Fancy a maths GCSE that you can split into parts and retake at your leisure? Yeah, me too!    In this podcast, we talk about the new modular maths exam at GCSE level and discuss its benefits and disadvantages, as well as what to expect and how to book onto it.   Next week's podcast is a look at the university experience from a home educated person's perspective so stay tuned for that.   Don't forget that this podcast is brought to you with love and lots of cups of tea! If you'd like to keep me supplied in Rooibos while I chat to our guests, you can now buy me a cup at: buymeacoffee.com/HomeEducation

For our last episode in our mini series "School's Out", I talk to Vicky about her daughter's experience of bullying at school. It's a shocking but ultimately hopeful episode as we learn about their journey from school trauma to the amazing restorative power of home education.   Next week, we'll be back to our usual mixture of episodes starting with a podcast on the new modular maths exam. Intrigued? Stay tuned for next Sunday's show!   This podcast is a labour of love but if you would like to support the show to continue broadcasting the wonders of home education, you can now Buy Me a Coffee here:  https://buymeacoffee.com/homeeducation

Today's episode is a personal story from Martine who shares her experience of witnessing her son's traumatic school journey and then embarking on the healing journey of home education.   Martine's story is both shocking and emotional, and yet from it her and her family have repaired themselves and come out the other side stronger and wiser.   * This episode contains some distressing descriptions and therefore if you or your child have experienced school based trauma, you may find this a difficult episode *

Today I am joined by Dr Robyn Koslowitz, expert in trauma and author of upcoming book on Post Traumatic Parenting.    In this insightful episode we will talk about how school can cause trauma and the ways in which home education can uniquely heal those wounds. Robyn also guides us in how to differentiate trauma from the usual childhood ups and downs, and gives her advice on healing those trauma wounds in our children.    Often, the act of removing your child from the mainstream education system and having witnessed their distress can have an extremely traumatic effect on us as parents and so Robyn has some great advice for how we can go about healing our own parental trauma.   It was great to have Robyn on the show and next week, as part of our 'School's Out' series, we will have an interview with a parent for whom school was hugely traumatic both for them and their child, so watch out for next week's episode.   And for those interested in the episode mentioned on the podcast on supporting your anxious child and how the school system is uniquely manufactured to create anxiety, here is the link to the episode with Dr Naomi Fisher from last year: https://www.podbean.com/ew/pb-w2tkg-14253c5   This podcast is a labour of love but if you would like to support the show to continue broadcasting the wonders of home education, you can now Buy Me a Coffee here: buymeacoffee.com/HomeEducation

Welcome to our summer series - School's Out! Where we'll be shining a lot on some of the issues within the education system which has led many of us to opt out.   Whether it was an ideological choice, a responsive choice to school or even an imposed decision due to your school situation, we've all come to this because we feel this is a preferable route.    In this podcast, Helen gives us her honest perspective on school and home education. This episode, from a self-titled 'homeschool slacker' has everything, running the gamut from prison yards to unwanted erections. It's a no holds barred look at Helen's encounters with education, both at home and at school.   And next week, we'll start exposing stories of negative school experiences and allowing individual traumatised children to have their stories told.   And yes, it's not all schools and all teachers and all children. But it's enough of them to make it worth passing comment, and a home education podcast feels the perfect place to showcase these stories. We're opting out and speaking up.   If you'd like to support the podcast, we now have a Buy Me a Coffee page to do exactly that https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HomeEducation No obligation and we love having you with us every episode, coffee or no coffee, but lubricating the vocal chords is also very much appreciated!

Join Ash and I for the last episode following her journey into home education. And this month we look back at July but also take a wider look at the things she has learnt, the rewards and challenges of the last year, plus what she's looking forward to in the future.   I know we've all loved the monthly chats with Ash and it's been such a joy to follow her and Ismael's journey this year through a process that ultimately was a restorative and healing one for the whole family.   And who knows maybe this is just au revoir rather than goodbye ...

Home educating through exams can be difficult to navigate so, in this podcast, Julie Barker from Faregos guides us through the procedure for access arrangements.   We cover what they are, how to get them, what they're not, top tips and advice and much more.    Check it out and share around with any fellow home educators who may be wanting access arrangements for their exams!

Today we talk through the nuts and bolts of the exam process with Paul Turner from the very popular exam centre 3A Tutors in Bristol.    It's a long one so skip to the bits that are relevant to you or settle down for everything you ever wanted to know about exams as a home educator!   TIMINGS - 5:45 Exam sittings 11:30 Registering for exams 13:00 Fees 14:15 Access Arrangements 24:15 How the process works 25:45 Exam entry codes and booking exams 31:30 Timings of exams and what to do if you’re late 34:30 Exam subjects and IGCSES vs GCSES 40:30 Oral exams and MFL subjects 43:15 AS levels and modular GCSEs 47:30 On screen and online exams 51:15 Practicals for exams 56:15 Coursework 59:15 Exam rules 1:10:30 Special Consideration 1:16:45 Cancelling exams 1:19:00 Grade boundaries 1:22:30 Results and Certificates 1:25:20 Appealing grade results / Review of marking 1:29:30 Post exams 1:30:45 Resits   And keep an eye out for our Access Arrangements deep dive coming up next week ...

Today's podcast dives into the world of online learning. Myself and the fabulous Mary Middlebrook discuss: How to get the best out of online resources Where to find top quality online education What to look for and what to avoid Creating a pick and mix global online education to support self study And much much more. Enjoy the podcast! And don't forget that if you'd like to support the work we do to bring these episodes to you every week, you're now able to donate to the show and help to keep us free and airing into your homes every week: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HomeEducation

When you home educate you get used to people saying "oh I could never do that, we'd all get on each other's nerves so much". So today we will be discussing conflict and how to handle it if you home educate (and if you don't!).   Sven Lauch guides us through his 4 step approach and explains why conflict need not always be avoided but instead can be used to further healthy communication and connection.   [This podcast is very much a labour of love, but it's also both a costly and time consuming process ... if you'd like to Buy Me a Coffee - no obligation at all! - you can do so here: https://www.buymeacoffee.com/HomeEducation]