Advice for Home Educators

Homeschool Camps – Camps are possibly my favourite thing about home education

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

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Homeschool…Highschool?

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

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Thinking of buying an all in one curriculum? What you need to know.

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

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Advice for Home Educators

Am I a Bad Dad?

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

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Advice for Home Educators

School ‘Refusal’ School Can’t 

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!)

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Advice for Home Educators

School Can’t

If your child has School Can’t, and you are looking at other options, then you are in the right place. HEN is here to support parents, to help you meet the needs of your individual child, and to help you find community. Nobody would suggest that home education alone will magically make everything better, but recent HEN surveys of School Can’t families showed that

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Concerns and Confidence

In The Dark – Word Games for Home Education

In The Dark – Word Games for Home Education Pavlina McMaster When my kids were little, we spent countless hours playing with language. Almost every time we were in a holding pattern – on public transport, waiting in a queue for an activity, in line at Centrelink – we played verbal games to pass the time. Even last week, in a quiet moment at

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Concerns and Confidence

Games for English

Games for English Kirsty James In addition to the verbal games outlined in Pavlina’s article (In The Dark – Word Games for Home Education), there are many options for pen and pencil games, as well as card, board and online games for students of all ages. Some games focus on specific skills such as spelling or vocabulary, whilst others are broader and include soft

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Advice for Home Educators

I’m not a teacher, so how can I teach my children?

I’m not a teacher, so how can I teach my children? This answer to an often asked question by newbie home educators was kindly shared with us by an anonymous member  Home Educators often get asked how we, as parents, can be effective academic teachers of our children compared to a trained teacher. Prospective home-ed parents often worry about how they could possibly teach

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Advice for Home Educators

Deschooling, A work in Progress

Deschooling, A work in Progress, Bridget Muhrer I loved school. I was that super cool kid who refused to skip classes with her friends, unless it was PE, or the last day of term. I enjoyed studying, I enjoyed writing essays, I enjoyed highlighting lines in books that might come in handy for a debate about the text. Without putting too fine a point

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Advice for Home Educators

Home Educating Socialisation – Building a diverse community for your child

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

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Advice for Home Educators

Interest Based Learning

By Kirsty James Unless the family situation is unusual, the HEN support team usually suggests interest based learning, which some people interpret to mean natural learning or unschooling (which is by definition interest based). However, interest based learning is relevant to every philosophy, and also to those who are new to home education and have not identified any particular style that appeals to them. 

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Advice for Home Educators

Normalise Reading

Normalise Reading By Pamela Euckerman When I was ten years old, we lived with my grandfather for seven months.  He lived in an old stone house surrounded by lush farmland in Cornwall, in the south of England. The house had once been a butter factory and in his younger days my grandfather ran a nursery—he had a shop room, greenhouses and what he called

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Advice for Home Educators

Unschooling Neurodivergent  Kids 

Unschooling Neurodivergent  Kids  Carla Clark Our family consists of mum, dad and two boys now six and three. We are unschoolers with our oldest going into ‘grade 1’ this year. Because we live in Victoria, we are lucky to have the flexibility and freedom to educate our children in a relaxed way that meets their needs.  My husband and I are both at home

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Concerns and Confidence

Navigating Technology

By Alicia Hoppit I stood in the hallway, just before the door. I steeled myself, closed my eyes and took a deep breath. I knew what would come.  “Why are you on your iPod?”  “I’m not. I’m listening to music.”  “It’s not good to have headphones in all the time.”  “I need the music to help me concentrate on my work.”  “Were you playing

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Concerns and Confidence

Our Journey

Our Journey Prema Saraswatil Our journey should have started when our only child was four. But looking back on it, my ingrained schooling experience, friends, and family persuasion allowed me to brush it off for another six years.  I was working fulltime and our three-year-old was in full-time day care/kinder. He loved every day of it. There was constant play, games, and creative outlet

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Advice for Home Educators

Nothing Accidental

Nothing Accidental Karen Glauser-Edwards Our son is neuro-divergent … he is high-IQ. Not twice-exceptional, just high-IQ. And whilst many might ask, ‘So what?’, those parents sharing a space with those kiddo’s living their lives to the right side of the bell-curve will undoubtedly be able to provide an answer… or two! Too many years of mainstream schooling saw us trying to advocate and fill

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Advice for Home Educators

Following their Interests 

Following their Interests  Annie Regan In a recent conversation with a schooling family, I was asked the usual question about how I know what to teach the kids, and I gave my usual answer along the lines of, ‘We just follow their interests and all the learning is covered as part of that’.  While this is definitely true, I realised that the picture that

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Advice for Home Educators

Home Education and Mum’s Chronic Illness 

Home Education and Mum’s Chronic Illness  Kylie Anderson Let me introduce myself. I am a home educating mother of five. We have been home educating for 13 years and my children are now 17, 15, 9, 7 and 4. I first had symptoms of myalgic encephalomyelitis/ chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) in my late teens while doing VCE. I’d have periods of fatigue so severe

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Advice for Home Educators

Home Education Style ‘Whatever works’

By Martina McNeill We are newly registered home educators. Again! Our youngest son has had a stint at school for almost six years, but 2022 finds us home educating. Again.  If you’ve ever spoken to a home educator who has been at it for more than five minutes, you might have heard them say, ‘It’s a lifestyle, not just an education’. Well, that describes

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