THEAC Chair Quarterly Newsletter - Summer 2024

THEAC Summer Newsletter 2024

I was recently on a walk in my neighbourhood and passed by a house which has stood unchanged for a long time.  Something made me stop and study the house.  The grass was slightly overgrown, evidence of garden beds once in existence were hidden underneath a mass of weeds, the house itself stood tall and dominated the block it was situated on.  I wondered about all the memories created in the garden; children running freely, games of hide n seek, bike rides down the sloped driveway, contagious laughter and chatter of children from the past, family dinner conversations over a good summer BBQ…I continued on my walk, admiring the different styles of houses in that same area and wondered about all the memories people held across the generations from their time in the neighbourhood. 

Several days later I drove past the same house and was shocked to see it had disappeared!  All that was left was a clothesline in the back yard and a small shed.  The block was totally clear of any debris and sat with a square patch of dirt where the house had once stood proudly for many decades.  It was a strange moment to think that the house had probably housed several families over its time, all with their own special memories and experiences of living there.  Now it had completely gone.  Erased.  Not a trace of it left, a simple clothesline and shed the only evidence that something did exist on that patch of land at some stage. 

It made me think about memories and their importance.  The link between memories and our identity.  The importance of memories in terms of providing purpose.  Treasured memories provide us with a feeling of warmth and safety.  Creating memories with our children is so important.  They won’t all be good but the ones that people seem to cherish the most are the small things that bring joy in life, the times where someone has spent quality time with them and really focussed and engaged with them.  The games of hide n seek, the rose thorns stuck on noses, picking daisies, blowing, and chasing bubbles, jumping on the trampoline, the backyard BBQ dinners, star gazing well past bedtime, a good conversation with mum or dad, cooking together, making something together, the first driving lesson (maybe a ‘not so good memory’!). 

The disappearance of the house represents the beginning of new memories for another family as they begin to build their family home.  For those who have lived there in the past, they have the memories that the address has left them with.  Good or bad, they aren’t erased by the disappearance of the house.  They are forever etched into the minds of those who once lived there.

Our days get busy, especially at this time of the year.  Stop and take a moment in each day to sit and talk or play a game with your child/ren.  Create those warm, happy memories that they will cherish for years to come and will carry with them no matter where they are in life.  Memories can’t be taken or removed and will float about for decades to come- often the focus of laughter and joy at family get togethers as they grow older.  We have an enormous opportunity within home education to build on those magical childhood memories for our children.  Sit and watch the cloud formations together, play hide and seek with your kids (it is the best fun trying to stay hidden from your child/ren!), snuggle up with a good book on those rainy days or go and splash in the puddles, build sand castles together or fossick in the rock pools, invent a board game, bake together, walk together…the list is endless. 

It is very easy at this time of year to feel overwhelmed by everything that needs to be done.  Something happens with the pace of life in October and by December it is usually hurtling by so fast it is hard to remember what day it is.  Stop.  Take a moment.  Delight in an opportunity to spend some time with your child/ren.  Those special memories will stay with them for a long time.  Your child/ren will be talking about it for decades to come, long after the walls of their childhood home have disappeared.  Those memories will help shape them and the people they become. 

The Office of the Education Registrar (OER) along with THEAC have continued to be kept busy over the past few months. There are currently 1540 students from 939 families registered for home education in Tasmania.  That is almost 1600 students, bigger than any school in Tasmania.  That is a lot of HESPs!  No two HESPs are the same.  There is such a wonderful variety of programs in Tasmania, and you should all be very proud to be part of the home education community.  It is not easy to write a HESP, but it is an important and necessary document that helps you plan and develop your program.  There is no right or wrong way to run a program, each one will be different to the next and that is the wonderful thing about home educating in Tasmania!  But have you ever wondered what happens to your HESP once you have submitted it to the OER? 

While some hate having to write a HESP, others find it a useful process.  It might help everyone to understand the process of what happens to your HESP once it arrives with the OER. 

Provided the HESP arrives with the relevant paperwork (application form, birth certificate for new applications etc.), it is first screened by a Reviewing Registration Officer.  Their job is to make sure the HESP contains enough information about the program to meet each of the 10 standards.  They need to be able to get a clear picture of the program from the description provided within each standard.

If they feel that the HESP does not provide enough information to paint a clear picture of the program, contact will be made with the family to ask for more information.

For a NEW application, if the Reviewing Officer is satisfied that the HESP demonstrates all standards are being meet, the HESP gets sent onto a trio.  This is where THEAC comes into the picture. 

Two members of THEAC make up part of the trio with the Reviewing Registration Officer being the 3^rd member.  THEAC are required to read the HESP and provide feedback to the Registrar about the program.  For example, it could be that they feel the program is adequate in each of the standards or they may make a comment where they would like the visiting Registration Officer to clarify some aspect of the program. 

If all members of the trio are happy, the Registrar then approves provisional registration and the HESP gets allocated to a visiting Registration Officer. This is the Registration Officer that will visit your home or, in some cases, at a nominated meeting point.  It is their job to explore the program as you are running it, view resources and progress and to provide advice and feedback.  They are required to write a report with evidence demonstrating how the educator is meeting each of the standards, or, highlighting which standards may need a little more time to meet the standard.  This is then submitted to the Registrar who is responsible for making a decision about the registration.

It can be a difficult task at times to paint a clear picture of your program within your HESP.  The way everyone does this is different simply because no two programs are the same.  The one piece of advice I can suggest is that you keep accurate records of your program.  Records are imperative and provide memories of all the learning activities and moments over the year.  It can be difficult to remember what happened yesterday let alone 12 months ago so I strongly encourage you to take 5-10 min out of your day each day and make a note of what your child has done. Include relevant learning conversations about topics that just pop up during the day.  One way that might help you is to divide an A4 notebook into the 10 standards and note the relevant learning example into the relevant standard.  This can make HESP writing so much easier and it also helps you track progress within each standard easily.  There are many ways educators keep a record of their program. If you re struggling with this, please discuss with the Registration Officer at the time of your visit or call the staff at the OER. 

Another piece of advice that I would like to share and, I encourage you all to share with people considering home education, is resources.  Do not rush into purchasing a set curriculum.  Do your research.  Understand what it is you are purchasing and ask yourself will it suit your child?  Will they learn and engage best with the format being provided?  Understand what it means to home educate in Tasmania.  We are fortunate enough not to have to follow the Australian curriculum.  This means we can be flexible in our approach to learning.

For those who have entered home education because mainstream schooling did not suit their child, remember, a set curriculum did not work for them there, will it work at home?  Many parents/carers rush into purchasing these quite often overpriced curriculums in a state of panic at the start of their home education journey only to find several weeks later that they just don’t work for their child.  Take some time to research, have conversations with other home educating parents, read articles, join a local home education group, visit bookstores and websites.  Most importantly, take a few weeks to watch how your child engages-this can be key to designing an individual program tailored to the way in which they learn.  The Registration Officers are not expecting you to be following set curriculums. 

In Tasmania, it is your job as the educator to design, implement, monitor and evaluate your program therefore, if you choose to purchase an online curriculum, you are the person responsible for the running of the program, for monitoring your child’s progress within the program and for the evaluation of the program.  Do not be fooled by promises from the provider that they will do all this for you, as under Tasmanian legislation, this is a requirement of the educator.  When we are new to something we are vulnerable.  We want to have something that resembles some kind of learning in place for our child/ren.  Take the time to research and build your knowledge on the different kinds of programs that are operating. 

I understand that purchased curriculums can work well for some families, and that is great, but for most families, they are no longer using them after a few weeks.  Take the time to find your feet, to learn how your child best learns and find resources that work for your individual child.  Do not rush this.  Reach out if you need help. 

With Christmas fast approaching, and as we all start to wind down with the more formal parts of our programs, take a moment to reflect on the year’s learning.  Sometimes it is easy to feel we haven’t accomplished what we set out to achieve.  Most of the time when we take the time to look back and reflect through photos and diaries/journals we realise that there has been a lot of learning taking place.  Take some time to sit with your child/ren and share this journey as it can be easy for them to forget all the different types of learning they have been lucky enough to experience over the year.  It will give them, and you, a sense of achievement and provide an opportunity to reflect on what types of learning activities were enjoyed and those that might not have worked so well.  This can be a wonderful way of starting to plan for the following years’ journey.  Photos are a beautiful way to capture learning and children love to look back through them and delight in their adventures with you.  In the digital era we are living in, photos rarely get printed.  Print some photos and make an album of the learning adventures.  Kids love looking back through these and they provide a wonderful trigger to so many joyful moments in their childhood.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank Jo Spencer, all of the Registration Officers and THEAC for their ongoing support throughout 2024.  I am excited to welcome in 2025 and I wish you all well over the festive season and hope that Christmas brings some rest, happiness, joy and peace to you and your families.

To all those finishing their home education journey, as your time in home education draws to close and new doors of opportunity begin to open on your journey into the wider world, take a moment to share and delight in the years of home education you have experienced.  Cherish those memories.  Thank your parent/carer.  They have sacrificed a lot to provide you with a tailored education.  As doors open for you, it can be quite a change for your parent/educator to watch as their child spreads their wings and flies off into the world.  Appreciate their advice, be kind, and enjoy this new chapter in your life. 

To the parents/carers of those children stepping outside the home education space, I am sure you have mixed emotions; pride, sadness, relief, excitement…the list goes on.  Some of you may experience a period of grief as you both adjust to the new chapter in each of your lives.  Be kind to yourself.  Take a moment to sit quietly and reflect on the many years of learning with your child.  Hold dear those memories.  You have done an amazing job and, while it might be difficult to watch your child spread their wings, there will be many more moments in this new chapter of their life to create wonderful memories together!

Merry Christmas everyone. 

Denise

Chair, THEAC.