Does Homeschooling Have to Cover Every School Subject?

When families first start homeschooling, there can be a temptation to concentrate on the major three school subjects.

• English.

• Maths.

• Science.

And those things matter enormously.

A child needs to be able to read, communicate and use numbers confidently. They need enough scientific understanding to make sense of the world around them.

But is that an education? Or is it just the beginning of one?

Children need more than the three basic school subjects

Imagine being able to read beautifully but knowing very little about the world you are reading about. Imagine being excellent at arithmetic but having no idea how to manage your own money. Imagine knowing lots of scientific facts but never having made, grown, cooked, tested or investigated anything.

Education should give children more than a collection of academic skills.

It should gradually help them understand the world they live in and their place within it.

That is why, at Orchard, we deliberately keep the curriculum broad.

Some subjects help us understand the world

• History helps children understand how we got here.

• Geography helps them understand where they are and how people and places affect one another.

• Science helps them ask how we know something is true.

• Beliefs and Worldviews help them understand that people have different beliefs, traditions and ways of seeing the world.

• Digital Life helps them learn to use technology without allowing technology to do all their thinking for them.

These subjects aren't extras to fill up the timetable. They help a child make sense of the world they are growing up in.

Some learning helps us become capable

There are also things children need because one day we expect them to manage more of life for themselves.

• Can you prepare something to eat?

• Can you look after your health?

• Can you use money sensibly?

• Can you make or repair something?

• Can you use a map?

• Can you research something you need to know?

• Can you recognise when information online might not be trustworthy?

• Can you plan something and see it through?

That learning may appear through maths, science, Health Education, D&T, Digital Life, Cookery Club or something happening in an ordinary week at home.

The subject heading matters less than the capability the child is gradually building.

And some things are worth learning simply because they make life richer

Not everything we teach children needs to lead to a qualification or a job.

• Art matters.

• Music matters.

• Stories matter.

• Nature matters.

• History matters even if you never intend to become a historian.

• Reading for pleasure matters even when nobody is going to ask you questions about the book afterwards.

Children deserve opportunities to discover things they enjoy, things that fascinate them and perhaps things they are unexpectedly good at.

Education should prepare us for life. However, it should also add something to it.

But this doesn't mean recreating a school timetable

A broad education at home doesn't mean having eleven different exercise books lined up on the kitchen table. Subjects can meet.

• If you are growing tomatoes, there is science in understanding what the plant needs.

• There is maths in measuring its growth.

• There is geography in discovering where tomatoes originated and where those in our supermarkets are grown.

• There is cookery when the tomatoes finally make it into lunch.

• There might even be some disappointment and problem-solving when a slug eats the best one the night before you planned to pick it.

Real life is rather inconsiderate about staying inside subject boundaries. We can use that.

This is something we deliberately build into Orchard

Our children still need a proper progression through individual subjects. We can't simply plant tomatoes every year and declare science covered. There are things children need to know and skills they need opportunities to develop.

So behind Orchard there is a curriculum. We know what we are teaching and why we are teaching it. But wherever we can, we allow subjects to support one another.

• Something happening in history may give us an opportunity for English.

• Science might connect beautifully with geography.

• Maths can appear in D&T.

• Something being grown in Garden Club may eventually find its way into Cookery Club.

The child begins to see that learning isn't a collection of unrelated worksheets. Things connect.

So do you have to cover every school subject?

No you don't and you dont have to followothe National Curriuculm. You need to provide your child with a broad and appropriate education. However, that doesn't mean your home needs to become a miniature school.

At Orchard, English, maths and science are important. So are history, geography, creativity, technology, health, practical skills, understanding other people and learning how to live wisely in the world.

Some of that learning will have a subject title at the top of the page. Some of it won't.

What matters is that over time we can look at the education we are giving a child and say:

• Yes, the foundations are there.

• Yes, the learning is progressing.

• And yes, this child is being given the opportunity to discover a much bigger world than the one inside an English and maths workbook.