FAQ – Home Ed Marketplace

Acorns.Community is more than just a directory. It is a one base home ed marketplace designed for home education families, educators, and service providers. It provides a platform where parents can connect and find educational resources, tutors, classes, and other services that supports learning at home and otherwise than in traditional school settings. Those in school enjoy using our site to explore more educational support and experiences outside of school hours – in home time.

You can find home ed sessions, home ed resources, home ed venues, a home ed dedicated social media platform, local businesses who support home ed, challenges, subscription discounts and more!

It is also central home ed hubs across the UK via hyper local town sites run by Community Publishers that help serve each home ed community and creates Home Ed families to create an impact with income that is a work from home, home ed business in a box opportunity.

Acorns.Community is for home-educating families looking for educational resources, providers/tutors, or sessions/classes, as well as educators, tutors, and service providers who offer services and resources for home-educated and self educated families and individuals.

You can join as;

• Home Edders (Facilitators/Self Edders 18+) – mum, dad, guardian (facilitator) or self edder (learner)
• Providers (Mighty Educators) – tutors and groups
• Hosters – (Mighty Hosters) – home ed venues
• Partners (Mighty Businesses) – local businesses promotion. Working with acorns.community card providing local off peak discount to home edders.

To list your services, create a user/member account. Once joined, you can create a profile and add a listing list your classes, sessions, tutoring services, educational products and venues for home-educated students.

Home Edders:

HOW DO I JOIN?

As a new home edder, or returning home edder member,

1. Click the ‘Come On In‘. – If new, click on ‘Join Us‘ and enter your best email address and choose a password.
2. If new, Go to your email address used and follow the link in the verification email to log.
3. You will be taken to the SETTINGS page where you can add some optional details. This will be visible to the people you intend to book with.

CONGRATULATIONS – You are now JOINED as a Home Ed member of our collaborative Acorns.Community. You, when logged in, can now message/book, favourite and review.

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WANT TO ADD A LISTING? You may want to trade some home ed books or create a social meet up (Optional)

• When logged in, press green button ‘+Add Listing’ and Complete your Profile
• Choose Category: Home Edders (Mums, Dads, Guardians) and Home Edder Type
• Then Add Details: Choose either Mighty Socials or Mighty Trades
• Category: ‘Mighty Socials‘ is to create a ‘Meet Up/Field Trip‘ or
• Category: ‘Mighty Resources‘ is to list a ‘Resource for Sale/Swap‘, or
• Choose your listing package either FREE Discover Acorns Package or one of the Paid Packages; Promote Saplings Package or Mighty Oaks Package

CONGRATULATIONS – You have now ADDED A LISTING which has been sent for review. The review period can take up to 24 hours. You will note when you return to your account, you now have a dashboard with various links to help manage your experience.

Providers:

• Click green button ‘+Add Listing‘ and it will ask you to ‘Come On In‘ or ‘Join Us‘ if new
• If new, Go to your email address used and follow the link in the verification email to log.
• Then Complete Your Profile – Category: Providers (Mighty Educators) by completing all fields to be searched by.
• Then Add Details: Choose either ‘Funded Education‘ or ‘Mighty Educators‘ for your free or paid for services – Complete ALL your powerful info filters
• Select or Buy Your Package

CONGRATULATIONS – You have now ADDED A LISTING which has been sent for review. The review period can take up to 24 hours. You will note when you return to your account, you have a dashboard with various links to help manage your experience.

Hosters:

• Click green button ‘+Add Listing‘ and it will ask you to ‘Come On In‘ or ‘Join Us‘ if new
• If new, Go to your email address used and follow the link in the verification email to log.
• Then Complete Your Profile – Category: Hosters (Mighty Venues) by completing all fields to be searched by.
• Then Add Details: Choose ‘Mighty Venues‘ – Complete ALL your powerful info filters
• Select or Buy Your Package

CONGRATULATIONS – You have now ADDED A LISTING which has been sent for review. The review period can take up to 24 hours. You will note when you return to your account, you have a dashboard with various links to help manage your experience.

Partners:

• Click green button ‘+Add Listing‘ and it will ask you to ‘Come On In‘ or ‘Join Us‘ if new
• If new, Go to your email address used and follow the link in the verification email to log.
• Then Complete Your Profile – Category: Partners (Mighty Businesses) by completing all fields to be searched by.
• Then Add Details: Choose ‘Mighty Businesses‘ – Complete ALL your powerful info filters
• You will NOT ever have to BUY a package to be listed on the proviso that you provide a generous ‘off peak’ discount for our home ed community!
• You will be upgraded to our Exclusive Mighty Businesses Package which means you will have access to the Booking Management Suite for free!

CONGRATULATIONS – You have now ADDED A LISTING which has been sent for review. The review period can take up to 24 hours. You will note when you return to your account, you have a dashboard with various links to help manage your experience.

Please see more information specifically about the acorns.community card and Mighty Businesses collaboration here and FAQ.

Yes! Once logged in, private messaging between members about their listings is part of the Acorns.Community platforms standard features.

Acorns.Community is a FREE to join platform!

There are three listing packages: Discover – Acorns – which is a Free CIC listing! Then our paid for packages are; Promote – Saplings and Mighty – Oaks.

Currently with the Discover- Acorns, you can add THREE FREE listings (subject to change) as a special launch promotion. We are a CIC which is Community Interest Company and we were created for the benefit of the home ed community and our Discover – Acorns Package is our complimentary and inclusive free entry point to enjoy a full content listing and personal organised dashboard as well as being able to message, favourite and review as a Home Edder and/or as a Provider.

If as a Provider or a Home Ed Mum/Dad who help organise Socials in the form of Family Meets and Field trips, and you require more features and more listings then you may wish to upgrade to the Promote – Saplings Package which also includes a Booking Management Suite to streamline your enquiries and bookings with an inbuilt calendar that can integrate with your own. Your listings can also become featured and verified. If you are a Home Ed business and wish to also utilise the option of having automated payments directly from within the platform as well as a full multi media marketing package to boost your presence, then the Mighty – Oaks Package is for you.

Acorns Corner is a our own Home Education dedicated and safe space, home grown social media platform, off of big tech. Acorns Card is a local savings card that enables reciprocity of local businesses gaining a new ‘off peak’ audience and home edders being able to support more local businesses. Acorns Community Publishers are our remote/work from home roles that are the go-to person for each town in the UK, collaborating both local businesses and home education, strengthening communities.

Your first point of call would be your local Acorns.Community Publisher, you can find your home ed hub here by choosing your town from the dropdowns and your Community Publisher will be more than happy to help. Should we have a vacancy, then please feel free to reach out to Acorns.Community CIC’s Head Office through our contact us page, and let us know what issues you are facing.

How to update your listing/profile: Log in to your account and navigate to the “SETTING” section. From there, you can update your profile information, contact details, and features.

We prioritise user privacy and use industry-standard security protocols to protect your personal and financial information. Please review our GDPR Privacy Policy

for more details.

You can browse available sessions, resources, or providers/tutors by category, location, or subject. You can also filter your search based on your child’s age and interests and various other feature filters such as price, hourly rate, drop off etc. Once logged in, you will be able to reply to listing/book request or book now depending upon the providers settings as well as favourite listings to bookmark your choices and review those sessions that you have attended.

Yes, you can book a class or service directly on Acorns.Community. Payment and scheduling can be managed through the platform for convenience as well as cash/card direct to the provider. The individual settings depends upon the individual providers preferences . You will be able to ‘reply to listing’ to book if they have a Discover package. You will be able to ‘book request’ via the calendar and pay via a link or cash if they have a Promote package and you will be able to Book and Pay directly on the platform. Whichever way is chosen by the provider for your convenience, yes you will be able to make it known that you wish to book a class or service on Acorns.Community.

We always encourage parents to ask questions and read reviews before booking as well as your standard everyday judgements when it comes to the safety of your son(s) and daughters with considerations to the age of your son/daughter, the nature of the activity, location, other parties involved and whether you will be present.

Acorns.Community CIC helps connect home-edders and providers, but we aren’t an employer or agency, and whilst we make available the safety provisions upon the listings that the providers, we do not verify it. Therefore the safety and suitability is the home edder (mum, dad or guardian’s) full responsibility.

It’s important for home educators, facilitators or self educators to make sure they feel confident about the safety and suitability of the providers and the learning opportunities they choose. The providers listings do have the options to present if they are DBS checked, though not a legal requirement, apart from certain regulated activities, some choose this as a best practice policy.

However, if drop offs are the option of the listing, ensuring there is first aid training and a first aid kit – either allopathy, homeopathy or both, an Enhanced DBS check with children’s barred list and with public liability insurance may be your minimum safety requirements that you can request to be evidenced when booking. Please take a look at Acorns.Community’s Safeguarding Policy for some helpful contacts, considerations and questions you may wish to ask or be aware of.

Yes, each educational provider, session, or service has a dedicated profile page where previous clients can leave reviews and ratings. You can view these before booking

Yes, when you have joined the acorns.community and you are logged in, you can keep a list of your favourite listings by pressing the heart upon the listing and it will show inside your own personal dashboard.

Yes, when you have joined the acorns.community platform and you are logged in. Held within your own personal dashboard, will be your listings, your calendar, and a few other helpful organisational tools and information.

Yes, when you have joined the acorns.community platform and you are logged in, you will be able to press the speech bubble upon the listing as well as via the button that may say ‘Reply to listing’, ‘Request to Book’ or ‘Book Now’ depending upon the providers settings, but in each case you are messaging directly to the providers listings.

Message the Provider/Hoster. Cancellations must be made according to their cancellation policy. If a parent or educator cancels within the allowed timeframe, a full or partial refund may be issued. Please review the specific cancellation terms for each service before booking.

Upon each listing’s expanded view there is a clickable link called ‘Write a Review’ where you can write a review if you have been a previous client. We advise that if you have a complaint or issue with the provider. Contact them directly first with your feedback before leaving a disgruntled review to give them the opportunity to put things right.

Reviews and Feedback are a wonderful way to help your community know the benefits and features of the listing and session so that choosing becomes easier for your fellow home edders as well as helping your providers promote their services more and know what is working and what isn’t. There is also a ‘Report Listing’ clickable link that will go directly to Acorns.Community CIC to investigate.

Upon each listing’s expanded view there is a clickable link called ‘Report Listing’ which will go directly to Acorns.Community CIC to investigate. Before reporting, consider whether messaging them directly with your feedback is appropriate as a first step.

Yes, you can search from within the top search bar by keywords and by location and you can browse listings that will have their location detailed.

Yes, absolutely! When you join the platform, you can have up to three listings published for free at any one time. Should you require more, the Promote -Saplings Package will be your next step and what is great about this package is that it also comes with its own booking management suite to make organising those booking easier. If you are venturing into really becoming Mighty – then the Mighty – Oaks Package may be of interest to you.

Great! We are glad that you are finding value on the platform. You can check out the current launch prices here Promote Package and here Mighty Package. After our launch any special promotions are usually announced in our newsletter which you may want to join here.

No. You can list for FREE if you choose the Discover – Acorns Package, which will provide you a full content listing for free. Currently during launch phase you will get THREE FREE listings. If you need more features and more listings, we have the Promote – Saplings Package and the Mighty – Oaks Package.

With the Discover – Acorns package and Promote – Saplings package, your tribe will visit your listing and message you and you organise payments off of the platform, whether that be with your own GoCardless Link for example, Bacs, Debit/Credit Card in person through your card machine or ‘Tap to Pay’ on your phone or good old fashioned Cash , its up to you! With Mighty – Oaks package you have the option to turn up the automation and payments can be taken direct from within the platform and paid out to you on an automated basis.

Great! We are glad that you are finding value on the platform. Featured Listings are included within these packages; Promote Package and Mighty Package. However, if you’d like to Feature just one listing for a period of 10 days, you can grab a ‘Spotlight Feature‘.

We will be sorry to see you go. If you’d like to contact us if there is anything we can do to help that isn’t covered by the FAQ, we would love to help you. Otherwise we have made it super easy for you to leave. When you are logged in, in the dropdown below your username, you will see ‘Settings’, once selected, you just scroll down slightly until you see ‘Delete Account’ and that’s it. No hard feelings, perhaps the service is no longer required, however you are welcome to join us again in the future if that is suitable to you.

We are confident you’ll love being easily connected to your home ed community, rather than stuck in the BIG TECH overwhelm, with aggy algorithms and endless scrolling and multiple groups and chats. We hope that you have found value. However, if you have any ideas, input, innovation concepts that you’d like to put forward, please contact us. We welcome collaboration, so please do let us know how we can improve Acorns.Community as it is a CIC which is a Community Interest Company set up to benefit its community.