I was home educated myself and I have worked with many home educated children and young people.

I understand that families have a multitude of different reasons for home educating and that every person will have a unique experience. I aim to meet children and families where they are at, without pre-conceptions about their knowledge, experience or goals.

I am happy to share my experiences and knowledge about home education generally and to provide support and advice with things like organising exams.

Dyscalculia is a fundamental difficulty in understanding numbers. People with dyscalculia often struggle with maths in every day life - for example keeping track of money or timetables - as well as struggling with maths academically.

Although everyone is different, it seems to be common for dyscalculic people to have strengths verbally and artistically, and to enjoy things like stories, drama or drawing.

When working with people with dyscalculia, I often draw upon the person’s strengths and interests - whether that be designing colourful flashcards about key GCSE revision topics, or making up stories about the numbers as characters. I also use a lot of visual manipulatives and spend time working on fundamental concepts at the person’s own pace, to help them start to see some more sense in numbers themselves.

Maths anxiety can stem from many places, but a common factor is a mismatch between how someone has been taught and how they naturally process information. For example, a learner might struggle with spoken or written instructions but find visual explanations far easier to grasp. I try to identify these preferences early on, so I can present ideas in a way that feels intuitive and builds the learner’s confidence.

When working with people who feel anxious about maths, I draw on approaches that reduce pressure and support a sense of safety and agency. Some examples include:

• Using open-ended activities and games where there isn’t one “right” answer. For instance, instead of asking for the answer to a sum, I might provide the answer and invite the student to come up with as many ways as possible to reach it.

• Avoiding formal assessment. I get a sense of where a learner is at gradually, through observation and gentle interaction, rather than quizzes or tests.

• Fostering playfulness, creativity, conversation, or relaxed competition—whatever seems most likely to engage the learner and help shift the focus away from pressure or performance.

• Being open about mistakes—including my own! I normalise trial and error, and I’m quick to laugh at my own slip-ups to model a more relaxed relationship with getting things wrong.

In maths, dyslexic learners often show strengths in problem solving and out-of-the-box thinking, approaching tasks with a logical and practical mindset. Working with patterns tends to feel intuitive — a real asset in maths — and visual topics often come more naturally to them.

Common challenges, on the other hand, can include memorising procedures, times tables, number facts, and terminology, as well as making sense of long, wordy problems or showing working clearly.

Because dyslexic learners often grasp ideas more easily as a whole rather than through step-by-step instructions, my focus on conceptual understanding tends to suit them well. I also tend to lean into presenting concepts visually and practically, with my dyslexic students.

I often encourage students to use their strengths to support areas of difficulty — for example, using patterns in the times tables to move from known to unknown facts, rather than memorising each one in isolation.

I also gently introduce strategies that may not come as naturally, such as jotting down partial working to support working memory — without insisting on so much written work that it overshadows their thinking.

When working with learners with ADHD, I focus on what each individual finds engaging and motivating. For some, that might mean building in novelty, creativity, or a playful sense of competition. For others, it’s about following their curiosity — exploring questions as they arise, with an eye on the bigger picture but without rigidly sticking to a set path.

With my older students, especially those approaching exam revision, I often focus not just on the maths itself but on helping them find ways to get through the work they want to do outside of the sessions. As someone who has often struggled with organisation myself, I have built up a tool box of resources for helping myself get things done, which I often share with my students.

I’m very aware that individual autistic people can be very different from each other, especially as autism often overlaps with other forms of neurodiversity. I try to keep certain things in mind, but avoid making assumptions before getting to know each person as an individual.

I often find it helpful to be clear, direct, and unambiguous with my autistic students, while still being gentle in my approach. I also welcome directness from them.

Some of my students find it helpful to have a sense of the plan — whether that means keeping the same general structure to each session, or breaking down the specifics of each activity in advance, sometimes with me demonstrating it beforehand.

I try to be aware of my students’ cognitive style — for example, whether they prefer precision, like focusing in depth, or enjoy noticing patterns. I aim to avoid any sense of rush or pressure, and to allow time for concepts to ‘click’. On the other hand, while repetition can be reassuring or confidence-building for some people, I know it can feel meaningless or patronising to others once they’ve grasped something — so I try to stay flexible and responsive.

For students with a strong need for autonomy, my collaborative approach tends to be appreciated. I also welcome my students’ input into the sessions. For younger students, that has sometimes taken the form of building a ‘menu’ of different activities that they pick from on the day. With older students, I work closely with them to decide what we work on and how we approach it, depending on their aims and preferences.
I aim to be flexible and non-coercive, while still sometimes gently holding onto certain things if it feels like they could be helpful in the long run.

As someone who is dyspraxic myself, I’m always glad to work with other dyspraxic learners. Although dyspraxia is often seen as mainly affecting coordination, it can also influence how people think, learn, and communicate more broadly.

Visual processing can sometimes be more challenging for dyspraxic students, so I tend to be thoughtful about how and when I use visual models. While these can be helpful for some, they may add an extra layer of difficulty for others. On the flipside, many dyspraxic learners have particular strengths in verbal reasoning or abstract thinking, and I often lean into those strengths in my teaching.

Some other things I pay close attention to when working with dyspraxic students include reducing visual clutter, breaking tasks into clear, manageable steps, and keeping a gentle, steady pace that allows time for ideas to settle and make sense in the student’s own way.

Being particularly intense - emotionally, cognitively, or creatively — can bring great strengths as well as many challenges.

I have worked with a number of gifted or twice-exceptional learners (who are both gifted and have specific learning differences). I greatly enjoy joining them in deep exploration that prioritises curiosity and preserving enjoyment in learning.

I’m aware that such learners are often sensitive people who struggle with perfectionism. I try to gently counter this by focusing on the joy of discovery, rather than emphasising performance. I’m also open about my own mistakes and areas of uncertainty.