Develop a home education learning plan

How to complete your learning plan

Developing a learning plan is a key responsibility of home schooling. Your learning plan needs to outline the subject matter your child will cover. It can include any activity where your child develops knowledge or skills.
Remember, when developing your plan that you don’t have to:
- follow the Victorian Curriculum or the Australian Curriculum
- purchase a curriculum.
You decide what works best for your child or family. We have a list of resources that can help you.
Tips to help you prepare your learning plan
What does your child want to learn?
Your child may be able to contribute to their own plan. Being involved in the content of their own program can be a terrific way to motivate and engage your child.
Does your child have any interests or hobbies?
You can use these in your learning plan. You can include interests or hobbies across many learning areas.
Example
Your child has an interest in music.
You can include music in the following learning areas:
Arts – playing the piano
Languages – learning the meaning of Italian music terms
English – writing a short story to fit the mood of a piece of music
Maths – talking about beats and meters
Humanities – exploring music from different cultures
Technology – making musical instruments from household objects
Is your child already involved in learning or development activities?
You are ultimately responsible for home schooling your child. But your plan can include learning that occurs outside the home or your instruction.
Example
taking dance classes – Arts, Health and Physical Education
participating in sporting clubs and community groups – Health and Physical Education, Humanities and Social Sciences
volunteering – Humanities and Social Sciences
doing online courses – most key learning areas.
What is your child’s current learning level?
You can target your learning plan at the level appropriate for your child. This may be above or below your child’s equivalent year level in mainstream schooling. Your learning plan can address gaps you have identified in your child’s learning. It can also support accelerated learning.
How does your child learn best?
There are different types of learning approaches. You can choose what will work best for your child. You don’t have to choose only one approach, you can use a combination of approaches.
Some different types of learning approaches include:
- direct instruction
- group activities
- physical interaction
- self-directed learning
Develop your plan to match your child’s learning preferences.
Example
Your child learns best through hands-on learning.
Your learning plan could include:
English – spelling games such as Scrabble, Wordle, I spy
Maths – cooking activities to learn about fractions and measurement
Science – making slime or other simple experiments using household materials
Humanities – planting a native garden bed and investigating the plants’ natural locations
If you need support or guidance when developing a learning plan, contact the home schooling team. You can also contact a home education support network(opens in a new window).
1. Where will the education take place. Include the primary location and places you'll visit on a regular basis.
Example
My child will learn at home, museums, swimming pools, weekly education groups, and with a tutor.
2. When will the education take place. A brief sentence highlighting the general learning schedule.
Example
Learning will take place Monday through Friday with extra weekend activities as needed. Extra tutoring and sports classes will occur once a week.
3. How will you record your child's learning outcomes. A list of the main methods you will use.
Example
I will record learning outcomes in a diary, a portfolio of completed activities and general observations. I will also add tutor assessments as appropriate.
4. State any Learning Area exemptions you are applying for. You don't need to include any content in these learning areas.
5. Tell us if your child will hold a partial enrolment at a school and identify the relevant learning areas.
This section of the Learning plan is optional.
Here you can provide context for your learning plan by summarising your child's needs. This may include a summary of your child's strengths, areas of interest, or areas where they may need extra support.
If you wish to reference specific needs, include a general comment explaining the impact on the learning plan. Do not include specific medical information.
Example
My child has needs that impact his reading. We will need to revise his previous learning and revisit text, sometimes more than once. I have bought ability-appropriate resources and we have weekly sessions with a speech therapist.
There are a number of learning approaches, we have provided templates for 2 types:
1. Subject-based learning– a curriculum or structured learning approach that divides your program across the learning areas.
2. Activity-based learning - a natural learning approach that addresses the learning areas through educational activities.
The information in your learning plan depends on your learning approach.
Using the templates is optional and you can develop your own learning plan, as long as you provide the same level of information.
Learning subjects plan
This plan is for subject-based learning.
Explain how your education program substantially addresses the 8 learning areas for the year.
Your education program for one learning area may include content for other learning areas. You can repeat subject matter and activities across several learning areas.
Provide a brief but detailed outline. For example, it's insufficient to write 'read’ for an activity in English.
If you're using a textbook, use the table of contents for each relevant learning area to include in your learning plan.
Example
Languages (Spanish) – we will explore Spanish. We'll start introducing basic words and greetings using an app we access about twice weekly. We'll also learn about Spanish culture (Humanities) by researching Spanish traditions online and making some Spanish food. We will make greeting cards in Spanish for family occasions (the Arts).
For Resources and educational materials, give specific details. Include full book names, URLs, computer programs and apps, or specialist services such as private tutor, music lessons, sports teams, etc. It is not enough to list resources as 'books' or 'the internet'.
Example
Duolingo language app, ballet classes, computer, home schooling group, Spanish Cooking for Beginners by Gabriela Llamas, card making art materials.
Learning activities plan
This plan is for activity-based learning.
In the Activities column, list the general activity your child will complete.
This can be one word, for example, cooking, gardening, experiments or a short sentence.
Example
Helping with the renovations of our home, improving reading ability.
In the Details column, list the activity's specific elements. This needs to be detailed and you may need several bullet points.
Example
A gardening activity:
read the nutritional labels on different foods and discuss nutrition and the importance of healthy eating
visit family friends who run a free-range chicken farm – talk about ethical practices, animal care, and how the eggs end up in our breakfast
make and maintain a vegie patch – choose plants, design layout, monitor growth, harvest and eat!
record growth of vegies – measure weekly and create table of growth
in Excel – discuss what we can do to support growth.
In the Resources and educational materials column, give specific details such as full book names, URLs, computer programs and apps, or specialist services such as private tutor, music lessons, sports teams etc. It is not enough to list resources as 'books' or 'the internet'.
Example
A gardening activity:
food packaging
CSIRO website
construction equipment
garden tools.
In the Learning area column, list all the learning areas relevant to the activity elements you included in the Details column.
Example
A gardening activity:
English
Health and Physical Education
ICTDT
Mathematics
Sciences.
There are not a set number of activities you need to include. It's up to you to make sure that the information you provide clearly shows that all learning areas, except exemptions, are substantially addressed.

Learning plan templates and samples

You can use these templates to complete your learning plan. The samples contain examples with the level of detail you need to include in your own learning plan.

Subject-based learning plan samples

Sample subject-based learning plan (8-year-old)
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Sample subject-based learning plan (10-year-old)
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Sample subject-based learning plan (12-year-old)
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Activity-based learning plan samples

Sample activity-based learning plan (7-year-old)
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Sample activity-based learning plan (14-year-old)
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Purchased curriculum

If you've purchased a curriculum, summarise the subject matter in each learning area or submit the details issued by the provider. Before you purchase a program, please check its suitability and ensure you compare it against our requirements.

The VRQA do not endorse any commercial programs or curriculum.

Learning area exemptions

Every child has their own learning needs. It may not be reasonable to expect your child to receive instruction in all 8 learning areas.

You can apply for an exemption from one or more learning areas, so your child's education meets their needs.

When we assess an exemption application, we consider what you tell us about your child. We base our decision on your judgement of your child’s needs.

When to apply for exemptions

There are various reasons for seeking exemptions from learning areas. These are some of the reasons parents have given for exemptions.

Temporary circumstances

Your child is having difficulty engaging with their education due to short-term circumstances. You want to reduce the number of learning areas in their learning plan. Temporary circumstances may include psychological stress or a recoverable illness. For example, you need an exemption while you re-engage your child with learning.

Personal interests

You may want to stop instruction in one learning area to focus on another that your child is more interested in. For example, your child has an interest in ancient history, as part of Humanities and Social Sciences. You could apply for an exemption from Health and Physical Education.

Disability or individual learning needs

Your child's individual needs may impact their learning. For example, an ongoing health condition limits their learning time.

Older children with career or further education goals

Your child may benefit from exploring special interests related to their education or career goals.

For example, you apply for an exemption from Mathematics and Sciences so your child can focus on their intended career in the Arts.

When not to apply for exemptions

You don’t always need to apply for an exemption, your learning plan may already meet the requirements.

Examples

The learning area is addressed in some part.

Your child's learning plan includes health but not physical education.

You do not need to apply for an exemption in Health and Physical Education because your child will be receiving instruction in the learning area.

Someone delivers instruction to your child other than you in a learning area.

If you engage a tutor or arrange for your child to attend school for some subjects, you do not need to apply for an exemption from the relevant learning area.

How to apply for exemptions

You can apply for an exemption when you first register your child by completing the relevant section in the application form.

You can also apply if you are already registered by sending an email to our Home Education team.

When applying for an exemption you must:

List the learning areas you are applying for an exemption from (maximum of 7)
outline why it is unreasonable for your child to receive instruction in the identified learning areas.

Do not send us medical or specialist certificates.

You cannot apply for an exemption from all learning areas.

If your child cannot engage in any learning, contact your Department of Education regional office.

If you need help applying for exemptions, you can discuss your child's educational needs with our Home Schooling team.

Updated 18 November 2024