Show Notes
It’s the final episode of Season 4 of the BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast, and we’re keeping up our (now official!) yearly tradition: a relaxed, honest Year in Reflection. Kelly and Ashley look back on what’s worked in their home education lives this year—what’s felt joyful, what’s been challenging, and what they want to carry forward into next year. Expect a cosy, chatty recap filled with real-life wins, lessons learned, and practical ideas you can borrow for your own home ed. In this episode, we talk about:
Why travel (UK trips, camping, and overseas adventure) brings built-in novelty and learning—especially for neurodivergent families
Using different modes of transport (ferries, trains) as learning opportunities and curiosity fuel
The ongoing juggle of routines, energy and extracurriculars (pony share, forest school, climbing, online classes)
How read-alouds, audiobooks and book studies have shaped learning, sparked big conversations, and supported reluctant readers
Regulation tools, movement, and mixing up learning mediums (chalk pens, drawing on glass, sensory supports)
Enterprise learning through craft fairs and kid-led projects
What we’re adjusting next year: social rhythms, responsibilities/chores, games, and finding a better balance
We also share a huge thank you to everyone who’s listened, reviewed, shared, and supported Season 4—and we’ll be taking a short break before returning for Season 5 in the spring. Don't forget to subscribe and catch up on earlier episodes while you wait! Keywords: home education UK, home ed year in review, neurodivergent home education, unschooling, eclectic homeschooling, home ed travel, home education routines, read alouds, audiobooks for kids, home ed resources Stay connected: Follow us on Instagram and TikTok @bighomeedpodcast, and catch up on any episodes you’ve missed while we’re on break. We’ll also be dropping the occasional book review over the winter.
More from The BIG Home Ed Conversations
Whether you came to home ed after your child burnt out of school, or you're the parent running on empty right now, burnout is something so many of us know far too well. In this Season 6 episode of our series on the tricky bits of home education, Kelly and Ashley get honest about home ed burnout: what parent burnout actually looks like, why it creeps up on us, and how to find our way back, for our kids and for ourselves.
Consistency is one of those words that can make home educating parents feel a bit twitchy. Some weeks your home ed routine flows beautifully, and some weeks the maths book hasn't been opened and someone's still in their pyjamas at 2pm. In this Season 6 episode on the tricky bits of home ed, Kelly and Ashley unpick what consistency really means in home education. Do you need a strict homeschool schedule, or is a gentler rhythm (showing up, keeping the curiosity going and coming back to things after a break) enough?
Welcome to season six of The BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast, where we're digging into the tricky bits of home education. Not the sunshine-and-nature-walks highlight reel, but the real, unglamorous moments that every home educating family knows too well.
In this final episode of the season, we’re doing something a bit different. (Please note, no explicit details are mentioned, but use caution if you listen with children as we do discuss things they may be exposed to as they start to use the internet more widely.) We originally planned an episode focused on internet safety and online security… and then real life happened. We were away at our annual home ed camp, the world took over, and we decided to lean into the learning that was already happening right in front of us. So this becomes a wider conversation about:
In this bonus episode of The BIG Home Ed Conversations, Kelly Rigg is joined by Dr. Chris Bagley — educational psychologist, musician, author, and co-founder of States of Mind (with B. Herbert).