THEAC Newsletter - Spring 2025

THEAC Newsletter - Spring 2025

I have been fortunate enough of late to travel frequently through some country roads lined with green glistening fields on both sides and in them scattered are tiny white lambs frolicking in the paddocks, prancing and dancing innocently through the air with no concerns about life and enjoying the moment totally blissful and unaware.  It’s always a delight to witness young animals as they explore the world around them with an abundance of over enthused energy.  It made me think about the joy of childhood innocence and how the simple joys have been largely lost.  Modern society has almost forced kids to grow up way too fast and they carry the extra weight of that on their shoulders. A lot of children have lost the opportunity to be children.

While in the countryside today, I watched some lambs playing in the fields and was amused by their childish antics.  It reminded me of those free times as a young child running about and playing -with no strict schedules, no time frames, no adult responsibilities, simply enjoying living in the moment, carefree without the stresses that exist today.  I am probably showing my age, but I can remember when shops closed at 12pm on a Saturday and didn’t open again until Monday!  How did we cope?! 

Back then the ‘weekend time’ was largely filled with family time, exploring and general ‘down time’.  It is so important for our kids to experience boredom.  Kids lives these days are jam packed with so many different activities and are always on the move between them that they rarely have the time to experience boredom. When they do, they don’t seem to be able to cope with it.  It’s important that kids experience different emotions and learn how to process them.  Life is full of setbacks and none of us escape life without experiencing a few of these but how well do people cope with them? How do we set our kids up to be resilient?

I recently saw a quote that said ‘Flowers don’t worry about how they’re going to bloom.  They just open up and turn toward the light and that makes them beautiful’.  For me it made me reflect for a moment on both parenting and education. When children are young, they shouldn’t have to carry worries that weigh on them daily, they should be able to feel free and excited like the new lambs in the paddocks enjoying their freedom, not tied down to a heavy schedule and they should be able to carry their energy into their learning. They should have the opportunity to go on nature adventures-as simple as racing sticks down the local river or an outing with family exploring a bit further afield.

Everything we do with our children is a learning opportunity.  Every question has the opportunity to lead down a different pathway.  There is so much exploring to be done and it can be great fun! As home educators we have the unique opportunity to ‘be the light’ and open those doors for our child/ren to explore the wonders of the world and allow them to truly blossom.  While some days are really difficult, and I get that as I experience those days too, our children are lucky to have an alternative pathway for their learning that fosters curiosity and enables them to become lifelong learners and problem solvers for the future. Having less deadlines and learning at their level/speed reduces pressure, encourages engagement and creates happier individuals. As home educators, the chances are that your children have many moments to run free, experience boredom and become wonderful inventors of made-up games and creations during this time.  This nurtures problem solving skills and creativity-something lost in a lot of children in today’s world. Fostering lifelong learners by creating a pressure free learning environment is a truly beautiful gift, one that you can all be incredibly proud of.  You are the light that makes them beautiful. Let them bloom to their full potential.

It’s hard to believe Spring is already almost halfway gone, I think much of it has been blown away!  I hope your gardens have been able to withstand the blustery conditions and some flowers have been left to bob around.  It’s also hard to believe that we are hurtling towards summer, it’s difficult to comprehend what a warm day is after the cooler weather we have been experiencing!

Home education continues to thrive in Tasmania.  We currently have 1565 students from 980 families.  Once again, we welcome all new home educators and their children to home education.  If you are struggling to connect with other home education groups, please contact the office to find some connections to home education groups within the community.  I would also like to take this opportunity to say a special ‘Thank you’ to all those parents who volunteer their time in some capacity within the home education community.  From those who run newsletters in the south and the north to those who run different activity groups or provide support and encouragement to others, ‘thank you’. Everyone within the home education community has benefited at some point from your time and we all appreciate it.

To those in the community who are juggling home education with everything else in life and who have children with diverse learning needs, know that you are not alone.  It is not an easy pathway to take and it’s OK to have days where it feels as though it’s not working.  Be kind to yourself, be kind to your child and take a step back and reset.  It can be extra difficult when you are new to home education and not by choice.  When your child doesn’t fit the glove of mainstream schooling it can be very bumpy navigating your way into a home education pathway.  Take some time to allow your child to decompress.  Get to know their interests better.  Relax on schedules and expectations.  Slowly grow your program so there is less pressure for you and your child.  It can be daunting to find a starting point for some and others can get a little over excited and try and cram too much into their program which will only burn you and your child out.  It needs to be fun. It needs to be engaging.  It needs to have lower expectations to begin with. You are both the parent and educator and that can be a difficult role to juggle.

The OER have now closed their annual survey.  THEAC look forward to seeing the results and learning the identified strengths and weaknesses in the home education process.  We have already witnessed a lot of positive changes over the past year since the previous survey was conducted.  Thank you to all of you who have taken the time to participate. 

As we look at beginning term 4, it is also a chance for us to begin to reflect on the year behind us.  There will always be moments that we would do differently if we got the chance again.  Nothing in life is perfect.  Focus on the positive outcomes of your program/s so far and find ways to capitalise on these.  Celebrate the achievements with your children.  These will be measured differently by every family and be different for every individual child within a family.  For those learning moments that have not been as successful as we might have anticipated, don’t view them as a failure.  Everything is an opportunity to learn. Sometimes the ‘failed’ projects are the ones that provide us with the biggest learning opportunities- maybe just not in the way we anticipated!

I wish you all happiness in the remainder of this year’s learning.  This part of the year disappears faster than any other part of the year so make sure you find time for yourselves and some time to reflect on the year so far with your child/ren.  Value their input, ask them how they are enjoying their journey.  Work together to find ways to make it work for both of you.  Cherish those learning moments together and watch in joy as you nurture their curiosity as your children explore the world around them!  Be their light, show them the way and watch in awe as they bloom!  It really is the most beautiful journey to share together.

Denise Cox

Chair, THEAC