Anna - Rockingham, WA - Whadjuk Country

03/24/24 • 42 min

“I hope at the end of all this I’ll have raised two kids who love learning.”

If they are not home, chances are Anna and her kids (ages 9 & 4) can be found in their local library. So great is their love for this community haven of literature, living within walking distance of it strongly influenced where they chose to reside in Rockingham, Western Australia. Homeschoolers from day dot, this musical, book loving, nature appreciating family value time together and connection over curriculum.
SUMMARY:

Anna was born in Kalgoorlie but has lived in Perth since she was 6 years old. She met her husband on a trip to South Africa and convinced him to move to WA where they are now raising their family together.
Being the recipient of a high school music scholarship didn’t equate to Anna loving school. She would have loved to have been homeschooled herself.
Seeing the best and worst of kids lives, working in school chaplaincy prior to having kids herself, was a contributing factor to choosing to homeschool.
Homeschooling was always on her radar. It wasn’t a really ‘out there’ decision for them, which made the choice easy, and they also didn’t experience any negative reactions from friends, family or their larger community.
Anna loves the efficiency of homeschooling - particularly the one-on-one learning aspect of homeschooling, which schools aren’t able to replicate.
Theirs is a literature based homeschool - books are at the centre of everything they do. Literature is the spine.
Letting the kids loose in the library can lead to tangents of learning they may follow for a week.
Being a one income family, the library is an incredible resource that she utilises to the utmost.
Nature Discovery is an Australian nature study curriculum she wrote because she couldn’t find a resource that addressed the things that her kids saw around them.
Connection drives all that they undertake and she loves being able to learn through experiences together. All life is learning.
Books are wonderful, but there is a big world to experience out there beyond the books too.
Her favourite thing about this lifestyle is getting to hang out with her kids and learn alongside them.
Learning does’t stop at the completion of grade 12. Homeschooling extends childhood and play, and you can keep playing as an adult too.
Wanting her kids to have a tree climbing childhood, pottering about in the garden and being part of the natural world.

CONNECT
Instagram - @naturediscoveryau

Facebook - Nature Discovery

Website - Nature Discovery

NOTE: This is an abridged version of the show notes.
Follow the link below to find quotes, resources and inspiration Anna shares in this episode:
FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Connect with us:
Instagram - @australianhomeschoolstories
Substack - Australian Homeschool Stories
This podcast is recorded on the lands of the Bunurong people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded. This always was, always will be aboriginal land.
Original Music by Daniel Garrood @garroodcomposer
Listen on Spotify here

Anna was born in Kalgoorlie but has lived in Perth since she was 6 years old. She met her husband on a trip to South Africa and convinced him to move to WA where they are now raising their family together.
Being the recipient of a high school music scholarship didn’t equate to Anna loving school. She would have loved to have been homeschooled herself.
Seeing the best and worst of kids lives, working in school chaplaincy prior to having kids herself, was a contributing factor to choosing to homeschool.
Homeschooling was always on her radar. It wasn’t a really ‘out there’ decision for them, which made the choice easy, and they also didn’t experience any negative reactions from friends, family or their larger community.
Anna loves the efficiency of homeschooling - particularly the one-on-one learning aspect of homeschooling, which schools aren’t able to replicate.
Theirs is a literature based homeschool - books are at the centre of everything they do. Literature is the spine.
Letting the kids loose in the library can lead to tangents of learning they may follow for a week.
Being a one income family, the library is an incredible resource that she utilises to the utmost.
Nature Discovery is an Australian nature study curriculum she wrote because she couldn’t find a resource that addressed the things that her kids saw around them.
Connection drives all that they undertake and she loves being able to learn through experiences together. All life is learning.
Books are wonderful, but there is a big world to experience out there beyond the books too.
Her favourite thing about this lifestyle is getting to hang out with her kids and learn alongside them.
Learning does’t stop at the completion of grade 12. Homeschooling extends childhood and play, and you can keep playing as an adult too.
Wanting her kids to have a tree climbing childhood, pottering about in the garden and being part of the natural world.

CONNECT
Instagram - @naturediscoveryau

Facebook - Nature Discovery

Website - Nature Discovery

Previous Episode

Richa - Melbourne, VIC / Bunurong Country

“Don’t let fear guide you. You’ve chosen this path, lead it with love.”

Richa and her husband, who were both born and educated in India, now live in Melbourne and home educate their two children, aged 7 and 2. We cover a variety of topics in this episode including Montessori, minimalism, community building, sibling dynamics and fostering a love of reading, nature and kindness.
SUMMARY:

When Richa and her husband were house hunting in Melbourne they were ironically drawn to Bayside for the schools, but it was the solace and peace of being next to water that solidified their choice to call this area home.
Early on people would point out that her child had a lot of anxiety and that she was so attached, but isn’t that how humans are designed to be? We are supposed to be close to our caregivers.
They migrated to Melbourne without any support system, all their family live in India. Finding other friends who homeschool has been an incredible help and given their family both mental and physical support.
There is chaos in bringing a younger sibling into the mix of homeschooling but it is also enriching for the sibling connections and bonding - if her daughter were in school right now, her son would hardly see her.
Open your house up to welcome friends in, share a meal together, do a craft together. It can be hard finding the people with whom you can connect with on a deeper level.
Intentionally not over-scheduling their week. Letting them be, giving them free time to tinker around - she values that more.
Homeschooling minimally means not having more things and more materials. Not overwhelming yourself with the multitude of curriculum choices out there. It’s very easy to bring overwhelm into your space. It’s about prioritising less.
She is looking forward to seeing the beautiful people her children turn out to be and the joy they bring to others
Read more, talk to people who have been doing this for a long time. It’s easier and less daunting than it seems.

INSPIRATION

Simplicity Parenting - Kim John Payne (book)

Unconditional Parenting - Alfie Kohn (book)

The Secret of Childhood - Maria Montessori (book)

Good Inside Podcast - Dr Becky Kennedy

@bigmothering (instagram)

@mainly.montesorri.homeschool (instagram)

@wonderled.life (instagram)
RESOURCES

Blossom & Root - Nature based, secular homeschooling curriculum

CONNECT
Instagram - @waliaricha

NOTE: This is an abridged version of the show notes.
Follow the link below to find quotes and read aloud recommendations Richa shares in this episode:
FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Connect with us:
Instagram - @australianhomeschoolstories
Substack - Australian Homeschool Stories
This podcast is recorded on the lands of the Bunurong people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded. This always was, always will be aboriginal land.
Original Music by Daniel Garrood @garroodcomposer
Listen on Spotify here

Next Episode

Debbie - Brisbane, QLD / Turrbal Country

“That's the beauty of an unschooling lifestyle, it’s just continuing what you’ve always done with your children.”

Having always homeschooled and having been homeschooled herself, Debbie’s story spans across both analog and digital generations. Whilst she never set out to become a radical unschooler, she now confidently embraces the path her family have chosen. Along the way she has created a viable small business that has the potential to revolutionise the way we balance working and homeschooling, a dilemma many modern home educating families face.
Summary:

Homeschooling was a very unusual choice 30 years ago. She never thought of herself as weird or strange but looking back she could see how tiny the homeschooling community must have been compared to what it is now.
Whilst it might have been true back then, the perception that people have of homeschooling today, that children aren’t going to be able to socialise and they will be stuck at home, is so inaccurate.
School as it is currently laid out, is not very effective.
Having a transformative VBAC home birth with her second child proved to be a catalyst for considering homeschooling for her own children.
When your child is two and you are going to the local show that’s got diggers, you are unschooling. You’re following your child’s interests. You just keep doing that as they get older, ignoring that there's an arbitrary age where some people have decided that we should start doing learning only through doing book work and we should start learning only by doing a particular subject in a particular way.
Debbie shares her interpretation of the differences between unschooling and radical unschooling. She doesn't believe anyone identifies with radical unschooling unless they actually are unschooling all of the time.
Debbie created The Village Hub as there was no place that existed where you could take your kids and they could have some fun and you could also get some work done. The Village Hub is an unschooling friendly space. It is not structured. It is free play. It is messy play.
With the homeschool community continuing to grow, this could be the way of the future - having hubs in every area of Australia is her next dream because it really does tick so many boxes. She would love to mentor others to open something similar to The Village Hub in other areas of Queensland and Australia.
On the 6th of March 2024, legislation changes were proposed that impact homeschooling in Queensland and Debbie is working with the Free 2 Homeschool advocacy team. She outlines the major changes that are being proposed and how we can all get involved and do our bit to help.

NOTE: This is an abridged version of the show notes.
Follow the link below to dive deeper and find quotes, links and references that Debbie shares in this episode:
FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Connect:

Instagram - @thevillagehub.qld
Facebook - The Village Hub

Instagram - @australianhomeschoolstories
Substack - Australian Homeschool Stories
This podcast is recorded on the lands of the Bunurong people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded. This always was, always will be aboriginal land.