Welcome back to Season 5 of The BIG Home Ed Conversations

If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ll know we love a good deep dive. We’ll happily chat deschooling, SEND, mindset shifts, child-led learning, and all the big feelings that come with choosing something different.

But this season? We’re doing something a bit different!

Season 5 is our “Let’s actually do it” season.

The Season 5 concept (aka: we’re setting ourselves homework)

Each week, Ashley and I are going to pick a topic that we wouldn’t normally think to cover with our kids.

Not because it’s not important — but because it’s one of those areas that’s easy to overlook when you’re busy living life, keeping everyone fed, and trying to remember where you put the library books.

Then we’ll do this:

We choose the topic together (on the podcast).

We go away and explore it with our kids — without talking to each other about it.

We come back the following week and compare notes live on the podcast!

And when we’re back together, we’ll share:

What resources we found (books, videos, podcasts, games, outings, websites, random rabbit holes… you know the drill!)

How our kids responded (enthusiastic? resistant? obsessed for 48 hours then moved on? all valid!)

What we learned as home ed parents (including the bits that surprised us.)

How we’re going to take it forward — so it’s not just a one-off “we tried it once” thing, but something we can weave into our family life more often.

Why we’re doing it

Because home education isn’t just about “covering subjects”. It’s about building a rich, real life — and sometimes the most powerful learning comes from the things we didn’t plan for, didn’t expect, or didn’t even realise we were avoiding.

Also… if we’re honest… we both love a challenge. And we know you do too.

So come and do it with us!

This season isn’t designed to be something you just listen to while folding laundry (although, yes, please keep doing that — we love being your laundry companion).

It’s designed to be something you can join in with.

Each week, you can take the topic and:

Try it in your own way

Adapt it for your child’s age, interests, and needs

Go as deep or as light as you want

No pressure. No “shoulds”. No pretending we all have the same capacity every week.

Just a nudge towards trying something new — together.

ALSO...

Season 5 is sponsored by Strew (and we’re genuinely excited.)

We’re really happy to share that Season 5 is sponsored by Strew — the Home Education logging app.

If you’ve ever thought:

“I know they’re learning loads… but how do I capture it?”

“Everything is scattered across photos, notes, messages, and half-finished notebooks.”

“Reports take me forever and I still feel like I’m missing bits.”

…then Strew was basically made for you.

What Strew is (in plain English)

Strew is a home education tracker app that helps you log learning as you go — so you can actually see progress without having to sit down and reconstruct your entire life from memory.

It’s designed to support all kinds of home learning and homeschooling, and it’s built by people who get it: it’s co-created by siblings and home ed parents, Kayley and Woody.

What it helps you do

From what we’ve seen, Strew is all about making the admin side of home ed feel less heavy.

Key things it offers include:

A rolling feed to track educational progress (so you can scroll back and go “oh wow, we have done loads”)

Tools to measure time spent on subjects

Optional AI-assisted summaries to help you reflect on learning without writing an essay every time

Printable PDF reports you can generate quickly — ready to share with family or educational authorities

A private space to record milestones away from social media, with a focus on privacy (including the note that data is stored on your device)

If you want to take a look, you can start here:  https://strew.app/

What to expect from us this season

You’ll still get what you come to The BIG Home Ed Conversations for:

Honest chats

Real-life home ed messiness

Reassurance when you’re doubting yourself

The occasional rant (lovingly delivered)

But you’ll also get something extra practical:

A weekly topic prompt

Resources we’ve actually tried

Reflections on what worked, what didn’t, and what we’d do differently

Ready? Let’s go.

We’re so glad you’re here.

Season 5 is for the families who want to keep learning alive — not perfect.

So pop the kettle on, hit play, and come and explore with us.

And if you do join in with the weekly topic, tell us — we genuinely want to hear what your kids thought, what you found, and what surprised you.

Kelly & Ashley