There was an article about this group in the FT a while back
www.ft.com/cms/s/2/246d44a8-4537-11e0-80e7-00144feab49a.html#axzz2DeNCaqhT
Tech Heds Robotics
A group of home-schooled children meets once a week in the Swindon home of Shena Deuchars, who, like the youngsters? other parents, has opted out of the formal education system. Ignoring the trampoline in the garden, the children are engrossed in work based around the First Lego League robotics competition. The group is building a glove that, by employing some very sophisticated physics, helps someone with a weak grip to hold objects. Is it working? ?Only if we remember to plug it in,? says Peter, who forgot to do just that at a recent competition. The group is applying for patents in the UK and US. Peter, 14, says: ?With Lego you don?t need to learn welding ? it?s surprising how much you learn without being taught.?
The children?s education is based around projects that interest them, ranging from drama and art to break dancing and even horse-whispering.