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Use this website with Beverley Paine's Getting Started with Home Schooling - Practical Considerations to help you develop your own educational curriculum to suit your family situation, beliefs and lifestyle. The checklists can help you identify your children's current educational skill level in each subject area, as well as find any 'gaps' in their learning, plan what they need to cover or keep track of what has been learned. As you can appreciate this website is continuously under development... It's our aim to add pages on a regular basis in all curriculum areas: check back frequently. We hope you enjoy the articles and activities and find the links and recommended resources useful. Over the next year we will be working our way through each subject area and writing fresh, new content. |
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"Thank you so much for your wonderful website! I was getting quiet frustrated with finding appropriate information on homeschooling - thanks to your website we are now on the right track... Using your checklists for reassurance helped me to have the confidence to come up with my own programme that suits our needs." Rachael "I'm a frequent visitor to your website... I gain valuable knowledge from your website, luckily recommended in the very early stages of our homeschooling journey." Geradine "I checked out your website today and was incredibly impressed by it. I can tell it will be a great resource for our family for many years. THANKS for all the hard work that has gone into making homeschooling easier and much less isolating for families like us." Cynthia |
Getting Started with Homeschooling
excerpt from Getting Started with Homeschooling, Practical Considerations
© Beverley Paine, 1997
Home schooling is slowly becoming formally recognised in all Australian states as an
alternative to school based education. Each Australian state has differing laws regarding
the education of students and school attendance. They independently determine their own
educational policies, regulations, guidelines, philosophy and curriculum, and these are
revised at least every ten years.
However, most Education Acts do include reference to regulations, guidelines or
policies pertaining to the legal provision of home education. There are no uniform
regulations from state to state, with the most benevolent of these simply making reference
to ‘regular and efficient’ instruction in a place other than school. More restrictive
conditions require an educationally qualified supervisor whose role it is to monitor the
learning program of children being home schooled.
Families seriously considering home schooling need to obtain copies of home
education laws and regulations relevant to their own state. Copies of Education Acts are
available from Government Printing Offices for a small fee. Local government members,
or their secretaries, should be able to obtain this information for you. Additional
information relating to home schooling regulations and procedures may need to be
obtained from the relevant educational authority. There are usually local or regional
offices you can contact either by phone, mail or in person. It is best to find out this
information for yourself, and to obtain it in written form - information from well meaning
friends or long term home schooling families may be inaccurate or out of date.
When investigating the option of home education it is essential that you become
acquainted with the educational goals and objectives of your state educational authority.
Most states produce a booklet giving a brief outline of these, and will usually send out a
copy on request. Copies should also be available from schools for parents. This
information will give you an insight into how the state views the education process, the
reasons for various practices and content, and the desired results. It will also introduce
you to some of the educational terminology you will need to understand.
Not all families considering home schooling wish to seek permission or approval from
the government authority to home educate. In some states such permission is not
necessary to legally home school, but many families chose to pursue the approval process
as it becomes a guiding process in the early months and years. Each family makes this
decision based on their personal beliefs and ideologies. A thorough examination of the
regulations and laws in your state will help you determine your position, and any possible
consequences to your chosen actions regarding your legal status as home educators. If
interpreting the law and regulations is difficult or confusing consult experienced home
educators from your local or state based network, or the Home Education Legal and
Information Network.
The process of investigating the legal ramifications of home education is an
empowering one. Often the legal and political issues involved polarises home educating
communities, and it is wise to speak to as many people as possible when determining your
own position. In the final analysis whatever you chose to do will have to sit comfortably
within your own family values, lifestyle and conscience.
More information can be found at:
on this website is of a general
nature only and is not intended as
personal or professional advice.
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Getting Started Manual
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