Home Education mailing lists
The quickest and easiest way to find out more about home education is to subscribe to an Internet mailing list. These are free, and are not like Internet newsgroups: messages written to them are not available on the web for general viewing, although most have searchable archives for members. Messages are distributed to all subscribers of the lists, which are moderated to ensure friendly and mostly relevant discussions.
There are three lists about home education in the UK which we have found particularly helpful. On these lists you can ask questions, mention problems you might have had, reply to other people, or simply read and discover more about the ways that different families teach their children at home.
The biggest list is the UK-HOME-ED list, which you can join by sending an email message to: listserv@listserv.aol.com
In the body of the message, type the words: SUBSCRIBE UK-HOME-ED followed by a space, then your full name. (It doesn't matter what you put in the subject line of the message).
As with any mailing list of this type, you will need to confirm your subscription via a message which will be sent to your mailbox, and will then receive a comprehensive welcoming message with details of how to mail the list, and some guidelines about mailing list etiquette and expectations.
A newer list is the UK Families home ed list, which you can join at the UK-Families-Home_Ed web page.
Christian home education mailing lists lists
For discussion of home education specifically for Christians, there are some relevant mailing lists:
The Deut6v7 list exists to provide a forum for discussion and support for those engaged in, or considering, Christian home-schooling in the United Kingdom. This does not exclude discussion of Christian education in general, and does not exclude subscribers from outside the United Kingdom.
The Home-ed-Community list is similar in function, providing a community of home educators with a place to feel at home. It tends more towards charismatic than fundamentalist Christians, but again is open to all. This list has several subscribers from mainland Europe.
A Christian support group for friendship and encouragement for all home educators or potential home educators is the HE-support list. A Christian list with a more international flavour is the International Christian Homeschoolers.
Other important mailing lists
Two other useful lists which are more specific are HE-Special-UK which deals particularly with children having specific educational needs, and Scottishhome-ed which is for home educators in Scotland, where the law is a little different from that in England and Wales.
If you want a list for a specific town or county in the UK, rather than general ones, you may find what you're looking for on the local groups page.