A pair of sisters say they won’t send their children to school as kids should be allowed to decide when to go to school and what they learn.
Kelsey Hall, 29, decided to deregister her son, Logan, seven, from school in March 2023 as he ‘hated’ going.
When Kelsey began homeschooling, her sister, Rachel Andrew, 24, followed her example and says she has no plans to send her children, Mila, four, and Ronnie, two, to school either.
The mums turned homeschool teachers, don’t stick to a rota or schedule, and won’t force their kids to read or study.
Instead they do everything on the children’s terms – spending time baking, walking along the beach, and taking trips to places such as the police station, to teach the kids about everyday skills.
Kelsey, a chef and content creator, decided to take her son out of school when she realised how much he disliked going.
‘Logan hated school ever since the day he started,’ she said.
‘He’d take his uniform off on the way to school. I deregistered him – it was terrifying.
‘We spent the first week just doing fun stuff, to get him used to not being at school.’
Just three months after, Kelsey says there’s already a change in Logan.
‘He’s so happy and confident now,’ she said. ‘Everything we do is on his terms.’
Rachel, who lives a 10 minutes away from her sister, has always wanted to home school her children after her own experience at school.
She said: ‘I was very aware of this life outside of school.
‘I was forced to do lessons I wasn’t interested in at all. I had so many passions that I wanted to pursue. ‘I’ve never used my GCSEs.’
Logan has workbooks to help guide his learning but mum Kelsey won’t force him to go through them and is led by him.
‘We bake – he’ll read the ingredients and practice maths as he is weighing them out,’ said Kelsey.
Rachel, also a chef from Whitehaven, added: ‘If he doesn’t want to read, we’ll go to the beach but then he’ll be reading all the signs.
‘We go to the shops and talk about money.
‘The kids love looking for jellyfish running in the sea – they love the sea.
‘They do free play. We give them the freedom to play outside.’ Kelsey said: ‘We loosely focus on something – like this week was space. But if the kids want to do something else we will.
‘People ask: “Do you teach them anything?’’ But they’ll have just watched a video of them at the beach looking at sea life and baking.
‘We’re trying to show people it’s an option to home school.’
Kelsey said they will give Logan the option to take his GCSEs if he’d like to – and can pay for him to sit them.
She said: ‘Exams don’t prove how you are as a child. We’re outside every day. Logan is more willing to learn now.’
