Comparing the best home education providers

Choosing how to educate your child at home is a big decision, and the range of providers on offer can make it harder rather than easier.

From full online schools and self-paced distance learning, to live lessons with subject experts, private 1-to-1 tuition and numerous free government resources - there’s a lot of options, and the right choice for your and your family will depend on your situation, your child's needs, and what you're hoping to achieve.

To help you make an informed choice, this guide compares four of the most common - and popular - options in the UK.

What to look for in a home education provider

Before comparing providers, it helps to know what questions you want answers to. In our experience, parents considering homeschooling want to know:

Are live lessons or self-paced study more effective?

It depends on the learner - and sometimes a mix of the two works best.

Live lessons provide structure, accountability, the benefits of collaborative learning and real interaction. Whereas, self-paced learning offers maximum flexibility but requires more self-motivation.

How much subject specialisation is available

Some home education providers cover all curriculum subjects and function as a complete school replacement, with teachers covering a broad range of subjects. Others - like MyEdSpace - are designed to sit alongside a broader education approach, focusing purely on the core subjects (English, Maths and the Sciences - Biology, Chemistry and Physics), with specialist teachers for each subject.

The total cost

When you’re looking at finding individual tutors for different subjects - all with different hourly rates - and trying to work out how many hours you need per subject, per week, costs can soon add up. 

At MyEdSpace, we offer every core subject your child needs, in one simple package. That’s two live lessons, per subject, per week, from a specialist, from just £45 per month.

Published exam results and student outcomes

Not all providers share their student’s exam results, and as we've covered in our guide to how home educated students' exam results compare, comparing across the UK is all but impossible.

However, we’re proud that every year our students significantly outperform their peers - often doubling, or even tripling, national averages for top grades.. 

MyEdSpace

Best for: Home educated students who want live, expert-led lessons in core subjects without the cost of a full online school

MyEdSpace offers live group lessons taught by experienced, expert teachers, across English, Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics - and covers the full curriculum from Year 5 through to Year 13 including GCSE and A-level. 

Two live lessons per subject per week are included as standard, alongside practice questions, step-by-step video explanations, and bespoke workbooks. Daytime timetables are available specifically for home educated students.

Courses start from £45 a month. For context, a private tutor in a single GCSE subject typically costs £1,500–£3,500 a year, meaning the full academic year with MyEdSpace costs roughly the equivalent of six private sessions in each subject.

Where MyEdSpace is strongest is the exam results our students achieve. In 2025, three times more MyEdSpace students achieved GCSE grade 9 than the national average. Meanwhile, our GCSE Maths students achieved more than double the national rate of grades 7-9. At A-level, 67% of Physics students and 45% of Biology students achieved A/A*, compared to national averages of 32% and 28% respectively. In terms of student outcomes, the story is the same, with 55% of our A-level students going on to Russell Group universities, against a national rate of 27%.

To put it bluntly; at MyEdSpace we don’t make promises - our students get results. 

King's InterHigh

Best for: Families who want a full online school experience, including extracurricular activities and coverage across all subjects

Founded in 2005, King's InterHigh is widely considered one of the original online schools. Now part of the Inspired Education Group, it delivers live, interactive lessons across the full curriculum for students in Years 3 to 13, including IGCSEs, A-levels, and the IB Diploma Programme, to over 6,00 students around the world.

Studying at King’s InterHigh costs between £4,395 per year at primary level, all the way up to  £10,990 for an IB Diploma. GCSE subjects start at £7,250, with each additional subject a further £835. A-level courses start at £7,585. Exam fees are not included in the tuition fee and must be paid directly to the exam centre, typically ranging from £150-200 per qualification. 

King's InterHigh is a broader ‘school-like’ experience than MyEdSpace, covering more subjects and including virtual clubs and in-person events - but at a considerably higher price point. 

Where King's InterHigh is not the right fit: families looking for subject-specialist teaching rather than a full school model, or those working to a tighter monthly budget.

Wolsey Hall Oxford

Best for: Highly self-motivated students, and families who need maximum flexibility around travel, sport, or a non-standard schedule

Established in 1894, Wolsey Hall Oxford is one of the longest-established names in online home schooling, with over 750,000 students supported across 130+ countries. Its model is fundamentally different from both MyEdSpace and King's InterHigh: there are no live lessons, or set timetables, and students progress entirely at their own pace, supported by tutor feedback on submitted assignments and a Student Progress Manager. 

Wolsey Hall Oxford courses follow the Cambridge International curriculum, are available from Key Stage 1, all the way through to A-level.

Pricing is structured according to the academic level. Studying English, Maths and Science at primary level with Wolsey Hall Oxford will set you back £2,110. A-levels in Maths, Biology, Chemistry and Physics costs £6,520.

Where Wolsey Hall is not the right fit: students who need the structure and accountability that comes with live lessons, or families looking for regular real-time interaction with a teacher rather than written feedback on assignments.

Oak National Academy

Best for: Parents supplementing their own teaching with free, structured, curriculum-aligned resources

Originally created as an emergency response for schools, Oak National Academy has become a widely used, free resource for home educators, offering video-led lessons and resources from early years education up to Year 11 and the end of GCSEs. Each lesson is sequenced to the national curriculum, covering all core subjects, and is free to access without registration.

Unlike MyEdSpace and the others, with Oak National Academy there’s no teacher interaction, no feedback, no live element, and no structured support. But as a free supplement to any of the above, particularly for primary-age children or for subjects not covered by a paid provider, it can be a valuable resource.

Where Oak is not the right fit: GCSE or A-level students who need exam-focused preparation, live feedback, or accountability to a real teacher.

Which home education provider is right for your family?

No single provider is the right answer for every family. The table below summarises the key differences:

If you're weighing up your home education options, our guides to getting started with home education and home education on a budget are useful. For the full overview of home education in the UK, our ultimate guide to homeschooling in the UK is a good starting point.

Try before you buy

Whether your child is getting started with Year 5, preparing for the 11+, heading towards their KS2 SATs in Year 6, or moving through KS3 in Year 7, Year 8, and Year 9, starting their GCSEs in Year 10 or preparing for exams in Year 11 or making that final step-up into Year 12 and their A-levels, which finish off Year 13 - now is the time to establish the habits that will bring success.

We've handpicked elite UK teachers and created lessons with them that give your child the academic advantage.

• Join our 10-day trial and see for yourself the difference studying with us can have on a children's education and subject confidence