FREE: Finding your footing with home-ed

Finding Your Footing A straight-talking guide to home educating your neurodivergent child

If you are reading this, I already know something about you. I know you love your child fiercely. I know you have spent more hours than you can count trying to get the right support, the right words, the right way to explain why your child cannot just try harder or be more "resilient". And I know you have wondered, in your lowest moments, whether you are doing the right thing when home educating is the only option you have to protect your child's mental health and help them thrive.

This guide is for you.

Written by Michelle Stonehill; founder of NEST Pembrokeshire, former SEN school head, ALNCo, Level 7 Educational Assessor, AuDHD, and the parent who sat exactly where you are sitting now.

What this guide covers

Why school fails some neurodivergent children. Not a criticism of teachers; an honest account of the structural mismatch between mainstream education and how many neurodivergent children learn.

Understanding your child's learning profile. What it means to have a different neurological profile, and how to use that understanding at the kitchen table rather than fighting against it.

The nervous system and learning. Why regulation comes before curriculum. What safety looks like for a child whose nervous system has been under strain. What actually helps.

Building a home education environment that works. The practical realities of structure, routine, sensory comfort and learning through genuine interest.

Using special interests as an educational vehicle. How the thing your child is obsessed with is almost certainly the best route into almost everything else.

Navigating qualifications, college and the next steps. The practical information about what is actually available outside of school, including AQA Unit Awards, functional skills and other routes.

The Welsh ALN system. An honest guide to navigating the Additional Learning Needs framework in Wales; what it means, what your rights are and what to do when the system is not working.

Taking care of yourself. Because the most overlooked person in any home education journey is almost always the parent doing the educating.

Throughout the guide you will find Stop and Notice reflection pages, scripted language to borrow when words feel hard, and practical resource boxes with named tools and websites.

This guide is completely free. Download it once and return to it as often as you need.

Format: instant PDF download, 62 pages, A4.

Designed by NEST Pembrokeshire.