How to homeschool in the UK: A step-by-step start guide

If you've decided – or are close to deciding – to home educate in the UK, this guide takes you through the practical steps in the order you'll need them. It's written for England primarily, with notes on Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland where the rules differ.

We'll cover the legal setup, the deregistration letter, the first weeks at home, curriculum choices, and how to plan for GCSEs or iGCSEs down the line.

Home education is legal across all four UK nations. In England and Wales it sits under Section 7 of the Education Act 1996, which requires parents to make sure their child gets an "efficient full-time education suitable to age, ability and aptitude and to any special educational needs, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise". Scotland works to Section 30 of the Education (Scotland) Act 1980 and Northern Ireland to Article 45 of the Education and Libraries (NI) Order 1986.

The practical takeaway: you're allowed to do this. You don't need to follow the national curriculum, keep school hours, enter your child for exams, or ask permission from the local authority in most cases.

If your child has never been enrolled at a school, skip this step. You can start home educating without notifying anyone.

If your child is currently on a school roll in England, you need to send a written deregistration letter to the head teacher stating that your child will no longer attend from a specified date. The school then removes the name from the admission register under the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024. There's no prescribed format and no legal duty to give a reason.

A workable template: "Dear [head teacher], I am writing to inform you that [child's name], date of birth [DOB], currently a pupil in [year group / class], will be electively home educated from [date]. Please remove [him/her/them] from the school's admission register from that date under Regulation 9(1)(f) of the School Attendance (Pupil Registration) (England) Regulations 2024. Yours sincerely, [name]."

Send it by email with a paper copy, or by recorded delivery, so you have proof. Keep a copy for your records. The school is required to inform the LA of the deletion.

Once you've deregistered, the LA will usually make contact. This is under their duty in Section 436A of the Education Act 1996 to identify children who might not be getting a suitable education.

The contact is typically a letter asking about your plans – curriculum, resources, hours, sometimes a home visit. Take it seriously without being defensive. Parents are under no legal obligation to respond to informal enquiries, but persistent refusal to provide any information can (under case law – Phillips v Brown) justify the LA moving to a formal Section 437 notice. It's usually easier to reply.

What you can lawfully decline: a home visit, a meeting with the child, a specific format of response, adherence to the national curriculum, entering your child for exams, or accepting LA support. The DfE's guidance to LAs (April 2019) says clearly that authorities "should not specify a curriculum or approach which parents must follow".

A short, calm written summary of your approach – aims, subject areas, how you'll assess progress, resources you're using – is usually enough. Education Otherwise and HEAS both publish template responses if you want a starting point.

There are broadly four ways families organise home education. Most end up mixing them over the years.

Structured, national-curriculum-following. Best if you might return your child to school, or if you want a familiar scaffold. Free scheme of work via Oak National Academy; content via BBC Bitesize and gov.uk programmes of study.

Self-built, mixed resources. The most common route in practice. You pick topics, use free content plus workbooks (CGP, Collins), and adjust as you go. Requires planning but gives you full control of pace.

A pedagogic approach. Charlotte Mason (living books, narration, short lessons), Montessori (child-led, prepared environment), unschooling (interest-led). These aren't curricula in the box sense – they're philosophies of how to teach.

Online school. King's InterHigh, Wolsey Hall Oxford (asynchronous), Minerva's Virtual Academy, Cambridge Home School Online, Nisai and Harrow School Online are the main UK players. Fees run from about £2,750 to over £10,000 per year depending on stage and delivery model. Check the provider's current fees page – rates change annually.

At the start, pick one approach as your default and give it three months. You'll know a lot more after that first term about what fits your child.

Don't try to recreate school at home. The rhythm that works for one child at a desk for an hour is exhausting for the same child across a full school day.

A workable primary starting shape: 90 minutes of core work (reading, writing, maths) most mornings, an hour of a project or theme in the afternoon, and plenty of unstructured play, reading and outdoor time. At secondary, aim for two or three focused subject sessions of 40–60 minutes with breaks between, plus independent reading and skills practice.

Build in weekly commitments outside the house from week one. A sports club, an art class, a home-ed meetup, a museum home-educators' day. Don't wait until you feel "ready" – you never will, and community is easier to slot into than to build after the fact.

Expect a rough patch around weeks three to six, especially if your child has come out of a difficult school situation. Home educators call this deschooling. It's not a legal status (there's no basis in law for suspending your Section 7 duty), but it's a real adjustment period. Lower expectations, spend more time reading together, focus on rebuilding motivation before ramping up the schedule.

There's no state funding for elective home education. You cover everything. Realistic ranges:

DIY, free resources, library-heavy at primary: around £300–£800/year all in, once you own a laptop.

Mixed approach with some paid curriculum, occasional tutoring, group activities: around £1,000–£3,000/year at primary; more once exam fees start at secondary.

Full online school: £3,000–£10,000+/year per child.

Exam entries are the biggest jump at secondary. GCSE entries at UK exam centres run roughly £200–£320 per subject, more for combined science and languages. iGCSEs tend to be a little cheaper per subject and rarely need practical arrangements. A private candidate sitting six iGCSE subjects is looking at £1,500 or more in fees alone. Late entries can double the per-subject cost, so book six months ahead.

Some LAs will fund exam fees on a discretionary basis. There's no national list of which do. Phone your LA's Elective Home Education officer and ask.

You don't have to enter your child for public exams, but if university or a job that expects qualifications is on the horizon, you'll want to plan the exam route by Year 8 or 9 at the latest.

Most home-educated families use iGCSE (International GCSE) rather than UK GCSE. The reason is straightforward: most iGCSE syllabuses have no coursework, no non-exam assessment and – in sciences – an "Alternative to Practical" written paper option instead of lab work. Cambridge International (CAIE) and Pearson Edexcel International are the two main boards. Assessment happens in three windows a year (Cambridge iGCSE: Feb/Mar, May/Jun, Oct/Nov), which gives you flexibility.

Exams are sat as a "private candidate" at an approved centre. JCQ lists around 190 centres accepting private candidates in the UK; the list refreshes in December/January. Multi-site centres commonly used include Tutors & Exams (Bolton, Coventry, Doncaster, St Neots, Wimbledon), Exam Centre London, David Game College and Macclesfield Tutorial College.

A typical homeschool GCSE profile is five to nine subjects, weighted to Maths, English Language, English Literature and at least one science. Universities generally look for at least five 4/5 grades including English and Maths. Cambridge International states that Russell Group universities "do not make any distinction between IGCSEs and GCSEs" for admission.

The families who do this well don't have a perfect first plan. They have honest review points.

At three months: Is the child engaged? Are they moving forward in the core subjects? Is one of you burnt out?

At six months: Are you on track with the subjects you said you'd cover? Have you found a working rhythm? Do you need to add or drop any commitments?

Annually: What's the plan for the next stage? At age 13, the exam clock starts ticking. At 16, the sixth-form question. At each of these, revisit whether home ed is still the right answer for your child, honestly. Some families switch back to school for GCSEs or A-Levels and it's a completely reasonable choice, not a failure.