The short answer
Most families arrive with the same seven questions: is it legal, what does it cost, which curriculum, can my child still get a matric, how many hours a day, what about socialisation, and can I do this while working. This page answers each one briefly and links to the full answer.
Every year more South African families look at home education — some because a school is not working, some because of distance or cost, some because a child needs a pace no classroom can give. Almost all of them arrive with the same short list of questions.
This page answers each one in a paragraph, and links to the longer answer. It is written by Saving Grace Education Group, an online homeschooling provider, but the answers below are about homeschooling in general — not about us. Where we would be recommending ourselves, we say so plainly.
1. Is homeschooling legal in South Africa?
Yes. Home education is lawful and is recognised in the South African Schools Act. Since the BELA Act came into force, registration of home education with your provincial education department is a legal requirement, and the practical picture has been shifting. This is the question where getting it right matters most.
Read the full answer on the law and registration →
2. What does it cost?
Far less than most people expect, and far more than “free”. Costs range from almost nothing if you teach entirely from your own materials, to roughly R17 000–R35 000 a year per learner for a full online provider with lessons, marking and reports. The hidden costs are usually devices, data and a parent’s time.
Read the full breakdown of costs →
3. Which curriculum should we choose?
The two questions that decide it: is your child likely to study or live abroad, and is the difficulty the pace or the material itself? CAPS is the South African national curriculum and the default for most families. Cambridge is internationally portable. Remedial and special needs pathways exist for children who need them.
4. Can my child still get a matric?
Yes. A homeschooled learner can write the National Senior Certificate — the same matric — through an assessment body such as SACAI, sitting the final examinations in person at an approved centre. The qualification is the same one a school learner receives.
How a matric works when you homeschool →
5. How many hours a day does it actually take?
Much less than a school day. Without registration, assembly, moving between classes and managing thirty children, focused work of two to four hours covers most primary grades, rising through high school. Parents are consistently surprised by this, in both directions.
How long a homeschool day really takes →
6. What about socialisation?
The most common objection, and the one most worth thinking about honestly rather than dismissing. Homeschooled children are not automatically isolated, and school children are not automatically well socialised — but socialisation does not happen by itself when you homeschool. It has to be arranged.
An honest look at socialisation →
7. Can I homeschool while I work?
Many families do, particularly with a provider whose lessons are pre-recorded so there is no fixed class time. What it needs is structure and a daily check on progress rather than constant supervision.
And if your child has a learning difficulty
Home education is often chosen precisely because a child has dyslexia, ADHD, is on the autism spectrum, or has fallen behind and needs to catch up. The flexibility is real, but so is the work involved.
Homeschooling a child with learning difficulties →
Where to go next
If you are still weighing it up, read the articles above and ask anything you like in our community forums — they are free and open, and answered by both Saving Grace staff and parents who have been doing this for years.
If you have decided and want to know what we specifically offer, that is on our main site: our curricula, our fees and how to enrol.