Welcome to The BIG Home Ed Conversations!
The BIG Home Ed Conversations
The BIG Home Ed Conversations
The BIG Home Ed Conversations is one of the top active 'home education' podcast for parents who want to move past the myths and dive deep into what we actually want to talk about as alternative educators. Join Kelly (home ed mum of 2 and home education coach & mentor) and Ashley (ex-primary teacher & home ed mum of 3) as they debunk myths, tackle real challenges, and share honest, empowering, mindset-shifting conversations for families choosing alternative education.
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The BIG Home Ed Conversations

The BIG Home Ed Conversations is one of the top active 'home education' podcast for parents who want to move past the myths and dive deep into what we actually want to talk about as alternative educators.

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Recent

Special Guest: Jenn Hodge Interview: The Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill (Now the Act) — What Home Educating Families Need to Know
May 17, 2026

Special Guest: Jenn Hodge Interview: The Children’s Wellbeing and Sch…

In this episode of The BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast, Kelly shares a powerful interview with Jenn Hodge, founder of Doing Education Differently. Jenn is a leading voice in neurodiversity and education reform, and has been...

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Topic Challenge: Lesser Known Sports (Weird & Wonderful Games, What Counts as a Sport, and Why Movement Matters)
May 10, 2026

Topic Challenge: Lesser Known Sports (Weird & Wonderful Games, What C…

In this episode of The BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast, Kelly and Ashley explore this week’s “topic from the hat” challenge: lesser known sports. They start by going down the rabbit hole of strange and wonderful sports fr...

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Food Around the World with Kids - Home Ed Edition
May 6, 2026

Food Around the World with Kids - Home Ed Edition

Reflecting back on this week’s episode of The BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast… we pulled “Food Around the World” out of our topic-from-a-hat challenge.And I’m not going to lie, I was excited about this one.I&rsqu…

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Topic Challenge: Food Around the World
May 3, 2026

Topic Challenge: Food Around the World

Welcome back to another episode of the BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast. Kelly and Ashley are continuing Season 5’s “topic from a hat” home education challenge — where they pick a theme, explore it with their kids for the we...

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How to Teach Kids About Money: 5 Fun Strategies for Home Education
April 29, 2026

How to Teach Kids About Money: 5 Fun Strategies for Home Education

Our Top 5 Strategies for Covering Money Management With Your KidsIf when we plucked the topic “capital allocation and investment” it made you laugh/cry a little… same.In this week’s BIG Home Ed Conversations experiment, …

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Topic Challenge: Capital Allocation & Investment with Kids
April 26, 2026

Topic Challenge: Capital Allocation & Investment with Kids

Welcome back to the BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast. In this episode, Kelly and Ashley share how they tackled a surprisingly big topic with their kids: capital allocation and investing — including spending vs saving, risk, ...

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Reviews

Love it!
Thoughtful and thought-provoking discussion between two friends. Looking forward to hearing more!
Very interesting!
Loved listening to the first episode of what promises to be a very interesting podcast on the highs and lows of home educating! Both Kelly and Ashley are great speakers and it’s really fun to listen to their conversations :)
Informative and warm: agreat episode on homeschooling.
What an excellent podcast to listen to as a Mum about to venture into homeschooling. It was reassuring to hear my ethos of going at my child’s pace and following his interests aligns with people out there doing it :) I love the conversational tone - I can find it hard to listen to podcasts as I am a multi-sensory learner - but this was more like having a chat with friends. Loved it - look forward to the next one.
Honest and interesting
I have really enjoyed listening to this podcast about home ed. I’m not a home ed mum, yet! But I’m seriously considering it for my 3 and 1 year old as they get older. I’m actually a primary school teacher myself but I feel like unfortunately the realities of how overworked and undervalued teachers are it may not be the best option for my children. I feel like him ed is such an unknown world so this has really opened my eyes to all the positives that could come from it.

Recent Blog Posts

Food Around the World with Kids - Home Ed Edition
May 6, 2026

Food Around the World with Kids - Home Ed Edition

Reflecting back on this week’s episode of The BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast… we pulled “Food Around the World” out of our topic-from-a-hat challenge.And I’m not going to lie, I was excited about this one.I&rsqu…

Read the Blog Post
How to Teach Kids About Money: 5 Fun Strategies for Home Education
April 29, 2026

How to Teach Kids About Money: 5 Fun Strategies for Home Education

Our Top 5 Strategies for Covering Money Management With Your KidsIf when we plucked the topic “capital allocation and investment” it made you laugh/cry a little… same.In this week’s BIG Home Ed Conversations experiment, …

Read the Blog Post
Welcome back to Season 5 of The BIG Home Ed Conversations
April 17, 2026

Welcome back to Season 5 of The BIG Home Ed Conversations

If you’ve been with us for a while, you’ll know we love a good deep dive. We’ll happily chat deschooling, SEND, mindset shifts, child-led learning, and all the big feelings that come with choosing something different.But this sea…

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About the Hosts

Kelly Rigg

Kelly Rigg

Kelly Rigg is a home educating mum of two, neurodiversity coach, and co-host of the BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast, created to support and empower parents who are home educating in the UK and beyond. Through honest, down-to-earth conversations, she helps families feel more confident in their choices, offering reassurance, mindset shifts, and practical encouragement for raising and learning outside the school system.

Ashley Vanerio

Ashley Vanerio

Ashley is a former primary school teacher, home ed mum of three, and co-host of the BIG Home Ed Conversations Podcast. Passionate about individual learning and child-led approaches, she brings a warm, practical perspective to home education—helping parents trust themselves, understand how children learn best, and build a family life that fits their values.