Increasingly, families are choosing homeschooling for a variety of reasons, including the need for greater flexibility, personalised academic support, or a learning environment better suited to their child’s individual needs and goals.
When structured effectively, homeschooling can offer a highly tailored educational experience, allowing students to learn at their own pace, focus on areas of interest, and build confidence through individualised teaching. However, it also raises important questions around curriculum choices, exam access, timetabling, and social opportunities, topics that parents should carefully consider before making the transition.
In this article Poppy Dundas, °®ÒºÊÓƵ’s Head of Homeschooling, answers some frequently asked questions about homeschooling with °®ÒºÊÓƵ Tutors.
Is there anything I need to do legally before homeschooling?
Currently, in the UK, there is no legal requirement to declare when you take your child out of school. However, your local council may well approach you for details or proof that your child is still partaking in education. Our recommendation is therefore to get ahead of the game and alert the council to your plans. °®ÒºÊÓƵ can provide information on the timetable, tutors and educational plan if required.
What curriculum & exam boards will be child be taught when homeschooled?
The curriculum will typically follow the standard curriculum for that age group:
| Curriculum | Age |
| Key Stage 1 | 5 – 7 (Years 1 & 2) |
| Key Stage 2 | 7 – 11 (Years 3 – 6) |
| Key Stage 3 | 11 – 14 (Years 7 – 9) |
| Key Stage 4 / GCSE | 14 – 16 (Years 10 – 11) |
| Key Stage 5 / A Level | 17 – 18 (Years 12 – 13) |
Unless there is another goal in mind, we will follow as above. For those students approaching school entrance exams, we have specific tutors who are able to support with this preparation.
When a student is approaching GCSE & A Level exams, the process needs to be a little more considered. We are not an exam centre and as such we can’t decide on an exam boards for your student. We are able to support with tuition for all exam boards but the final choice of which your child takes will be down to you. The tutors that you have will be happy to comment on the different exam boards, and answer questions, but ultimately the decision will lie with the parent/guardian. We would recommend looking on the different exam board websites, and see which curriculum interests your child most. Additionally, if they have just left a school it can work well to follow the exam boards that their school was working with.
What subject choices can °®ÒºÊÓƵ support with for homeschooling?
We can offer homeschooling in all academic subjects, and can provide theory support for Art, Music and Drama. Alongside this, we have fewer tutors in more niche subjects such as Russian but we are always happy to discuss what we can and can’t offer, and come to you with suggestions if we are not able to help.
How does my child sit their exams when homeschooled?
We are not an exam centre, so all exams are sat externally to °®ÒºÊÓƵ. Our top recommendation is, if possible, to contact your child’s old school to see if they can sit the exams there. If not, we have a number of recommendations of exam centres in London.
If you are based abroad, we always recommend contacting the British Council as your first port of call. We can invigilate mock exams, as well as school entrance exams (with the permission of the school)
How do you deal with coursework when homeschooled?
As we are not an exam centre, we are not able to grade coursework. Whilst we can mark a piece of coursework, the final piece will be moderated and graded by your exam centre. Guidance on this will come from your chosen exam centre and may differ case on case.
How does timetabling for homeschooling work?
At °®ÒºÊÓƵ we construct a bespoke homeschooling timetable to meet the needs of each student. We can vary start and end times and incorporate breaks into the day to ensure that the day works for the student and family.
As a rough guide, we tend to recommend the following for each age group:
Primary:
3 hours of English, 3 hours of maths, 2 hours of science and 2 hours of any further subjects (languages, humanities etc) per week.
Secondary:
4 hours of English, 4 hours of maths, 3 hours of science and 2 hours of any further subjects (languages, humanities etc) per week.
A Levels:
4 hours per subject per week
Of course, not all students will take all of the above subjects, but this is a rough guide. We will always incorporate English and Maths, and most of the time Science, into timetables unless there are reasons this is not required.
How do holiday and half-term breaks work when homeschooling?
As with timetabling, the dates of half-terms and holidays for your child’s homeschooling with °®ÒºÊÓƵ can be completely bespoke. Many families chose to follow traditional school holidays, to tie in with siblings and friends. This may not always work for your family however, especially if homeschooling is being tied into travel or a move abroad. Therefore, we are happy to follow whichever pattern you feel is appropriate.
°®ÒºÊÓƵ Homeschooling Pricing
Homeschooling at °®ÒºÊÓƵ is billed based on a tutor’s hourly rate. These rates range upwards from £86.00 (inc VAT) an hour, with our top rates being £168.00 (inc VAT) per hour. Typically, our homeschooling tutors are around £100.00 (inc VAT) an hour. Factors such as the goal of the student, the length of the programme and the age of the child all play into how many hours we would recommend. This then dictates how much the price will be.
A primary school student is likely to be doing around two hours a day, a secondary school student will be three, a GCSE student may be up to four or five and then A Level is, as above, twelve hours a week (based on three A Level subjects).
We also have two different homeschooling packages, details of which can be found here.
How does my child socialise whilst being homeschooled?
A common worry with homeschooled students is the social aspect, and how it can be lonely. Whilst our lessons are all 1:1, we work very hard to ensure the chemistry is right between the student and tutor, so the lessons are fun, as well as being productive.
Alongside this, we encourage students to use their free time to join in extra-curricular activities and clubs. A list of recommendations can be found here.
If there is an appropriate group of similarly aged students homeschooling with °®ÒºÊÓƵ, we are open to forming small classes for Study Skills and other lessons and we are always happy to discuss this further.
Do you offer hybrid options?
Yes – many students come to us who want to study some subjects at their school, or are only able to attend school part-time. We can fit in with the timetable, and allow you the chance to keep up to date with your learning alongside being at school part-time.
I would like my child to do some learning online, and some at home, is this possible?
Yes, we have many students who choose to meet a tutor in person for some of their lessons, and combine this with online learning. We have classrooms in our office in West London, and tutors can also come to your home (location dependent).
Can we take our child travelling whilst they are homeschooled?
Yes, our homeschooling is designed to be flexible to fit in with your family schedule and plans. We will adapt to different time zones, and changes in availability.
My child is doing a gap year but needs to retake an A Level – can this work?
Yes – we support lots of students who are doing A Level or GCSE retakes, alongside travelling, working or school timetables.
We live outside of London, can this still work?
Absolutely – all of our tutoring can be done online to ensure everyone can access it.
You can book a free consultation with our homeschooling team at this or contact us via the website here. We would be delighted to answer any further questions you may have or discuss setting up homeschooling for your child.