Do I really not have to follow the National Curriculum?
No, and you do not need to follow any curriculum at all. Section 7 of the Education Act 1996 (the law that makes home education lawful in England) requires a "suitable" education. It does not mention the National Curriculum. If you want the full legal detail on that point, our companion article on the National Curriculum and home education law walks through the legislation line by line.
This article starts where that one finishes. You have accepted the legal answer. The live question now is: so what do I actually do, and how do I know we are covering enough?
What do most home-educating families actually do instead?
They pick an approach that fits their child, build a daily or weekly rhythm around it and adjust as they go. There is no registration of approach and no locked-in commitment.
Here are the most common options, though they are not the only ones:
- Montessori (a hands-on, child-led approach using structured materials and observation). The child works through concrete materials at their own pace; you observe and offer the next activity when they are ready.
- Charlotte Mason (a literature-rich approach built on "living books", narration, nature study and short focused lessons). Popular with families who love reading aloud.
- Classical (a three-stage model: grammar, logic, rhetoric, roughly matching primary, lower secondary and upper secondary). Suits families who like a clear academic spine.
- Eclectic (mixing methods from several approaches to suit the child). Most families end up here in practice, whether they planned to or not.
- Unschooling (fully child-led learning without a preset curriculum, where the parent provides rich resources and the child follows genuine interests). Lawful and well-documented, though it can feel unsettling at first.
- Structured / school-at-home (working through a published curriculum at the kitchen table, often Oak National, White Rose Maths or a subscription scheme). Sometimes called homeschooling in the US sense. A comfortable starting point for families who have just deregistered.
Every one of these is equally lawful. The LA does not prefer one over another. What matters is that you can describe what you are doing and why it suits your child.
How do I know we are covering enough?
"Enough" means your child is learning, developing and moving forward in a way that is suitable for their age, ability and any special needs, not matching the National Curriculum topic by topic. This is the question that keeps home educators awake at 11pm, and it deserves a calm answer. In practice, most families find that a simple check across four areas gives them the confidence they need:
- Literacy. Is your child reading (or being read to), writing (or dictating) and building vocabulary? At any pace, in any format.
- Numeracy. Is your child handling numbers, quantities and patterns in some form? Kitchen scales, bead chains (a Montessori material where coloured beads are strung in chains for counting and skip-counting), shopping, board games and workbooks all count.
- The wider world. Is your child encountering science, geography, history, art, music, people and ideas? Through books, outings, projects, conversations, nature, cooking, building?
- Personal development. Is your child growing in independence, social confidence, physical skill and practical capability? This is where practical life (the Montessori area covering everyday skills like cooking, cleaning, dressing and caring for the environment) quietly does a lot of heavy lifting.
If those four areas are moving, you are almost certainly providing a suitable education. You do not need to cover every NC subject in every term. You need a broad, balanced direction of travel.
What about the areas where I feel we are thin?
Every family has a subject that gets less attention for a season. That is normal and it is not a crisis. A child who spends a term deep in history and light on science will circle back. If you notice a genuine gap that worries you, address it directly: borrow a library book on the topic, visit a museum, add it to next month's rhythm. One deliberate week usually closes a perceived gap.
If you want a visual way to see your coverage shape over time, the crosswalk approach (recording what you do in your own terms and then translating it to NC areas when you need to) is the method that makes this concrete. The Montessori-to-National-Curriculum crosswalk article shows you exactly how that translation works, step by step.
How do I explain what we do when the LA asks?
The LA is looking for evidence that your child is learning. They are not looking for a ring-binder of National Curriculum lesson plans. A description in your own words, naming what your child has actually done and what you have noticed, usually answers their real question better than any curriculum reference would.
The method is simple: record in your own terms, translate in the report.
If you follow a Montessori approach, you record the Montessori work as it happens (sensorial activities (Montessori work with materials that refine the senses of touch, sound, sight, smell and taste), language materials, practical life, cultural studies). When report time comes, you translate: "She has been working with the golden beads (a Montessori material for understanding the decimal system, using physical units, tens, hundreds and thousands)" becomes "Maths: place value, understanding units through to thousands, using concrete manipulatives." The work does not change. The vocabulary does.
If you follow Charlotte Mason, eclectic, classical or any other approach, the pattern is the same. Record what you actually do. Translate into the language the LA officer will recognise. You are not pretending to follow the NC. You are showing that what you do maps to what they expect, which it almost always does.
For a detailed walkthrough of how each Montessori area maps to EYFS (the Early Years Foundation Stage, covering children from birth to age five), Key Stage 1, Key Stage 2 and Key Stage 3, including worked examples per subject, see the crosswalk article.
Where does the Montessori approach naturally exceed or differ from the National Curriculum?
Montessori education typically exceeds the NC in integrated humanities and peace education, and requires a few deliberate additions in British values, RSE and computing. Here are the two things worth knowing if you are using a Montessori approach at home.
First, some areas of a Montessori education go well beyond what the NC asks for. Cosmic Education (the Montessori framework for teaching how everything in the universe is interconnected, typically introduced in the 6-to-12 age range) covers science, geography, history, biology and ecology in an integrated way that the NC splits into separate subjects. Peace education (learning about conflict resolution, empathy and community responsibility) maps loosely to PSHE (Personal, Social, Health and Economic education) and citizenship but goes further. These are strengths you can name in a report.
Second, the NC includes a few areas that Montessori does not map to neatly: UK-specific British values requirements, Relationships and Sex Education (RSE) as a named subject, and computing as a standalone discipline. None of these is difficult to cover alongside Montessori work. Most families add them through conversation, library books and occasional focused sessions. They are not gaps in your education; they are add-ons that sit beside your core approach.
What does this look like in practice?
Priya home-educates her two children (ages 5 and 8) in a terraced house in Bradford. She works three evenings a week as a care assistant. Her mornings are the teaching window.
Priya started by trying to follow the National Curriculum from a free online scheme. After six weeks, she and the children were miserable. The 5-year-old was not ready for the Year 1 phonics pace; the 8-year-old found the Year 3 maths worksheets pointless because she had already worked through the concepts with Montessori bead materials at a home-ed co-op (a regular group session where local home-ed families meet to share activities and outings).
Priya dropped the scheme and built a simpler rhythm: reading together for 20 minutes, maths with whatever materials she had (workbooks for the older child, counting objects for the younger one), practical life activities (the 5-year-old made his own breakfast; the 8-year-old planned and cooked lunch once a week) and an afternoon of free exploration, library visits or co-op sessions.
When the LA letter arrived, Priya described exactly that. She wrote one side of A4 per child: what they had been doing, what she had noticed and where they were heading next. She attached three photos of recent work from each child. She did not reference the National Curriculum once. The LA officer replied within a fortnight, satisfied.
Six months later, Priya can see that literacy and maths are strong, practical life is embedded and the wider world is covered through library books, nature walks and the co-op's group projects. Science has been light. She borrows three books on plants and insects from the library. The 5-year-old is hooked. The gap closes in a week.
Priya did not need to name her approach. She needed to know what her children were doing and be able to describe it. That turned out to be enough.
Frequently asked.
- If I do not follow the National Curriculum, how do I know my child is covering enough?
- Look at what your child is actually doing across a term: reading, writing, maths, the wider world. If those areas are moving, you are covering enough. A coverage map or a simple termly list can help you see the shape without needing to tick NC boxes.
- Will the LA reject my report if it is not in National Curriculum language?
- Unlikely. The LA is looking for evidence of learning, not NC lesson plans. Many families write in their own words and attach examples of the child's work. If you want the security of a translation, the crosswalk approach (record in your terms, translate in the report) gives you both.
- Can I mix approaches or change my mind halfway through the year?
- Yes. There is no registration of approach and no locked-in commitment. Many families start with one method and shift as they learn what suits their child. The only thing the LA cares about is whether learning is happening, not which label you use.
- What if I genuinely do not know what approach to pick?
- Start with what your child is already interested in and build a simple rhythm around reading, writing and maths each morning. Most families settle into their approach by living it for a term, not by choosing from a list. You do not need to name it to do it.
- Is Montessori considered a proper curriculum by the LA?
- Yes. Montessori is a well-documented educational approach recognised worldwide. When you report, you describe the Montessori work in plain English and, if asked, show how it maps to NC areas. The crosswalk article walks you through exactly how.
- Do I need to buy a published curriculum?
- No. A published curriculum is a convenience, not a requirement. Some families find one helpful as a spine; others build their own rhythm from first principles. Both are equally suitable in the eyes of the law.