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
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
Nicole B Sunday: Used jack hammer, crow bars and cement saw to smash up concrete with dad and friends—part of our home renovation project. Watched anime series in between. Swam at the beach. Watched Labyrinth film with the whole family. Monday: Guitar practice Prepared breakfast and lunch to take out for the day. Went to the hairdresser and got pink highlights as a celebration
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.
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
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
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
Kathleen Humble Every now and then, usually when news is a little slow, prominent papers like to do little fluff pieces on the edges of the educational world. One week might be about lambasting ‘pushy parents,’ another week an angry remonstrance on the horrors of alternative education. Personally, I find it deeply amusing that, depending on the flavour of the month, our little family
John Barratt-Peacock The other day I was proofreading an article on home education when I came across a statement that equated Natural Learning with Unschooling and Unstructured Learning. This is quite a false association. By their nature unschooling and unstructured learning are merely a valid reaction to schooling but natural learning is different. It is scientifically based on the anatomy and physiology of the
Gnat Atherden In our family there hasn’t really been an attempt to learn ‘a’ language. One language would be a bit limiting. Having said that, I’ve always been keenest to learn German and it’s the language other than English (LOTE) I knew most of before I became a parent so, on reflection, it’s been a big part of our LOTE education. In this article
Kathleen Humble We’re a geeky kind of family. With me being a mathematician and my husband an engineer, it would be hard to not be geeky. We’re also not going to score high on the ‘doing things conventionally’ test, if one of those existed. But sometimes, just sometimes, the paths my kids take to learn are so unconventional that they leave me with
