Homeschooling Europe

André Stern, the inspiring figure featured in the documentary Alphabet, is coming to Slovenia! 😍

✨Join us at the Homeschooling Europe Conference, taking place from 21–24 September 2026 at Ars Viva Youth Hostel.✨

🌺This is a unique opportunity to hear André speak in person, engage in meaningful conversations about learning, childhood, and educational freedom, and connect with families, educators, and advocates from across Europe.🍀

We warmly invite you to be part of this special gathering!

Please help us spread the word by sharing this post. Thank you! ❤️

Ecology of childhood: the power of enthusiasm | André Stern | TEDxVicenza André Stern is a musician, music composer, guitar maker, author and journalist. André Stern never went to school. He is the son of Arno Stern, an educational...

🦫 Beaver Reason #8: Meaningful Conversations

Some of the most valuable moments at a conference don't happen on stage.

They happen over coffee. Around a campfire. During a walk.
At a shared table.

A simple conversation can spark a new idea, answer a question you've been carrying for years, or connect you with someone who sees the world in a similar way.

Homeschooling families often spend a lot of time explaining their choices.

At the conference, you can spend that time exploring ideas instead. Come for the speakers. Stay for the conversations.

📍 Homeschooling Europe Conference
🇸🇮 Slovenia, September 2026

Did you know that today is the International Day of Families?

A child’s attachment to their parents is the parents’ most important tool for guiding and educating their child. And for the child, attachment to their parents is the tool through which they come to understand the world they live in and learn how to function within it. Attachment is the most precious tool both parents and children have. But it is not something we can take for granted.

Most children will form a secure attachment if we give them the opportunity to do so. Yet our way of life, our social values, and even more so our habits, often create major obstacles — sometimes even barriers — to the development of secure attachment. The consequences can be especially difficult for children who do not attach to their parents. Because some children simply do not. These children are particularly vulnerable, and the stimuli from the outside world can quickly become overwhelming for them. That is why it is even more important that parents of unattached children do not give up on building a relationship with them. Gently, yet persistently.

It is not easy to be a parent. You are trying to raise a human being in a world that does not truly support human development, trapped in a constant struggle for survival, responsible for young beings who depend on you and often resist your guidance. You are confronted with your own wounds, unresolved emotions, and limiting beliefs. Often you do not trust yourself, you worry about what others will think, you are exhausted — and on top of all that, we live in an increasingly physically polluted environment.

In this unaesthetic and often even ugly world, filled with lies, pretence, manipulation, unkindness, violence, harsh emotions, and distorted ideas, I deeply long for beauty — beauty that softens emotions and thoughts and uplifts the spirit. At least it does for me. That is why I love spring so much, when nature bursts into bloom. It relaxes me — especially the scent of flowers, the unbelievably beautiful forms of blossoms, and the fresh green color of young leaves on the trees. But it passes so quickly. So I close my eyes and breathe in all that beauty deeply, trying to imprint it into my whole being until the next spring arrives.

Today is the Day of Families.
Be kind to one another.

Mateja de Laat, Slovenia

Children do not develop linearly.

This is one of the deepest insights I have come to through years of observing children, teaching, learning, and living alongside them.
And yet, much of the modern school system is built on the assumption that children should develop linearly: at the same time, in the same sequence, in similar ways, with similar interests,
and at a similar pace.

But life does not work that way.

Some children will develop practical skills very early: working with the earth, caring for animals, woodworking, cooking, repairing machines, building, movement. Only later might they become interested in history, mathematics, philosophy, or languages. Perhaps.

Others will live in a world of books, ideas, questions, and observation from a very young age. They will read and explore.
They will be fascinated by the human body, history, psychology, or the universe. And only later will they begin developing more practical skills. Perhaps.

Some will remain more practical throughout life. Others more academic. And some will move fluidly between both worlds.

All of this is normal. Child development is not an assembly line.
It is a living process.

When children are given enough freedom, a secure relationship, and an environment where they can explore the world without excessive pressure, they often begin to develop in a deeply natural way: through curiosity, through inner motivation, through a sense of meaning.

Such children usually do not need constant external pressure, rewards, or fear in order to learn. Because development itself pulls them forward from within.

This does not mean children do not need boundaries, structure, or challenges. It simply means that challenges should follow the child’s life and development — not the other way around.

When pressure becomes too strong, when children constantly have to catch up with an external norm, they often do not develop a love of learning, but rather defense mechanisms:
anxiety, inner restlessness, excessive competitiveness, feelings of inadequacy, disconnection from themselves.

Perhaps it is time to allow ourselves to think differently.
Not: “Is this child developing fast enough?” But: “How does this child want to develop?”

This is one of the themes we will explore together at the 2026 European Homeschooling Conference in Slovenia, where families, educators, and speakers from across Europe will gather to rethink learning, childhood, and human development.

We are also deeply honored that André Stern will join us as one of the main speakers, bringing his inspiring perspective on trust, natural learning, and the ecology of childhood.

Because perhaps the future of education begins the moment we stop trying to standardize human growth — and start learning how to truly see the child.

Mateja de Laat, Slovenia

A few impressions from last year’s conference in Romania:

The essence of learning ✨

Before we ask what children should learn, we need to ask something deeper:

👉 What does a child need in order to truly grow?

At the conference, we will move beyond methods and systems —
and return to the essence of learning itself.

Because without understanding the child, no educational model can truly work.

I hope you will join us! 😍

Why should you join us at the European Homeschooling Conference? 😍

🦫Beaver reason #8: Future of Education
📍 Slovenia | September 2026
Homeschooling Europe Conference

Registration form 😍👉 https://docs.google.com/.../1FAIpQLSdcqzd1PPwZfp.../viewform
🎥 Watch the video.
👇👇👇👇

🦫 Why the beaver?

When I was thinking about the symbol of this year’s conference,
I was looking for something that feels alive.

Something that carries meaning — not just visually, but deeply.
The beaver came very naturally. Not as a concept, but as a recognition.

Because beavers build. They don't build quickly. And not for show. They build patiently, consistently — creating spaces where life can unfold. They don’t separate living from building.
Their home, their work, their environment — it’s all one.

And they don’t do it alone. They build as a family. They grow through cooperation. They shape their surroundings together.

This is what resonates so deeply with homeschooling. Because this movement is not built through systems, but through relationships. Through families who take responsibility, who create learning environments from real life, who build something meaningful — step by step.

The beaver doesn’t wait for perfect conditions. It just starts building. And this is perhaps the most important part ☺️.

👉 If you feel this, you already understand why the beaver became the symbol of this conference 😊.

Where is the line between family life and public systems?

At this year’s conference, we will explore one of the most important questions of our time:

👉 How do we balance the responsibility of the state and the autonomy of the family?

This is not just a legal question. More importantly, it’s a human one.

Beaver symbolism: FAMILY
Beavers don’t build alone. They create together — patiently, persistently — shaping an environment where life can thrive.

Family is not something we add later. It is where everything begins.

Who is behind the European Homeschooling Conference this year?

I wanted to take a moment to introduce myself — not just as one of the organizers, but as a mother, a home educator, and someone who has been walking this path for many years.

This conference is more than just an event. It reflects a shared vision — one that many of us across Europe are helping to shape in different ways.

Why should you join us at the European Homeschooling Conference? 😍

🦫Beaver reason #7: Support

📍 Slovenia | September 2026
Homeschooling Europe Conference

Registration form 😍👉 https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdcqzd1PPwZfpEgSqKlzEoNrDTHYsUBS6-1XyDVHA0V4Zk4DQ/viewform

🎥 Watch the video.
👇👇👇👇