How can you support your homeschooling with an online curriculum?

With no need for school runs and total flexibility every day, it’s no wonder that 20% more families are turning to home education every year, according to The Association of Directors of Children’s Services Ltd (ADCS). Home educating can be a delightful and inspiring experience for both parent and child, but it is important to be aware that it does come with its own set of challenges.

For some families, homeschooling comes naturally to them – they find it easy to plan their timetable and cover a broad enough range of subjects. For others, the thought of planning and delivering education to their child can be a bit overwhelming, so they turn to the web for online support.

The British curriculum can provide a balanced education

In the UK, schools follow a framework called the national curriculum to make sure that every child is given what is deemed as a sufficient education that is balanced across a spectrum of subjects. Home educating families are not required to follow the national curriculum, but instead are given guidance to provide suitable full-time education that covers a range of topics.

Local councils may make an informal enquiry to check whether a child is receiving an education. This normally takes the form of a letter with a series of questions that the carer or family and child are invited to answer. There are situations where a visit or a school attendance order is deemed appropriate by the local authority. While it is unlikely that responsible home educating families will become subject to these checks, however, some parents are turning to online learning for added peace of mind.

Virtual schools such as King’s InterHigh have helped hundreds of homeschooling families by providing flexible online support for subjects including Maths, Science, and English. In many cases, students also pick from other subjects that they are interested in to complement their existing home education.

Online homeschooling support can be a powerful resource for home educating parents to lean on and provides a global learning community for children to connect with.

Online support can provide the best of both worlds

Many families turn to home education because it encourages child-led learning. Everyone is different and home educating families like to embrace their child’s uniqueness. Child-led learning is powerful because it means they can choose to learn about the things that interest them the most at their own pace. Families who use our virtual school for additional online support describe it as getting the best of both worlds, where families can decide how they want to use the school’s resources to support their own framework. You can read more from our community of parents here.

At King’s InterHigh, we also offer part-time packages with three subjects for each key stage, so students can pick the subjects they want to take and have more time to cover a holistic home education with their parents. If you want to travel to a nearby forest to study the natural environment or have plans to try some science experiments in your back garden, just go for it! You can catch up on school lessons at any time with 24/7 access to lesson recordings.

Flexible online home education support

There are many benefits for students and parents who use a virtual school to support their home education. One of the most highly praised features is often the flexibility that a good virtual school can provide. At King’s InterHigh for example, the three-subject homeschooling package can be taken alongside existing home learning. Although lessons are delivered in real-time classrooms, they don’t ever have to get in the way of your existing study activities.

We provide a timetable for weekly lessons, but our delivery method is so refined that students benefit from shorter hours each day. If for any reason you can’t attend a live lesson, you have the option to go back and view the recording at any time, so you don’t have to worry about any clashes. Our virtual school is a powerful and flexible support tool that can be used however you see fit around your homeschooling.

In addition to lessons and learning resources, students and parents can also benefit from other types of support available at a virtual school. Not only will children have access to teachers and support staff, but they will also be part of an online network of students. Parents won’t have to do it all alone and they will become an active part of a community that provides support with everything – from how to book an exam through to pathway and career guidance.