The Educating Parent (merging Beverley Paine's Homeschool Australia and Unschool Australia)

New articles added every week! Last updated August 27th, 2024

Introducing our Always Learning Homeschool Year Plans! If you don't have time to create your own learning plan and want something ready to be included in your registration application, this is for you! A full year of links to curriculum aligned lesson plans, unit studies and activity suggestions in each of the 8 curriculum areas.

Years F-10 of our NEW Always Learning Planner, Diary and Reports - all of your homeschool and unschool recording in the one convenient comb-bound booklet - are now available - now feature the all new Version 9 of the Australian Curriculum!

Don't forget, if you or someone you know is getting started with home educating, or are needing a refresher course, our 3 Parent Workbooks, a self-paced course on getting started with home education, will walk you through how to write a learning plan tailored to your children's educational needs and your family circumstances. Our aim is to help you ace this homeschooling gig! Available now from Always Learning Books.

CAN YOU HELP? We're looking for learning plans, home ed applications and reviews from NT, ACT and WA to add to our collection of example learning plans on our website. Email Beverley for how to add yours if you want.

And don't forget that we're currently updating our popular FREE Resource Directory and Support Groups Directory. If you are an educational provider and wish to advertise we can include a brief free listing, and hurry as Display Advertising for 2023 closes soon!

Chat with me and other experienced home educators in my very popular online Facebook group.

Educate your Children at Home!

You won't be alone. Many Australian families choose to educate their children at home. Home education is both rewarding and enjoyable.

You don't need any special educational qualifications to educate your children at home.

People from all backgrounds successfully teach their children -- people with university degrees, trade certificates, small business owners, factory workers, people working from home, mums, dads - everyone has the ability to help their children learn at home!

The only qualification you need is LOVE for your children. Do you qualify? Yes!

Schools can't, and don't, love your children. They can care for them, look after them and teach them, but the essential successful ingredient in home education is love.

Love brings success to every learning situation.

From the love you offer your children will come the responsibility, commitment and drive to continuously strive for the best education available for your children.

Your life-long dedication to your children's health and happiness will drive you to seek out best and most appropriate resources and to facilitate excellent quality learning opportunities and activities for your children.

You, too, will become a life-long, passionate learner!

Home education is grounded in love and commitment. A parent's love for a child. A child's love for his or her parent. This is a solid foundation to grow educational success upon.

Do you want to know more?

Are you interested in building strong, enduring and respectful family relationships? Are you interested in becoming involved in healthy, active and interested communities, dedicated to promoting the educational opportunities and well being of not only children, but adults too?

This web site is packed with information about how you and your family can explore the world of homeschooling. You'll find lots of great ideas and tips to help you navigate your way easily into a happy home learning environment.

"Little children love the world.
That is why they are so good at learning about it.
For it is love, not tricks and techniques of thought,
that lies at the heart of all true learning.
Can we bring ourselves to let children learn
and grow through that love?"

"Everyone crafts a self-directed life doing the things they love to do."
Barb Lundgren

From an early age we're coerced and manipulated to view the things we love to do as self-indulgent, or not of any intrinsic or economic value. We're persuaded not to trust our instincts or our growing knowledge, experience, wisdom and taught that we need to rely on others to help us learn what they think we need to learn.

"When we work with nature instead of trying to impose our will,
the solution is often found within the problem."
David Holmgren

Do you want to simplify your home education curriculum? Save time 'teaching' your children every day? Are you tired of grumpy kids who won't complete lessons on time and take forever to learn anything?

It's a different - liberating - form of education. It builds on and enhances children's existing learning - natural learning - abilities.

Take advantage of the natural way to learn, the way your kids mastered the most difficult lessons in life during their first three years...

As a loving, caring, attentive parents passionately interested in your children's education you don't need special educational qualifications to help your children learn. You already have the qualification that is most needed to make the difference: LOVE for your children. Do you qualify? Yes!

The most important difference between the classroom your children left behind and your wonderful home learning environment is schools don't, and never will, love your children. They can care for them, look after them and teach them, but the essential successful ingredient in home education is love.

I've said it before and I'll say it again, "Love brings success to every learning situation."

From the love you offer your children will come the responsibility, commitment and drive to continuously strive for the education that meets the needs of your unique children. Your life-long dedication to your children's health and happiness will drive you to seek out best and most appropriate resources and to facilitate excellent quality learning opportunities and activities for your children. You, too, will become a life-long, passionate learner!

And that's the key to successful unschooling too. Learning doesn't happen because it is what we want. It doesn't happen by force... Learning doesn't happen because someone else wants us to learn or think we should... Learning happens because it... simply does!

We're learning every moment of every day. Unschoolers and natural learners don't focus on the what, when, how and why of learning. They focus on being in control and taking responsibility for their own learning processes. They are motivated and engaged learners because of this.

Sounds good, doesn't it? Want to know how to jump from 'homeschooling' to 'unschooling'? There's nothing to it really. You don't have to DO anything differently - you just have to start THINKING differently. Unschooling is an attitude.

The Educating Parent focuses on supporting people ready and willing to leave the industrial age paradigm of education far behind! Here you'll find lots of encouragement, reassurance and information.

Unschooling and learning naturally are empowering! Become personally involved in your children's education. Be there to mark those special learning moments. To share in the delight of discovery. To guide your child through the trials and tribulations of childhood. The excitement, the awe, the anticipation, the wonder.

Was this article helpful? Was it worth $1.00 to you? Your gift of $1 or more helps to keep this site operating offering encouragement and reassurance to families wanting better outcomes for their children.

Beverley Paine with her children, and their home educated children, relaxing at home.

Together with the support of my family, my aim is to help parents educate their children in stress-free, nurturing environments. In addition to building and maintaing this website, I continue to create and manage local and national home educating networks, help to organise conferences and camps, as well as write for, edit and produce newsletters, resource directories and magazines. I am an active supporter of national, state, regional and local home education groups.