HOME EDUCATION
What is Home Education?
Home schooling is the education of children, primarily by parents, in the family home setting. This definition falls short of the actual practice. Homeschoolers regularly use the whole community, including materials, people, places and institutions to continuously expand their learning opportunities. Few homeschoolers restrict learning to home. They have the world as their classroom.
Home educating parents accept the responsibility for planning, implementing and evaluating their children’s education experiences. They are highly motivated individuals who believe that the education of children is primarily the responsibility and the right of parents. They take the role very seriously and continuously educate themselves in order to maintain high educational standards for their children.
You are not alone
There are many home schooling families willing to help you begin your home schooling education journey. Join the HEA, your state home education organisation, local group, and make contact with home schooling families in your area. There are online forums and groups for home education at http;/groups.yahoo.com. If you read through the achieves posts you’ll find many of your questions have been asked and answered before.
What do we need to do?
Parents do not need any particular qualifications to educate their children: in fact, they are eminently qualified and experienced. The best teachers are those that respect children’s individual learning styles, passions, interests and care deeply about their health, well-being and development.
Each state has different laws and regulations governing home education. Chatting with local home education families before approaching the relevant authorities will boost your confidence and offer valuable information about local conditions.
For most families the registration experience is problem free. For some however, the process is more difficult. Keep dated records of phone calls, letters and emails. Try to organise for your partner, a homechooling friend or even a neighbour to be present during the interview. Start a home schooling diary documenting your children’s educational and social activities.
What do we teach?
Home educators have the freedom to develop their own curriculum and learning activities for their children. Learning activities typically reflect such factors as families’ values, beliefs, interests, learning styles, and resources. If you find the huge range of resources available to homeschoolers overwhelming, begin at the centre, focusing on the developmental and educational needs of each of your children. Learn about and work out their preferred learning styles and modalities before purchasing books and materials.
A curriculum can help to give you a sense of direction and provide you with the resources to put a more important thing into action - your educational objectives for your child.
The school curricula focus on eight learning areas.
· The Arts (Music, Art, Dance, Drama)
· English
· Health, Personal Development, Physical Education, and sport)
· Technology, Design and Enterprise
· Mathematics
· Science
· SOSE - Society and Environment (including History and Geography)
· LOTE - Languages other than English (not all states include LOTE in the primary school curriculum)
Most homeschooling learning programs are an eclectic mix of different approaches: no one way or style of home education is the ‘right’ way and it can take a year or two to settle into a routine that works well for your family. Whatever approach is taken, children invariably learn, often much more efficiently than they would or did at school.
The NSW Board of Studies oversees home education in NSW. Parents or carers must complete an interview with an authorised person within the home. They need to demonstrate that a suitable education program, in accordance with the curriculum provided by the Education Act and Board of Studies syllabuses, has been devised and learning experiences, student achievements and progress can be recorded. Registration for home schooling is granted for a set period, usually between six months and two years, and once it expires you have to re-apply.
This is the link to the home education information package
This is a link to the parent guide NSW primary syllabus
This is an article from the Sydney Morning Herald
These are examples of previously approved homeschooling learning programs
Parents guide to NSW primary syllabuses
Don’t try to plan it all before you start - begin anyway. Sit down with your children, tell them what you have in mind, listen to their ideas and start to map out some activities.
Home education isn’t the same as schooling and for this reason it can take children and parents time to adjust. The transition from school to home education is often called “de-schooling”. Some children adjust faster than others depending on their personalities and past schooling experiences. It usually takes longer for the parents to de-school and realise that it isn’t necessary for children to work through every page of the text book, or sit at a desk and do assignments for three or more hours a day, to efficiently learn. A lot of learning happens through conversation, play and hands on activities at home. Recording your children’s activities will help you see how much they are actually learning, even when they are not doing prescribed school work.
Organise a routine
It is not essential to develop a timetable: many families plan their homeschooling week on a suitable calender. Keeping track of excursions sport and other commitments, shopping trips, medical appointments, homeschool group gatherings, etc. A typical day usually includes some time reading and studying or working on assignments or unit studies; playing; helping with chores; some kind of physical exercise; and lots of conversation . Some families concentrate learning activities into two or three days each week, leaving other days for family activities or excursions. How you arrange your home schooling day or week is very personal and depends on what works for you and your family.
Keep records
Maintain a regular diary and folder of your children’s educational progress. This serves not only to prove to others that your children are learning at home, but also acts as a planning aid. Looking back over your records is invaluable for boosting your confidence on those days when homeschooling starts to feel too hard! And your homeschooling records will be enjoyed by your children for years to come.
A typical day
As home educators you are free to create your daily schedules. This is a sample typical day only: yours will probably look completely different.......and that is ok.
-arise and breakfast
-completion of chores-personal, household, and animals.
-study: daily focus on math/language based activities drawn from learning program (about 1-2 hours)
-snack and stretch
-outside activities: gardening going for a walk, physical play.
-free personal time to pursue hobbies and interests, music practice, playing games, Internet, etc
-lunch: help prepare,eat and clean away after.
-shared or individual reading.
-study; time to pursue personal interests and /or ongoing projects - constructions, art and craft, researching, technology.
-outside physical activity - sport walking swimming, playing, tree climbing, etc
-music lesson practice.
-chores personal, household, and animals, preparation of the family meal.
-news and current affairs, discussion and conversation.
-watching television, playing educational and fun games or projects, quiet reading.
-story reading
-ready for bed.
Not every day will look like this-some days will be taken up by field trips or excursions, visits to friends or homeschooling groups, or focussing on a particular projects either as an individual or as a family.
You’ll find on some days the children play most of the day, and on others there is more structure and obvious learning occurs. The above sample day presents a naturally balanced curriculum.
HEA Resource Directory 2010
