What Problems Can Be Associated With Home Education

If you have made it this far on our website you may seriously be considering home education but now wondering, “There must be a downside that they aren’t telling me about.”
Of course home education brings its own problems – but doesn’t parenting in general? We are not promising you a bed of roses! Home education [...]

The Danger of Maternal Overload and Maternal Distress

By Rosanne Trevaskis
Home education is not an easy option. It differs from classroom education and produces different results in the child, parents and in the family as a whole. Choosing to educate your child at home is making a long-term life-style decision that will affect every aspect of your family’s life. It is not a [...]

Older Kids – Decompression

By Cafi Cohen
‘He just won’t do anything!’ say the parents of teenagers who have just left school. Prior to beginning homeschooling, these parents have high hopes. They envision their older kids industriously attacking thoughtfully selected curriculum, running a business, publishing a book, graduating early, and winning big scholarship money.
Some of those things may happen, but [...]

Carol answers a question about Burnout

If you don’t want to imprison your children in a school, why are you imprisoning all of you in your own home?

I’ve been homeschooling for 10 years now. I have five children ages 18-3years. My question is, how do I effectively homeschool when I no longer have the heart for it? I am burnt out, tired and just plain bored of it. Yet, my conscience won’t allow me to imprison my precious children in the typical school setting.

Burnout is a common concern among homeschoolers who try to do school at home. (Note: This family uses a fairly strict Christian curriculum.) In fact, the only homeschoolers I’ve heard complain of burnout are those who are using a “school in a box” curriculum along with a strict daily schedule. It’s probably time to climb out of the box. …

How to Avoid Home-school Burnout

by Beth Deane

Isn’t this something we would all love an easy answer to? Here we a few things that work for me, or that I would like to try.

Work as a team: The whole family is in this together.

Don’t expect perfection from yourself or anyone else: When we first decided to home school I felt that the school was not perfect, therefore I could do this. …

Concerns for the future

My elder son is approaching high school age. Many friends who have come to accept that home-schooling is okay for primary, are now questioning our plans for secondary school. It’s been a dilemma for us too, but recently something has happened which has cemented our commitment to long-term home schooling.

My twelve year old, Ben, who has coped wonderfully well with primary school maths, has suddenly jacked up on me. “I hate maths!” So I decided: “No more maths for the rest of this year.” For me, that was a very difficult decision … almost traumatic! But I don’t want him to hate maths. With a bit of space, maybe we’ll come up with a better approach that will cultivate a love for the subject. …

Doubt is part of the journey

Today my ten year old son made me proud. Not because he and his team had made it to the basketball grand final but because he acted in a way that showed he had character.

When we entered the stadium, all the grand-final-hype was obvious, with streamers and screamers filling the air. Here and there, mascots paraded while banners called for victory. As we approached our team I noticed increasing number of children with their hair sprayed in the club colours. …