A blowy, midsummer afternoon. It is 3 o’clock and across London school bells are ringing and children are streaming in to classrooms, files and pencil cases to the ready. Here, in the Princess Diana playground of Kensington Gardens a different version of education unfolds. A group of children, ranging in age from five to 13, plays happily in the sand or clambers across the pirate ship. School is off the agenda for these kids. Why? Because they all belong to Britain’s small but growing ranks of children who are being educated at home.

Their parents are keen to explain their decision to home school. Voluble American Rhea Anderson says, ‘I took my son out of school when he was 8. He struggled with the large class size; he was overwhelmed. He’s not a ganger. Also, there was no pastoral care in the school.’ Lil, a professional singer and mother of 3, was inspired by the daughters of friends. ‘They’d been home educated and seemed so grounded and independent. We thought we’d like our children to be like that.’

Unlike in Germany, where home schooling is banned, there has never been a legal obligation for British parents to send their children to school. The only demand is that every child receives ‘an efficient full time education suitable to his age, ability and aptitude, either by regular attendance at school or otherwise’.

Within this definition, there are almost no rules. Parents don’t have to follow the national curriculum, enter children for exams, stick to school hours, give formal lessons, or mark work. Local authority inspectors can ask annually for written information on how a child is being educated but they have no right to meet the child or visit the home.

Approaches vary widely. At the radical end of the spectrum is ‘autonomous’ learning where parents allow their children to choose what they want to study. ‘Children develop different skills at different times,’ argues one educated, Kensington-based mother.

‘With autonomous learning parents can help the child learn what’s interesting to them and expand it in to a wider context – say using knights and castles to learn history. We take each day as it comes. If my son eventually wants to go to school then we would send him.’

Briony Mackie, mother of four, has been home schooling her children (aged 10, 8, 5 and 1) for a year. She takes a relaxed approach: ‘My motivation is to slow down, meander and enjoy the journey (of learning) with our children…’ ‘I try to create a atmosphere of learning … We have a magnetic wall covered with words for grammar. There are maps for learning about the world. History is library books and museum trips.’ She calculates she devotes about 24 hours a week to ‘lessons’.

At the opposite end of the spectrum are the ‘structured’ home schoolers who stick to timetables based on the National Curriculum (see panel below.) Home schoolers also team up with local parents to set up classes in some subjects. ‘Some groups are taken by parents who have a degree in the subject they are teaching or by hired tutors,’ explains Lil.

Lucy Cawkwell, of Cawkwell Tutors, believes perceptions are definitely changing: ‘Home education used to be considered a bit groovy or bohemian but now many more people are open to the idea.’ Lucy always has several home-educating clients on her books including children who have been in the state system but whose parents are keen to send them to private Secondary schools. ‘They use tutors for a range of subjects. Most commonly this will be for two or three terms in the run up to a big exam like the 11-plus or Common Entrance,’ says Lucy. Many of the parents I spoke to planned for their children to take GSCEs, A’Levels or the International Baccalaureate either privately or at a local school or college, eventually leading to a place at University.

A week later, I am in Kilburn to meet another group of home schoolers in the airy hall of a local community centre. Leslie Barson, mother of two home-schooled children, supervises a group of teenagers playing a board game. Outside, the other children are making a film directed by Leslie’s daughter, who’s studying art at Central St Martin’s college. Today’s session includes tactical games and a Latin lesson.

A common misconception about home educated children is that they don’t learn how to socialize. My evidence is anecdotal but I am struck by how confident and articulate these children are. They want to know why I am here; what I am going to write about; there is no standoffish diffidence or teen-inhibited shyness. Although their ages range from 5 to 14, the children co-mingle happily.

Since there is no legal duty on parents to inform local authorities that they are home schooling their children the government has no idea how many children are in this position. It is currently estimated that around 50,000 children are educated at home and the number is steadily growing. A Channel 4 survey of local authorities in 2007 revealed an 80 per cent increase. The biggest factors in this growth has been the increasing number of children diagnosed with special needs, the ready availability of teaching materials on the internet and the doubling of private school fees in a decade. Among the parents I spoke to, a key concern was the state sector’s testing and targets.

Ilana King, a home schooling mother of three, explains; ‘I taught in a top primary school. It was all literary, numeracy and very little play. There was endless paperwork. I realised that I didn’t want my children to be part of this system.’

Home schooling will always be for a minority. But if you have the dedication, time and above all a passion for learning, the experience can be intensely rewarding. Journalist James Bartholomew has written of the time he spent teaching his daughter, Alex, before she won a place at Godolphin & Latymer: ‘Home schooling can create a bond that is far closer than most parents – especially fathers – ever enjoy with their offspring…’

This summer, MPs agreed on proposals to overhaul home education. If the recommendations become law, then home schoolers will have to register and adhere to a ‘minimum’ curriculum. They will be subject to checks and inspectors will have access to children without parents being present (currently not even social workers have this right).

While all serious home educators would agree safeguards are vital, they are anxious that the proposals will infringe upon their legal right to educate their offspring unhindered by state targets. They now await the outcome of the government review with bated breath. Reforms are obviously necessary. But I also hope that MPs recognize the good job so many home educators are doing and let them get on with it.

The Home Education Fair is at Westbourne Grove Church,

London W11 2RW, 19 September.

Following the Curriculum

curriculum.qca.org.uk study programmes across key stages, 1, 2, 3 and 4 which can be downloaded or ordered from orderline.qca.org.uk. Schemes of work can also be found for subjects across key stages on standards.dfes.gov.uk/schemes3.

Resources Home educator Amanda Goldston recommends: early-advantage.co.uk for language courses. cimt.plymouth.ac.uk/projects/mep/default.htm for Maths papers and lesson plans.

activityvillage.co.uk for child-centred activities.

Advice and information

Advisory Centre for Education ace-ed.org.uk

Education Otherwise education-otherwise.org.

Home Education Advisory Service heas.org.uk

Choice in Education choiceineducation.org

Some basic facts

• Do not have to follow the National Curriculum.
• Do not have to take tests or exams.
• Do not have to have a timetable.
• Do not have to have a qualified tutor to teach them.
• Do not have to work during usual school hours.
• Do not have to work any particular number of hours a week.