UK home education guide
Your first week of home education: a day-by-day plan
Updated · 2 min read
The first week has one job, and it is not covering content. It is proving to everyone in the house that the new arrangement is survivable.
The week's only job is settling in. Here's a plan you can steal day by day.
Your first week of home ed — a copy-this plan, pinned where you can see it. Gentle on purpose: the first week's job is settling, not sprinting. From a dad two years deep in the research.
Monday
Do almost nothing
Sleep in. Cook together. Talk about what they'd love to learn. The point is proving school rules don't follow you home.
Monday list: pancakes · a long walk · one question — 'what do you want to get really good at?'
Tuesday–Wednesday
Add one short session a day
Twenty minutes of maths or reading, then stop while it's still fun. You're building the habit, not the timetable.
One short session a day is a deliberately low bar. It gives you something to build on, and it teaches you the thing you actually need to know: which hour of the day your child is at their best.
Thursday
Get out of the house
Library card, museum, park, a home-ed meet-up if there's one nearby. Home ed lives in the world, not just the kitchen.
Friday
Look back, not forward
Ask what they enjoyed most. Write down what you noticed — energy, moods, curiosity. That's your real planning data.
Friday questions: what was the best bit? What felt weird? What should we do more of next week?
The whole week, honestly
Settling is the curriculum
A wobbly first week is a normal first week. The learning engine starts properly once everyone can breathe.
What week two looks like
Add a second short session, keep the day out of the house, and carry on writing things down.
By the end of week two you will know your child's best hour, their limit before the wheels come off, and which subject causes friction. That is real planning information, and it is worth considerably more than any timetable you could have written in August.