"We spend time appreciating, observing and learning from nature." The Ulbrich family's permaculture vegetable garden. Reedy Marsh, Tasmania.
"We balance the program with a routine of structured workbooks in the morning, and natural learning, mostly through conversation, as the day progresses. It is nice to have that time in the afternoon when the children can explore their interests at their own pace. When a child asks questions they are ready to absorb that information." Cynthia Osborne and her daughter Sunshine at home. Sheffield, Tasmania.
"The relationship between parent and child that is established in toddlerhood can be grown and developed as the child ages. School can disrupt that and the relationships between siblings. By choosing to home educate we can maintain the strength of those relationships." Gem, Willow and Autumn Shayler-Appleton at home. Kimberley, Tasmania.
"Home education is an integrated way of learning that takes on real life situations. We consciously make a point of looking for individuals within our community who have something to offer. Our children have interacted with a diversity of people doing various trades and skills, opportunities children in mainstream school could never have had." Issy and Mark Ulbrich with their neighbour and mechanic David Wilson. Reedy Marsh, Tasmania.
"Once I started, I realised the joy of teaching my children to read and write and reaching these milestones together. By home educating, we can enjoy the time spent learning together and we can see the children developing a wonderful bond." Cynthia Osborne and her children Buz, Sunshine and Rusty at home. Sheffield, Tasmania.
"Living on a farm, the children have a love for the land. To appreciate the earth and what God has given us and to treat the land and the animals gently is important for the kids to learn. Because how you treat your animals, is how you treat other people." Hudson, Bonnie, Jesse and Joseph Milburn on the family farm. Irishtown, Tasmania.
Hudson, Bonnie, Jesse and Joseph taking a break from their studies. The Milburn children have a set amount of workbooks to get through a day. Once they are finished they are free to play. Irishtown, Tasmania.
"If you can blend boundaries between home and nature, community and travel then you have a rich life." Tara Ulbrich, home educator, Tasmania.
"I love children's natural affinity with nature, their creativity that they can't help but express and their natural love of learning. All these things we can give them in abundance, whereas school is more about crowd control and learning how to sit still and be quiet and be like everybody else, a travesty against the spirit of the child who must run and play and shout and express themselves freely as they move through their day." Hudson Milburn in the vegetable patch at home. Irishtown, Tasmania.
"I love having the kids around. We sent them to school for two years and I missed them so much. When they came home I felt we didn't have a relationship. At home we have one-on-one contact, I know their feelings and where they are up to and can encourage them accordingly." Traci, Bonnie, and Hudson Milburn with a child they foster on the weekends. Irishtown, Tasmania.
"I do not believe that school can serve my children's best interests as I can. A simple comparison of one teacher to 20 or 30 children and a child's own mother giving one-on-one attention and love speaks volumes. With home education I can let my children lead the way, I can watch their natural curiosity take its course and I can encourage and support them in that direction, instead of having to learn what is forced upon them." Willow, Autumn and Gem Shayler-Appleton at home. Kimberley, Tasmania.
'We believe nature, conversation and learning together are the best tools for education." Cynthia Osborne helping her son Rusty get into his bee-keeping outfit. Rusty tends his own beehive with a neighbour who has shared with him his passion and knowledge about bees. Sheffield, Tasmania.
"We have to trust that kids will learn. You can't stop them learning, they are born with questions, even if your home life is stagnating their curiosity will drive you on into some new realm of investigation." Hudson and Joseph Milburn playing at home. Irishtown, Tasmania.
"In a school environment to conform and become part of a peer group is to survive. Home-educated students are less likely to be driven by established social norms amongst peer groups. They follow their own interests more and are less constrained by those things." Rusty Barker at home with his typewriter collection. Sheffield, Tasmania.
"We like to keep the kids away from peer pressure and bad influences, like television and the Internet, which can cause even good kids to get into things they shouldn't, effecting them in the long term. We found that the encouragement of good character, morals and standards is lacking in schools. With home schooling we can guide their steps all the way." Traci Milburn with her children Bonnie, Hudson, Joseph and Brock at home. Irishtown, Tasmania.
"Our children are given the opportunity to meet people who may not be their age but will share their interests, which is more reflective of adult life." Tara and Will Ulbrich at the University of Tasmania community band practice. Launceston, Tasmania.
Joseph, Hudson, Bonnie, Traci and Jesse Milburn in their home classroom. The Milburns follow the Australian Christian Education syllabus first started in America. The eldest two children did their schooling at home and are now working. The six youngest are still being educated at home by their mother Traci. Irishtown, Tasmania.
"At home there's no interference. It's just you and the schoolwork. You can concentrate one hundred percent on what you are doing. At school there are so many distractions; there are the other children as well as constantly changing classes and teachers." Joseph and Hudson Milburn at home. Irishtown, Tasmania.
"We read every day; good books are key to our lives. As a parent time is truly dedicated one-on-one. You have a good understanding of where they are emotionally and what has been happening developmentally. There is a continuum of engagement that enables you to have insights that a teacher wouldn't have." Tara and Will Ulbrich reading together at home. Reedy Marsh, Tasmania.
Joseph and Bonnie Milburn playing cards during a break from their studies at home. Irishtown, Tasmania.
"Our family enjoy learning together and we encourage each other to develop our own unique talents and skills. We teach our children to teach themselves, through learning how to access the information they need to feed their minds." Cynthia Osborne helping her son Rusty with his studies at home. Sheffield, Tasmania.
"We are looking to create an environment that nurtures the development of the whole child so music and art play a large part in our lives. Modern education has had to compromise in these areas that we don't need to at home." Will Ulbrich painting at home. Reedy Marsh, Tasmania.
"Learning is dynamic and responsive and not locked into a formal program laid out for the year. A day will be very fluid, the conversations are lead by the child's interest and the visitors that come that day who might share their passions." Tara and Will Ulbrich playing boules at home. Reedy Marsh, Tasmania.
"The world is our classroom and there is so much to learn in the rhythm of the day and the seasons." The philosophy of home education is in tune with a wider movement in Tasmania of people returning to simple living, self-sufficiency and the roots of our society. They grow their own food or source it locally and live by the seasons, eating fruit from the trees in summer and preserving any surplus for winter. Mole Creek, Tasmania.
"We want to create beautiful environment for our children where they can be cherished and loved, rather than being thrown into social situations, which they would not have sought out if they had a choice. We hope they can be introduced to the negative aspects of life slower, when they are a bit older and more able to deal with them." Gem, Willow and Autumn Shayler-Appleton at home. Kimberley, Tasmania.
"Some of the kids have asked about school and if they went, would they play sport and have races with other kids. Whipcracking has filled that hole; they get to meet other good kids and adults and they get to compete." Hudson and Joseph Milburn practicing the Australian sport whip cracking at home. Irishtown, Tasmania.