What a week actually looks like, whether records matter, how a child sees other children, what it costs, and the return to school — which is not a right, because once a child is off the roll the place is gone.
Raw attainment largely measures intake rather than teaching, progress measures come with confidence intervals that decide whether a difference is real, and Ofsted replaced its single overall word with area-by-area report cards in November 2025.
One-to-one tuition is worth around five months of additional progress, and the arrangement that produces it — short sessions several times a week, linked to the school's work — is close to the opposite of the hour-a-week model usually sold.
The answers to the question posed by the title are as diverse as those who choose to homeschool. But the most basic, general reason for most is the well-founded belief that homeschooling is ultimately better for their child.
Education is compulsory; school is not. The duty sits on the parent, no permission is needed in England or Wales, and the national curriculum need not be followed — but Scotland requires council consent, and the 2026 Act will bring registers that are not yet in force.
Few issues have such a long-term effect on the welfare of a child as the choice of the type of school to attend. The average child will spend about 13 years in school prior to college, often attending one type the entire time.
Reception is an entitlement rather than an obligation — a child need not be in school until compulsory school age, which for a summer-born child is the September after their fifth birthday. The delayed-entry request has no right of appeal, so it has to be made properly first time.
