Taking the home school plunge!

After researching and much deliberation and consultation, I have decided to home school my 9 and 6 yo.

Although excited by the prospect, I am also a bit nervous about it and was wondering if anyone else has any tips on getting started? A lot of the websites seem a bit 'airy fairy' and while that might be useful for people who are home school veterans, I'm finding it a little confusing.

Maybe I need to de-school or something!:redface:

Where do you get your resources from? What happens at the interview for Dept Education (or similar)? How do you make sure your children are receiving the education they need? I don't want religion included in my childrens' curriculum, but lots of the sites seem to lean that way. Are there other sites/associations that can provide some sort of check/curriculum to ensure my children are at the level they need to be?

I'm sure I'll have hundreds more questions, but if someone could point me in the right direction, that would be fantastic!!!!:D

Have you had a look at the ACT Department of Education?
DET - Support and Services

Also, I know this is a different state but I quite like these KLA syllabus documents as I think it explains it well... ACT DET probably have the same thing but I haven't really looked...
Key Learning Areas

Hi there,

I too am considering homeschooling- although my bub and bubs to be have a while to wait yet!! I was googling the other day, and I came across 2 seemingly professional sites. We are not meant to add web addresses here- but I can tell you the names of the organisations;
HEA- Home Education Association Inc. (A support network for home school educators).
Homeschooling Supplies- Supplier of Australian & New Zealand Educational Material.

I'm sure there are others- but I haven't got that far in my investigations yet!!

Perhaps you could contact the HEA about the best sources of educational materials?

Best of luck! I think you are doing a wonderful thing.

X

Hey Sal. I have been HS my kids for a couple of yrs now. WE LOVE IT. It does all seem a bit daunting to begin with, but you will be ok!

You will need to 'de-school' yourself as you so accurately put it. Some say it takes a month for every yr you have had kids in school to 'de-school'

HEA can be very helpful! But it depends on your philosophy and how you intend to go about it. And believe me, how you choose to begin will alter quite a bit to how you finally settle in.

So. some anwers to your questions.... but i can only give you answers accurate to WA... sorry..

Religious ed is NOT compulsory.

To get started all you need to do is fill in some paperwork. and inform your current school in writing that your kids are leaving, and on what date.

Your first visit comes after 3 months of HS. For us this was basically the moderator giving US ideas and pointing us in the right direction. She asked a bit about how we intended to go about it, and if we had a schedule planned or anything and looked at what resources we had, and made sure we were aware or what was available to us in the community... but the first visit is NOT an assessment. RELAX.

12 months later they will come and check how you are going. we keep all our workbooks and portfolios and just pile them up for her to look thru. they also talk to the kids a lot to get an idea of how they are doing.

Our basic approach to begin with was to buy a textbook for each subject and then bring in other fun activities as we went along. We get together with other HS families for things like craft and sport and excursions to make it more fun and social.

We got the books from wooldridges (check out the website) and just got each subject at the age approriate level. They have heaps of good stuff.

Thats all Ive got for now, but anything else i can help with , just ask....

Thanks so much for your replies!

I have checked out the DET website and waded through a lot of the manual and the learning key areas, but it didn't really have a lot of suggestions re particular curriculum. But I may just have to rethink the way I am approaching it, as obviously, my children are not reaching their potential in a 'class room' situation.

I have checked out the HEA site as well, but to be honest, I got a bit bogged down with all the links and info. All a bit daunting to me!!!:redface:

Thank you for the info regarding age appropriate books. I think that's how I will approach it. We have excellent suppliers here and I will take the time to go and browse the selection of materials.

Wish me (and the children) luck!!!!

Good luck with home schooling your kids. I am a school teacher and dont know alot about home schooling but if you can get your hands on the syllabus for the year that your child is in (they are all online and in the DET website) then I think that would be a good start. Have a look at the outcomes for English, maths and whatever else you want to teach your children and go from there.

Try to give your kids as much hands on learnign as possible more so than text book learning.
Both your boys aged 6 and 9 would still need to learn through this way before they can learn in an abstract way (like textbooks). When thinking of resources dont jsut think about text books. Think about great games that you can get or make, paddlepop sticks for maths, etc.

I hope it goes well. :)

Being in Canberra, the thing that excites me about home schooling is that we have the Ginninderra Wetlands literally a block away, we have the Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve 20 mins away, we have the Tidbinbilla Space Tracking station 15 mins away, we have the National Museum, National Art Gallery, Questacon, the National Library, Old Parliament House, New Parliament House and the whole Parliament Triangle (including the National Mint and all sorts of institutions), not to mention the seaside and the Snowy's are less than 2 hours away!

that is excellent... so much to learn from.

you may also find that once you take on the full responsibiblity for your childrens education you will begin to change the way you interact with them and answer questions and explain things to them. with me it was a subtle thing to begin with but it as greatly improved my relationship with my girls and their relationship with each other.... not that things werent fine before .... but now they are just heaps better!

Hi there Canberra mum - go for it and well done! I have been homeschooling for 11 years and love it. I chose curriculum by pestering every homeschooler I met to show me what they are using. Math-U-See it a good one for maths and is very hands on, you can get a free demo dvd by hooking onto their site. Alot of homeschoolers use this for maths, it is a little costly to set up but it is fantastic. I have just started using Learn to Read, Write and Spell by Valerie Marrot (available through Homeschool supplies). This is cost effective and covers everything - you can do a diagnostic test to see what level your children need. ACE is a complete christian based curriculum and is expensive but you can do a free diagnostic on thier website to see what level your children are at in all subjects - I find this handy!

Well all the best on your homeschooling journey and would love to hear how you are getting on.:D

Maybe we need a general chat area for homeschoolers..??? or is there one already that i havent seen???

I tried finding other homeschoolers here a while back a got no reply so I think we are it!!!

Now that its coming to the end of the year I am just finishing up my kids work that they needto have done. My 6yo finihed her english stuff in term 3 so is starting on her new books slowly but she has some maths to catch up on! My 4yo is busting to start work with the big kids and he is ready to start reading but I am just extending his pre-reading stuff and will start him fresh next year - I am not quite phsyced up to teach 5 yet!!

Well better go the kids are stirring.

Perhaps we are all too busy and need a few hours (at midnight) to reply.

I really think that, given the interest shown here and in other forums, that a dedicated chat would be wonderful for home schooling!

BTW, the only reason I'm up so late is that I was watching 'Brides' on SBS. Anyone else? It was really moving and showed so much about circumstance, culture and politics, particularly from a womans point of view.

Made me really sad!

Canberramum - congrats and enjoy> I'm a teacher and looking at home schooling my son (autism) if yr 1-2 doesn't go well. I was lucky enough to spend some time teaching with school of the air or distance ed here in QLD and as well as the remote kids they also had some 'in town' homeschoolers. I have some info I can pm you if you would like

Hey Saram, I'm afraid my motives aren't so noble as yours, but I have two families in my street who home school SN children. At least three other families send their SN children to the local public school and the are doing well due to the small size ans specialised curriculum.

I think what it comes down to is that you really need to know what is offered in your area and whether the style of teaching suits your child.

I hope you have all the opportunities (locality wise) to make the best decision for your child.

PM me if you need to (especially in regards to books which may be hard to come by up there).

Good luck, and F**K you are awesome for even contemplating this!

Hi there again.. i have a SN son who I have always homeschooled. Last year I thought I might try him in a special school - dumb move. He learnt how to swear, lie, cheat and stael, all those things I had never been able to teach him at home!!! I also found it difficult because downs kids through to behaviour problem kids are all chucked in together and are at opposite ends of the spectrum. My sweet natured CP boy was bullied badly by ADD kids! I don't get it?

How cool to find a homeschool thread. I am big fan of homeschool and can't wait to do it with Bethany. DH was homeschooled too from yr 6 up. He says he will answer any questions that you might have from a been through it all prospective. I look forward to reading more about your adventures!!! :)
canberramomma~~ I am a canberra girl, was there till I moved here to marry DH! I was so excited about the prospect of homeshooling down there, so much to see and do!!! Maybe we will go south someday....

Hi there!

Okay so information, try: Homeschool Australia

Beverley who set up that site is always open to taking phone calls. As a veteran home schooler with 3 independent adults (or near adult for her youngest) she is always a useful contact. Her email address is on the web site for making initial contact.

She also has two really good resources you can buy one is a book 'Getting Started with Home Schooling', and the other is a handy booklet which is also available as an ebook, 'Translating Every Day Life into Educational Jargon' which can help you map what your child does each day to the educational framework of your state/territory.

For information on registering it is worth looking up your local group on the HEA web site: Home Education Association Inc. (Australia) - supporting homeschooling parents in Australia

In terms of curriculum it really depends on your home schooling style. We are pretty relaxed about homeschooling so aren't very resource heavy. If you are looking for non-religious then you are looking for the needle in the haystack because most curriculum is US based and made by Christians.

Sonlight Curriculum's main text and readers can be made mainstream by not doing the memory verse or bible readings. That part is easy and takes care of the English, including reading and writing and is very 'Charlotte Mason' in approach. (Charlotte Mason was known for the use of 'living books' or books that could be used as a base to help us understand our world). I am pleased to see that Dr Suess features in their early primarily collections. They also cover off most of the other learning domains in their material including Society & Environment; Physical, Social and Personal Development; Science; and Art.

We use Math U See which is very mainstream other than two items which are 'optional'. They are the Skip Counting DVD and the other is on Financial Stewardship. All the texts themselves are straight up learning and use plastic rods (like Cuisinaire) to shape learning. Our DS loves it and is working on Alpha already. Other maths texts are Horizon, which uses US coins and stuff though; Saxon, which is geared to very little bookwork and lots of hands on learning; and Miquon for the older child.

Those are the one's that I know are free of religious content or that can be adjusted to be that way. The only other learning domains then to be addressed are Design & Technology as well as Language other than English. Rosetta Stone is often used for Languages other than English but in lower primary it is more about learning about cultures than a language in itself. Design & technology refers to anything construction related through to the technology of mobile phones and computers.

I hope that gives you a starting list. That said, from my perspective, these materials are all second rate to simply allowing your child to explore through experiencing everyday life. I know many homeschooling families who start off with lots of curriculum until they get a feel for what they are doing and learn how to translate it into educational jargon.

Congratulations on your decision to home school! :clap: I hope that my response is of some value to your initial questions!