WHAT IS SCHOOL
ACTUALLY FOR?
ACTUALLY FOR?
The bigger questions
What is school actually for?
Not a criticism of schools. A question about what we have quietly asked them to do, and whether any one building can do all of it.
A YouTube channel from Anna Kemp
Home Ed Collective
Long conversations about home education — with educators and researchers, with families doing it in completely different ways, and on my own about what has actually worked here.
It is for you if you are wondering whether school is still the right place for your child, if you started last month and cannot tell whether you are doing enough, or if you have been at this for years and want someone else’s thinking for an hour.
The channel is being set up now — this is where the link will be.
What this channel is
Conversation
Expert conversations
Educators, researchers, SEND specialists and people who run home-ed communities. I ask the questions I was asking myself two years ago, and I let the answer take as long as it takes.
Reflection
Anna reflects
Direct to camera, about this house rather than about home education in general. Specific enough to be useful, including the parts that did not work.
Sector
The bigger questions
What learning outside school asks of all of us — curriculum, confidence, qualifications, and what childhood needs to contain. Curious rather than combative.
Start here
Four episodes that explain what this channel is for. If you only watch one, watch the first.
DOING
ENOUGH?
ENOUGH?
Anna reflects
Am I doing enough? The question that never quite goes away
The one I still ask myself on a Thursday afternoon, and the three things that actually settle it.
Guest to beconfirmed
WHY CHILDREN
SWITCH OFF
SWITCH OFF
Anna + guest · Conversation
Why children switch off, and what brings them back
A conversation about disengagement, and the difference between a child who cannot and a child who will not.
THE FIRST
TERM
TERM
when nobody knew
what a day was for
what a day was for
The first term, when nobody knew what a day was supposed to look like
What our week actually contained in those first three months, including the fortnight I would do completely differently.
Latest episodes
They’ll miss out socially
WHO ARE THEY
MISSING?
MISSING?
“They’ll miss out socially” — who exactly are they missing?
The question everyone asks first. I take it seriously, then look at what our diary actually holds in a normal week.
What will matter twenty years from now that we are not teaching today?
On preparing children for work we cannot describe yet, without turning childhood into training.
STOPPED
RUSHING
RUSHING
Anna reflects
The day we stopped rushing, and what it changed
Less friction, fewer arguments before nine, and more learning than the timetable ever produced. I did not expect that trade.
ONE PATH,
OR MANY?
OR MANY?
The bigger questions
Does every child need the same path through education?
Where the standard route works, where it stops working, and how to tell which one you are looking at.
TWO YEARS
IN
IN
what I would tell
myself at the start
myself at the start
Two years in: what I would tell myself at the start
The things I worried about that did not matter, and the two I dismissed that turned out to.
Guest to beconfirmed
WHEN SCHOOL
STOPS WORKING
STOPS WORKING
Anna + guest · Conversation
When school stops working: recognising it, and what comes next
A conversation about school distress — how families notice it, what they tried first, and how the decision actually got made.
By playlist
Expert conversations
Educators, researchers, SEND specialists and community leaders. Long enough to say something.
Guest to beconfirmed
WHY CHILDREN
SWITCH OFF
SWITCH OFF
Anna + guest · Conversation
Why children switch off, and what brings them back
A conversation about disengagement, and the difference between a child who cannot and a child who will not.
Guest to beconfirmed
WHEN SCHOOL
STOPS WORKING
STOPS WORKING
Anna + guest · Conversation
When school stops working: recognising it, and what comes next
A conversation about school distress — how families notice it, what they tried first, and how the decision actually got made.
Anna reflects
Direct to camera, about our house rather than about home education in general.
DOING
ENOUGH?
ENOUGH?
Anna reflects
Am I doing enough? The question that never quite goes away
The one I still ask myself on a Thursday afternoon, and the three things that actually settle it.
THE FIRST
TERM
TERM
when nobody knew
what a day was for
what a day was for
The first term, when nobody knew what a day was supposed to look like
What our week actually contained in those first three months, including the fortnight I would do completely differently.
STOPPED
RUSHING
RUSHING
Anna reflects
The day we stopped rushing, and what it changed
Less friction, fewer arguments before nine, and more learning than the timetable ever produced. I did not expect that trade.
TWO YEARS
IN
IN
what I would tell
myself at the start
myself at the start
Two years in: what I would tell myself at the start
The things I worried about that did not matter, and the two I dismissed that turned out to.
The bigger questions
What learning outside school asks of all of us — curious rather than combative.
WHAT IS SCHOOL
ACTUALLY FOR?
ACTUALLY FOR?
The bigger questions
What is school actually for?
Not a criticism of schools. A question about what we have quietly asked them to do, and whether any one building can do all of it.
What will matter twenty years from now that we are not teaching today?
On preparing children for work we cannot describe yet, without turning childhood into training.
ONE PATH,
OR MANY?
OR MANY?
The bigger questions
Does every child need the same path through education?
Where the standard route works, where it stops working, and how to tell which one you are looking at.
Pull up a chair.
There are as many ways to home educate as there are families doing it. New conversations arrive when they are worth having, and not otherwise.
As soon as the first conversation is up, the subscribe button appears here.
A free guide
Know Your Why