Announcement: Cambridge IGCSE, O Level, and International AS & A Level November 2023 past papers are now available.
Home schooling (homeschooling) or home education is a form of education based at home. Parents teach their child at home, either full-time or part-time, with or without assistance from tutors.
Follow this comprehensive home schooling guide to get your home schooling journey started well.
Parents give many different reasons to home-school their children. The three (major) reasons selected by parents of more than two-thirds of students were:
Numerous studies have found that home-schooled students on average outperform their peers on standardised tests. Here are some statistics for reference:
* The correct usage of the “home school” term:
Home school is on its way to becoming a compound. For now, when home school functions as a noun, it is still two words, without a hyphen. When it functions as a verb, it usually takes a hyphen (－) e.g.: I home-school my children; my children are home-schooled. “Homeschooling” is the term commonly used in North America, whereas “home school” or “home education” is more commonly used in the United Kingdom, elsewhere in Europe, and in many Commonwealth countries.
Home schooling is legal in many countries. Some countries have highly regulated home schooling programmes, some have outlawed it completely. Therefore, here are a few important things to check from a start:
Choosing an appropriate curriculum for home schoolers is extremely important. Parents that chose home schooling are usually not satisfied with their local schools’ syllabus. As such, home school programmes that are based on international school curriculum have become increasingly popular.
The International General Certificate of Secondary Education (IGCSE) and International AS/A Level (IAL) are suitable as home school curriculum due to their high quality syllabus, being recognised worldwide, and are accepted by top universities around the world.
Another advantage of choosing IGCSE and IAL as home schooling curriculum is, home schoolers are able to sit for exams at any time whenever they are ready for exam. There are many exam centres around the world that home schoolers can choose from to register for exams. Since people are traveling and relocating frequently, the flexibility of education plays an important role.
Generally, IGCSE and IAL exams are available twice a year: June series or November series. The exam timetable is being divided into different administrative zones. You may find the Edexcel exam timetable, and Cambridge exam timetable on the respective pages.
It has come to our attention that many private tuition centres in Malaysia are offering IGCSE programmes as “Home School” / “Homeschool” centres.
These private tuition centres are running the centres as a school. IGCSE is used as the main teaching curriculum, and there is a full-day “schooling schedule”, from Monday to Friday. Thus many parents misunderstood it as an alternative “school” to the Malaysian traditional school.
Since the fees are way much cheaper than the international schools which also offer the same IGCSE curriculum, parents are rushing to send their children to these private centres ? thinking that they are sending their children to a “formal school” offering IGCSE curriculum. They started this process from Year 1/Grade 1.
After some years, for some reasons, when these parents wanted to send their children to an international/private school or national government school for Secondary education, they could not admit their children into any formal secondary school. These formal secondary schools were asking them for a formal Primary school certificate, which is not available from these private tuition centres.
The below message is just one of the many messages that we received all these years from the desperate Malaysian parents who do not know what to do.
*****
Subject:
Please help!
Message:
Hi, my son is 12 years old and currently studying in a small learning
centre taking Cambridge curriculum / syllabus for his full day
learning. I am trying to apply a bigger private school for him where
they also offering Cambridge curriculum, but the problem here is they
now reluctant to accept my son as their reason is they prefer Malaysia
public school (which they don’t offer Cambridge curriculum at all). Can
you please help us to direct to them (since that bigger school also
using the syllabus of IGCSE), or give my son a test and get a primary
IGCSE certificate in order to have strong supporting document? Please
help. Much appreciate for your prompt reply.
*****
It is important to know that, when you start home schooling your children, either part time or full time, you as a parent is going to take up the responsibility to ensure your children is having the needed education.
If you are not able to educate your children full time, you could always get assistance from some private learning centres / tuition centres in your local area. But please bare in mind that these private learning/tuition centres are there to help, they are NOT a formal school.
Home education is a marathon. You can’t give up halfway before reaching the finish line. For example, wanting to send your children back to school when you feel you cannot or do not have time to continue the responsibility anymore. Chances are, your children would get rejected due to the absent of formal primary school certificates.
So you may wonder, when/what is the finish line?
The finish line is the final exams at the end of the secondary level education (either IGCSE or O Level), and at the end of high school level education (either A Level or IB).
It is NOT at the primary level. Most parents make this mistake, thinking they could home educate their children up to the primary level, then send them to a formal secondary school later.
This is called ‘half way marathon’. Primary level is not the finish line.
So, make up your mind that you will finish the marathon. You can also take the ‘half way marathon’. Please continue reading to find out how to do that.
You can always follow your local national curriculum. Otherwise, Edexcel iGCSE, Cambridge IGCSE or O Level , Edexcel International A Level, and Cambridge International A Level, are all good choices for home schooling.
Edexcel’s iGCSE syllabus and International A Level syllabus are more suitable for the current international audience. You will find interesting content addressing the global arena, stable and well-developed syllabus, and with highest standard as universities’ entry requirements.
Children who learn global facts at an early age would be more likely to be open minded and able to mix with and respect other cultures.
Once you have chosen your curriculum/exam board, you need to plan your teaching programmes from start to finish.
It might sound intimidating for a start, however, if you plan well, it would be very fun and rewarding.
Here are some suggestions you could use:
Generally, primary Year/Grade 1 would start from age 6/7, depending on which country you are residing. In our example, we will stick to age 7 as the standard Year/Grade 1 age for most of the countries worldwide.
You may choose to educate your child for 6 year primary programme, which is a norm practice and minimum requirement internationally.
Your child would finish primary programme at age 12. However, your child would NOT obtain any primary school leaving certificate, nor any formal primary exams certificates at this stage.
If you think these certificates are important, please plan to register your child into a formal primary school at Year/Grade 5. In this way, your child would be able to proceed to Year/Grade 6 and sit for the formal primary exams.
You must register your child at Year/Grade 5. As there is no schools in the world would take new students in Year/Grade 6.
These certificates might be helpful if you suddenly can’t cope with the teaching, nor have anymore time to complete the secondary programmes by yourself. If you want to register your child with any formal secondary schools, you certainly need those certificates.
This is for the ‘half way marathon’. Please put this in mind from the start.
Once you have accomplished primary programme, it is time for you to start Lower Secondary programme. At this point of time, it would be Year/Grade 7 for schooled children
Lower Secondary programme can be quite flexible if your child has very strong basic and could cope faster.
The general Lower Secondary programme lasts for 3 years, e.g.: Year/Grade 7, 8 and 9.
If you think your child could do 2 years only, then proceed to the Upper Secondary programme, you are more than welcome to do so.
But please know that, we do not encourage speedy zooming through this stage just to get your child graduate faster. What is the point at the end of the day? Is entering university at very young age a vital and meaningful goal to achieve? Guess not.
If your child follow the normal 3-year Lower Secondary programme, he/she would be 15 years old at the end of the programme.
If you make a short cut, just do a 2 year programme, then your child would be 14 years old at the end of the Lower Secondary programme.
Again, your child would NOT obtain any formal Lower Secondary certificates, nor this is required for the final exam in IGCSE / O Level.
This is where the stamina to keep going on for home education gets low, and problems would arise if you want to send your child to any formal second school. Since your child does not have any formal primary certificates (assuming you did not get one for them from the suggestion above), no schools would accept him/her.
This is a 2-year programme, generally. This is where the IGCSE / O Level programme starts. For the schooled students, it would be Year/Grade 10 and 11.
Again, you might accomplish the whole IGCSE / O Level programme in just 1 year － that is entirely up to the capability of your child (not how parents want it, sorry 🙂 )
Once your child is ready to sit for the final exam, search for the nearest exam centres in your local area. Your local British Council is the best option for private candidates. If you cannot find any British Council near you, you can always try to approach any registered school which accepts private candidates to sit for the exams.
It is always good to know all the exams registration key dates, so you don’t missed out the registration closing dates. Bookmark this exams registration key dates page, and know all the dates by hard.
If your child follow the normal route, he/she would be 17 years old when he/she sits for the final exams. Otherwise, cutting short a year, would make him/her sitting for the exams at age 16 － that is the benefit of being home educated.
Finally, this is where your child obtain the official IGCSE / O Level certificates as a home-educated child. This marks the end of your journey in home education for your child, congratulation!
As you can see now, home education is a marathon actually. You need to have the strength and stamina to keep going for 10/11 years (starting from Year 1-Year 11) until your child obtain the one and only official exam certificate in your child’s life. This certificate will be used for further studies, either A Level or any other equivalent level.
Normally top tier universities would require A Level certificates (or its equivalent such as International Baccalaureate (IB), sixth form etc.) as entry requirements. At this stage, your child would be able to continue A Level self-study; since he/she has completed the final stage of secondary school home education.
Read further on Edexcel International A Level and Cambridge International A Level guides respectively.
Getting ready for exams can be stressful. Follow our guides on how to handle your stress when exam is approaching. (We guarantee you will feel lighter after reading the post 🙂 .)
Our valuable A* resources had produced thousands of A* scorers around the world. Check them out below.
Our internationally loved exam model answers had helped thousands of students in scoring A/A*. Schools and teachers worldwide have used these resources to aid in their teachings. Learn what an A* answer like, copy the style and score A* in your exam.
Our word-renowned IGCSE and AS/A Level courses had produced more than 1100 A/A* scorers worldwide. They are suitable for schooled or home-schooled candidates, and as full course or revision course.
We have the most complete past exam papers library on earth (no kidding!). Choose your exam board and download everything with one click.
Get the latest exam syllabus and plan your study accordingly.
Find out the exam registration and results released key dates for IGCSE and AS/A Level.
Check your administrative zone, the exam dates and time. For both IGCSE and AS/A Level.
Find and locate the nearest exam centre for your location.
Need more guidance? Feel free to read the homeschooling FAQs to understand more on what you can do. Alternatively, simply drop us a message at the comment box below, one of our friendly team members will attend to you within 24 hours.
We hope this article could save some lives, as we are heart broken to hear stories like the above Malaysian parents.
All the best in your marathon － just remember that we are always with you in your marathon! 💪
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IGCSE stands for “International General Certificate of Secondary Education.” It is an internationally recognised qualification for secondary school students, typically
Following IGCSE results release dates, many questions arise pertaining to: We have compiled most of the frequently asked questions after
When will IGCSE results be out? Usually results will be released in August for June series, and in January for
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184 Responses
Hello,
Would the student NEED to do the coursework and have it recorded in a report card? Or are the only requirements to sit for the exam and get the certificates?
Hello Aurel,
Thank you for visiting Skolatis.
For qualifications such as IGCSE and A Level, candidates only need to take the required exams to receive certificates.
If you need help preparing for the exams, we suggest you check out our revision courses. The courses cover all the required syllabus materials and have helped over 1100 students score A/A* worldwide. To learn more, please visit our revision course page at https://skolatis.com/revision-courses/.
We hope this helps. If you have further questions, please feel free to contact us anytime. Thank you.
Hi,
Due to the pandemic and distance learning concerns, we plan to homeschool our children. Currently on IB in MYP, but will move to IGCSE.
We will engage professional help but neet to know if there are standardise tests to track progress.
Hello Jerry,
Thank you for writing in.
Standardised tests such as the Cambridge Checkpoint exams are not available for private candidates. But there are available Checkpoint books that you can buy to help you assess your children’s progress. Checkpoint books are a series of structured and comprehensive course books in English, Mathematics and Science. You may search on Amazon UK site and look for publishers who published the IGCSE books.
The only tests available for private candidates are IGCSE/O-Level exams. It is a secondary school final exam, and as private candidates, they can sit for the IGCSE exams at any age. When you deem that your children are ready for it, register them to your local British Council or to the nearest registered Cambridge school. You may try to search for any registered Cambridge schools who would accept private candidates here: https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/i-want-to/find-a-cambridge-school/.
You may also consider our A* online courses for your children’s IGCSE preparations. Our courses are complete and comprehensive and many private candidates are taking our courses as their home education programme. Please have a read at this page to learn how it works: https://www.skolatis.com/cambridge-igcse-revision-courses/
Should you have any questions, feel free to contact us so we can further assist you. Thank you.
Hi,
Are there formal standardized test available to track progress of my children.
They are currently on IB ciriculum MYP, but due to the pandemic and distance learning issues, we plan to homeschool (with professional help), but will need to track progress (switching to IGCSE).
Hello Jerry,
Thank you for writing in.
Standardised tests such as the Cambridge Checkpoint exams are not available for private candidates. But there are available Checkpoint books that you can buy to help you assess your children’s progress. Checkpoint books are a series of structured and comprehensive course books in English, Mathematics and Science. You may search on Amazon UK site and look for publishers who published the IGCSE books.
The only tests available for private candidates are IGCSE/O Level exams. It is a secondary school final exam, and as private candidates, they can sit for the IGCSE exams at any age. When you deem that your children are ready for it, register them to your local British Council or to the nearest registered Cambridge school. You may try to search for any registered Cambridge schools who would accept private candidates here: https://www.cambridgeinternational.org/i-want-to/find-a-cambridge-school/.
You may also consider our A* online courses for your children’s IGCSE preparations. Our courses are complete and comprehensive and many private candidates are taking our courses as their home education programme. Please have a read at this page to learn how it works: https://www.skolatis.com/cambridge-igcse-revision-courses/
Should you have any questions, feel free to contact us so we can further assist you. Thank you.
Hello,
I am a parent of homeschooling children in UK. Though we still have time but I’d like to know a few things since gcse and igcse are completely new for me (being from another country).
1- what is the minimum age a child can sit for IGCSE?
2- Can we spread out igcse over a span of few year like 3-4 years rather than 2?
3- If a child cannot pass more than 2 exams do they have to repeat the whole exam or they retake just the 2 failed ones? I’m not sure if something like that exists for igcse.
Kind Regards
Hi Sidra,
Thank you for writing in. Please kindly read our answers below:
1. Typically, the examination is taken by students aged 14 – 16. However, we have also experienced some countries accept private candidates registration below age 14. Please kindly check with your local British Council for this. There is no maximum age limit for private candidates, meaning you can be 45 years old and still eligible to apply for IGCSE exams as private candidates.
2. The whole IGCSE syllabus takes approximately 1-2 years to finish. The 2 year period is usually for schooled students, following the school calendar plus holidays etc. For homeschooled students, they are free to study at their own pace and schedule. As a private candidate, you may judge your readiness to sit for the exams independently.
But when it comes to sitting in for the exams, the general guideline is to sit IGCSE within 13 months. This is because some universities/colleges might require not more than 13 months apart between the first exam and the last. However, some colleges/universities do have longer allowance. Please get confirmation from them directly.
3. Candidates will obtain separate certificates for each subject. If a candidate receives a failing grade for one subject, they have to sit in for the whole subject. They cannot retake a component of the exam. Furthermore, please follow our advice earlier and complete all IGCSE exams within 13 months. This is because there are colleges/universities that would only accept exam results that are within a certain period.
To learn more about IGCSE, please kindly read this post: https://www.skolatis.com/what-is-igcse/.
You might also want to check our our A* subscription courses. These courses had produced many A* candidates worldwide. Have a read at this page to learn how it works: https://www.skolatis.com/cambridge-igcse-revision-courses/
If you need further assistance, feel free to write to us again. Thank you.
Hello, thanks a lot for this article, my son is 8 years old . Going to be 9 by September 2020. I plan to start grade 1 with him . We are a bit late in starting our home school program due to some issues. 1- If I enroll my child for 5th grade, how can I proof to the school that my child has covered all subjects from grade one to four since he was homeschooled and he has no certificate for each grade?
Can I start grade one with him at this age and register him at 5th grade just to optain the primary certificate while being a bit older than others ? Also , after getting the certificate , can I homechool him again for 7th grade up to grade 11 without enrolling him again in to private school again? Thanks again for your support .
Hello Mara,
If you plan to enrol your child for 5th grade, the school may require you to provide documentation of studies or learning. Such documentation is available in the UK home education organisation, you may acquire one in your home country. You may show them any standardized tests your child may have taken as proof. The school may also require your son to take an assessment test and they will decide which grade your son should be in.
There would be no problem if you don’t mind having your child with younger children in the same class. However, we suggest that you first check with the school for the age limit in 5th grade. Schools usually have an age limit for each grade.
And yes, you can homeschool him again after obtaining a Primary certificate. We suggest that you homeschool him until he is ready to sit in for IGCSE/O Level/ or any equivalent exams. And as a private candidate, he can sit for the IGCSE exams at any age.
If you have further questions, feel free to write to us again. We are here to help.