What you need to know about homeschooling in 2025 | 37
About this episode
In this episode of Future Learners, hosts Brett and Ellen discuss the upcoming homeschooling year, offering insights and tips for both new and existing homeschooling families. They emphasise the importance of planning ahead, celebrating milestones, and fostering community connections. The conversation also highlights personal growth for parents and the exciting developments coming to Euka in 2025.
🎧 Tune into this episode on Apple Podcasts here.
Key Points:
Planning Ahead: Preparing early is key to a successful homeschooling year.
Starting the Conversation: Discussing homeschooling goals and expectations helps set the tone for the year.
Reflecting on Progress: Evaluating what worked and what didn’t last year ensures continuous improvement.
Celebrating Milestones: Recognising achievements can make the homeschooling experience more rewarding.
Community Connections: Building relationships with local groups can provide valuable support and opportunities.
Flexible Learning: Homeschooling allows families to customise education to suit their child’s unique needs.
Euka’s Expansion: New resources and features are being introduced to enhance the homeschooling journey.
Engaging Locally: Collaborating with community groups can unlock new experiences for children.
Exciting Changes: 2025 will bring innovative updates to Euka’s platform, improving the learning experience.
🎧 Tune into this episode on Apple Podcasts here.
transcript

Transcript
Brett (00:01)
Hello and welcome to another episode of Future Learners. I am your host, Brett Campbell, chairman and CEO of Euka Future Learning. I’m joined by my amazing co-host, our co-founder and head of education, Ellen Brown. How are you today, Ellen?
Ellen (00:16)
Very well, thanks Brett.
Brett (00:18)
This is, this is an exciting moment. are back in the studio. It has been a little while and I must put out an apology first and foremost to our avid listeners who listen to the podcast every single week. we understand that there has been a little bit of a downtime, myself and Ellen have been unbelievably busy with lots of fun, exciting things going on in the background with Euka, which we look forward to sharing some of those with you.
Maybe, maybe I might share some of it today, definitely in the coming weeks, et cetera. and we are excited to get back to have a, episode today. We wanted to get this episode in Ellen due to where we are currently sitting in this time period. We’re sitting here and it’s in end of November. We are coming to be like, got literally four to five weeks away before Christmas time. And then all of a sudden we’ll blink our eyes. January’s here, the rush of term one rush of.
of many, families, you know, joining homeschooling for the first time. And then the tens of thousands who are repeat, repeat utilisers of homeschooling will be joining as well. So we wanted to get in with this episode because there’s a number of key things that we’d like to share that we believe are important for you to understand now as we are moving into the new year. outside of that, Ellen, you got anything exciting? Any, anything that you, any?
Anything that you could share with us off the bat, what’s been happening in your world over the last couple of months since we’ve, done a podcast.
Ellen (01:54)
look, we’ve been doing a lot of supporting of students moving into university. So a lot of our year 12 students are finishing off now. And so it’s been exciting being part of watching their journey and hearing where they’re up to next. So that’s probably been the biggest thing that’s been going on right now for me at Euka.
Brett (02:13)
Yeah.
Speaking of 11 and 12, we did our first information session for grade 11 and 12. A couple of weeks ago now we had hundreds of families on. So shout out to those families on there. were asking questions. If you do listen to the podcast, I many of you do. And I would assume there’s going to be many of you who are new listeners to that off the back of that information session. excited to have the opportunity to speak to many, many of our families and students who are moving from that.
grade 10, sort of secondary school into that senior school year. For us, we’re unbelievably proud to be able to offer that. We are the only organisation in the country that offers the 11 and 12 pathways that we have. So excited to, we’re probably talking a little bit about that too in today’s episode, just to round off some corners there. But Alan, as it relates to the, from a parent perspective, listening to this right now, we’re moving into the end of the 2024 year, moving into 25.
As a homeschooling parent, what do we, and we could probably break this down into a couple of paths. One is the parent that is still sitting there and they’re still wondering and considering whether or not that, you 2025 is the year that they’re going to give homeschooling a try. And then the second bucket will be our amazing families who already here, already raring to get going. Well, this might be their second year. What can we share to help make that?
The next few weeks couple of months far more seamless for them. So take that from any angle you like
Ellen (03:47)
Okay, look, I think I’m going to speak to parents firstly who have had a tough year at school. So their kids are finishing up now and there’s a huge relief a couple of weeks left and and you know, in that time you’re starting to think thank goodness, I don’t even have to think about school and perhaps in another couple of months, we’ll have to deal with that again. And I think being able to take the time now before you end
in the beginning of say the new year and you have you’ve been facing these dramas with school you know if you can spend some time now having those discussions with your family about next year and about homeschooling if that’s an option that you want to consider now’s the time to be having those conversations don’t wait to I’ll put it off to after Christmas because January is looming and there’s a lot of emotional involved in that especially if you’ve had a difficult year this year so while things are
finishing off and there is an element of a high because we are finishing off something that may have been difficult. This is the time to start saying, well, what would next year look like? Is homeschooling something we want to consider? Don’t put those conversations off. So that’s the first thing I would definitely recommend.
Brett (05:00)
And that’s like anything, right? Is forward planning, having a bit of a think about it. I think there’s some really good fundamentals that will be important for families to know. this would be information that would be very handy for someone like me. Whilst I don’t leave everything to the last minute, I generally will leave it till the, let’s call it, the closest time in which I have to complete it to make sure that it’s all done correctly.
without missing the boat. So what I mean by that is for us, parents who may be like, we’ve got plenty of time. What are some of the key elements as it relates, especially to like registration and number of things that you could talk to that you don’t want to get caught, unaware is coming into January. We’re sitting here mid January and you want your child to start tomorrow, so to speak. So talk to the timings and some key, key things that we, the parents need to understand.
Ellen (05:57)
Yeah, look, I would really urge people to make those discussions now and make the decision in December. And the reason I say that is because the Department of Education is not a massive building of hundreds of people who are approving homeschooling. It’s a small group of people in those teams that are approving homeschooling. They have to look through everybody’s paperwork.
So yes, if you are using Euka for your homeschooling, that makes it easier because the department knows the program and so the stamp will get done. But there is a big backlog if you’re waiting till January. The other thing that I find, and we hear this all the time from families where they think they’ve left it till the last minute, but they think they’ve still got time because it’s early January and they’ve put it in.
And then what happens is it hasn’t been approved yet because of the number of applications and we’re seeing those grow every year. But the other thing is the school year starts and then they were like, do I have to put my child in for two weeks? if I don’t? And there’s all these extra things that we have dealt with and we can help you deal with, but better to not be in that situation. So discussions November, decisions December is absolutely fantastic. It means that
you’ve actually got time to prepare and feel organised and then put it aside for Christmas and enjoy knowing that you’ve got your plan ready and that it’s already been into the department. So ideally, if you can put your registration paperwork in in December, that will give you a very Merry Christmas of peaceful Christmas, that’s for sure.
Brett (07:23)
Hmm.
Yeah. Yeah. And I’d also encourage to, if you are on the fence and you’re still considering it, reach out to our team and ask the questions that you feel you need to know and get the information that you need to have to be able to make a solid decision on what the next steps might be. Because one thing that we experienced in last January, and look, we do our absolute best to get back to every single customer as quick as we possibly can.
We have less than a 45 minute response, well resolution rate meaning, by the time you reach out to us, whether it’s through email, phone call, et cetera, you’ve filled out a contact us form, we will have your question resolved within a 45 minute. Now, I could tell you one thing that I know about January and February, when you’ve got thousands and thousands of families, unfortunately, we as an organization, we can’t just bring in 50 new people just for January, because we have to train them, upskill them, and there’s lots of knowledge.
to attain. So that’s a nice way of me saying response times from our perspective will be slower during that period. Right? So it’s not a, I can ask a question right now. I’m just going to ring you and you’re going to talk to someone immediately. Now, for many of you that might happen, but the reality also there is not only is there a delay in the potential getting started or having your, questions and your, your unique outlet or your unique situation.
responded to correctly from let’s call it maybe our perspective. Now again, I’m not talking about weeks of delay from from Eukar’s perspective, but you know, there might be a couple of days where a couple of three, four days, even sometimes where, you know, we might not be able to get back to you just during that period because we’ve got thousands of new families and because we can’t, I don’t have a crystal ball that would be very nice, although very dangerous. We don’t have a crystal ball that tells us how many new families
have been sitting on the sidelines for the last 12 months. We’ve seen what’s been going on in the world and schools and governments and so on and so forth that we were actually even with our estimations in January, February of 24, we were inundated from our estimations of new families. So, yeah, there could be anywhere from 70,000 families wanting to get started in homeschooling or continue on in homeschooling as a homeschooling family. Yeah, that’s a lot of families.
Yeah, we are the largest provider, which we hold that badge extremely proudly. and you know, we cater to tens of thousands of families ourselves. So I’m saying get in early on that. Recommendation. then secondarily to what you just said is the government, the departments as well. There’s going to be a time delay there. and yeah, I don’t believe parents truly understand that, you know, we’re not talking of hundreds. Like you said, there’s not hundreds of team members on the, on the departmental side.
Now it’s growing and more units are popping up, but we’re talking, you know, a handful of people who are there to do the transition. Now, one benefit is that with our registration program, it’s pretty much, know, we have it there for you. It’s really a tick and a flick and send it off, but it still does need to go through the process. So that’s for parents who are considering and wanting to. So do your diligence now, ask all your questions.
ask us anything, we’re here to absolutely help. The goal that we have is we want you to know whether or not you believe this is for you. And the only way you do that is by asking the questions and the queries that you have. So, all right, what about parents, Ellen, who already homeschooling families? What can they do or what are some tips that they can start implementing now that might be able to even just create a smoother start to the year?
Ellen (11:23)
I love this because I get very excited. mean, I know we haven’t finished the end of the year and I’m already excited about next year. But as a person who’s homeschooled for many years, it’s not the same thing every year. You know, it’s really exciting to go okay, well, what worked from this year and what didn’t work? What do I want to add this year that I didn’t do last year? So some years have been very much how can we add excursions more, more, you know,
exploring and things like that and other years of it. How can we, how can I decide this year that I’m going to decorate all this particular room with homeschooling things? So it’s a matter of getting some ideas and honestly Pinterest is a great place to look for great ideas but thinking through you know what areas you know often what will happen with homeschooling is you’ll go through times where you think this is working really well and then
kids change, you know, what they need changes and their ages change and your family dynamic changes. So it’s a matter of saying, what can I do differently? And it’s a great opportunity to really uplift on what you were doing last year. Or this year.
Brett (12:30)
Hmm.
That’s actually a really good one. I love that too, because you know, with school, you go back, it’s the same structure every year. Yeah. You’re outside of maybe you got a different cohort, a different teacher, but the structure itself. And this is the beauty of flexibility, right? We’ve got, we’ve got a number of families on a number of sporting communities who utilise Euka, who are creating and structuring sporting programs and utilising Euka from an education perspective.
they’re able to craft their schooling hours, well, homeschooling hours to suit their needs, right? To suit their desires. For example, let’s say we’ve got a golfing team. Let’s say it’s a really rainy day and there’s no golf today. So cool. They are going to schedule, you know, more time to go through more work. And then tomorrow’s beautiful and sunny. It’s like, well, we might only do an hour tomorrow, right? We might just check in on some things tomorrow. So this is that beauty of flexibility and
This, this almost as akin to what I would recommend everyone do. And I don’t want to turn this into that type of podcast, but sometimes I can’t help myself, but, I’ll try and restrain myself is we need to look at this as a family and also as individuals. It’s like, look back and go, what worked well for you last year personally, and why would you not want to shape and, and create, other ways of how we do certain things. Maybe you are someone who liked to train or go to the gym in the morning, or maybe the
the gym in the afternoon didn’t work. So like, I’m going to change it up. I’m going to do this. And so it’s a beautiful opportunity to assess every area of our lives, of course. But also as it relates specifically to homeschooling is yeah, what worked really well, what didn’t work really well. What’s one or two things you don’t need to go and stir it all up and totally create a brand new environment unless of course, yeah, you want to do that because you can, but it’s really just pick those one or two things that caused the most friction for you throughout the year.
And whether that was, there was friction around lunchtime or there was friction around afternoons or the mornings just felt really chaotic because of X, Y, Z. Have the flexibility and freedom to make adjustments. And I would say, make the adjustment, test it out for a couple of weeks, see how that starts to feel. And then you can assess and go, you know what, do we want to continue with this or do we want to adjust again? And that, that is absolutely amazing. So what else, what else have we got for families prepping in towards 25?
Ellen (14:54)
Yes, so the next one I would suggest is connection. Just because you reached out at the beginning of this year in the Facebook group from Ukraine said, there any other grade eight students, my daughter’s looking for some friends or if you may not have got the response, but we’ve got new families starting every week. And certainly at this time of year, there’s a lot more families that are out there. So, you know, jump into that Facebook group and utilise the community and connect kids up with.
kids of similar interests, they don’t have to be all in the same grade, but they may have interests. that’s one that I would say, you know, sometimes at this time of year, you think to yourself, well, I’ll wait till next year to, you know, don’t wait, jump in now. Now people have got a little bit more time on their hands. So this is a good time to make those connections. You might even be able to catch up in person over this break. So yeah, that’s another one to do now.
Brett (15:45)
Yeah, absolutely, absolutely. That’s again, lesson in regards to if you do it once and this goes for if you do it in January and you don’t really get the reaction, do it in February, do it in March because there are thousands of families who are joining every single month as well. So that’s a really great one, Ellen. Is there anything else? What else you got for us, Ellen?
Ellen (16:05)
Yes.
Look, this is a challenge. This one’s a challenge. You might be saying to yourself, you know what, I just wish, know, Brett’s talking about this golf group, how great for them. But in my area, I wish there was a theatre group, because my child’s into theatre. I wish there was a soccer team of homeschoolers we could play midweek, or I wish there was some group of people who want to go swimming. This is the opportunity for you and a challenge for you to decide to start something like that.
because all it needs is one person to say, hey, you know, your local Facebook group, you know, I’m going to start doing swimming on Thursday, does anyone want to meet us there? And you will be, you’ll be so inundated by people. That’s the interesting thing. If you know how to sew and you throw out there, does anybody want to do some sewing? You bring your own sewing machine, you’ll have a table full of people who are wanting to do that with their kids as well.
So from my experience, if you just decide to put yourself out there with one skill or one interest that you want to develop with your own kids, you’ll have a heap of others that want to join in.
Brett (17:13)
Yeah, absolutely. And the main theme here that we’re really touching on is the power of community. And as homeschooling is growing, it’s not slowing down. It’s once parents and families see and feel and experience what homeschooling can do and is doing for their children and their family and their own sanity. And in most cases is
There’s more and more families are going to flock to it. And that means there’s more and more like-minded people as well who are probably thinking the exact same things you are. And all it takes sometimes is to put it out there, put it out there, have a voice. we personally at Euka, there’s some things in 2025 that we want to, we’re going to be bringing to market. I can’t say an exact date right now, but we’re, we are working unbelievably hard. We’ve effectively doubled our team size in the last 12 months to really be able to bring.
some really exciting things to the marketplace. One of those is that conversation and that solution to community as well. So whilst we have that there in a, let’s call it an initial capacity, there’s many more things and exciting things that we’re wanting to be able to produce there as well to help assist you, the parent on that journey as well.
Alrighty, Alan, what else you got on the list there? How many more amazing things you got there?
Ellen (18:43)
Well, things pop into my mind all the time, but this one popped into my mind because it’s something that I will do. If you’ve enrolled your child or you’re going to enroll in December or November, December, having a look through the program and seeing what
Brett (18:46)
Ha ha.
Ellen (18:57)
what the kids will be doing in PDHPE, what kind of craft and art supplies will be needed. It really helps with the Christmas buying. it just, you know, if I see that they’re going to be doing soccer skills, although I can chuck in a soccer ball in and you know what I mean? it’s always, I’m always looking for stocking fillers and that’s a really good way to find them.
Brett (19:20)
That’s a good one. All right. So in regards to, we’ve covered off some things that, you know, the new family who is on the fence, potentially looking to consider, we’ve obviously got, just do your diligence now, don’t wait. That’s really a major lesson right there. For our families who are already moving into the next stanza and the next season of homeschooling, we’ve provided some really good tips there for some.
future planning and prepping as well, which again comes back to one of the main, I guess, advantages of homeschooling with Ucarin is the flexibility. That’s a huge one is you’re not locked into doing things the way you should be doing it. In fact, I encourage people and I do this myself even from a business perspective. So I’ve got a number of people that report directly to me from an organizational perspective.
And I’m constantly trying to assess and reassess and go, is this the best way for us to get the best outcome? Is this helping my team more effectively? Is this helping me more effectively get the best out of each other? Or do we just need to change it or adapt to it? It’s not a set and forget, this is how it has to be because we said it was, right? Change is sometimes, that’s why spring cleaning is such a crazy concept.
Right, and Marie Kondo coming in just added spring cleaning to a whole new level. But imagine just doing that every week or every month or you’re assessing it. So you’re not having to make real critical changes, which can be quite abrupt for many families. you know, especially depending who’s involved in the changes. So that’s really important to make sure you’re prepared and look at the flexibility that you have moving into 20.
As it relates, Alan, for families who, and something we could talk to here is, as a child progresses from, in a schooling system, they’d go from their primary school to the secondary and then into senior. And those moments can be quite like a substantial change for them mentally per se, because you’re moving into a whole new environment. mean, the beautiful thing about homeschooling is it’s not as, let’s call it as not as.
impactful or dramatic as it is. But what can you speak to those families who have the students who are moving from grade six to seven, and then of course, our families who are going from grade 10 into senior school, the grade 11.
Ellen (22:02)
Yep, you know what I’d say? Make it dramatic. Because like you said, sometimes you know, it’s just another it’s just another year, you know, we don’t have all these assemblies that we have to go to boring two hour assemblies that we have to go to. But do something special, go out for dinner and celebrate we’ve graduated grade six, take a special photograph of graduation, you know, get their grade six certificate from UCARB.
and have a photo with it, you know, make them feel like those moments that you can celebrate those really important milestones. You know, if you’ve got a year 10 person that’s finished, get all swish and dressed up in something formal wear type scenario, go out to a fancy place or a fancy picnic or do something out of the ordinary, something that they would love to do to celebrate those important milestones. Yeah.
Brett (22:51)
I love that. And that’s the smelling the roses along the way. Yeah. It’s, one thing that many people don’t do well. And I have to constantly remind myself as well. My wife’s constantly saying, Hey, slow down a minute. Look, what’s just occurred here. We’ve propped that, you know, that’s, that’s a celebratory moment. And I would like to class myself as very intentional and aware of those things, but I also am, okay, cool. Now what’s next onto the next thing, et cetera. but that’s a, that’s a really good one. And yeah, you’ve got to remember.
that take the, for me, it’s like, take the things that made those magical moments for you at school and go, how can we replicate that? Yeah. So what you just said there was, was absolutely, really important information. I would love to hear from you, the listener, share with us in that, in the Facebook community, the parents Facebook community, share with us those things that you do do. Cause I’m telling you, you,
Ellen (23:33)
Hmm.
Brett (23:49)
You might take a family photo and dress up every year and you might build your own school uniform or like this. There’s so many options you could do have fun with it and use it as a teaching moment for others. Cause other, another family might go, my gosh, that’s such a good idea. And that’s the beauty of the collective community and the flexibility that we have. can, we can have a bit of fun with this too, because learning should also be fun, right? It should be obviously educational. should be progressing and, advancing ourselves as humans in the best we possibly can, but also have fun with it.
Cause those are the things that your children will remember at the end of the day. so, Alrighty, Ellen, anything else to wrap this up? think we’ve covered a fair few things here. hopefully the listeners gotten some, some gems out of it. what else can, can we share to wrap this episode up?
Ellen (24:40)
Yes, so the last thing I would say is parents often lose themselves in the role of parenting. And, you know, we need to look at homeschooling as a team sport in a lot of ways. Sure, the kids are getting their education, but you’ve got an important role there in that as well. And so not to, to look forward to next year, don’t don’t forget about yourself when you’re planning what excitement and how you’re going to change your homeschooling for next year. What personal goals can you put into that?
lifestyle that you’ve got with homeschooling that can be different for next year. You know, it may be fitness goals, it may be you’re doing your own course while the kids are doing a course. So think about how next year can be an exciting, you know, exciting new level for you.
Brett (25:26)
Yeah, absolutely. And what I want to share just before we wrap up is just a couple of things that I can hopefully get everyone excited about. Cause I’m definitely excited about, know you are as well. Things that we’ve been working on in the background for some time that, you know, we’ll start to come to fruition in 25. 25 is going to be a very big year for Euka as a product and other opportunities and services that we’re going to be able to offer that will just compliment.
you know, what you’re doing in the homeschooling arena. yeah, there we have, and to give you a little bit of context is the one of the main, let’s call it carrots that I’ll dangle is the learning experience. So the actual, the Euka platform itself in which you’re currently utilising, we have been working in the background building and recreating
an amazing advancement to the learning experience. So there’s some things that we’re going to be sharing and slowly beta testing over the coming months, which you’ll get to experience and be a part of. And give us your feedback as well, because that’s what we need and that’s what we want. But really excited to be able to share those new initiatives in the new year with everyone. So keep an eye out for those. We will.
be coming to a computer screen near you very, very soon with these additions. So, Alan, as always, amazing speaking to you and I’ll speak to you later because we’ve got a meeting book, but outside of that, to our listener, if we do not drop another episode before Christmas, we want to use this time right now to say, wish you a very Merry Christmas and a very safe New Year and safe holidays and go out there and
do something amazing for someone else. know you will this Chris, it’s the gift of giving. And we are very, very excited to kick into 2025. Well, first of all, see out 2024 amazingly and to all of our students who are wrapping up our grade 12 students who are going to be finishing this year. So very excited to hear all about that and what you have planned for your next.
stands are in your career. lots of love to send out to all of our amazing families and our students, of course, and allowing Yuko and allowing myself and Ellen to be able to, and the rest of the team to be able to play a part in your journey. we’re absolutely honored and we will see you most likely in the new year. Thank you so much.
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Brett Campbell, CEO Euka Future Learning
Brett Campbell is a leader in education, serving as the CEO of Euka, an innovative company building the future of education. He’s a successful entrepreneur and author with a passion for lifelong learning. Beyond his professional achievements, Brett is a devoted family man and the host of the Future Learners Podcast, where he shares his ideas about education’s potential to empower people and create a brighter future.

Ellen Brown, Founder Euka Future Learning
Ellen Brown is the founder and driving force behind Euka’s educational philosophy. With over 25 years of teaching experience, she designed Euka’s curriculum for grades 1-12, emphasizing individualized and practical learning. Her expertise is recognized by major media outlets, and she is frequently sought after for her insights on the future of education.