Blog
- PDA and School Refusal: When School Becomes a Barrier to Education
A PDA child who can't tolerate school hasn't stopped being able to learn. Being unable to access school and being unable to access education are different things, and treating them as one is where most of the pressure comes from.
Sun, 20 Sept10 min read - Home Education in Ireland Is Growing: What the Latest Tusla Figures Show
Tusla's latest AEARS newsletter puts 2,674 children on Ireland's home education register, 479 of them registered with a special educational need. Here's what the numbers actually show, and what's changing behind them.
Sun, 6 Sept4 min read - Home Education Record Keeping Apps Compared (2026)
Record-keeping software has one job: prove what your child actually learned. Here is what the three main paid apps cost, what they capture, and whether you can get your data back out.
Wed, 29 Jul7 min read - Why School Attendance Policies Don't Bend for a PDA Child
A school that seems to understand your PDA child in every other way often turns rigid the moment attendance comes up. That's usually the attendance stats talking, not the staff.
Wed, 22 Jul6 min read - What Counts as Evidence of Learning at a Home Education Review
A home education assessor accepts a wide range of evidence, much wider than most parents realise. Here is what counts, what doesn't, and how to present what you already have.
Wed, 15 Jul5 min read - What Tusla Actually Wants in a Home Education Assessment
Tusla want to see that your child is receiving "a certain minimum education." They are not checking whether your home education looks like school. Here is what an assessor actually looks at, what they ask, and what they do not care about.
Wed, 8 Jul7 min read - How to Prepare for a Tusla Home Education Assessment in One Week
A day-by-day plan for the week before a Tusla home education assessment. What to gather, what to write, how to prepare your child, and what to put on the table on the day itself.
Wed, 8 Jul6 min read - When Your PDA Child Won't Engage With the Home Education Assessment
A PDA child doesn't have to speak to or perform for a home education assessor. What the law actually requires, how to prepare the assessor in advance, and what your records need to carry instead.
Wed, 8 Jul6 min read - How to Record Learning When Your Kid Won't Do Worksheets
When a child refuses formal learning, the challenge is not how to make them learn. It's how to record what they're already doing, without coercion.
Wed, 1 Jul5 min read - Home Education Apps in Ireland: An Honest Comparison
Almost every home education app is built for US families following a curriculum. Here is what the main options do well, what they miss, and the gap none of them fill.
Wed, 24 Jun5 min read - They Find Out What You're Not Good At, and Make You Do It Over and Over
A twice exceptional child can be miles ahead in one area and behind in another. School tends to drill the weak area and ignore the strong one, and that is when a bright kid shuts down.
Tue, 23 Jun7 min read - When School Stops Being Possible: Autistic Burnout and School Refusal
When an autistic child who used to cope suddenly can't get through the school gate, the cause is usually autistic burnout, not defiance, and not your parenting.
Wed, 17 Jun9 min read - How to Evidence Self-Directed Learning Without a Curriculum
Self-directed learning doesn't disappear because you haven't written it down. It becomes visible when you know what to capture and how to organise it — for the assessor, and for yourself at 2am.
Sat, 13 Jun5 min read - Interest-Led Learning: What It Actually Looks Like at Home
Interest-led learning is when the child's own curiosity decides what gets studied, for how long, and how deeply. The learning is real. It just doesn't look like school.
Wed, 10 Jun6 min read - How to Build a Home Education Portfolio Without Worksheets
A home education portfolio is a record of what your child has actually been learning — not a replication of school. Here is how to build one that an assessor will recognise as real, without a worksheet in sight.
Wed, 10 Jun7 min read - How to Homeschool for the Junior Cert in Ireland
Home-educated children in Ireland are not required to sit the Junior Cert. Here's what the Junior Cycle framework actually says, what the eight Key Skills are in plain language, and how everyday life already covers them.
Sat, 6 Jun8 min read - Deschooling vs Unschooling: What the Terms Actually Mean
Deschooling and unschooling are not the same thing. Here is what each term means, how long deschooling takes, and what unschooling looks like in practice — including for autistic and PDA-profile children.
Fri, 5 Jun5 min read - Unschooling vs Secondary School: An Honest Comparison for Neurodivergent Families
What secondary school actually delivers, what unschooling actually requires, and how to decide which is right for your neurodivergent child — without the sales pitch in either direction.
Fri, 5 Jun10 min read