Western Port Co-op Stephanie Garrood We live, learn and play on the Mornington Peninsula, Bunurong Country. It is the most biodiverse region in all of Victoria with 60+ Ecological Vegetation Classes (EVCs). Beauty abounds in a multitude of terrains where 70% of land is green wedge protected and includes national and state parks, Ramsar wetlands and beaches a-plenty. Home educating here, we are spoilt
Dungeons and Dragons A world of Adventure! Gameschooling is the practice of using games to learn. When you have fun while learning, you often retain information better! So why not take advantage of the many card, board and video games available—to absorb new information; practice life-skills like reasoning, team-work and losing with grace; and to keep the joy of learning alive? By Aleisha Hobson
Alexis the Welder By Helena Van Soest Alexis is a very friendly girl, but shy. Working in a retail store or restaurant did not suit her. She did not like to ask people ‘How’s your day?’ and engage in idle chit chat. Alexis tried Child Care too. She is very good with children and always thought that would be her calling. However, the underlying
World Schooling – 6 months in Canada Christine Cole Last June my husband and I took our children to my family home in Canada for six months. At the time they were 3, nearly 5 and nearly 7 and we hadn’t seen my family for three years! So we decided to take an extended trip to spend some quality time and do some adventuring.
Spotlight on Home Ed Alumni Find Your Own Way It might not be what you think By Jemima Please introduce yourself, tell us how old you are and what you are doing now. My name is Jemima, I am 36 and I spend my days home educating my three children, who are between 5 and 10 years old. What did your home education look
We are a neurodivergent, single-parent household with one remaining teen of school age (L, 15 years old). Two older siblings (C, 19 and A, 23) sometimes join our activities out and about and often join in home-based learning. However, our learning no longer looks anything like traditional schooling: L is a self-directed learner and prefers periods of deep dives / hyperfocus. Our home education
How Conversations Can Lead Learning Naturally Bella We are in our second year of home educating and it’s been a journey of ups and downs, but the improvements have definitely made it all worth it. My son is 9 years old and has a lot of learning trauma amongst other issues which has made learning interesting for us but this hasn’t stopped him from
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
