|
How homeschooling changed me as a parent
by Beverley Paine, Jun 2023
I found it extremely difficult to make my children do bookwork or activities for the sake of learning/education. This challenged me enormously. I think when I started to homeschool (in 1985) I had this cosy picture of mum and the kids doing schoolwork at the table, reading on the couch together, going for nature walks, all in lovely warm sepia tones, rosy red cheeks and happy smiles...
What I got was April becoming very 'tired' at 10am in the morning, suddenly 'hungry' or needing to use the loo, or head in hands crying. Not every day, but enough to frustrate me. And some days she couldn't do the simple sums she'd done the day before. It was all very confusing!
I thought that if I kept applying myself to the task of teaching, trying different 'fun' ways of presenting the lesson or bookwork, things would be different and we'd crack this homeschooling nut and start enjoying it... but no. Doing the same things, albeit in slightly different ways, every day wasn't working.
There were days when I was ready to give up, send the kids to school, let it be someone else's problem.
But then there would be days when everything flowed, when our life was a wonderful, magical 'bubble of love', and I knew I wanted more of that, just had to figure out what made those days work and the other ones not...
That's when I started learning about individual learning preferences (aka learning styles), and also about some of the factors that make it easier or more difficult to learn. I began tweaking our environment and habits. I began paying more attention to who we are as people, and realised that a lot of what I'd been doing as a home educating mumma was prefaced on who I thought we *should* be. I'd been working overtime to meet standards and expectations that I didn't even value.
That's how I inadvertently began deschooling myself. And it changed me. I'd always questioned everything I did and thought before then, but now it was coming home to me in very real practical ways. I needed to change how I was doing things so they aligned with my values. I had to put my values before all the *should* stuff in my head. This put me on the path of becoming an assertive person. And assertiveness was something I'd listed as a goal for our kids, so it seemed kind of important for me to model it!
Over the years I became less of someone who knew what was the *right* way to do things, insisting that everyone align to my world view and values, and became aware of the need to champion the uniqueness of my children and everyone I met. I stopped wanting to *fix* the world and just wanted to be someone who could help others, in whatever way I could, find solutions that worked for them.
And my kids' resistance to being asked or coerced to do and learn things that didn't make sense to them in any immediate meaningful way started me on that journey.
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.
"You've been an inspiration to me, I love the way
you really listen to people." Vanessa
"Whenever I read your writing I always come away
with increased confidence in my ability to provide and
share a wonderful learning journey with my family!" Davina
"Your guidance, understanding, support and words of
wisdom changed our lives. We now offer support and
organise many homeschooling events for others." Lesley
"Thank you once again for your prompt and friendly service.
I am convinced that your books are going to add
quality and peace of mind to my journey of teaching my kids
at home! Just from studying your website, until almost
2am
in the morning, I 've been encouraged!" Louisa
"Thank you for all your many,many reassuring words
over many, many years. You probably don't know exactly how
valuable you are to the Australian Home Education community.
I've been reading your stuff for maybe 8 years or more now.
And I'm very grateful." Gythaa
CLICK HERE
if you want to learn
how to write your own education plans
to suit
your unique children's
individual learning needs?
Or you are looking for quality curriculum and teaching tips...
|
|
Welcome to the World of Home Education
and Learning without School!
We began educating our children in 1985, when our eldest was five. In truth, we had helped them learn what they need to learn since they were born. I am a passionate advocate of allowing children to learn unhindered by unnecessary stress and competition, meeting developmental needs in ways that suit their individual learning styles and preferences. Ours was a homeschooling, unschooling and natural learning family! There are hundreds of articles on this site to help you build confidence as a home educating family. We hope that your home educating adventure is as satisfying as ours was! Beverley Paine
3 ESSENTIAL STEP BY STEP GUIDES
Let experienced home educators Beverley, Tamara and April walk you through HOW to create a learning plan that builds on solid foundations that works for YOUR family AND ticks all the boxes for home educaton registration!
|
Tap into Beverley's
experience
through her books
"Your books, your blogs helped me beyond words... they helped me to find comfort in knowing it is ok to choose exactly what is best for my family." Nisha
"Your books and information are mind blowing and already I am feeling good about this new experience." Diane
"Your guidance, understanding, support & words of wisdom changed our lives." Leslie
"I feel specially inspired by Beverley's words and, the more I read her comments, the more inspired I feel, since my need for support, respect for different parenting styles, and information are fully met." Marijo
|
 |
|
The information on this website is of a general nature only and is not intended as personal or professional advice. This site merges and incorporates 'Homeschool Australia' and 'Unschool Australia'.
The Educating Parent acknowledges the Traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Owners, the Custodians of Australia, and pay our respects to Elders past and present and extend that respect to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people viewing this website.
Advertise on this site.
Australia's premier online annual conferences, lifetime access to video and audio recordings, freebies, notes and associated resource guides.
EVERY SUMMIT IS UNIQUE!
$29 each  2023  2022 2021
$25 each 2020 2019 2017
"Biggest and best Aussie homeschool event of the year!"
Home education is a legal alternative
to school education in Australia.
State and Territory governments are responsible
for regulating home education and have different
requirements, however home educating families
are able to develop curriculum and learning programs
to suit the individual needs of their children.
Without revenue from advertising
by educational suppliers and Google Ads
we could not continue to provide information
to home educators. Please support us by letting
our advertisers know that you found them on
The Educating Parent. Thanks!
|
About
Thank you for visiting!