Thousands of children are educated at home by their parents. This book is an overview of elective home education in the United Kingdom. It examines the history of the practice and reveals why more and more parents are choosing not to send their children to school. From the safeguarding concerns which prompted the Badman Report on elective home education to the desire of autonomously educating parents to be left completely alone, this book provides a comprehensive and factual account of this increasingly controversial topic. With the law on home education about to change so that local authorities will for the first time be legally obliged to register and supervise home educating families, there is an urgent need for a plain and objective survey of the current state of play. The author identifies key areas of conflict between home educators and local authorities and suggests ways that these can be resolved to everyone's satisfaction.