Home education in Uganda

Vuselelo’s story

Seventeen-year-old Vuselelo shares her experience of home education in Uganda. She received some impressive IGCSE exam results with Wolsey Hall Oxford in 2021.  

  • First Language English – A*
  • Mathematics  – A
  • Biology – A*
  • Chemistry – A*
  • Physics – A*
  • Computer Science – A*
  • Geography – A*
  • English Literature – A*
Salma is homeschooling A levels in Uganda

Wolsey Hall Oxford supports a number of students who are homeschooling in Uganda.

Vuselelo is home educating in Uganda.

Why homeschooling suits me

“I have been home educating with Wolsey Hall from around Year 8, but I have been homeschooled for as long as I can remember. My parents chose home education as they were not satisfied with the fees and quality of regular schooling, along with common issues like bullying and peer pressure. We lived in Zimbabwe (until 2009) and mostly stayed on forestry estates so finding a school my parents would be satisfied with that was relatively close to home was an issue. This was still a problem after we moved to Tanzania because we were already used to the homeschooling setup and the higher standard schools were either too expensive or difficult to reach. Home education also gave us quite a bit of flexibility with our timetable and allowed us more time to travel together as a family. It was also easy to study longer if we felt we needed more time – without being limited to just homework and revision.”

“My parents chose Wolsey Hall because they wanted us to attend an accredited Cambridge online school because both of them did Cambridge O levels in Zimbabwe during their school years.”

Overcoming challenges

“In recent years, my experience of home education has been isolated and more independent. After we left Tanzania my interactions with other children my age died out, so it has just been my sister and friends I met online between then and now. During Year 9 my mom decided the two of us were responsible enough to no longer need her supervision while learning. My greatest two challenges are focus and motivation. I used to have issues with zeroing in on a single topic I found absolutely riveting – e.g. algebra – and neglecting everything else because I didn’t have the interest or motivation to do it until I was forced to do so out of necessity. Lately I haven’t had that much of a problem with this. My timetable has helped me to balance the amount of time spent on each subject so I advance in all of them at the same pace.

“If you are a very social person you may want to arrange free time for you to go online and chat or play with friends. A significant portion of the friends I have made are people I met online, and usually on gaming platforms as I really enjoy gaming. Finding a way to connect to others online has become even more pertinent due to the pandemic. I would also advise you to allow for changes in your timetable to make your homeschooling experience easier. You might make your initial timetable and think it is fine, but you can only know for sure after you have followed it, monitored how well it suits you, and noted any adjustments that need to be made.”

family home educating in Uganda
home education in Uganda

The benefits of home education

“I have heard complaints from numerous students who weren’t homeschooling about how much time they have missed from school because of lockdowns (e.g. most students in Uganda who attend regular school have not been able to do so for almost two years) and the unsatisfactory online courses hastily set up by regular schools. With homeschooling all of these resources are already there and of a good quality. You won’t have to adhere to strict online schooling timetables as you create your own to suit you at Wolsey Hall. Disruptive events (like the pandemic) have barely affected my school life with the exception of exams.”

Next steps

“I recently started my first year of A levels studying Maths, Physics and Chemistry. I haven’t yet decided which specific engineering course I want to take at University, so I am going to wait until after my first year of A levels to choose.”

More student stories

Charlotte was homeschooling due to ill health

Charlotte’s story

Homeschooling Flexibility

Sally and Eddy’s story

Student Zenzele Home Education in South Africa

Zenzele’s story

School anxiety was suffered by Charlie

Charlie’s story