Welcome to The Educating Parent Beverley Paine's archive of articles about homeschooling and unschooling written over a period of 30 plus years

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Free download a quick guide to getting started with homeschooling and unschooling by Beverley Paine The Educating Parent in this excellent Resource Directory

 

Free directory of Australian homeschooling and unschooling support groups organised by national, state and territories

 
Plan, record and report all in the one document! Always Learning Books planners available in each year level to suit your homeschooling needs, includes curriculum checklists
Australia's original homeschooling manual from veteran home educator Beverley Paine, how to write your own learning plan and curriculum to meet your child's needs
Let Beverley and friends help you design and write your own curriculum to suit your child's individual learning needs, learn how to prepare lessons, unit studies and more, record and evaluate your children's learning in this series of 3 parent workbooks developed on Beverley's popular homeschool manual Getting Started with Home School Practical Considerations
Introduction to
Home Education
  National and State
Support Groups
  Yearly Planner, Diary & Report Beverley's Original Home Ed Manual Series of How To
Parent Workbooks

Support Groups: National SA VIC NSW QLD TAS ACT NT
Registration Guides: VIC NSW QLD SA WA TAS ACT NT

Looking for support, reassurance and information?
Join Beverley's The Educating Parents Homeschooling and Unschooling Facebook online group.

 

Welcome to Beverley's CyberPlace!

In 1998 my then sixteen year old son taught me the basics of HTML and how to build a web site using Microsoft Front Page. Homeschool Australia was born! It was a WOW moment for me: being able to publish online was the beginning of a passionate adventure that will never stop!

As you can see from the list below I went a little crazy and started making websites about anything and everything... unfortunately there is never enough time in life to do everything I want or there'd be more sites...

By 1998 I had written a lot of articles for the South Australian newsletter I'd started a decade earlier as well as other Australian home educating newsletters and magazines. The internet was the perfect place to publish these, and made it easy to distribute them. Many of these articles formed the nexus of my Practical Home Educating Series of booklets, available from my daughter's online bookstore Always Learning Books. In 2013, I decided to merge my two main websites, Homeschool Australia and Unschool Australia to form The Educating Parent.

The Educating Parent, formerly Homeschool Australia and Unschool Australia, is an extensive collection of my articles and information about home education written over nearly two decades. In them I share my experience and insights, always wanting to help other families demystify the process of education and make it easier for them to teach their children at home. During this time I battled chronic illnesses that often led to feeling overwhelmed and you'll find a lot of practical and sympathetic articles on how to manage home educating life on my website. My approach to home education is down-to-earth, common sense, child and family friendly. Although I began home educating with a 'school-at-home' approach, health issues wrecked havoc with my tidy schedules and careful plans and I found that my children, unattended and playing happily, seemed to learn just as much and effectively without being taught! Since 1989 I have been exploring and writing about natural learning. Unschool Australia collected together my writing on this efficient and effective approach to education and there more than a few articles for you to explore!

Every so often I remember to post on my The Educating Parent blog, usually in response to a home education or educational topic in the media. Mostly I post on my The Educating Parent Facebook Page though - 'like' and 'follow' if you are hooked on Facebook like the rest of us!

Since 1997,when I self-published her first book, Getting Started with Homeschooling Practical Considerations, I've been writing and selling books designed to help families build confidence as home educators. They are available from April, my daughter, now a stay-at-home mum, through Always Learning Books.

At the age of six I declared that I'd be an author and started writing poetry, sadly none of which survives. I think most of us threw out our school books at the end of each year... Happily home educators tend to keep the best of our children's creative work. At the age of 39 I began writing fiction again, a story set in the not so distant future, an action packed tale of intrigue and conspiracy. Published by Greater Glider in 2002, The Chimaera Conspiracy remains my only published book, but it definitely isn't the only fictional story I've written. In the years to come I hopes to entice publishers to produce some of her other finished manuscripts!

In 1988, Robin and I purchased 4.5 acres keen to develop it using permaculture principles. Robin did his Permaculture Design Certificate by distance education and I studied alongside him, loving the whole concept of permaculture, aligning it with my understanding of natural learning. Alas, although we're keen gardeners we're not natural gardeners, and are way more interested in building and tinkering and solar energy, etc. Bungala Ridge Permaculture Gardens isn't up to date and offers a view of what life was like for us a couple of decades ago. One day I'll update the site. Sadly we're not permaculturists, but still adhere to a few of the main principles.

Jacqui's evocative poetry is about life, love, living and letting go... Jacqui was my lovely sister who found at at the age of 32 that she had cancer and died 12 years later. She was an inspiration to all who knew her.

A small web site celebrating the Paine family's trip to Ceduna in 2002 to witness the amazing Total Solar Eclipse. If you ever get the chance to see a Total Solar Eclipse don't hesitate. It's an awesome experience.

Although I am not a natural gardener, just someone who dabbles in growing and propagating plants, I am passionate about my garden and miss it terribly when I'm on holiday. I love the colour and complexity of flowers... I think these took over from my childhood fascination of rocks, minerals, gemstones and crystals, the flowers of the underworld. Wander around my (sadly unattended) Flower Garden site.

Yet more beautiful flowers, this time captured by Beverley's camera while on holiday in Tasmania in 2006 - a tribute to Table Cape Tulip Farm.

Another highlight from the six week Tasmanian holiday: Sealife Experience cruise on Tasman Peninsula. And this was about the time that I ran out of time and energy to build websites - although I have about 100 pages and 400 photos ready to edit, format and upload sharing our epic 7 week adventure traversing New Zealand's North and South Islands. Oh well... one day...

Still in his teens, my youngest son built his first website, Off Roading Subarus, a forum where he shares his adventures in modifying and racing Subarus. A decade or so later he's still mucking about with Subarus. Not content with this time and money consuming hobby, he's started his own business designing and creating hand-made rustic steel sculpture and screens, Two or Three D Designs or his Facebook page.

Our eldest son shares the same passion for 4WDs and has started his own business Roger's Mobile 4WD Improvement Services. His wife, Courtney, a stay-at-home mum, manages Youniquely Courtney.

Our daughter April took over Always Learning Books from us in 2010 but also is a consultant for Your Inspiration at Home. For some reason, unlike their parents, all of our children turned out to be excellent cooks with adventurous taste buds. Another bonus to be had from the home education lifestyle!

Welcome to Beverley's CyberPlace!
About Beverley, the educating parent
Workshops, seminars, conferences, camps

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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.

"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

Getting Started with
Home Educating Series of

PARENT WORKBOOKS

#1 Create Your
Own Curriculum

#2 DIY Lesson Plans
& Unit Studies

#3 Recording and Evaluation Made Simple

$10.00 each (includes postage)

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 with part 1 of this getting started with home educating serioes of parent workbooks, Create Your Own Curriculum!
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!

To see the full range of Beverley Paine's books on homeschooling, unschooling and natural learning visit Always Learning Books

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
purchase Beverley's practical and common sense books on homeschooling and unschooling
Connect with Beverley and ask questions
through her online The Educating Parents Homeschooling and Unschooling Facebook support group
.

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.

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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.

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Beverley Paine, The Educating Parent
The opinions and articles included on this website are not necessarily those of Beverley and Robin Paine,
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