Homeschooling is referred to as Home Education in the UK. There are different legal requirements for home education depending on where you live. You can find out more here.
Before reading this blog post, you might first like to read How We Homeschool – The Planner, and about why you may want a curriculum, as well as our subject choices for 2021/22.
Why have a curriculum?
If the children were in a mainstream education setting in England & Wales, W would be going into Year 4 and B would be going into Year 2. Here are the year groups they would be going into for the Scottish, American & French* education systems:
| England & Wales | Year 2 | Year 4 |
| Scottish System | Primary 3 | Primary 5 |
| American System | 1st Grade | 3rd Grade |
| French System | CE1 | CE2 |
In previous years, I adopted an unschooling/child-led approach to learning. The children taught themselves to read, write and basic maths concepts. However, as they have grown they are seeking more structure to their learning, with defined learning objectives and end goals. English, Maths and Science will be ‘set in stone’ but other subjects will be more flexible, for example W will be learning about Romans during the first half term, we will be making timelines and looking at maps but most importantly recalling our travels to Rome & Pompeii and reading through the books and various resources we picked up along the way. The curriculum chosen will merely act as a guide but it will still be very much up to him as to what he finds interesting and how he wants to present that information. I’m also aware as the secondary school years approach, we may opt for mainstream education again. Simply because I am in favour of the IB system versus the limiting (in my opinion) IGCSE/GCSE -> A Level route that is the British education system. BUT we will cross that bridge when get to it, I just want to make sure they have the skills and basic knowledge required if need be.
Curriculum 2021/22
Year 4 Home Education Curriculum Choices
Here’s what W will be using this coming academic year:
English
- Language Arts 3 from EP All-in-One Homeschool
- Reading 3 from EP All-in-One Homeschool
Maths
- Oak National Academy – Year 4
- White Rose Maths – Year 4
Social Studies
- Twinkl Topic/Unit Studies (History, Geography & Religious Studies)
Year 2 Home Education Curriculum Choices
Here’s what B will be using this coming academic year:
English
- Language Arts 1 from EP All-in-One Homeschool
- Reading 1 from EP All-in-One Homeschool
Maths
Science will be a group subject this year using the Science Chunks curriculum from Elemental Science, which caters to multiple ages. You can read about foreign language curriculum choices in next week’s blog post.