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Homeschool Australia
Teach your children at home!
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Home educate the easy way... simplify and save time... |
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What is Your Homeschooling Life Like?
© Beverley Paine March 2008 Jennifer wrote and asked me: "Even though I'm 17 and have 6 years to find a husband and even have a kid I have decided to home school my children since my brothers and sister go to really bad schools. I just wanted to know what your homeschooling lives are like." My homeschooled children are now all older than you are, but I think I can answer your question anyway. Life wasn't always a lot of fun, or even very interesting. We focussed on doing things together that meant something to each of us, rather than on 'getting an education'. It was important to me that the children grew with self-confidence, realising that they have their whole life to learn whatever it is they want to know and do... All I needed to do was make sure they had the tools and know how to use them to help them learn. This made homeschooling life much easier because most of the pressure parents and children feel to perform academically or otherwise were removed. Life - and homeschooling - is what you make it! In retrospect, with two decades of experience, I'd say that the most important thing to remember as a prospective mother intending to home educate is to be a parent first, teacher second (or not at all!). Concentrate on bringing up healthy happy children. Make sure they get to play, sing, dance, run, hop, skip, tell stories, laugh, sleep and imagine every day. Give them quality toys that make them use their imaginations. Spend hours every day talking to them. Play with them. Pretend with them. Ask them what they need, what you can do for them. Protect them. Feed them good quality nutritious food and give them an unpolluted environment in which to live and play. Allow them access to lots of friends, but don't over do - children need time to be alone and love to spend endless hours daydreaming or doing nothing at all! Get to know your inner child and be guided by her wisdom. Don't completely grow up. Retain your curiosity about the world. Help your children retain theirs... Be the best parent you can be. That way you know that homeschooling is going to be great for you and great for your children. Whenever we felt insecure or unsure about homeschooling it was always because we were comparing ourselves or what we did to what was happening out there in the world - looking over our shoulders to see if we were measuring up to other people's expectations. This usually made us unhappy and we'd stop learning; learning would stop being a wonderful family journey where we helped each other achieve our individual goals. It can be frustrating at times - you know the old saying - you can choose your friends but you can't choose your relatives! However, being together for a lot of time meant that we couldn't let relationship problems fester, we couldn't ignore problems, we had to sort them out as they happened. This has meant that we're very close as a family - not only then, when we were homeschooling, but also now, as a family of five adults. |
SEARCH this site: If you like what you
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Please note: |
and support person Beverley no longer
takes phone call or email inquiries.
Please join one of her yahoo groups
if you want to know more about
homeschooling or have a question.
Beverley supports:
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Annual National |
Home Education Association
AussieHomeschool
Rockpool Homeschool
Joyous Learning
Life Learning Magazine
Parent at the Helm
books, ebooks and booklets by Beverley!
Interested in homeschooling, but still not sure? Read All You Need Is...'
Looking for educational resources?
Home Education Directory
Questions about homeschooling?
Browse the Article Library.
Wondering what to teach? See
Australian Homeschool Curriciulum
What's new on Homeschool Australia?
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter.
Children Learning Naturally Support Group
Travelling and homeschooling? Keep in touch with
Aussie Homeschool Campers!
HEA Resource Directory
to find some of the best Australian
home education resources available!
Including...
Always Learning Books
Downunder Literature
Spiral Garden
Australian History Pictures
Home education is a legal alternative
to
school education in Australia.
State and Territory
governments
are responsible for regulating
home
education. Different states have different
requirements, however home educating
families are able to develop curriculum
and learning programs to suit the
individual
needs of their children.
For more information visit the
Home Education Association
Thank you for visiting!
Pioneering members of the home education movement in Australia, Beverley and Robin Paine are passionate advocates of true educational choice for families. They began homeschooling their children in 1986 and three years later started the South Australian Home Based Learners network.
Beverley wrote Getting Started with Homeschooling in 1995-97 and since then continues to write books and booklets on home education. She balances spending time helping home educators with working in her garden and renovating her home, as well as continuing to build her collection of writing on a variety of homeschooling subjects. Beverley maintains an extensive collection of websites as well as several Yahoo groups supporting families teaching their children at home.
In 2007 Beverley joined the HEA and became a committee member in 2008: she also edits and produce the HEA Newsletter, HEA magazine, Stepping Stones for Home Educators, annual Resource Directory and other HEA publications.
If you'd like to keep in touch with what Beverley is up to her in her life, sign up for the Homeschool Australia Newsletter or visit her Homeschool AustraliaFacebook page.