I loved being home schooled (apart from the sex ed lessons). But are new methods too radical? | Elle Hunt

‘Free-schooling’ is far removed from my experience – and likely to provoke strong views, as one TikTok influencer discovered

It’s easy to look back on your schooldays and feel bemused by what was deemed important for you to learn. I’m never calling on my hazy 15-year recollection of trigonometry, for example, though it was made to seem crucial at the time. In adulthood, however, I’ve had to research ISAs, voting and how much protein to eat – none of which, I’d argue, would go amiss in the curriculum if it were truly meant to set you up for life.

Perhaps it’s no surprise, then, that parents are choosing to devise their own curriculums. Last month a “spiritual influencer” went viral on TikTok after sharing her radical approach to home schooling. “We don’t teach our children anything,” she said. “If you do not like this idea of sending your kids away for 40 hours a week … if you are not into your kids conforming, trust that you can follow their interests and they will learn everything they need to learn, not what other people need them to learn.”

Elle Hunt is a freelance journalist