Homeschooling help for parents

Making the switch to homeschooling

Karen Binedell, mum to ‘Our Travelling Family’, talks about the homeschooling help for parents when they make that all important decision to homeschool their children.

The end of the year is fast approaching and with it comes the end of our first year of homeschooling with Wolsey Hall Oxford. For our final blog post of 2019 I thought it may be interesting to share our homeschooling journey from a parent’s perspective, so bear with me as I turn back the clock to January 2019.

With the start of our travels a mere four months away my husband and I spent many hours researching various homeschooling options, chatting to staff from a number of online colleges, trawling through countless websites; courses and curriculums and repeatedly asking ourselves questions like:

-Can we take responsibility for our children’s education?

-Will we be able to support them right the way up to IGCSE’s?

-Would we be able to monitor their progress?

-Is a homeschooling education on par with mainstream school?

how homeschooling works - role of secondary parent

Karen and Warren talk about the role of the homeschooling parent.

Warren Binedell found there was plenty of homeschooling help for parents

The reality

I’m pleased to say that the answer to all these questions is a big, fat YES! We could, and we did, take responsibility for their education. We found a reputable college (Wolsey Hall Oxford) with a great online platform, a Tutor for each subject and the promise of structure, support and flexibility throughout the year.

We found that we could, and we did, support them (especially in the first few months). We were their first port of call when they needed additional help and if we ever felt out of our depth their Tutors and student progress managers were but an email away -ready, willing and able to answer or explain anything they might be struggling with.

Monitoring progress

We were able to keep an eye on their progress through our parent Canvas account and we regularly received emails from their student progress managers congratulating them on their achievements or giving them a little push at times when they needed it.

And finally, we found that in many ways, a homeschooling education was far superior to that of mainstream school. Homeschooling gives you options. Nothing is set in stone. You can enrol in courses at any time of the year, you can choose subjects that really interest and inspire you, you are not governed by a Monday-Friday, 9am-3pm timetable.

Karen Binedell found homeschooling help for parents invaluable when making the decision to switch to homeschooling

Confident in their decision to homeschool

This first year has been a real eye-opener. As parents we now play a much more active role in our children’s education and after our first year can see the positive impact homeschooling has had on our family. We can see where each child’s passion lies and by the same token where it doesn’t. We can allow them more freedom to pursue those subjects which really interest and engage them. Our children have become confident, independent learners who know how to effectively manage their time and who, believe or not, enjoy ‘school’.

Before enrolling our children at Wolsey Hall we had many concerns, I hope this post helps to reassure those of you contemplating taking the plunge into home education that it is indeed possible to achieve a world class education outside of the four walls of a traditional school.

Karen Binedell and her family have been homeschooling with Wolsey Hall Oxford whilst volunteering their way around Europe by caravan. To date they have visited six countries, participated in 14 volunteer projects and plan to keep going well into 2020.