Aussie Homeschoolers

[Shnooky]

My DD is 3 and I've started thinking about what school she might go to. But I don't like ANY of the schools around here and I am starting to seriously consider home schooling.

Are there any Aussies out there who home school? Who do you go through? What do I need to know?

[La Loba]

Well....... J is only 2, but we will definitely be homeschooling :yes My husband is doing all the legal "how to" research at the moment-- I'll ask him if he's found any useful links.

[emmalouise]

Subbing....I decided today to pull M out of preschool (he'll be 4 in August).

[Shnooky]

:bump

[mummy2boys]

tree_hugger homeschools. You could look up her username

[joyfuljourney]

Hi we are in WA and homeschooling.
There is a site aussiehomeschool.com.au - lots of Aussie Christian homeschoolers.

i am :tol so all for now

[Meli]

tree_hugger homeschools. You could look up her username


:yes So does FlyinKiwi

[Shnooky]

ok, so there are a few out there.

Jen - which curriculum do you use? is it linked with a school?

[Shnooky]

Am I insane for thinking about homeschooling?

Could I send them to the scary public school so I can get a break and supplement their learning with activites at home?

I'm sure the public school isn't that bad, I just don't like the attitudes of other kids. I can't be sure what they are going to learn in the playground.

The other question is, can we afford it? We can't afford private school, is homeschooling any cheaper?

I rang a couple places for some information, and felt like a bit of an idiot that my daughter is only 3 :giggle but the years are going so fast!

I get very excited at the thought of setting up the "playroom" like a little classroom, and having school supplies & maps and education supplies, and teaching my children. How awesome to be the one to teach your children and watch them learn! That's what excites me about homeschooling, I feel like if I sent my kids to school I'm missing out on seeing the lightbulb go off as they realise they understand something.

I have been searching the internet and printing out worksheets for my daughter to do. She goes to daycare 2 days a week and they are learning the alphabet and learning writting skills, so I am printing out alphabet trace sheets and matching games, she loves it.

I'm just so confused.

[Shnooky]

Oh I was giong to say, there is a Christian school near us that has a distance education program, so you work with a teacher to find the write curriculum, you send work in to them to assess. So a lot of the hardwork is done for you. Also if you have any problems or don't understand something you can contact the teacher. And the school is about 10 minutes from us. I think that the homeschool kids can join in on some of the activities at the school or something. So that might also be an option.

[Naxi]

Hi Lou,

I like that distance education idea!

I have to admit that I am thinking of sending the kids to school so that they can make some local friends, but am in a dilemna about schools, too. (Also, I don't think DH would be into homeschooling :( )

A friend of my sister started homeschooling her kids at I think Year 2 and Year 4. At first it was really hard, but now she loves it. I will see what I can find out from her. (I am also on another forum that has some homeschoolers in Aus and NZ, so I will see if I can get some references there.)

I really don't want to send the boys to pre-school, 'though.

Nat

[Shnooky]

I wonder if it would work to send her to school for a couple years and then homeschool... :scratch

[naechelle]

HI, I'm on the Sunshine Coast (QLD) and I am homeschooling my 4 eldest (12,10, 7 & 5). We are going through distance ed through Groves Christian College in Brisbane at the moment, but are looking at going through the QLD Home Ed unit in the near future. I'm happy t chat with you if you like, drop me a post and I'll give you my email or phone number. :smile
Renee

[joyfuljourney]

We are using 'Little Hearts fir His Glory'this year. Next year Five in a Row and maybe Sonlight.
Sooo many choices for curriculum. www.homeschoolreviews.com is one place to start.
ACE or one of the distance ed programs are a good place to start if you dont want to do a lot of prep work.
Putting them into school then pulling them out will only work if they don't like school.

You have to think about your reasons for wanting to homeschool as it is a commitment and responsibility. Also a great joy. Has God laid it on your heart?

[Shnooky]

HI, I'm on the Sunshine Coast (QLD) and I am homeschooling my 4 eldest (12,10, 7 & 5). We are going through distance ed through Groves Christian College in Brisbane at the moment, but are looking at going through the QLD Home Ed unit in the near future. I'm happy t chat with you if you like, drop me a post and I'll give you my email or phone number. :smile
Renee


Groves is the school that is about 10 minutes from us. What do you think of their stuff? Do you feel stuck with having to do what they say? What is the qld home ed unit?

You have to think about your reasons for wanting to homeschool as it is a commitment and responsibility. Also a great joy. Has God laid it on your heart?

I guess my main reason for wanting to homeschool is because the schools around our area aren't the best. We are in a low income area and the schools tend to be a bit crappy. I have not heard the best of things about the schools. We have a friend who is a teacher at our church and I have asked him about the schools and he said that he had some students come to his school from the one nearest to us and those kids didn't know anything.

Also the attitudes of other kids worries me. I would love for my kids to get a good Christian education, but we can't afford the private schools.

Personally I hated school and would have loved to stay home and learn, I was always a long way behind everyone else. Some students just seem to get lost.

My sisters kids are in primary school and she is thinking of pulling them out and homeschooling, her oldest is probably doing the best, he is in grade 6 (she just worries about high school now). Her daughter who is 9 is in grade 4 and still has to add 8 + 2 = 10 on her fingers, her son is in grade 3 and has detention at least once every week, he is just lost, his learning is not good enough to get the extra attention from the teacher, but not bad enough to get special ed. I guess I don't want this to happen to my kids as well.

I know it's a big committment, and that worries me too, but I love seeing my daughter learn. We have been doing some stuff just kinda randomly. She has a great memory, she heard a song at church one day that she never heard before, only heard it once, and that afternoon she was singing it (only 1 line over and over), not sure if that's normal or not, but I was impressed :giggle

My idea is... use ACE while we get the hang of learning and homeschooling, and then when I'm feeling confident switch and change things as I see their needed... then do something like Groves Home Education for high school so that they get a high school certificate and an OP score.

[naechelle]

I found Groves fantastic when I first started schooling my kids at home. I had quite a bit of freedom in the curriculum I used and alot of support from the teachers. As the school has gotten bigger, they have narrowed the curriculum choices down as it was getting too hard for the teachers to keep up with all the different curriculum. They still have a choice of different things, but you can no longer just pick pretty much what ever you like. This is good when you are first starting, as there is so much to choose from that I didn't know where to start. As I have gone along, I have found that you meet people, you find out more and are a little more open to trying different things. Your outlook changes too. You don't get an OP with Groves though, the children need to sit the SAT tests, but Groves organise this for you. I also found it helpful to be accountable and to know where my kids were up to when I first started.

The QLD Home Education Unit is run by the QLD Education Department to facilitate home education. It is the registration body that you would apply to educate your kids at home. Just google QLD Home Education Unit. It gives you a whole lot of information, what is legally required of you and what you are expected to give to them in regard to work returns. They have a lot more freedom, but without the grace and christian understanding of Groves. Not sure what their support is like. This is different to the Queensland Distance Education Unit.

Hope that helps. It truly is a great way to live. I find that it is a natural progression from where you are and what you are doing with your children now.

You are obviously fairly close by, so the offer to call or catch up is still there. Just drop me a pm.

Grace and Peace. :heart Renee

[Naxi]

Hi Louise,

I am sorry I have been so slack, but I have finally got those links that were discussed on the other forum. I haven't looked at them myself, so I don't know about them. I do know that this first list come from someone who has values like us:

A good Aussie one:
http://homeschoolaustralia.beverleypaine.com/

General ones:
http://www.unschooling.info/
www.homeschool.com
http://www.homeschool.com/new/

Christian ones I really like:
www.ignitethefire.com
www.heartofwisdom.com
www.fiveinarow.com (great curriculum to start with!)
www.sonlight.com (my teenager uses this)

And here are some suggestions from other people on that forum:
Pre-school resources from School Zone, Jump Start, Rod and Staff and LEM
A home schooling forum: www .liberatedlearning.info
An article they suggested: http:// www.familyministries.com/HS_Crisis.htm
A site with lots of links and articles: www .theparentingpit.com
A home-schooling blog http:// guiltfreehomeschooling.org/blog/
Some books recommended for infants/primary:
New Signpost Maths
Start Right for Science and Social Science (Kiwi focus, I think)
Postal Sunday School
Some language and reading supplemental stuff when they are on a little bit: Grammar once a week; Comprehension once a week; You can spell and Letterland

Apparently there are some good HS support groups and social groups in Brissie, too.

HTH!

[tree_hugger]

:) Reminding myself to come back to this in the morning ...

[Singingmom]

The other question is, can we afford it? We can't afford private school, is homeschooling any cheaper?

It can be dirt cheap with the internet and the public library! :tu There are lots of lovely tempting things out there to buy, but you can do it as cheaply as you need to.

[anaya]

We are in Brisbane, homeschooling. We are enrolled through Jubilee Christian College's ALAN program: http://www.homeschoolqld.com/ It is $300/family/year which is cheaper than Groves. They are more flexible with curriculum choices than Groves too which I like ;) ... if you still have questions I'm happy to answer what I can (I realise this thread is old, I'm new here and just poking my nose around the places I can see with less than 10 posts! :) )