Since COVID lockdowns kept students out of schools, there's been a big rise in the number who now find home the best place to study.
There's been a 50 per cent increase in the numbers not going to school for their learning.
Official figures for the "home-educated" count 465 people of school age in the category in the ACT, compared with 305 just before the virus struck, and compared with only 166 just 10 years ago.
"School is an obsolete model," Ilaria Catizone says in a break between teaching a handful of homeschooled children who've come together to learn a bit of Italian.
She concedes formal schools work for some young people but not for all. The ones who don't quite fit the mould are often the ones opting out, perhaps because of bullying. Some parents told The Canberra Times they were unhappy with "woke" education, particularly on sexual matters.
Ilaria Catizone has been been schooling Audrey, 7, and Elody, 13, for the last three years. At the communal session, Elody also helps teach the younger children Italian through a game of bingo where numbers are called in Italian and pasta rings go on the numbered squares.
These kids are meeting in a community hall for their lesson, so homeschooling doesn't always happen at home. Sometimes, it's collective in that a group get together and learn.
The parents' motives vary.
Rebecca Bonazza said her daughter Skyler, 10, was bullied in her public school in Canberra.
"Bullying was rife. When she concentrates, she hums, and a lot of kids picked on her," the mother said.
"Kids just seem to be more nasty these days, and because she's a bit different she rarely wanted to go to school."
Her mother was also unhappy about the amount of mention of sex, both in class and outside - "woke", as she put it. "A lot of things they are told are a bit much," she said.
She felt homeschooling meant "super-young children" could be protected from "things on the internet".
"You can't protect your children from that but at home you can," she said.
So the mother has bought the daughter a pile of books about a string of subjects, including science and maths.
"We learn about the world, about money. And I plan to take her out into the world, to teach her things, to galleries. We have a lot of discussions. We go to the library. We go to book stores. She has a lot of books," Ms Bonazza said.
Skyler is not yet in her teens and her mother said she may go to college in years 11 and 12 to get formal qualifications.
But for now, home (and a community hall) is the place of learning.
It should be said the number of homeschoolers remains small compared with the number of on-campus schoolers, even though the percentage rise is big.
The latest official figures for the ACT have 465 children in homeschooling compared with 82,280 students across primary schools (47,174), high schools (23,926) and colleges (11,180).
But the rise upwards since COVID is unmistakable (as is the fall for public schools: 50,556 in 2023 compared with 51,153 ACT pupils in 2021).
One of the organisations promoting homeschooling is holding an information session at Downer Community Hall between 4pm and 6pm on Monday.
The organiser, Ms Catizone, said she would try to answer common questions like, "What about socialisation?", "Will my children learn enough?" and "What about university?".
She said kids had opportunities to socialise despite not going to school, with a public school's wide mix of types and backgrounds.
Her daughters' education is "interest-led". Her eldest daughter was curious and learns, even about formal subjects like mathematics.
"She learns a lot of maths through shopping or cooking or helping us do our tax returns. She's renovated her room, and that involved a lot of maths like measuring," Ms Catizone said.
"If she wants to go to university, she will do more formal maths."
Ms Catizone is a vegetarian and, at home, there is an interest in "ethical behaviour" which prompted her daughter to research vegetarianism, both in terms of food but also fashion.
The teenager is interested in make-up, and that provides two fields of learning. "She's done research on ethical make-up", and the daughter has researched "make-up through the ages".
"It's very important for them to do their own research," the mother said.
She rejects the idea schooling children at home gives parents an opportunity to indoctrinate children in the parents' values.
In response to the idea, she says religious schools do the same.
Ms Catizone is a convert to homeschooling but she also concedes it doesn't suit everyone. It is obviously only for those with some money and time.
There is a class aspect.
Parents who both work fixed and long hours to just about pay the bills may not be convinced about homeschooling. For them, public schools are the only option.
