Whitehaven sisters let their homeschooled children set the curriculum

Kelsey Hall, 29, decided to deregister her son, Logan, seven, from school in March 2023 as he 'hated' going.

Now she homeschools him with her sister Rachel Andrew, 24, and her children Mila, four, and Ronnie, two.

The pair don’t stick to a rota or schedule and won’t force them to read or study.

Instead they do everything on the children's terms – spending time baking, at the beach and taking trips to places such as the police station - to teach the kids about everyday skills.

Kelsey said Logan has been happier and more confident since she pulled him out of school – and he is now more willing to learn.

Kelsey, a chef and content creator, from Whitehaven, Cumbria, said: “Logan hated school ever since the day he started.

“He’d take his uniform off on the way to school. I deregistered him – it was terrifying.

“He’s so happy and confident now. Everything we do is on his terms.

“We don’t have a rota or a schedule. We're trying to build his confidence.”

Rachel, also a chef from Whitehaven, Cumbria, said: “People ask, ‘Do they know how to read and write?’

“They do – we go to the shops and talk about money.”

The sisters usually start the day with a walk to work along the beach with the kids.

The children are happier now, the sisters said. (Image: Kelsey Hall / SWNS)

Logan, Mila and Ronnie spend the day playing, looking at animals on the beach and baking and cooking.

Logan has workbooks to help guide his learning but mum Kelsey won’t force him to go through them – and is led by him.

Kelsey said: “We spent the first week just doing fun stuff, to get him used to not being at school.

“We do baking – he’ll read the ingredients and do maths as he is weighing them out.”

Jurassic lark: The children playing happily (Image: Kelsey Hall / SWNS)

Rachel said: “If he doesn’t want to read, we’ll go to the beach but then he’ll be reading all the signs.

“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.”

Rachel, who lives a 10 minute drive from her sister, has always wanted to home school her children after her 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.”

The children learning at home (Image: Kelsey Hall / SWNS)

The siblings loosely choose a focus for the week for the kids to learn about – such as space or animals.

They take trips to the local farm and recently visited the police station.

Kelsey said: “We loosely focus on something – like this week was space.

“But if the kids want to do something else we will.

“People say – ‘do you teach them anything?’

“But they’ll have just watched a video of them at the beach looking at sea life and baking.

“Were 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.

But they don’t want to pressure him into doing them or going to university.

She said: “Exams don’t prove how you are as a child. We're outside every day. Logan is more willing to learn."