Getting Started with Home Educating, Writing Your Own Curricululm

On this page is a collection of articles I've written over the years offering helpful tips and ideas to encourage you to create your own learning plans and activities for your children, drawing on the many resources that are readily available, many of them free. This is how I began and continued home educating and I believe it offers the most flexibility to truly tailor learning experiences to suit our individual children's needs.

If you need to homeschooling in a hurry, and don't have time to create your own learning plan but don't want to lock yourself into the expense of buying something off-the-shelf, consider the Always Learning Homeschool Learning Plans we've developed for each year level.

Yes, you can buy ready-made homeschool curricula, and many of these have been created by experienced home educating parents. And most of us start out that way as we slowly build our confidence as educating parents. You'll find a list of these, by both Australian and overseas providers, in my The Educating Parent Resource Directory, a free download containing an introduction to home educaiton and brief information on how to get started, as well as comprehensive (and growing!) list of subject specific educational suppliers and providers.

Full a full list of the different categories of articles on this website, click on Contents.

• 5 Top Ideas that Have Shaped our Homeschool, Lusi Austin
• 5 dos and 5 don'ts of homeschooling planning for next year
• 5 Steps to Gain Credit Online, Caroline Ross
• 10 Tips for Homeschoolers to Take into Next Year
• 10 Essential Tips for Starting Home Education

• Your first homeschool learning plan, an example
  
• A Few Things to Occupy the Kids during the Holidays
• A Few Tips for Registering as Home Educators for the First Time
• A goal without a plan is just a wish... June 2025
• A Home Educator's Gift List
• A List of the School Subjects
• Another Take on the Three Rs of Education
• A Positive Plug for Planning
• Are Teachers Necessary?
• A Role for Educational Jargon in the Homeschool
• Art and Craft Activities List
• Attitude to Learning
• A Three Year Curriculum for a Teenager
• Australian versus American Maths Texts

• Back to Homeschool
• Be your child's learning partner, May 2025
• Benefits of Writing an Unschooling Learning Plan for the Year Ahead
• Beverley's Tips for Jumping into Homeschooling, Jan 2015
• Best Place to Start... A Defining Task!
• Buying Educational Resources

• Can both parents share the teaching?
• Can I educate my child at home? Yes!
• Can I Teach my Schooled Child at Home?
• Can Parents Be Good Teachers? Grace Chapman
• Choosing Homeschool Curriculum: Introduction
• Choosing Homeschool Curriculum, Part 1
• Choosing the Curriculum That's Right for You! Linda Maher
• Collaborating with your Kids, by Sally Writes
• Competencies Checklist - Home Education Report
• Conventions of Language
• Create a Stress Free Learning Environment
• Creative Solutions and Goal Setting

• Developing an Inclusive Curriculum
• Developing a Personal Curriculum: learning for life, by Sally Lever
• Doing Enough
• Do you need formal teaching qualifications to homeschool?
• Do you really need that awesome educational resource in your homeschool?
• Do You Realise You Have a Learning Style?

• Encouraging Autonomous Activity and Learning
• Evaluating Materials for Home Education
• Everyone can Homeschool: Intelligence and Educational Knowledge are not Prerequisites for Starting to Teach Your Children at Home
• Example Homeschool Learning Plans, Applications, Reviews

• Five hours a day of instruction?
• Forms of Writing: Writing Activities

• The grass is always greener..., May 2025
• Getting Started with Homeschooling
• Geography Checklist
• Group Work Skills

• Have you visited a TOY library?, Kate Clark
• Home Educating Families 'Flying Under the Radar'
• Homeschool FAQ: where to start with a five year old
• Homeschool Help is Available from Experienced Home Education Consultants
• Homeschooling Resources for a Natural Learning Child
• Homeschool Parents are Learning Partners
• Homeschool Planners for 2013
• Homeschooling Resources for a Natural Learning Child
• How Easy is to Plan and Do an Educational Activity - STEM
• How Children Learn
• "How did you DO it (homeschooling)?"
• How do you know it's time to homeschool?
• How Many Hours Do We Have To Spend Teaching Our Children Every Day?
• How to Create the Best Environment for Homeschooling
• How to Feel Prepared for Homeschooling, Gentle Evolution
• How To Use Homeschool Checklists
• How to quit overthinking homeschooling and start doing it instead
• How Useful are 'Learning Style' Labels?
• How We Light the Learning Fire at Home, Rebecca Phillips

• "I can't do it": Resistance to Learning
• Ideas for Theme Presentation for Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS)
• Ideas for Enhancing the Learning Environment
• If You Are a Parent You Are Already Educating Your Child!
• "I'm not very good in school..." June 2025
• Independent Inquiry Skills
• In Hindsight: Tips for Those Early Days
• Inquiry Processes and Skills
• It's Review Time Again
• Introduction to Learning Styles

• Knowing What to Teach

• Learning Centre Approach Encourages Self-Directed Education
• Learning Environment Index
• Learning Materials for the Homeschool - Budgetting
• Learning Centre Approach Encourages Self-Directed Education
• Learning Materials for the Homeschool - Keep the Cost Down
• Learning Materials for the Homeschool - Storage Ideas
• Learning Skills Checklist
• Lighting the educational fire, May 2025
• Listening and Speaking Skills
• Listening and Speaking Activities
• Living on the Edge of Mainstream, Rebecca Phillips
• Locating Resources

• Making Your Resources Work For You, Lusi Austin
• Mathematics Checklists
  -- Number - Primary School Maths - Checklist
  -- Space - Primary School Maths Checklist
  -- Year 8 Maths Checklist - What to Learn
• Media Study Activities
• Mix It Up: Dabble in Many Home Educating Approaches
• My Non-educational Thoughts on Curriculum
  
• Natural Education Skills and Attributes Checklist
• Negotiable, Open Ended Schedules and Learning Programs
  
• One Activity, a Whole Lot of Outcomes, Anabel Matchan
• On the Fence and Hesitating? Tabitha
  
• Paine Family Home Based Learning Philosophy 1998
• Parents Guide to (Australian) Online Learning, B Frogg (off site link)
• Personalising Homeschool Curriculum: From the Learner's Perspective
• Planning, Recording and Making Home Educating Life Easier for Ourselves
• Planning and Recording: valuable tools for building confidence as home educators
• Planning your homeschool day with under tens, Stephanie
• Phone Apps to Turn Your iPhone into the Ultimate Personal Library, Caroline Ross
• Preparing a Philosophy or Mission Statement
• Preparing the Physical Learning Space
• Priming the Learning Environment
• Preschool, Year 1, Year 2 - a disorganised list of links of learning ideas and activities for your learning plan / home ed application
• Protect Home Education Diversity

• Reading Skills List
• Ready, Set, Go Homeschooling!
• Rebelling Against Early Start
• Recording Example: A Homeschooling Week from Our Diary
• Recording Example: Detailed Day from Our Homeschooling Diary
• Recording Example: Homeschooling Calendar from January to June 1996
• Recording Helps to Build Confidence as a Home Educator
• Redefining Education Using Information Technology in the Twentyfirst Century
• Reflections on Our First Month of Homeschooling
• Registration: The Review Process
• Research and Library Skills List
• Role of Television in our Home Educating Lives

• Setting Up Your Homeschool
• Setting up school at home...
• So, You Want to Homeschool... Start by Defining Education
• So, you want to homeschool... start by defining what 'education' means to you: create your own homeschool mission statement
• Spatial Awareness and Mapping Skills List
• Skills List from Beverley's Home Education Reports
• Standing on the Other Side of the Tunnel, reflections on our home educating life, Grace Chapman
• Stan's Tips for Home Educators: Instil Confidence
• Stan's T ips for Home Educators: Create a Learning Group
• Stan's Tips for Home Educators: Demonstrate Hard Work
• Stan's Tips for Home Educators: Make it Real
• Storage Ideas for Busy Homeschool Families
• Stuck in the 'planning stage'?
• Summary of feedback about homeschool packages

• Talking About Independent Learning
• Taking on the Challenge that is Home Educating, Grace Chapman
• Teaching and Technology in the Homeschooling
• Teaching Beyond Our Skill Level
• The Homeschooling Opportunity
• The World Is Your Classroom!
• Think Like An Educator
• Timetables and Schedule
• Time to Educate, Simon Rae
• Turn Your Home Into A Learning Resource Centre

• Understanding Educational Jargon
• Unrealistic expectations and feeling overwhelmed as homeschoolers

• What Do I Do Now? 10 Essential Tips for Starting Home Education
• What are you required to teach your child?
• What is the Difference Between a Vision and a Goal?
• What Should I Buy?
• When To Homeschool?
• When is the Best Time to Start Homeschooling?
• Where to start with a five year old?
• Where to Find Homeschool Resources
• Where to Get Cheap Homeschooling Resources
• Why a National Curriculum won't fix the woes of a school education
• Why I think you need to write an individualised and personalised home education curriculum for your child
• Why Homeschoolers Need to Learn to Translate Everyday Activities into Educational Jargon
• Why We Started Homeschooling
• Worried About Getting Approval to Home Educate
• Writing Skills Checklist
• Writing Your Own Curriculum Part 1
• Write Your Own Curriculum Part 2

• Your first homeschool learning plan, May 2025
• Your Trusty Homeschool Emergency Kit!

CURRICULUM

Subjects: a collection of articles by home educators for helping your child learn

• English
• Science
• Technology
• Health and Physical Education
• HASS Humanities and Social Sciences
• Maths
• The Arts
• Languages Other Than English (LOTE)

CURRICULUM CHECKLISTS

• A List of the School Subjects
• Art and Craft Activities List
• Competencies Checklist - Home Education Report
• Conventions of Language
• Developing an Inclusive Curriculum
• Forms of Writing: Writing Activities
• How To Use Homeschool Checklists
• Geography Checklist
• Group Work Skills
• Ideas for Theme Presentation for Humanities and Social Sciences (HASS)
• Independent Inquiry Skills
• Inquiry Processes and Skills
• Learning Skills Checklist
• Mathematics Checklists
  -- Number - Primary School Maths - Checklist
  -- Space - Primary School Maths Checklist
  -- Year 8 Maths Checklist - What to Learn
• Media Study Activities
• Natural Education Skills and Attributes Checklist.
• Research and Library Skills
• Listening and Speaking Skills
• Listening and Speaking Activities
• Spatial Awareness and Mapping Skills
• Skills List from Beverley's Home Education Reports
• Reading Skills
• Learning Skills Checklist
• Writing Skills