At NSWLearning we believe that home-based learning is the best way to educate children.
Steve and Lyn Richards, our Directors, home educated all four of their own children, starting in 1988 when their eldest daughter was six. Lyn and Steve continued to home educate their children until 2010 when their youngest was sixteen and went to a local college to study a BTEC level 3 course.
Lyn and Steve have spent almost thirty years speaking widely about educating children without school. In addition, they have both written on the subject of home-based learning. Lyn edited the critically acclaimed book ‘Making the Right Impression’, the recollections of 21 Christian home educators.
They also bring a wealth of experience to their roles within NSWLearning. Steve has held a number of senior positions within UK schools including being a Headteacher in two independent schools as well as being a Project Manager within a major UK educational charity. He holds Master’s degrees in special educational needs and history. Lyn originally trained as a nurse at Guy’s Hospital in London before undertaking post-graduate study in business management. She previously established and ran a successful catering business.
We are passionate about home education; we are not anti-school, we simply do not think that modern schools are the best places for children to grow up. Children need more freedom and more time in order to develop the incredible gifts that we believe all children have – time and freedom that western schools all too easily take away from them. We also believe that parents are important people in shaping the lives of children and young people, and in order to do this they also need to have the freedom to make decisions.
We see our role as one of enabling, empowering and facilitating families. Parents and young people should be the ones making decisions.
Here at NSWLearning, we do not see home-based learning as a second-best – it is as simple as that!