Support Groups
All the credit for all the great groups we have in Melbourne and country Victoria go to the members whose enthusiasm and commitment keep these vital support centers going. Support groups are operating in the following areas:
Internet Discussion Groups
There are a number of discussion groups and forums about home education on the internet, some of the more interesting are listed here.
Homeschooling Advisory Committee Members - Victoria
The Victorian government selected the following home educators to advise them on home education matters:
Lyn Saint (03) 94131 4826 lml@mira.net
Sandra Herbert (03) 5342 8827 s.herbert@ballarat.edu.au
Barb Dennis barbdennis@bigpond.com
Jeanie Clark clarkspark@netconnect.com.au
Anthony White
Josh Fergeus
Fred Cahir
Deborah Lapthorne
Those listed with contact details are members of HEN and happy for you to contact them if you have issues you would like raised at the next meeting of the Homeschooling Advisory Committee.
Money Matters
Home education need not be expensive. You can home educate with a library card, the resources you already have at home and free resources in your community. An Internet connection is also extremely useful if you can afford it. Many commercial homeschooling supplies are available if families choose to use them and prices vary. So there is no specific cost of home education - it can cost very little or it can cost thousands of dollars - depending on what method and resources you choose to use. We advise families to look carefully at materials before making a large investment. It is unfortunate when families spend a lot of money on a resource and later find their money could have been better spent. See our articles Home Education on a Budget and Less than a Dollar a Day Home Education.
There is no specific financial assistance to home educators in Australia and home educators are not generally eligible for the Education Maintenance Allowance. However, home educaton is recognised as a valid form of education and, as such:
- The government exempts registered home educators from the Welfare to Work laws
- Victorian home educators are entitled to the School Start Bonus
- Those with a health care card are entitled to free use of the School Dental Service
- Chidren enrolled in a state approved distance education programme and those being home educated for medical reasons may be entitled to the Isolated Children Allowance.
- Home educators can claim the Education Tax Refund.
Warrnambool Science Session
| 24 June 2008 |
There is a possibility of a Deakin science session being run in Warrnambool for home ed families if there is enough interest.
Spectroscopes and Freezer Alarms
Cost $10 per student, cash on the night
Ages: 10 - 16
The School of Engineering and Information Technology offers a 3-hour evening session in basic spectroscopy and electronic sensors. Students (and accompanying parents) must wear close-toed shoes for lab safety. Sneakers are okay, but not Ugg boots.
Queries Sue Wight robwight@optusnet.com.au or phone 5439 5134
Educating Your Child at Home
By Jane Lowe and Alan Thomas
Australian Distributor: Allen and Unwin
Price $39.95
Reviewed by Susan Wight
Educating Your Child at Home is a great introduction to home education for new home educators and families enquiring into home education. It clearly explains what home education is and how it differs from school education. It also outlines the different methods available with the advantages of each in order to assist families to choose the home education style most suited to them.
Rather than reviewing various curricula, the book focuses instead on the differences between home education approaches which are broken into three broad categories - structured, semi-formal and informal.
It has sections on starting out, learning in the primary and secondary years, informal learning, projects, social life and special needs as well as options for older students. Home educators are quoted liberally throughout in order to illustrate various methods and points of view.
The book was written for the U.K. market and some parts of it are quite specific to the U.K. for example, key stages of the English National curriculum and preparing for GCSE (the English equivalent of the VCE). Despite this, the book is very relevant to the Australian market as it contains universal ideas for teaching and/or encouraging learning at home in all the major curriculum areas with a variety of approaches.
I liked the tone of the book which gave a clear message that there are many ways to educate children and that parents are more than capable of doing so by whichever method suits their individual family.
Jane Lowe is a founder trustee of the Home Education Advisory Service, the national home education charity in the U.K.
Dr Alan Thomas has researched home education extensively in the U.K. and Australia. He is a visiting fellow at the Institute of Education, University of London and a Fellow of the British Psychological Society. He will be in Australia next year for our national home education conference and this book as well as his original Educating Children At Home and a new book will all be available for sale at each venue.
Deakin Uni - Science for Home Educators
| 20 June 2008 | ||
| 9:00 am | to | 4:00 pm |
Practical Sessions for Home-ed students
Venue: Deakin University (Waurn Ponds campus: Melways ref: Edition 35, Map 464)
Session 1: Chemistry: The Forensic Detective
Start time: 9.15 a.m.
Finish time: Noon
Cost: Nil (this session has a sponsor and there is therefore no cost to participants)
Ages: 14-18. The minimum age of 14 strictly applies.
The School of Life and Environmental Sciences offers a 2.5-3 hour chemistry session with a focus on forensic science (plus a lab tour afterwards).
Lab coats and goggles will be provided. Students must wear closed-toed shoes for lab safety. Sneakers are OK, but not Ugg boots.
Session 2: Spectroscopes and Freezer Alarms
Start time: 1pm
Finish time: 4pm
Start time: 1pm
Finish time: 4pm
Cost: $10 per student, cash on the day.
Ages: 10-16.
The School of Engineering and Information Technology offers a 3-hour session in basic spectroscopy and electronic sensors.
Students (and parents) must wear closed-toed shoes for lab safety. Sneakers are OK, but not Ugg boots.
Students (and parents) must wear closed-toed shoes for lab safety. Sneakers are OK, but not Ugg boots.
To make travel more convenient for families, one session will run in the morning and the other will run in the afternoon. These sessions are repeats from previous years.
Queries to John Long: jlong@deakin.edu.au or phone 5227 2896
Bookings Sue Wight robwight@optusnet.com.au or phone 5439 5134
Fun Stuff With Friends 2008
Fun Stuff With Friends is our new program of group sessions which expands on our Science at Monash program. For details of the program for Term 1, see the Fun Stuff With Friends section
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 will neither solve all your problems nor mean you never have to worry about your kids again. There will be problems, there may be difficult times.
A decision to home educate should be an informed one so you need to know what the possible pitfalls are. You then have to weigh up the problems you currently have with your children in school (or see as potential problems if you send them to school) against the problems that others have experienced with home education and how likely those problems are for you.
New home educators and those enquiring into home education often fear that socialisation will be a problem but it need not be. Home educating does not have to mean your children are isolated - stuck at home all day with no contact with people outside their family. Making contact with a local group (see our networking page) can give your kids contact and yourself support. HEN also runs camps and events throughout the year. Your kids can also be involved in sports, clubs and hobby groups to provide additional social experiences and can also keep in touch with school friends and neighbouring kids etc outside school hours. Home education means living in the community - there can be regular interaction with people of all ages from babies to elderly. Home educators generally see socialisation as one of the great positives of home education. Take a look at the articles in the socialisation category as an introduction.
One problem is dealing with your own doubts and fears along the way. This article on doubt may be of assistance.
When kids come out of school, there is a process they need to go through in order to work through the stress of school and to regain their love of learning. Many experienced home educators say to allow one month of recovery time for every year of schooling that the child has had. This article on Decompression will tell you what to expect and give you some hints on dealing with this phenomenon.
Opposition from kids to formal learning can be a problem. This is a problem specific to the more school-at-home approach to home education. Switching home education styles can help. The article below on Concerns for the future may help as may the articles on the informal learning page. If natural learning (variously known as unschooling and informal learning) doesn’t sound like your style, you may find a balance between a set curriculum and informal learning and become an eclectic home educator. See more on home education styles here.
Getting back into school is not a problem should you or your kids wish to do so at some stage. A decision to home educate is not irreversible. In our experience kids make the transition from school to home or home to school pretty easily and there are rarely problems with getting back in on an age-for-grade basis. The most common problems kids report on going back into school are:
- They find it strange to enter a culture where adults are regarded as ‘the enemy’.
- Some are frustrated by the amount of wasted time in school and how slow the academic progress is.
Getting a job, going onto univeristy or further study need not be a problem either. See the sections on Grown Home Learners and Teenagers for more details.
Parents of children with special needs face additional demands but home education can have benefits that outweigh those demands. See our special needs section for articles and research of interest.
Mums becoming overloaded and exhausted is what we call ‘Home education burnout’ and it is a serious problem which some families encounter but a change of emphasis in how you home educate can solve it - see the articles Carol Answers a Question on Burnout and How to Avoid Homeschool Burnout.
More serious than Burnout is Maternal Distress which affects a small number of home educators - it seems to be more of a problem for those with special needs children. Realistic expectations and having support groups can help. There a few yahoo groups for home educators of children with special needs. We have listed those we know of on our networking page. HEN may be able to put you in touch with someone with similar circumstances for information and support.
If you have particular concerns not covered here, feel free to email editor@home-ed.vic.edu.au for information.
The School Start Bonus 2008
Registered Victorian home educators are eligible for the School Start Bonus. The concept is that parents are granted this money to assist with the costs (books, equipment etc) involved with starting school or starting secondary school.
The bonus applies to grade prep and year seven levels or, in ungraded situations, as follows: