What we learned in our first month of home education

Month one is not the month you learn to home educate. It is the month you unlearn school, and almost nobody warns you about that.

The paperwork took an afternoon. A letter to the headteacher, a confirmation that the name had been removed from the register, and a short reply to the local authority a few weeks later describing our approach. That was genuinely all of it.

The wobble came in week two, when the novelty wore off and I realised nobody was going to tell me whether we were doing enough. I bought too many workbooks, printed a timetable in five colours, and abandoned it within four days.

What actually worked was smaller than expected. Reading together every day, maths in short sessions before lunch, and following one real interest properly, which for us was baking and turned out to contain more measurement, reading and sequencing than any worksheet.

By the end of the month the shape had appeared on its own. If I were starting again I would spend less on resources, join a local group in week one rather than week five, and write down what we did each day, not because anyone demanded it, but because on the hard days it is proof that plenty is happening.