General information about England, not legal advice. Elsewhere in the UK the rules differ. The Department for Education guidance quoted here dates from 2019 and isn't law, so read the GOV.UK pages linked below for yourself before relying on it.
What you have to teach
The law asks for "efficient full-time education" that suits your child's age, ability and aptitude and any special educational needs (section 7 of the Education Act 1996). It says nothing about subjects, and GOV.UK puts it plainly: you do not have to follow the national curriculum.
Nor does the law define "suitable". The Department for Education's guidance for parents (April 2019) fills some of that gap: education should be age-appropriate, let your child make progress at their own level, and take account of what they're good at. A child strong at maths might do more maths than other subjects. Even without any link to the national curriculum, it should aim at an appropriate minimum standard and at enabling your child, as an adult, to function as an independent citizen in the UK (paragraph 2.10). When councils judge it, they may use minimum expectations for literacy and numeracy.
You aren't required to teach the national curriculum, provide a "broad and balanced" curriculum, make detailed lesson plans in advance or give formal lessons (paragraph 2.11). The next paragraph has a practical catch, though: it's likely to be much easier to show an education is suitable if you've paid attention to breadth, content and your child's progress.
The version written for councils tells them not to specify a curriculum or approach you must follow. It also says that following something like the national curriculum would be strong evidence that your home education is suitable (paragraphs 10.14 and 9.4).
Free places to find structure
For a framework to hang your own choices on, start with these four free sources.
| Source | What you get | Stages |
|---|---|---|
| National curriculum (GOV.UK) | The subjects schools teach at each key stage, and a programme of study for each | Key stages 1 to 4 |
| Oak National Academy | Sequenced units and lessons, each with a video, quizzes and a worksheet | Key stages 1 to 4 |
| Exam board specifications | The content and assessment of one qualification | GCSE, International GCSE and A level |
| BBC Bitesize | Explanations, videos and revision guides by subject and topic | Early years to GCSE |
The national curriculum
Even if you don't follow them, the programmes of study are a quick way to see what children of the same age at school are covering: they set out the "matters, skills and processes" to be taught at each key stage. The framework itself calls the national curriculum "just one element" in a child's education (framework document, paragraphs 3.4 and 3.2).
The version on GOV.UK dates from 2014, and the government plans to replace it. It aims to publish a revised national curriculum by spring 2027, for first teaching from September 2028 (announcement, 4 November 2025).
Oak National Academy
Oak's curriculum is free and covers key stages 1 to 4, and Oak describes it as aligned to the national curriculum. Because its units are sequenced year by year, it's one of the easiest ways to get a ready-made order for a subject. Oak is open about who it's built for, though: its page for parents says none of its resources are designed to replace contact with teachers, and that it doesn't provide qualifications or progress reports. You'll still be the one checking your child understood.
Exam board specifications
If exams are ahead, the specification is the document that matters. AQA, Pearson Edexcel and OCR publish each qualification's specification as a free PDF on its page. Cambridge calls its version a syllabus, also free to download, though some of its teaching materials need a school login. Each board writes its own, so pick the board and qualification before you plan. GCSEs as a private candidate explains why the choice also depends on what a local exam centre will take.
BBC Bitesize
Bitesize is organised by nation, level, subject and topic, from early years to GCSE in England. At GCSE, a subject like maths has content for each exam board. It works better as explanation and practice than as a plan for the year.
Ways families go about it
The councils' guidance recognises that approaches vary (paragraph 10.14). Some families teach formally, with a traditional curriculum and a fixed timetable that keeps to school hours and terms. Others make informal provision that follows their child's developing interests. The guidance says one approach is not necessarily more effective than another, and that autonomous and self-directed learning should be judged by outcomes, not dismissed because it's different (paragraph 2.4).
Day to day, it tends to look like one of these:
- Structured. A scheme or curriculum followed subject by subject, often Oak's or a paid one, with set work most days.
- Topic-based. A theme for a few weeks, such as rivers, the Romans or money, with reading, writing, maths and science drawn from it.
- Autonomous, or child-led. Learning follows the child's interests and questions, with the parent supplying resources and conversation rather than lessons.
- A mix. Maths and English structured, everything else by topic or interest, which is common.
Nor are you tied to your first choice: the guidance expects families to take a while to settle, and to change approach as they go (paragraph 10.15).
How to choose
A few questions narrow it down faster than comparing schemes.
- Your child's age and stage. What suits a six-year-old rarely suits a fourteen-year-old, and a teenager heading for exams needs a specification.
- Special educational needs. The education has to suit them, and a scheme written for a class may need slowing down, cutting or reordering. Home education and SEND covers the rules around EHC plans.
- Exams. The parents' guidance asks you to think about whether you expect your child to sit public exams such as GCSEs (paragraph 3.1). If so, work back from the specification and the exam date.
- Your time. A structured scheme takes daily preparation and marking. Child-led learning takes a different kind of attention. Be honest about the hours you have.
- Cost. Everything above is free. Paid curricula, tutors and exam fees add up, and the cost of home education breaks them down.
Turning a choice into a weekly plan
The parents' guidance asks for no timetable or set hours, only that you can show roughly how much time goes on your child's education (paragraphs 2.8 and 2.9). A written plan answers that without tying you to a timetable.
- List the subjects or areas you'll cover this year.
- Count your teaching weeks, leaving out holidays and the breaks you already know about.
- For each subject, take its units or topics from your chosen source and spread them across those weeks.
- Decide how many sessions a week each subject gets, and roughly how long each lasts.
- Leave slack. Some weeks fall apart, and a plan with no spare room is behind by October.
The hours calculator totals a typical week. If you'd rather not spread the units by hand, AltEd's curriculum builder lays out a week-by-week plan from an exam board's specification, or from Oak National Academy's programmes for Key Stages 1 to 3, across the dates and hours a week you set. A spreadsheet, or a notebook with the weeks down the side, does the same job.
Keep the plan and the record together
A plan you tick off as you go is already half a record (home education records covers the other half). When a topic's finished, note the date, keep a dated piece of work from it and jot a line on how it went. If your council then makes an informal enquiry, you can put what was planned next to what happened, and the guidance says that kind of attention to content and progress makes suitability easier to show (paragraph 2.12).