2023 Workshops
Planning, neurodiversity, unschooling, socialisation – if you need to know about it, chances are we’re covering it!
Welcome! The 2023 Australian Homeschooling Summit ran February 20 – March 3.
But don’t worry, you haven’t missed out – we recorded EVERYTHING and it’s all available for you to watch whenever you want!
Want to watch:
- Access to recordings of all 30+ 2023 workshops and bonus sessions
- All associated resource guides
- Amazing homeschooling help!
- Read on to get details of all the workshops




Welcome & Frugal Homeschooling
Summary
Homeschooling often means giving up an income…and when you start looking at fancy curricula with your tight budget it’s easy to think that a) you’re going to go bankrupt, or b) your children are going to ‘miss out’ on so many things.
Luckily, that’s not the case. Homeschooling can be incredibly affordable, and in this workshop I’ll show you how we homeschooled on a very tight budget, and provide lots of ideas that will allow you to create a top-quality education without breaking the bank.

How to Follow the New Australian Curriculum and NESA syllabus
Summary
Do you want the security of following the Australian Curriculum or NESA Syllabus but don’t know how? Do you worry about what you are expected to teach to maintain your registration?
Let me walk you through strategies to help you navigate meeting curriculum requirements and still stick to the way you want to educate your child. I’ll talk about interpreting the official government syllabus content and what that can look like in real life. Then I’ll give you some ideas for gathering evidence to present as proof of learning when you go for reregistration.

A Constructive Approach to Deschooling
Tamara Kidd
Summary
A common approach to deschooling is to view it simply as the time you adjust from using a school to the time you begin actively home educating. A time you ‘don’t do anything academic’. This might be logical and useful, but is it really going to ‘deschool’ your experience so you can gain the most out of your collective home educating experience?
During the 30-minute prerecorded session, I’ll to break down a constructivist approach to deschooling that will challenge everyone to reframe the experience according to their own individual needs and wants. This exercise can be reapplied throughout your home education journey, any time you feel it would have value. By the end, you will have a clearer idea of ‘what to do next’ and what deschooling really means for each person within your unique family. The benefits extend beyond those who are home educating, and can better help you deal with well-intended but negative comments from extended family, or friends, and help calm the other fears that come up such as ‘what about socialisation?’, ‘what about tertiary education?’, ‘which curriculum should I buy?’ etc. I will be watching along with you and answering questions as they come up in chat, and will be available live at the end to answer questions that require more explanation.

Ask Us Anything!
Panel
Amanda, Patricia, & Bec
Summary
Got questions that aren’t addressed by other workshop topics?
Submit your questions before or during the workshop, and turn up live to hear them discussed and answered by experienced parents.
These sessions are fun, interactive, and enable you to get real-time, direct help!

Homeschooling Through the Decades - a personal perspective
Summary
Friends call me the ‘grandmother of Australian homeschooling’ because in one way or another I’ve been actively supporting and promoting home education since the mid-1980s… And because I’m old, or at least I feel old, and well I actually DO have grandkids who ARE being home educated…
It’s time to glance back over four decades, reminisce a little and reflect a lot. Join me, and bring your questions, because everyone knows how much I love to chat once the slideshow is done!

Navigating the Negative
Rachael Clark
Summary

Regional and Rural Homeschooling
Jillina Whittaker
Summary
The best part of homeschooling is learning anywhere at anytime. But if you live regional or rural there are some unique challenges and opportunities. Big distances, shonky internet, and lack of services can be the norm. But geography doesn’t have to stop you! Jillina is a mum of 4 living in outback QLD so she knows what it’s like to homeschool kids outside big cities.
In this workshop Jillina will share tips and practical ways to develop rich education experiences despite location. Including how to incorporate resources, competitions, education providers, virtual excursions, and funding great for regional and rural kids, including teens.

Learning Can Look Like This!
Lusi Austin
Summary
So you’ve decided you want to homeschool. Yay! But you might be left wondering: what does learning look like? Or maybe you are just interested in the idea of homeschooling and still have the same question.
In this workshop we will:
* go through practical ideas of what learning can actually look like using examples from our homeschooling journey
* break down each subject into learning ideas for children across different ages
* talk about how to identify your child’s learning interests
* and look at how learning can be matched back to outcomes for a subject using a child’s interest as the starting point

Design Technologies - Making it Real
Jason Carlile
Summary
Sometimes using the Australian Curriculum can seem out of reach with all of the edu-speak but accessing fun and rewarding subjects like Design Technologies is easier than you think!
Jason will support you to develop the knowledge and skills to confidently deliver a Design Technologies based project to your children by walking you through the Australian Curriculum, including the General Capabilities covered in a good project and how to make the Cross Curriculum priorities easy!
Plus, you’ll learn how to choose projects that harness your child’s interests and creativity, develop an understanding of the design process, see examples that can be done in your home using everyday supplies, and get some ideas on where to find resources. By the end, you will have a firm understanding of the middle school (grades 7-10) Design Technologies curriculum and know how to define and develop an interest-led project easily in your home without specialist skills or equipment!

Lego - Play Well…Learn Better!
Melissa Vaughan
Summary
Making learning fun and opening our minds to alternative ways of doing and being is often one of the hardest things about stepping into home education – and even experienced home educators can fall into the trap of doing things the ‘school’ way. Learning doesn’t have to be boring; you don’t have to sit down or use pen and paper to learn, learning can be fun, flexible, creative and most importantly, cover a bunch of subjects simultaneously!
Melissa will help you recognise the important learning that happens in your children’s everyday play and extend that learning using carefully selected materials and experiences. She will help you to discover new ways to learn ‘boring’ subjects using Lego and fit more play into your day! By the end of this session, you will be able to generate ideas for supporting your own children’s learning using Lego, recognise the learning happening all the time in your children’s play, and translate that learning into notes and samples for reporting purposes.

Transitioning from School to Home Education
Patricia Fitzgerald
Summary
Have you made the decision to home educate your children, but are not sure what that should look like? Maybe your don’t know how to get started and take that leap? During this session we will explore choices and pathways into how to make your home education experience what you want, whilst exploring the logistics of the move. How to exit school. How to recognise the differences between your ideal vision and what your children need. And how to implement this into starting your journey, whether you plan this experience as a short-term or life-long pathway.

Enough about Socialisation! Let’s talk about BELONGING.
Sara Macdonald
Summary
We’ve all been asked the socialisation question a million times over, right? But it’s about time to stop talking about socialisation, and start talking about belonging. You can be around other children quite easily, but a community where you belong is quite a different thing. If we have to pick one that kids need to thrive though, it’s the latter. But how do you find a community that meets these needs?
By the end of this workshop you’ll understand the importance of community and a sense of belonging for children, be clear about your role in cultivating your kids community, have some ideas about how to go about finding or creating a community that works for you, and have realistic ideas about your own responsibilities as a community member.

Creating and Benefiting from a Perpetual Primary Plan
Dana Hennessy
Summary

How to create your own exciting Unit Plans!
Nat Mardon
Summary

Child-Led Learning & Meeting Rego Requirements
Panel
Bel, Patricia, April, & Jillina
Summary
Submit your questions before or during the workshop, and turn up live to hear them discussed and answered by experienced parents.
These sessions are fun, interactive, and enable you to get real-time, direct help!

We are the Future of Education
Dr Rebecca English
Summary

Living and Learning as a Solo Parent
Cam Dubin
Summary

Five Things You Can Do To Teach Your Children About Money
Neil Edmond
Summary

Social Opportunities for Homeschoolers
Panel
Bec, Amanda, Nat, & Kylie
Summary
Got questions about how to provide wide and varied social opportunities for your child?
Submit your questions before or during the workshop, and turn up live to hear them discussed and answered by experienced parents.
These sessions are fun, interactive, and enable you to get real-time, direct help!

Homeschooling With Your Hands Full
Penny Graham
Summary

The Value of Community
Kylie Rayner
Summary

The Secrets to Unschooling Confidently, Simply and Happily with your Children
Summary

Kids in the Kitchen
Summary
“There’s nothing to eat!” How often do you hear this? Inspire your kids to whip up all sorts of delicious meals with pantry basics, fresh fruit and vegetables and those leftovers sitting in the fridge. In our house, we rarely use recipes. We work with what we have. With a family background of challenging dietary restrictions, a love of food and over 25 years of kids in the kitchen, I’m looking forward to a tasty hour with you.
We’ll talk healthy food ideas, dietary restrictions, managing mess, and inspiration for reluctant eaters. Oh – and grab the ingredients on our download to make yourself a quick yummy treat while we chat.

The English we Never Teach
Tamara Kelly
Summary
During your education did someone give you a random letter of the alphabet which supposedly correlated with your ability in English? That experience may have persuaded you to decide that you were or weren’t “good at English” which is really ridiculous because you are reading this now aren’t you?
This 10 week course is nothing like that. It is aimed at middle to highschool ages and asks you to think and play with language as a creative medium and to pay attention to features we rarely pay attention to in an academic setting.

Long-Term Homeschooling
Panel
Erin, Bel, & Michelle
Summary
Homeschooling is a marathon, not a sprint, and this is the time for you to ask questions about how to stick at it for the long-term.
Submit your questions before or during the workshop, and turn up live to hear them discussed and answered by experienced parents.
These sessions are fun, interactive, and enable you to get real-time, direct help!

Teaching History and Geography with Living Books (and readaloud!)
Summary
Teaching history and geography can be intimidating, but what if it could be as simple as reading some great books with your kids? Rather than having them memorise dry facts and dates help your children understand the times and places by activating their imagination through stories.
Join me as I give tips on making these subjects easy, as well as read aloud from a few books to help give you confidence to do the same with your family.

Improving Wellbeing and Building Confidence in your Children
Katie Piper
Summary
Learn how to develop your child’s wellbeing and confidence alongside their academic growth. Hear tips from an educator with a background in supporting homeschooling families and other types of remote learning.
From getting up in the morning to ‘home time’ in the afternoon there are plenty of practical strategies you can weave into your day to help your children develop a positive learning mindset.

Building a Living Books Curriculum
Erin Hassett
Summary

Developing an Engaging Education
Amanda Bartle
Summary
The most often asked question I receive is “Where do you get all your ideas?”
I’ll show you! We’ll dive into how to choose a topic of study, decide on subtopics and gather ideas, find interesting activities, make the learning multi sensory and multi-age, and how to embed all the KLAs, especially English, science and history. I’ll show you planning and record keeping methods that work, and share loads of examples for inspiration.
This workshop has something for everyone – old hands and new homeschoolers alike, academics, unschoolers, unit studies fans and those looking for ideas for co-ops.


