Piano Lessons for Home Educators
Lessons during the school day, with a recognised qualification at the end of it if you want one.
Music that fits the school day
Most instrumental teachers only have evenings and weekends, because that is when schooled children are free. For a home-educating family, that is the worst possible time — it pushes music to the end of the day, after everything else, and competes with the rest of family life.
I teach Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm. A piano lesson can sit inside the school day where it belongs, as part of the timetable rather than an extra bolted on to the end of it.
I have taught home-educated pupils and entered them for grades ranging from 4 to 8. This is familiar ground rather than something I am adapting to.
I teach them the same way I teach anyone else: setting clear targets to work towards, monitoring progress, and providing quality material and repertoire.
A qualification that counts
Graded music exams are open to anyone. I have entered pupils privately for years across all three boards — ABRSM, Trinity College London and Rockschool — and the qualification is identical whether a pupil is entered by a teacher or by a school. There is no separate route, and nothing on the certificate distinguishes one from the other.
I handle the entry myself, so it is not another piece of admin for you to work out — though an adult pupil who would rather enter themselves is welcome to.
That matters more for a home-educated child than for most, because there are fewer routes to a formally recognised qualification. ABRSM's Grades 6, 7 and 8 carry UCAS points, which universities may count towards an offer at their discretion:
| Grade | Pass | Merit | Distinction |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade 6 | 8 | 10 | 12 |
| Grade 7 | 12 | 14 | 16 |
| Grade 8 | 18 | 24 | 30 |
ABRSM's published UCAS tariff for Music Performance and Practical Music. Music theory grades carry points as well.
Parents often do want exams, and I am glad to prepare pupils for them. But they are not compulsory, and I teach just as happily for enrichment and for the sake of learning where exams are not wanted. Learning to play well is a perfectly good aim on its own.
How it works in practice
Any age or stage
Complete beginners through to Grade 8. Lessons start from wherever your child actually is, not from where a syllabus says they should be.Siblings
Very welcome, and each child books their own lesson rather than sharing one — so they work at their own pace instead of being taught to the middle of the two.Theory alongside
Music theory is taught as part of lessons, and can be examined separately if you want the written qualification too.What you'll need
A piano or a keyboard with weighted or semi-weighted keys, a device with a camera, and a reasonably stable internet connection.
Lessons are taught on MOOZ, a platform built for music rather than meetings, so the piano is heard across its full range instead of the compressed, slightly delayed sound of ordinary video calling. It runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, iPhone, iPad and Android. It costs you nothing — pupils join free, and there is nothing to pay on top of the lesson price.
I am DBS-checked, and my certificate is available on request.
Prices
A single 45-minute lesson is £30. An 8-lesson package is £224, which works out at £28 a lesson and holds the same day and time each week — useful if you are building a timetable around it. Full details, including how cancellations and refunds work, are on the lessons page.
Start whenever suits you
There is no term structure to fit around and no waiting for September. Book a single lesson to see how your child gets on, and take it from there.
Accounts are held by a parent or guardian rather than the child: you create the account, make the booking and pay, and you need to be aged 18 or over to do so.