Susanna Flanagan was among organisers scouring social media for pieces. She said the group had already come across a number of gems, including collages, posters, origami and digital animations.

“They can be in any format. We are hoping for anything and everything,” she said.

Bendigo had a tight-knit community of home school educators, Mrs Flanagan said.

“With this exhibition we wanted to put a positive spin on the kinds of things we do as home educators. Victoria and in particular Bendigo has a lot of people home schooling.

“When I say to people that I home school I come across a lot of misconceptions. There are many people who say they would like to home school their children but think they cannot do it. Perhaps they think it would be too hard, or they aren’t smart enough, for example.”

Mrs Flanagan said she had once believed home schooling would be too hard but necessity forced her family into pulling two of their children from school.

“We chose to home school because they were not fitting into that stock-standard group that schools really cater to,” she said.

“We quickly found our feet. Lots of people find they can change their approaches in the first year of home schooling as they discover out what works.”

Mrs Flanagan said the idea of sharing children’s artworks began earlier this year when home school students across the state sent artwork to parliamentarians protesting draft changes to the state’s education regulations.

Reform opponents like the Home School Network were concerned proposed changes would force parents to submit education plans to authorities who did not understand home education.

The group’s website said reforms could interfere with parents’ rights to remove students from unsafe environments without bureaucrats approving education plans.

The Department of Education and Training planed to finalise regulations in June.