THEAC Chair Quarterly Newsletter - Winter 2025
THEAC Chair Quarterly Newsletter Winter 2025
There are many joyous and rewarding moments home educating your child/ren. That ‘bingo’ moment when you explain a concept in a different way for the 10th time and it suddenly clicks for your child, having the time to sit and read and research together on a chosen topic that might just take you off path and down a rabbit hole for the day, being able to have the time to veer off course and jump into that rabbit hole and see where the learning takes you, creating building projects together, spending time with other home educating families during the day, becoming ever more creative to help teach concepts such as numeracy within baking and who doesn’t enjoy the end result?! But there can also be a very lonely side of home educating. Not everyone understands home education and the process behind it. This can lead to negative comments and lack of support for you with your chosen way of educating your child/ren.
It can be difficult to navigate these comments, especially when they come from family and friends. I believe a lot of negativity around home education still exists because people are unaware of what home education is and the process behind it. We are all part of a fast-growing community of home educators and it is up to us to re-educate society on what home education actually is and what is involved. What it is and how we ended up here is different for every one of us. The struggles that one family experiences while home educating will be different for another. It is not always an easy journey but it doesn’t have to be made more difficult by lack of understanding or knowledge on how it works from outside of our community.
I think what society has lost touch with is that there are many ways to educate and no two people learn in the same way. Taking the alternative route and swimming against the tide creates ripples within the broader community. When families choose a pathway that is different to ‘the norm’ they are often criticised for it and negative thoughts can very quickly start to take over. Am I doing the right thing? Can I actually do this? What if they want to return to school and they aren’t at their perceived grade level? The first few months, even the first year or two, can be a very delicate time for parents/carers when starting their home education journey. There is lots of second guessing, lots of doubts, days where guilt can creep in when they wonder if they have made the best decision for their child.
Stop for a moment and think back to the reason why you chose to home educate in the first place. Go back to the starting point of this decision and write down the reasons that got you to the starting blocks of home education. Think for a moment about these reasons. For most of you the reasons you have identified will come back to being in the best interests of your child/ren-for whatever reason whether it be due to beliefs, diverse learning needs, disability, illness, freedom, a different way to learn, school refusal, a past connection with home education…whatever the reason was that stood you at those starting blocks it was made with the best interests of your child/ren.
You have made the decision based on your research and understanding of both home education and your child. Stand proud and shut the negative comments out. Use this as an opportunity to educate people about home education and how it works in Tasmania. You all have to write a HEP/HESP each year which outlines ‘the how’ of your home education program/s. You have put a massive amount of time and energy into your program. Be proud of your program. Be proud of home education. You are all representatives of our wonderful community. Stand tall, stand proud and stand together and be reassured that you are doing an amazing job which has the best interests of your child at heart. Together we can shine the light on home education and the many wonderful benefits it can have in learning and engagement.
Start conversations, quite often you will find that by the end of them those who were quick to criticise have changed their views once they understand how it works and that kids aren’t kept in 4 walls of their homes isolated from the general population-how do people in 2025 still have that idea that this is what home education is?! Remember, for all those who criticise, there are many more who are in awe of your decision and admire the bravery within it. Stand tall, stand proud!
Home education is continuing to grow and we currently have 1517 children registered in Tasmania from 959 families. We welcome all the new families to the home education community who have recently joined us and encourage you to make contact with the OER if you need help in connecting with established networks in your area. Having a support base can be crucial in helping you navigate the often-bumpy start to home education.
We hope you have been utilising the DLN videos which you can find here. These can also be used as part of the research standard when you are writing your HEP/HESP. If you can make the time, I encourage all parents with children who have diverse learning needs to watch these videos.
Well, we are certainly in the midst of Winter. It has felt particularly colder this year. I know we have experienced more frosts in our area already this year than in recent years and, if my toes and fingers are anything to go by, the Friday night and Saturday morning soccer games have been good indicators of very cold weather!
Winter does bring many benefits though which I have spoken about in past winter seasons. Colder, wet ‘indoor days’ for dusting off the board game selection, indoor obstacle courses being created, more time for enjoying a story together, more of a chance to come together as a family and make future plans or just laugh and share stories without the rushing about. However you like to experience Winter, marvel at the frost, splash in puddles, play board games, read a good book…enjoy it. It is a time to take time, to sit back, enjoy time with the family, challenge a family member to a chess game…whatever it might be before Spring arrives and with it, a busy schedule that always seems to happen at that time of the year as we hurtle towards Summer and the Christmas period.
I hope you all have a productive Winter with your learning and engagement. Learning doesn’t just come from workbooks. Be inspired by what is happening around you during the ‘hibernation’ season and challenge yourself to pull as much learning from your environment as you can. It is often surprising just how much learning is happening without us actually realising! Be inspired!
Denise Cox
Chair, THEAC