The BIG Home Ed Conversations

In this chatty catch-up episode, Kelly Rigg and Ashley Vanerio reflect on what home education can look like as summer approaches — when clubs pause, routines shift, and the calendar suddenly feels wide open.

Together, they explore the different ways families plan (or don’t plan) through summer, how guilt can creep in around “what we’ve achieved this year,” and why many home educating parents eventually find a calmer rhythm — especially when they start trusting that learning doesn’t stop just because the school year ends.

What we cover

Why summer can feel either freeing or overwhelming (and why both are valid)

How Strew’s tracking insights can reassure you about progress and balance

Socialisation pressure and the reality of home educated kids’ social skills

“Traditional” learning vs real-world learning (and why the distinction can be unhelpful)

Planning styles: structured curriculum planning vs going with the flow

Why boredom can be a catalyst for creativity, independence, and resilience

Gentle “check-in” moments that help you notice progress without formal testing

A reminder that home education is allowed to be sustainable (and imperfect)



If you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe, leave a review, and share with a friend — it genuinely helps more home educating families find the podcast.

Website: www.bighomeedpodcast.com

Follow us on socials: @bighomeedpodcast

Try Strew (our Season 5 Sponsor) We’ve loved trying Strew as a simple way to log learning and spot patterns over time. If you’re signing up, mention the referral code “bighomeed” so they know you came from us.

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Welcome back to The BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast with Kelly Rigg and Ashley Vanerio.




This week’s topic: Feelings and journaling (real life edition) We recorded in the middle of a heatwave, so we’re talking dysregulation, grumpy kids, and how hard it can be to “do the right thing” when everyone’s overstimulated.





What we actually found helpful:







A feelings wheel (free printable) to help kids find more precise words than just “angry/sad”








A simple empathy prompt: “How do you think your sibling feels?”








Journaling alternatives for kids who hate writing: drawing feelings, scribble pages, talking, creativity, movement, baking








A reminder that feelings aren’t just cognitive — sometimes kids regulate best through safe physical outlets













Schedule note: We’re taking a short one-week break, then we’ll be back with a general catch-up episode (summer plans and a bit of a chat). After that, we’ll return to the topic challenge with protest and social change.


Season 5 Sponsor: Strew (home education logging app)

This week we’re sharing a quick behind-the-scenes feature: Study Points settings.

In the Study Points area you can choose an education style (child-led learning, Waldorf/Steiner, Charlotte Mason, unschooling/deschooling, or general home ed) which can change how the Study Points categories are shown. It’s totally optional, but a handy way to get an at-a-glance view of what you’ve been logging over time. Use code 'bighomeed' if you try Strew. https://strew.app/






Thanks for listening — subscribe, leave a review, and share with a friend. Find us on Instagram and TikTok, and at www.bighomeedpodcast.com .

In this episode of The BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast, Kelly and Ashley continue their weekly home education UK “topic challenge” — choosing a theme and exploring it with their children through real-life learning, conversation, and curiosity-led activities.

This week’s topic: Town planning and street furniture — and it turns into a brilliant mix of project-based learning, local community awareness, and practical thinking about how towns work (and who decides what gets built).

Whether you’re home educating, (homeschooling for our US friends), this episode is packed with ideas you can adapt for your own family.

What we cover in this episode:

Town planning basics: how towns evolve, what problems they’re trying to solve, and why infrastructure matters.

Street furniture in everyday life: benches, lamp posts, traffic lights, junctions, road layouts — and the “why” behind them!

A fun “run the town” council game (decision-making, teamwork, budgeting, environment, and community trust.)

Learning through videos and visuals: what’s underneath major cities (including hidden infrastructure) how cities change over time (including a London evolution-style video) how heating, water, and energy systems can work at city scale.

Real-life community learning moments: conversations sparked by local elections and meeting a local candidate talking about leadership, values, and why voting matters (and why kids can’t vote yet!)

Hands-on play: building a town at home using toys (roads, emergency services, zoo, trains, role play and storytelling)

So whether your home education journey is eclectic, unschooling, project led or otherwise - you can draw some great ideas from this episode and as usual - we would love to hear yours too!

Share with us on Instagram or TikTok - @bighomeedpodcast or visit our new website - www.bighomeedpodcast.com

This season is sponsored by Strew, a home education logging app created by a UK home educating mum and her brother. To try Strew, head to www.strew.app or Search “Strew Home Ed app” on your apple or android phone and use code: bighomeedpodcast

In this episode of The BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast, Kelly shares a powerful interview with Jenn Hodge, founder of Doing Education Differently.

Jenn is a leading voice in neurodiversity and education reform, and has been at the forefront of challenging the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill — which has now become the Act. Together, Kelly and Jenn talk through what’s happening, why it matters, and what families should be paying attention to as the Act begins to come into effect.

This conversation is especially relevant for:

Home educating families in the UK

Families navigating “children not okay at school”

Neurodivergent families and those supporting SEND needs

Anyone concerned about how policy changes could impact autonomy, rights, and day-to-day home education life

What we cover:

Who Jenn Hodge is and why her work matters in this space

The shift from the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill to the Act

What the proposed changes mean in real life for families (not just in theory)

Why neurodivergent children and families are often disproportionately affected by education policy

The importance of staying informed, connected, and empowered (without spiralling into fear)

How advocacy works behind the scenes — and why community voices matter

What to watch for next as the Act is implemented, and how families can prepare

Kelly’s intention with this episode: This isn’t about panic or pressure — it’s about clarity, empowerment, and making sure families have access to grounded information as things change.

This season is sponsored by Strew, a home education logging app created by a UK home educating mum and her brother. To try Strew: Search “Strew Home Ed app” (iOS + Android) and use code: BIGHOMEEDPODCAST

In this episode of The BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast, Kelly and Ashley explore this week’s “topic from the hat” challenge: lesser known sports. They start by going down the rabbit hole of strange and wonderful sports from around the world (and even a few from right here in the UK), and it quickly opens up bigger conversations about creativity, culture, community, and what sport is actually for. We chat about:

The weird and wonderful sports humans have invented (and why some of them are genuinely shocking)

Chess boxing (yes, really): alternating rounds of chess and boxing, and what that says about “mental” vs “physical” sport

The difference between a sport and a game (and using the dictionary to define it properly)

How quickly a sport can grow once people actually see it (media, Olympics, exposure, and suddenly everyone wants to try it)

Why “lesser known” doesn’t mean “less valuable” — it might just mean it hasn’t had the PR yet

How sport can be about fun, community, identity, tradition, and entertainment (not just winning)

Making space for movement in other areas of their education (especially for neurodivergent kids), and why physical activity supports mental health too

How this topic can branch into loads of learning: history, geography, PE, science (heart rate/pulse), maths (scoring), literacy (writing rules), and even coding-style logic (if this happens, then what?)

Kelly and Ashley also share some of the real-life ways this topic showed up in their week — from hobby horsing and play-based competitions, to watching Paralympic sport and noticing how many different bodies and abilities can be included in athleticism. If you’re joining in with the weekly topic challenge, we’d love to hear what you did with it — and remember, this is never about pressure or “doing enough”. It’s just a fun way to spark ideas, follow curiosity, and bring a bit of variety into your home ed rhythm. To try Strew (our Season 5 sponsor), head here: Strew home education logging app - on IOS and Android and use code: bighomeed Don't forget to subscribe, share an episode with a friend or drop us a rating - every one helps more people like you to find us!