Getting started9 min read
Homeschooling for Beginners: A 7-Step Plan for Your First Term
Most families who stop homeschooling in the first year do so for the same three reasons. Here is a start plan that avoids all of them, step by step.
Amara Reid
Fayferz blog
Homeschooling guides that answer the actual question
Written by the team that builds the courses. Year plans you can finish, subject guides with the mistakes named, and the legal detail nobody explains clearly.
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Most read this month
Latest articles
24 articles and counting.
United States8 min read
Florida Homeschool: The Annual Evaluation Without a Show Binder
Florida wants a notice of intent and an annual evaluation. You can do that with a calm portfolio. You do not need 400 pages of scrapbooking. Here is the version that evaluators actually read.
Amara Reid
Europe7 min read
France’s Instruction en Famille: Authorisation Is the Story Now
France moved from a declaration system toward authorisation. If you are an English-speaking family in France, here is the shape of the law and why a US-style 'just start' post will get you in trouble.
Amara Reid
Getting started7 min read
The 90-Minute Homeschool Morning for Parents Who Have a Job
Full-time work and full-time school-at-home is a fantasy timetable. Here is the 90-minute morning we see survive in US and UK households with a laptop and a child who is not a morning person.
Amara Reid
United Kingdom8 min read
11+ on a Homeschool Timetable Without Turning the House into a Tuition Centre
UK families ask whether Oxford-aligned primary work is 'enough' for the 11+. Sometimes. Here is what the exam actually rewards, and what we refuse to do to a ten-year-old.
Amara Reid
Getting started7 min read
Screen Time and Homeschool Apps: Where We Draw the Line
A lesson with a quiz is not the same as three hours of YouTube. Parents in the US and UK are being sold both as 'educational technology.' Here is how we split them in a real week.
Helen Cho
Canada7 min read
Canada Homeschool Expenses: What Parents Ask to Claim, and What Usually Holds Up
Curriculum, a laptop, skating, a microscope from Canadian Tire. Here is how homeschool families in Canada tend to think about money, tax, and the receipts that are worth keeping.
Priya Nair
Europe7 min read
Home Education in Ireland: Tusla Registration Without the Fog
In Ireland you register with Tusla if you are home educating. Here is what the application is for, what an assessment can look like, and how to keep the file boring on purpose.
Amara Reid
Europe7 min read
Homeschooling in Germany: Why “Just Do It Quietly” Is Bad Advice
Germany does not have US-style homeschooling. Compulsory school attendance is real. Here is the legal picture, the rare exceptions, and what EU families actually do instead of hiding.
Amara Reid
Reading8 min read
The Science of Reading, at a Kitchen Table, in 2026
Schools spent five years arguing about phonics. Homeschoolers still have to sit down tomorrow. Here is the version that fits a six-year-old and a parent who is not a reading specialist.
Helen Cho
United States8 min read
California Homeschooling: The Private School Affidavit Without the Panic
Most California home schools file a Private School Affidavit between 1 October and 15 October. Here is who files, who does not, and the records that make the affidavit more than a PDF you forgot.
Amara Reid
Canada8 min read
Ontario Homeschooling: The Letter of Intent, Without the Myths
In Ontario you notify the school board. You are not applying to have your curriculum marked. Here is a letter that is long enough, and what to do when a board asks for more than the law requires.
Priya Nair
Curriculum9 min read
What “Oxford-Aligned Homeschool” Means If You Live in the US
US parents hear Oxford and picture a college. We mean a primary sequence: numbered lessons, reasoning before drill, and a path that still works if you move. Here is the honest version.
Amara Reid
United States8 min read
Texas Homeschooling: You Probably Do Not File a Notice of Intent
Texas parents keep asking us for a notice-of-intent form. There isn't a statewide one. Here is what the law actually asks you to do, and what we still keep on paper anyway.
Amara Reid
United Kingdom8 min read
UK Elective Home Education: What a Local Authority Visit Is Actually Like
An informal enquiry is not an Ofsted inspection. Here is what UK home-educating parents are usually asked, what you do not have to agree to, and the folder we keep ready anyway.
Amara Reid
Curriculum10 min read
Is the Oxford Curriculum Good for Homeschooling? An Honest Guide
Oxford-aligned materials are the most requested curriculum at Fayferz. Here is what 'Oxford curriculum' actually means, where it is genuinely excellent, and where it is the wrong choice.
Daniel Osei
Year plans11 min read
Homeschool Kindergarten: A Full Year Plan You Can Actually Finish
A week-by-week kindergarten plan covering phonics, maths, science and fine motor skills in about two hours a day — with the parts you are allowed to skip marked clearly.
Amara Reid
Subject guides8 min read
Grade 1 Maths at Home: The Five Skills That Actually Matter
Grade 1 maths curricula list dozens of objectives. Five of them predict how the next four years will go. Here is how to teach each one, and how to tell when it has stuck.
Priya Nandakumar
Getting started7 min read
How Many Hours a Day Should You Homeschool?
Far fewer than a school day. Here are realistic instructional hours by grade level, why one-to-one teaching is so much faster, and what to do with the time you get back.
Daniel Osei
Legal & records12 min read
Homeschooling Laws by Country: US, UK, Canada, Australia, South Africa and More
A plain-language summary of what each major homeschooling country requires — notification, registration, assessment and record-keeping — with links to the official bodies.
Lena Whitfield
Tools9 min read
Best Homeschooling Apps in 2026: The Eight Features That Actually Matter
There are hundreds of homeschooling apps and most differ only in presentation. These are the eight features that change how your year goes, and the three that are marketing.
Daniel Osei
Curriculum6 min read
FYP vs KG: Which Level Should You Start Your Child On?
Age is the worst predictor of readiness. Here are the six specific things to check before choosing between the Foundation Year Programme and Kindergarten.
Amara Reid
Getting started8 min read
Building a Homeschool Routine That Survives Real Life
Illness, work deadlines, new babies and bad weeks are not interruptions to homeschooling — they are the conditions. Here is how to design a routine that expects them.
Lena Whitfield
Subject guides10 min read
Teaching Reading at Home: A Synthetic Phonics Walkthrough
The evidence on how children learn to read is unusually settled. Here is the method, the order to teach sounds in, and the four mistakes that cause most stalls.
Amara Reid
Topics covered
- Florida homeschool
- homeschool portfolio
- notice of intent Florida
- annual evaluation
- instruction en famille
- homeschooling France
- IEF
- home education France
- working and homeschooling
- homeschool schedule
- homeschool timetable
- busy parents
- 11 plus homeschool
- grammar school
- UK homeschool exams
- CEM GL
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