Elisa - Sydney, NSW / Dharug Country

“They spent their preschool years when they were three and four years old playing all the time. But then they went to school and they forgot how to play.”

Elisa is a newly minted homeschooler. This is the episode you are going to want to listen to if you are on the precipice of taking the leap into homeschooling or you have found yourself deep in the trenches of deschooling your own children and yourself. The daughter of a teacher who became a teacher herself, Elisa is now a homeschooling mum to twin boys and a daughter (ages 6 and 3) bravely sharing how she’s navigating these new, unchartered waters. 

SUMMARY

• Elisa was the child who loved school and thrived academically, enjoying the accolades and recognition she received. She grew up in suburban Sydney only minutes from where she & her husband are now raising their own family, with grandparents close by for extra support.
• Her mother was a teacher and despite discouragement, both she and her sister followed in mums footsteps and became teachers themselves. It wasn’t until her own boys started school at the same school she was working at, that her life did a complete 180.
• We shouldn't be preparing kids for school, we should be preparing them for life.
• Her own boys really enjoyed school. It wasn't that they disliked the concept of school and they were quite happy to go. They just really didn't enjoy the period in the classroom. They were happy to be with friends outside. They loved going to the canteen. They loved playing soccer. But it became quite clear that they weren't quite coping or enjoying what they were expected to do, sitting at a desk or table.
• Elisa believes the seeds were sown early on because she had started to question school, but almost didn't know that homeschooling was an option. 
• Social media, podcasts and lockdowns gave Elisa the confidence to give homeschooling a shot. 
• Overall her boys are enjoying being at home, they mostly enjoy learning. The challenge for Elisa has been to figure out how to teach without teaching or being a teacher. It’s a learning process for all of them.
• Questioning school has prompted Elisa to look differently at other aspects of life, such as food choices, low-tox living and commercialisation. She wants her kids to know that the important, wonderful things in life are not a pair of Nike Air Jordans.
• Elisa wants her kids to be kind and school as it is today isn’t the best environment to foster this.

INSPIRATION

Hunt Gather Parent - Michaeleen Doucleff

There’s No Such Things as Bad Weather - Linda Åkeson McGurk

A Matter of Principal - Mandy Davis

1000 Hours Outside podcast 

CONNECT

Instagram - @learning.beyond.four.walls


NOTE: This is an abridged version of the show notes.
Follow the link below to find a more detailed summary of what Elisa shares in this episode:

FULL SHOW NOTES HERE

Connect with us:
Instagram - @australianhomeschoolstories
Substack - Australian Homeschool Stories

This podcast is recorded on the lands of the Bunurong people of the Kulin nation. I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging and acknowledge that sovereignty was never ceded. This always was, always will be aboriginal land.