| « Dec |
|
Feb » |
| M | T | W | T | F | S | S |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |||||
| 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
| 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 |
| 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 |
| 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 |
| 31 | ||||||
by Susan and Robert Wight
Many parents considering home education ask the questions “But can they still go to University?” and “Will they get a job?” Even families who have been home educating for years may experience occasional doubts about their children’s future - not about any lack of real life education but perhaps whether a lack of paper qualifications may hinder them in their choice of career.
by Lyn Loxton
When the notion of home educating our children first enters our thoughts, most of us instantly dismiss the idea that we could ever do such a thing. After all, there is this huge infrastructure in place costing millions of dollars per year, employing thousands of highly qualified people, using curriculums designed by trained minds using the latest researched and up-to-date techniques. We have been part of that as children and have come up through its ranks, survived its idiosyncrasies and have been spewed out into society like a little army of newly qualified members of an indoctrinated public ready to take our place in this very well ordered and controlled society. Who are we to compete with this? It is not possible.
This is the way we have been trained to think and it is so ingrained into the very depths of our being that most people will never in a lifetime be able to grasp the fact that you don’t need schools to learn. It is an inconceivable thought to most of the population, so when we do start to entertain thoughts of stepping out of this mould and teaching our own children, before we even publicly announce our ideas, our very own minds start to put up barriers and hurdles of doubt.
Copyright 1994 Mary McCarthy and Home Education Magazine. Used with permission.
Dear New Homeschooler,
First, welcome and congratulations on your decision to homeschool! So you’ve gone to the library and checked out all the books on homeschooling. That’s good. Except after you’ve sat down and read them all you’re more confused than before because no two “experts” agree on how to homeschool. Don’t worry about it, you will be homeschooling your own children in your own way.
Don’t be scared off by the ones that tell you how your children can grow up to be Nobel Prize winners. It’s possible (anything is possible) but not probable. Your goal is happy, educated children who like learning.
Don’t be scared off by the ones that tell you that you must have an impeccably clean house and be well organized. If that were so there would only be one or two homeschooling families in existence. Face it, with kids home all day - doing the most interesting things - a mess is inevitable; enjoy it! Don’t be scared off by the ones that tell you that a strict schedule is necessary and must be adhered to. Life isn’t like that. It would be great if it were, but life is unpredictable. Enjoy the surprises. Think of them as opportunities.
Home Education is legal in every state of Victoria. For details see the Victorian Legal Situation page.
If your child has not yet started school
At this stage there are many paths you can choose to follow. Many people think of home schooling as ’school in the home’ - sitting their children down at the kitchen table at 9am and teaching them until 3pm. Nothing can be further from the truth.
From the day your child was born you have been home educating - assisting them in their quest for knowledge of the world around them, answering their questions, teaching them to walk, talk. You have already done the hard stuff and without a curriculum. In fact if you truthfully look back at this stage - you yourself have not had much of a hand in all the wonderful things your child has accomplished. Our children are born with the ability to teach themselves everything they need to know about surviving in the world they live in and they do it well. School interrupts this natural flow of learning, stifles it and eventually kills it. If you leave them alone and just provide lots of resources, encouragement and a nurturing environment - that is all you will ever need. Trust them - they will get the job done.
