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© Beverley Paine

A while back a mum considering homeschooling said to me that she's really looking forward to it, thinks they're going to enjoy doing it, and was really excited at the prospect, thinking it would lots of fun, and then asked me if she was being realistic.
And I said Absolutely! What was happening was that she was flying high on a positive attitude. Everything becomes possible when we adopt that attitude!

Home educating WILL be lots of fun, but it won't ALWAYS be lots of fun. There are going to be some very bleak days: see my articles on managing homeschool life, burn out, feeling overwhelmed on www.theeducatingparent.com. Reading about how other families cope and the strategies they use will help minimise the incidence of not-so-fun days.

In our early years we are beset by incredible self-doubt, along with the worry that we're harming our kids, or feeling like we're letting the team down by not earning money instead... There will be times when life conspires against us and it all looks way too hard. We've all been there. It's may not be all fun, but it's life and eventually those pesky kids actually turn out to be our best friends.

I've always worked hard to put my relationship with my family first by asking 'what's most important?' It's easy to choose what to do when framed by that question. We kept life simple and cheap in those early years and I'm sure it helped.

Most of us end up picking up this resource and then another, rarely satisfied for long.We spend lots of time thinking that what we're doing and using with our children is inadequate. And we'll be tempted to cram in as much as we can - buy resources we won't use, take the kids places they're not interested in, spend hours organising elaborate unit studies only to have our plans waylaid by injured dogs, sick children, visitors, and lots more!

Home educating isn't a lot different from parenting, and we all know what that entails! So yes, it will be fun, but more than that, it will be immensely rewarding.

If you need more tips and advice from experienced home educators, or simply some lovely heartfelt encouragement to boost your confidence, don't forget to sign up for the 2020 Australian Homeschooling Summit in May:

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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.

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over many, many years. You probably don't know exactly how
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I've been reading your stuff for maybe 8 years or more now.
And I'm very grateful." Gythaa

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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

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.

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 Connect with Beverley and ask questions through her online The Educating Parents Homeschooling and Unschooling Facebook and Yahoo support groups.

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