Otherways: Home Education Network

Special Feature: Homeschooling a Child With Special Needs
Barbara Frank shares her journey of home educating her son Josh who has Down’s Syndrome

Articles:

• Radical Feminist Mothers and Why We Need Them by Isabel shapcott
• How Homeschooling Helped Us Stay Married by Beverley Paine
• A Mathematician’s Lament by Paul Lockhart
• I Don’t Even Like Horses by Carleen Sing
• Liam Sing: Brumby Trainer by Jude Parsons
• Institutionalisation and Deschooling by Kah Ying Choo
• Days of Knights by Jude Parsons
• What Kind of Teacher Are You? by Beverley Paine
• Full Time Work, Full Time Home Education by Kate Frishman

Plus our regular features…

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Special Feature: - Home Education and Divorce Divorce-Proofing Your Children By John Peacock Home Education and Family Seperation By Wendy Thompson Home Ed in the Family Court By Susan Wight

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Articles:  What to Do When a Homeschooling Journey Comes to an End by Christine Alcott I was Home Educated and Just Didn’t Know it  By Elaine Edwards Don’t Quake Conjugate By Danielle Schulz on teaching a foreign language Making Something Beautiful Barbara Frank writes on how having a creative outlet helped her through a very difficult period of her life. A Science Talent Search Experience By Jeanie Clark Wilsons Prom Centrespread - Sharee’s photographic report on the latest camp. Individuals, Households and Families Gnat examines child centrality and the ’sentimental family’ as part of her journalist unit. The Invention of Childhood on the changing roles and status of children through the ages Where Are They Now? Home Ed graduate Anna Hartman reports on where her generation of home educators are and what they are doing in terms of study and work. Stephanie Tolan - Workshops for gifted students, parents and teenage writers Cash Could Be Better Spent Outside Daycare By Jennifer Buckingham Plus our regular features… Purchase this issue

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Special Feature: - Home Educating on a Budget

We make suggestions for saving your home education dollar.

Articles:

• Less than a Dollar a Day Home Education By John Peacock
• VCE/VET at Neighbourhood Houses Lyn reports on some extra options for VCE and VET.
• Much too Early (preschool) David Elkind, author of The Hurried Child, takes a logical look at the educational theory and political hype associated with preschool.
• What’s Feminism Got to do with Me? Isabel examines feminism, reminding us that we should be thankful to the women who have gone before us.
• An Encouraging Perspective from the Potter’s Studio Jude reports on the impressions formed by artists with regular home-educated students.
• The Power of Parental Expectations Rosanne looks at how not to be the parent of an ‘Ugly Duckling’.
• Talking Home Education Gnat examines home education as part of her journalist unit.
• Home Education’s Great…but I’m Just Not Up to it Sue remembers the torrid effects of deschooling.

Plus our regular features…
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Subscribe to Otherways/join the Home Education Network
Back issues of Otherways are available from our Online shop

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By Susan Wight

So you’ve decided to home educate but now you are worried about how you will ever afford all of those flashy curriculum resources, especially if home education means living on one income as it does for most families.

The good news is that home education does not have to be expensive.

You don’t really need that $1,000 Maths program you saw, nor do you need to purchase an entire curriculum or even a reading program. 

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By John Peacock

1.   Flip an encyclopaedia
Encyclopaedias are so cheap from Op. shops these days that you could probably get a few for nothing. They have one feature that I like and that is even better than Google. Because there is so much knowledge these days encyclopaedias tend to edit old stuff out to make room for more recent stuff. This means that there are things in the older ones that you won’t access in the more recent versions. In any case, this activity involves choosing a volume and one person riffling the pages while the other sticks his/her finger or hand into the pages being riffled. Wherever it lands that is what you study. If it is just too boring or way out, try again! 

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Special Feature: - Grandparents Lyn looks at the benefits of home education to grandparents.

Articles:

• The New Home Education Act How to register, why to register and what happens if you don’t register.
• An Unschooling Journey From Control to Connection Arun Pradham tells of his family’s experiences with “radical unschooling”.
• Being A Cheerful Rebel Deborah Markus reflects of how to deal with all the questions that arise from the different lifestyle we have chosen.
• The Hidden Benefits Of Sport Sharee Cordes reveals what home education families have to gain from involvement in sporting clubs.
• Making And Comsuming John muses on slavery, freedom, skills, self-sufficiency and where home education fits in.
• The Secret Lives Of Children An all-seeing home-ed mum discovers she has missed learning that was happening under her nose.
• Anglsea Camp Photospread
• Days of Our Lives Teena Eistis shares the ups and downs of her home-ed day.
• Giving Up the Gold Stars A Dad looks at life after home education.

Plus our regular features…

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The Education and Training Reform Act 2006, came into effect in Victoria on 1st July 2007.
It requires home educators to:
“register children for homeschooling in accordance with the regulations and to ensure that the child receives instruction in accordance with the regulations.”
There are two levels of legal requirements for home education:
– the Legislation (The Education and Training Reform Act 2006) and
– the Regulations.
This means that it is now the law to register your child if you are home educating.
Failure to register is effectively breaking the law.
Details of the legislation and regulations are available on the legal page of our website. If you are not familiar with the requirements and do not have access to the internet you can phone Sue on 54395134 and ask for a copy of the legal information to be mailed to you.
Registration is a decision for individual families, and will not affect families’ membership of HEN. 
The information below should assist you in your decision.

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Special Feature: - ‘I’m a Saboteur’ David Pink’s interview with educational rebel John Taylor Gatto who is soon to visit Australia.

Articles:

• Mashed Potato Education John Peacock reports on some disturbing news from Germany.
• Natural Learning in Action Is natural learning ‘doing nothing’? Sue reports.
• Licola 2007 Sharee’s superb pictorial report on this year’s camp at Licola.
• Plato’s Revenge John looks at the criticism of home education coming from critical social theorist, Michael Apple and puts it in a larger context.
• When Everything is a Mess Katje Sabin-Newmiller reflects on relaxing and accepting a less than perfect state of house.
• Assisting Budding Writers Sue’s ideas for inspiring your budding writer
• More Maths Board Games by Kevin Lees

Plus our regular features:

• Events at a Glance
• Letters to the Editor
• Science Classes
• Letters from Home
• HEN News
• Colita’s couch
• Age of Reason
• Home-ed Kids
• Home-ed Humour
• Network News
• Home Ed Bookshelf

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‘Otherways’ editors are Lyn Saint and Sue Wight.
The ‘Letters from Home‘ section will be prepared by Lyn. Please send ‘Letters from Home’ to Lyn at coordinator@home-ed.vic.edu.au.

Network News is prepared by Sue Wight. Please send your network news direct to Sue at robwight@optusnet.com.au

Home Ed Kids pages are prepared by Sue Wight. Please send poems, short stories and photocopies of children’s drawings to robwight@optusnet.com.au.

Please send all other material, including: original artwork and writing; articles, letters and news items from other sources (with permission of author or publisher); and Letters to the Editor, to HEN, 121 Dalton Street, Eltham 3095 or email to Lyn at coordinator@home-ed.vic.edu.au or Sue at editor@home-ed.vic.edu.au

How members can be involved & Writers’ Guidelines

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By Susan Wight

Natural Learning is not ‘Doing Nothing’

Confession time: Sometimes I get ‘the guilts’ and think I’m not really educating my children at all. This feeling usually creeps in following someone’s wide-eyed response when I tell them that I home educate.

“Wow, I could never do that! You must be so organised!”

The overawed responses vary but the words ‘busy’, ‘dedicated’ ‘organised’ and ‘amazing’ crop up fairly often. My guess is you hear this kind of thing too. And then the guilt sets in because these people have entirely the wrong idea about me. They think that I am a super-organised disciplinarian, planning lessons; conscientiously implementing a study routine; supervising progress; correcting work and so on…

I’m not doing any of that stuff! The fact is that most of the time, I’m doing my own thing whilst the kids do theirs. As the clock ticks over 9.00 a.m. here you won’t find me with the dishes and daily washing and cleaning done ready to supervise the day’s school work. In fact it’s quite likely that I am checking my email in my pajamas whilst the kids are still reading in bed. One of them is almost certainly still asleep.

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