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Helen Maddern facilitates the Hobsons Bay Home Ed Nature Group, bringing home-educated families together to explore, learn and connect with the natural world in their local community.

For the Hobsons Bay Home Ed Nature Group, learning doesn’t need to happen inside four walls. Their classroom is the landscape around them.

The group brings home-educated families together to explore local nature, build friendships and learn through hands-on experiences. From birdwatching and native plant walks to moth nights, waterway investigations and citizen science, every outing offers a new opportunity to discover the natural world. What matters most is seeing children become curious. They learn to recognise birds, notice seasonal changes, look more closely at plants and animals, and ask questions about the environment they share with their community.

For facilitator Helen Maddern, these experiences are about more than learning facts about nature. They help children develop a genuine connection with their local environment.

“We believe caring for nature begins with knowing it,” Helen says. “When children become familiar with the wildlife, waterways, plants and landscapes around them, those places become meaningful. They become places they want to understand, appreciate and protect.”

The group hopes these early experiences will inspire the next generation of citizen scientists, volunteers, conservationists and Landcarers.

For the Hobsons Bay Home Ed Nature Group, it starts with something simple: getting children outside, giving them time to notice, and helping them discover that nature is all around them.