‘A much more creative approach’: remote learning may be over, but home schooling in Australia is on the rise

Justine Curran’s children are in their third year of home schooling. Photograph: Jessica Hromas/The Guardian

This week millions of kids around Australia returned excitedly – or nervously – to their bustling classrooms, but in Victoria’s Dandenong Ranges, Caitlin Hughes’ four daughters have reopened their school books in the quiet of their home.

Aged 15, 12, 10 and seven, the girls have set their new academic and personal goals for the year and are happy in their routine; the family has been home schooling for nine years. The youngest two get organised at the kitchen table close to their mother, while the eldest find a quieter space upstairs in the “schoolroom”.