2022 Workshops

Welcome everyone! I’ll say a quick welcome and introduction then we’ll get straight into the workshop.

If you’ve ever watched a child struggle to cook, clean, hammer, or sew a button, you may have thought ‘Why don’t they teach THAT in school?’

Farmschooling, homesteading, whatever you want to call it – I’ll show you how to incorporate real life skills into homeschooling with lots of examples. You can make it, grow it, sew it, and bake it no matter where you live, and raise self-reliant, independent children while having stacks of fun and covering the curriculum outcomes in a natural way.

Bonus – it also creates a very affordable homeschooling life.

Bel shares how to start homeschooling before it’s time to actually start homeschooling. Building a rich learning environment and educational lifestyle doesn’t need to be overwhelming, takes no qualifications, and should be lots of fun!

In this workshop, you’ll find out from a Mum who’s journeyed the preschool-at-home path seven times how to make the most of these early years.

In this presentation Neil Edmond, CEO of MoneyTime, outlines 5 reasons why it’s going to be harder for our kids to get ahead financially than it was for us or our parents and why it’s crucial they get a good financial education.

Learn how to deliver a fun, engaging, multi-subject, passion-based learning experience for 10 to 15 year olds – AND how to use this knowledge to facilitate an income-generating homeschool learning hub within your community.

This workshop is packed full of useful resources curated especially for the Summit. Whether you’re new to homeschooling and just getting started in the exciting world of PBL OR you’re already a leader in your community and you want to be rewarded for empowering other families, this is the workshop for you.

Do I need a homeschool curriculum? Which curriculum is right for my special needs child?Which maths should I choose? Can you recommend a phonics program that will work for my dyslexic child? Can anyone help with registration? Does anyone provide personalised support?

Whether you’re new to homeschool, working and homeschooling, juggling multiple children with special needs or would just like to know what’s available, this session will provide you with a comprehensive list of Australian Homeschool services, resources and curriculum options with all their benefits and features.

We’ve done the research for you! 

Being an un/home school parent means you may face some challenges when managing all the responsibility of your child/s educational, emotional, psychological, and developmental needs.

Learn how to recognise when outside support is needed for your child from a practicing clinical psychology registrar and unschooling mum of five.

You’ve chosen to homeschool but the idea of teaching your child and stepping into the educational role has you shaking in your boots!

It’s not as complex as you think. When you understand that you’re not your child’s teacher but the facilitator of their learning the whole homeschooling thing is suddenly simplified, and fun!

In this workshop, Mandy will teach you the basic principles of how leverage your child’s interests in everyday life, to cover the education outcomes in ways that keep school simple for Mum and much more fun for the kids, while encouraging you to trust the process of natural learning on this education journey.

Do you doubt you can do this? Experience frustration with children not listening? Or feel guilty and wonder if you’re doing the right thing in the right way? What about feeling resentful because your time is no longer your own?

In this workshop you will:

• Learn the communication strategies that turn doubt into confidence.

• Learn to let go of your frustration and create the ideal individualised learning pathway experience with your young person while at the same time feeling the joy of being heard.

• Discover how to transform guilt into self-responsibility for growth, organisation and learning and feel closer as a family as a result.

• Discover 3 key ways of learning that are simple, self-directed, social and sustainable and ensure your young person becomes the changemaker they were born to be. Yes, they can find their way without you losing yourself!

• How to cope and change when there are moments of disconnection and connect in the most important way.

“Just let them play!” you might hear from seasoned homeschoolers. But are they really learning? The short answer is YES, and in this session Nat will break down for you what play is, why it is so important for children of ALL ages, and show you how to see the learning in your children’s play experiences – in nature, with toys, on their own, with others, and even on the devices! This workshop will help you to observe, value and encourage your children’s play experiences as powerful learning opportunities (perfect for reporting) – and help you to relax and let them play, knowing it’s great for them.

I will begin with the basics of holistic education – what it is, the benefits to children and parents, and how the principles can be applied no matter what home education style fits your family. As we move through the session I will show you that you don’t need a lot of expensive resources, with an array of nature-based options to help you feel confident in creating your own materials for any topic of interest.

Have you been wondering how to get your child ready for literacy before you launch into formal learning? I will tell you some ways that you can incorporate pre-literacy activities into your day-to-day life in a fun way, so they don’t even realise they are learning. How do you know when they are ready to learn to read? We will talk about that too.

There are a few controversies around teaching reading. Is it possible to teach those important high-frequency words without teaching words by sight? Is our language as confusing as it first appears or are there hidden patterns nobody ever taught us (the whole language generation)? Is it a good idea to purchase readers for our children? If we decide to use readers, is it best to use the new decodable readers or the PM style ones that are found in many schools?

And finally, would you like to know a few tips for teaching spelling? Why does the word ‘have’ have a silent e? Why is cat spelt CAT and not KAT? How can you teach your child to spell accurately early so they don’t develop bad spelling habits? After completing two degrees I did a course in LEM phonics that taught me this and more, and I’m happy to share my knowledge with you. 

It’s easy to focus on the mechanics of reading and writing and forget about the beauty of language and how story brings us together. In this workshop, Pamela will share why books underpin her home education philosophy and how she uses them.

From picture books to novels, graphic novels, poetry and even Shakespeare, see how books can enrich your child’s learning, how to use them to enhance connection, where to find recommendations and sourcing books on a budget.

You’ll be confident in choosing modern and classic literature and be quoting Shakespeare before you know it!

This is a workshop for those wanting to know more about how to put a Home Education Summary & Program (HESP) together for their registrations in Tasmania. I will go through the standards and guidelines and give ideas of the sorts of things to cover for each standard. By the end you’ll have a thorough understanding of how to put a HESP together and be able to complete your own confidently.

Highly structured learning doesn’t suit every homeschooling family, nor does unschooling. So where do you fit if you are somewhere between both? One option somewhere in the middle is ‘eclectic homeschooling’.