Home Education at the Farm
Farm-based learning for home educating families across East Sussex
The Home Education Community at the Farm
At Raising Young Farmers, the vast majority of our families are home educators. This is not a school group that happens to welcome a few home educated children on the side — it is a genuine home education community built around a shared love of outdoor, hands-on learning.
Every week, over a hundred home educating families come together at Tablehurst Farm, a working biodynamic community farm in Forest Row, East Sussex. Children aged 0 to 16 spend the day caring for animals, growing food, cooking over the fire, and learning through real, purposeful work on the land. The friendships they build here — with children and adults alike — become a central part of their home education experience.
If you are looking for a home education group in East Sussex where your child can learn practical skills, connect with nature, and be part of a welcoming community of like-minded families, you have found it.
Why Home Educating Families Choose Us
Week after week, families tell us their children look forward to farm day more than anything else. Here is why.
Real-World, Hands-On Learning
No worksheets, no screens. Children learn by doing — feeding animals, harvesting vegetables, building with real tools, cooking over a fire. These are practical skills they will carry for life, learned in the most natural way possible.
A Consistent Weekly Community
Children attend on the same day each week, with the same group of children and facilitators. Over time, they build deep, lasting friendships. For home educated children, this kind of regular social connection with a consistent peer group is invaluable.
Flexible — Just One Day a Week
Our sessions run on a single fixed day, leaving the rest of your week free. Whether you follow a structured curriculum, take an unschooling approach, or something in between, one day on the farm fits easily around however you choose to educate.
Nature and Outdoor Learning on a Working Farm
This is not a nature walk or a one-off visit. Children spend the day on a working biodynamic farm, immersed in the rhythms of the seasons. They experience the natural world as something they are part of, not just observers of.
Independence and Confidence
On the farm, children are trusted with real responsibility. They make decisions, take age-appropriate risks, and discover what they are capable of. We see cautious children grow brave and quiet children find their voice, week by week.
Complements Any Home Education Approach
Whether your family follows Charlotte Mason, Steiner, classical education, an eclectic approach, or full unschooling, a day on the farm adds something that is hard to replicate at home — real-world experience on a working farm, surrounded by a community.
Where Our Families Come From
Our home educating families travel from right across East Sussex and beyond. Many come from Forest Row itself, but we also welcome families from East Grinstead, Crowborough, Uckfield, and the surrounding Ashdown Forest area. Families regularly travel from Tunbridge Wells, Haywards Heath, Burgess Hill, and even Brighton. We sit on the edge of the High Weald, and our central location in Forest Row makes the farm accessible from much of Sussex and the Kent border.
The journey is part of the experience for many families — children arrive ready for a day outdoors, and by pick-up time they are happily tired, full of stories, and already asking when they can come back.
Complementing Your Child’s Education
One of the things home educating parents value most about the farm is how well it complements what they are already doing at home. A single day each week on the farm covers areas that are genuinely difficult to provide in a home setting.
Practical skills — Children learn animal husbandry, food growing, fire lighting, tool use, cooking, and building. These are skills that require space, equipment, and experienced facilitators — and the farm has all three.
Science in action — The farm is a living laboratory. Life cycles, soil science, weather, animal behaviour, plant biology, ecology — children experience all of this first-hand, season after season. A child who has watched a lamb being born or planted a seed and eaten the harvest understands these things in a way no textbook can match.
Social development — Children attend a fixed day each week, building consistent relationships with the same group of peers and adults. They learn to cooperate, negotiate, lead, and follow. Older children naturally mentor younger ones. This regular, stable social setting is one of the aspects home educating families tell us they value most.
Our Programmes
We run three core programmes for home educated children, each designed for a different age group. All weekday sessions run during term time and school holidays alike — because home education does not follow the school calendar.
Seedlings
A gentle, nurturing introduction to farm life for little ones
Seedlings is our programme for the youngest children and their parents or carers. Together, you and your little one will explore the farm at a gentle pace, meet...
Learn more →Farm Kids
Hands-on farm sessions building independence and confidence
Farm Kids is our flagship programme for primary-age children. Each week, children roll up their sleeves and get stuck into real farm work: caring for animals, g...
Learn more →Let’s Grow
Empowering older children with deeper farm responsibilities and leadership
Let’s Grow is our programme for teenagers who are ready to take on more responsibility on the farm. Young people step into leadership roles, working alongside o...
Learn more →“Farm day is the highlight of our home education week. My children talk about it all the way home and all the way there the following week. They have learned things I could never teach them at the kitchen table — how to care for animals, how to work as a team, how to light a fire and cook a meal on it. But more than that, they have found a community where they truly belong. The friendships they have built here are the strongest they have.”— Sarah, home educating mum of two
Join Our Home Education Community
We would love to welcome your family to the farm. Fill in our enquiry form and we will be in touch to arrange a trial session so your child can experience a day with us.
Get in Touch