A beginner's guide to home education resources

How our home educating journey started...

My two eldest children were ok in mainstream, but when my youngest tried school, he struggled to cope. He is Autistic and had an EHCP, but we found that a formal school environment wasn't right for him.

We made the decision to home educate, as not only would it be the perfect fit for his hands-on style of learning, but having him happy and regulated would benefit the whole family.

We spent a couple of months deschooling him, letting him process what had happened, having no expectations and giving him time to re-discover the joy of learning.

Finding the home education resources to suit us

Once my youngest showed signs that he was ready to learn again, I started thinking about resources; I read books on education, looked at what was affordable, and thought about what my son enjoyed.

We are now a year into officially home educating and we haven't looked back!

Now that we've been using resources for a while, I thought it would be a good idea to share what has helped us, in the hope that it will help others just starting out.

This guide isn't an exhaustive list of home education resources, but I hope you will come away with a little inspiration for your own home education journey together.

Digital resources

Not only are websites, apps and TV programmes a fun way to supplement daily learning, but they also help you get time to do all the other things you need to do as a busy mum, which is vital in looking after your own mental health.

• Numbots

• Science Museum

• Natural History Museum

• National Geographic Channel

• Teach Your Monster to Read

• Theatre of Science

• Usbourne

• YouTube Kids

• TT Rockstars

• Reading Eggs

• BBC Bitesize

• Horrible Histories (BBC)

• Oxford Owl

• Solveme

• White Rose Maths

• Minecraft Education Edition

• Oak Academy

• Access Art

• Doodle Maths

• Ask The Storybots (Netflix)

• Paw Print Badge Family

• NASA

• Education.com

• Planet Earth (BBC)

• BBC Super Movers

• Learn Laugh Play

• Tate Kids

A lot of these resources are totally free to use. Some of them require subscriptions, however many have a free trial period so you can see which you like before committing.

Check out the How We Play and Learn shop for our fun and engaging printables to support your child's learning

Places to visit

There are so many places that offer opportunites to play and learn and they don't have to be costly; many museums and outdoors spaces are free.

You can also save money by joining Facebook groups that share offers, such as PopArt Home Education, and home ed Whatsapp groups that organise group trips to split costs.

Here are some of the places we visit that provide opportunities for learning:

• Museums

• Woodland/Forests

• Nature Reserves

• National Parks

• Sports Lessons

• Beavers/Cubs/Scouts

• Music lessons

• Theatre

• Cinema

• Library

• Beaches

• Castles

• Supermarkets

• Railway Centres

• Soft Play Centres

• National Trust Properties

• Playgrounds

• Farm Parks

• Ponds

Resources at home

You will already have a lot of resources at home that can be used as part of your child's education - here are a few examples:

• Board Games

• Lego

• Books

• Baking/Cooking

• Sensory Trays

• Art Materials

• Cleaning Equipment

• Puzzles

• Garden

• Playdough

• Craft Kits

• Nature Finds

Learning about the layers of the Earth with playdough

Second-hand learning resouces

Whilst it's helpful to have a range of learning materials available, home education doesn't have to be expensive, there are many ways to get your hands on some bargains:

• Charity shops

• Car boot sales

• Vinted

• eBay

• NCT nearly new sales

• Facebook marketplace

  
  

DIY learning resources

There are lots of cheap and easy ways to create your own resouces to enrich your child's learning environment:

• Draw pictures onto flat stones to make "story stones" to support reading

• Paint a chalk board on a wall or in the garden as a mark-making area

• Save clean pieces of recycling to create a junk modelling / crafting bin

• Turn an old palate or cable reel into a mud kitchen

• Save milk lids and write numbers on them for hands-on numeracy resources

• Use a marker pen and paper to make homesmade worksheets based on their interests

• Collect natural resources from all your outdoors adventures

• Raid the kitchen for science materials, such as cornflour and bicarbonate of soda

Using recycling to demonstrate polution

Home ed groups and sessions

The UK home ed community is so welcoming; I recommend joining your local group on Facebook. It may take a while to find local events so don't be disheartened, you will find plenty of people willing to point you in the right direction!

Local forest schools are a great source of learning about topics like science, seasons and nature, and they are perfect for children that need lots of movement and fresh air to learn.

And some places like science centres and zoos offer special home ed days or discounted entry rates during term, so it's worth trawling their websites.

There will be a lot of trial and error at the start of your home ed journey together, but over time you will find the resources that work for you.

I hope I've given you a little bit of inspiration for your new and exciting adventure together, and wish you the best of luck at this exciting time!

Are you new to home education? Do you have favourite resources that you can share?

Want more ideas? Check out my guide to the best home ed supplies for hands-on learning.

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