Faye C Have you ever thought of using your local neighbourhood house or community centre to complement your home education? Neighbourhood houses and community centres offer many activities that cover numerous learning areas. Classes and workshops for children are typically offered during after school hours or on weekends. Some houses and centres are very flexible with age too and are happy to allow a
By Sonja Otto My husband is a novelist. It was his dream to be a writer from when he was around seven years old and wrote a series of stories titled The Detective Known as Brad (hardly surprising with a childhood of reading The Famous Five and The Three Investigators). His stories (and titles) have come a long way since then, but writing is
By Nicole Xerri As a kindergarten teacher, I have lost track of how many times families have asked when we will start ‘teaching’ children instead of just ‘letting them play’, while similarly in home education, families can ask about a kindergarten curriculum or the best way to start teaching their child to read and write. So many families are surprised when they find out
By Clare Dunstan This year I thought I had it all together… Yes I know, how foolish of me! In my mind the kids could just continue on with the work they were doing from last year, it had been going well, nothing needed changing. How wonderful not to start the year with the typical scramble for new books. Or so I thought. The
By Shweta S Every new home educator (and non-home educator) is always concerned about the social life of the home educated child. I think the concern is valid, especially from those adults who had an active social life at school and still enjoy life-long close friendships with their childhood friends. For many families, a school gives an out-of-the-box community that you can plug into.
Annie Regan I love the deep, lasting friendships that my kids make, the sense of community and inclusivity, getting to know other parents and kids, having lots of time to relax, exploring new places with friends, eating ice cream, going back to the same places and developing traditions, or going to new places and discovering new things – every camp we’ve been on has
By Pamela Ueckerman One of the most frequent questions I get about our journey through home education now that my boys are a tween and a teen—aside, of course, from the inevitable and soul-wearying question about socialisation—is, “Will you home school through high school?” It’s a valid question and my answer is always, “If that’s what they want,” which is usually met with more
After ‘How do I register’, ‘Should I use (insert the name of any well advertised homeschool product here)’, is the question I see most in different Facebook groups these days. It’s most commonly asked by parents who are moving to home education from school because of a precipitating event, School Can’t or because their child is disengaged. When compared to home education, schools are
Am I a Bad Dad? By Ash B I’m a pretty simple, average dad, no expert, but like so many of you, I want the best for my family. The hassles of school had caused me to consider home educating on many occasions prior to beginning our family’s journey. One of my main objections to home educating was personal, it suited me too much
This article is a summary of the two surveys conducted in 2023 for the senate inquiry into school can’t. Our two submissions that include comprehensive results from the surveys can be read here: HEN Survey for the Senate Inquiry into The National Trend of School Refusal and Related Matters. HEN conducted a second survey into ‘educational attainment’ in children with School Can’t who had
Our life is anything but Instagram worthy. I read the amazingly post-able blogs of home educating families, that must have fifty times the energy of my family, with mixed feelings of inspiration (at what’s possible), insecurity (I’m not capable of that), and a touch of cynicism (tell us the downside)! We’ve got 11, 9, and 5 year olds. Our week consists of a flexible
School ‘Refusal’ School Can’t By Pavlina McMaster Going to school is a big expectation that society puts on children (and parents!). Most children cope with this expectation, and go along with it. But what if they can’t? Dr Ross Greene has a philosophy that underpins all of his work – ‘Kids will do well if they can’. He means that all kids (and adults!)
Infinite Sky By Pavlina McMaster Imagine, if you will, that you are a child. You are intensely curious about the world around you. As you grow, you explore the world around you; you follow your parents and family around and learn about how the world works. You observe what happens when you drop things from your high chair, and experiment with different materials—do carrot
Home Ed Groups – The Co-op of my dreams By Bridget Muhrer When my family started our first year of home education, I thought we had our co-op set up for the long term. We had a group of seven friends that were all starting at the same time, and we had had lots of meetings and made lots of plans. We knew what
Math with Manipulatives Open-ended investigation has allowed my children to make a number of observations for themselves over the years. For example they learnt (and showed their siblings) that 1 litre of water has a mass of 1kg, so water can be used in a balance to establish the mass of other items, and discovered the commutative property of multiplication by playing with Cuisenaire
Games are a great way to learn through fun. What are some of your families favourite board or card games? Monopoly Junior was a great first game for us to practice counting skills Uno is the favourite at the moment. 7 & 5 year old. Ticket to Ride for geography fun. Sleeping Queens & Kingdomino. Ludo My son is 5 and loves Guess Who
What advice would you give to someone who is facing opposition from friends and/or family because they home educate? I couldn’t actually tell you which of my friends and family approve or disapprove because I wouldn’t ever ask for their approval or opinion on something that is a decision for me, my husband and our daughter to make. I answer questions that come my
What advice do you have to get through the ‘bad ‘ days? A Bad Day At Home Is Still Better Than A Good Day At School. This Too Shall Pass. Go Gently – that’s what my 13yo told me 2 weeks ago!!!! Make a cuppa, put on Netflix and relax. Have a bath. Tomorrow is a new day Take the day off and have
What documentaries would you recommend to other families? Maddie’s do you know on iview. Someone on FB suggested My Octopus Teacher & it was amazing. It’s on Netflix. Also Youth v Gov, The Social Dilemma but it depends on age, mine are older & watch lots of educational documentaries that I wouldn’t say are for younger children. I like My Octopus Teacher too. It’s
What was the main reason you decided to start home educating? We had our 3 boys in an amazing Montessori school just out of Boston, MA. USA. They built confidence, skills and found drive to progress. We have not been able to find a school in Australia to provide the same environment for our kids. So they were each losing who they were, losing confidence
