ve been doing, we’ve been looking at what’s already working, where the touchpoints are, and how we can use that to put in a general framework for our days that focuses on what is important for each individual family. We’ve all got different ages and needs and requirements for parents and children working, so we’ve been looking at a toolkit of strategies to pick from, rather than trying to apply a one-size-fits-all approach. Here are a few examples of different ways you might want to plan out your time. Many of these overlap, and you…
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