THEAC Newsletter - January

A new year.  The new year brings with it new beginnings, new promises, new year resolutions and new learning opportunities.  The beginning of a new year provides us with the chance to stop and reflect on the year that has been and channel our thoughts on where we want to go, what goals we want to achieve and how we are going to get there!  It is a great time for both reflection and celebration of what has been achieved.  It is easy to feel overwhelmed by what we haven’t achieved forgetting to celebrate the success of what has been achieved.

How we measure success is different for every household but every element of success in home educating your child/ren should be celebrated.  For some, this could simply have been finding a way to finally engage your child/ren in learning and for others it might be your 12 year old reading the entire Harry Potter series.  Successful outcomes usually follow on from an interesting journey for us (and our children) and the pathway to success presents wonderful opportunities for us, and our children, to develop resilience, determination and to develop the skills to thrive in life. 

As the new year starts and you begin to plan for the year ahead, take a moment with your child/ren to stop and reflect and celebrate the successes of 2022.  Let you child/ren hear you list off the achievements you all made, no matter how great or small.  Relish in the opportunity to bring what you have achieved during 2022 into a family conversation and from it more discussion will evolve on what goals every individual in your household will have for 2023.  Enjoy the moment to stop and reflect on what a truly amazing journey you have accomplished in 2022.

THEAC continued to be busy during 2022.  At 7 December 2022 the OER had 1417 students enrolled in home education across the state from 837 families.  The OER is now entering a busy time of the year where they receive an increase in home education applications, particularly with the those starting their home education journey.  Please be patient with the OER as they navigate their way through this busy period.

2022 brought many challenges for the OER and THEAC wishes to again extend our appreciation for the continued support we receive from the OER.  THEAC would also like to, once again, thank the home education community for their patience and support during the challenges of 2022!  We wish everyone every success with their home education programs this year!

THEAC are very excited to announce that there will be two online seminars early in 2023 based on educating children with diverse learning needs.  We have been working on these for some time and are thrilled to be able to advise that the first of these will be held on Feb 6 and the second on Feb 13.  Both will commence at 7pm.  Links to register for the seminars will be on the OER Facebook page and sent to home educators through the Schoolzine platform via email.

The first of these seminars will be conducted by Alison Hopwood, who is a Paediatric Occupational Therapist.  Alison’s topic will be ‘Supporting regulation for learning’ and will be held on Feb 6.  Alison originally established Independent Kids-Occupational Therapy (Hobart) in 2008.  She has worked with children for over 30 years.  Alison’s aim is to assist children, young adults and their families reach their full potential, whether that is at home, school, the community, childcare or transitioning into the workforce.  Alison has long standing experience in sensory issues and their related behaviours, social skills, planning (praxis) and learning abilities.  She uses many different approaches but strongly believes that any successful therapeutic intervention comes from strength in relationship.

The second of these seminars will be conducted by Catherine Silcock on Feb 13.  Catherine’s topic will be ‘Engagement: your best learning foundation’.  Catherine is a Hobart based Speech Language Pathologist, also with 30 years experience, in paediatric speech language pathology.  She promotes support practices that foster regulation and engagement first with the understanding that removing learning obstacles and building connections is always our best foundation for next step learning.

Well, it certainly has been a strange start to summer.  As the sun finally starts to show its full strength, enjoy the warm summer breezes and the longer nights that it brings.  Take the opportunity to sit and enjoy a break with your family.  Feel the sand beneath your toes and take delight in dipping your feet into the chilly Tasmanian water!  Watch the crabs scurry over the rocks and the birds swirl high in the sky.  Enjoy these moments, re-charge, celebrate your successes and treasure the special times with your family.

We wish you all a year full of new and wonderful learning opportunities.

Denise Cox

THEAC Chair