Thanks so much for the replies ladies. TBH given their ages I'm not really all that concerned about them taking a year off, but I do want to make sure they are where they should be with concepts in maths when we get back because they will then return to mainstream schooling. Everything I've read says that I need to submit a curriculum to the education dept for approval and I guess that's what's freaking me out a bit.

Rivlas - I'm desperate to talk to the school to see what they can offer, but figured given we don't have a departure date yet its a bit unfair to hit them now when they're organising all the back to school stuff for next week. Did you officially home school while you were overseas, or was it more that you just took the kids out of school for an extended holiday?

~H ~ thanks. Will have a look at your friend's blog.