Stephanie - Mornington Peninsula, VIC / Bunurong Country

"Before we had kids, we were both adamant that we wouldn't put our kids in daycare. We wanted to raise our kids at home. We always knew we were aligned on that. So that's where it started. We were at home. We were together.”

The tables have turned and it’s me, your host Stephanie, in the hot seat. Helping me tell my story is the tech-side of this operation, my husband Daniel. For those who have listened to this podcast for some time you may have pieced parts of my story together over previous episodes, but I’m sitting down to share it all in what will be the final episode of Season Three.

SUMMARY:

• Our family live on the Mornington Peninsula, Bunurong Country, in a sleepy little country town beside the sea. We left our Melbourne roots when I turned 30 to pursue a slower, simpler life and to raise our kids immersed in the natural world.
• I had a fairly typical, carefree 90s childhood, spent running around the streets with the neighbourhood kids. At primary school my fondest and most vivid memories are of spending recess and lunch up trees with my friends, deep in imaginary play. 
• Even though I hadn't come across the idea of homeschooling until after we had our daughter, the roots of homeschooling had naturally been embedded into our lives unknowingly as we were adamant we wanted to keep them close and at home whilst they were little.
• The irony of feeling pulled towards homeschooling whilst having our baby daughter on the waitlist for private high schools.
• Once the idea had taken hold in my heart, I began devouring anything and everything I could get my hands on to do with homeschooling. I spent years deschooling myself through book and podcasts because the vision of what our lives could look like if we followed this path was so clear.
• I had faith that if it meant enough to me, Dan would find his way to where I was too. But I knew it would take time, for him to even consider it, so I was patient but remained persistent.
• When setting up our lives to adopt a homeschooling lifestyle we moved houses to a more affordable area, we went from being a two car to a one car family, and these descision all aligned with the vision we had for our future.
• We have four tenets in our family that guide our days. They are art, music, books and nature. Community and food and are also hugely important. That's what I always come back to.
• The hardest thing about homeschooling is toddlers.

CONNECT

Substack - Splendid To Be

Instagram - @splendidtobe


NOTE: This is an abridged version of the show notes.
Follow the link below to find quotes, links and references to all Steph 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.