Cody and Heidi doing a Science experiment for 'school'
My husband Andrew and I (Cindy) have decided to home educate our children - Cody who is nearly 7 and Heidi who has just turned 4. We are new to home education. We took Cody out of school at the end of third term last year after seeing him becoming increasingly unhappy at school and his behaviour disruptive and uninvolved.
The homework he was getting from school was way too much for a 6-year-old (grade1). He had up to 35 words per night to learn and a home reader along with other bits and pieces. They were supposed to do 10 minutes per night but there was no way we could get all his home work done in less than an hour.
He was very unhappy at school and did not cope with such large numbers of children all at once. During play times he would often sit alone somewhere quiet. He was very popular but he just was not happy there. In the end he started pretending he was sick etc. to get out of going to school.
After many discussions with his Teacher and Primary Principal we decided to look at other options. We looked into private school but were not happy with that. We researched Steiner which I was very pleased with but they have a long waiting list and we decided there was no place to go. And then came the realisation that up until Cody went to school, he was "home schooled" anyway. I was still "home schooling" Heidi, so instead of sending him to formal school we decided carry on at home as I had been doing when he was younger.
So we decided to Home School.
Not that it is that easy to just start home education when you have not done it before. We had to find curricula, methods, support and sports, etc. There was a lot of "set-up" for lack of a better word. I panicked in the beginning, not sure if it was going to work but everyone around me kept saying "relax, relax, relax....."
To start with though, I could not relax. I was freaking out. What if I made the wrong choice? Was my son going to pay for it? Finally I thought "well stuff it all, I will just relax!" I put all the information down and just left it for a while, then things just started to fall into place and it somehow all came together and worked! So I went through curricula and found what suited Cody.
In a typical week he does a mix of work depending on his ability in each area. We do about 2 hours a day of formal work such as English and Science, 4 days a week. A normal day might go like this: Breakfast, maths, reading, comprehension, writing and Spanish. Then we have a break for play time, usually with building toys or outside for a run round. After the break, maths and a project (we're doing "Our Family Tree" at the moment) followed by lunch and outside activities.
Both children have a range of activities outside of home which include gymnastics, home school playgroup, ballet, Spanish, swimming lessons and karate. Cody also has started riding a motocross bike and Heidi will follow soon as well. The biggest myth with home education is social interaction. Home educated children are no less socialised than formally educated school children. They still see other children most days, still have neighbours and friends, and see other children regularly at their activities.
Progress wise, Cody has taken a while to get over his formal school days and he still is not fully past it, but he is progressing in leaps and bounds. He is well-behaved again and happy. I am most pleased with his reading. He used to read for pleasure before he went to formal school but then after a while would not even look at a book. He is now starting to read for pleasure again and is enjoying it. Because Heidi is so competitive she is also included in our routine and she is doing her own work as well.
Just recently both children acquired pen pals with Heidi's being a child of a friend and Cody's being a child in the USA. We are planning a road trip soon and we can take our schooling on the road with us. It has given us a lot more freedom as a family as we are not bound by school times.
We have never planned on them going to High School, it's never been an issue. We were always going to home school our teens, given how bad we feel high schools are nowadays and we worry about how much worse they might be by the time our children are high school age.
Support is a vital key in home education. We have a wonderful home education playgroup and we do many things with them. We have a gecko presentation on this week and then the children will play and do activities afterward. They do Spanish, gymnastics, music and dance and I have found the group very supportive and full of the information I have needed to get me going.
I have registered with the government which helped me understand what I needed to know to teach my children. They are supportive and I have received a lot of help and information from them as well. The websites out there for home education are infinite and you can find anything and everything over the net.
We have had to deal with a lot of negative people who seem to think only a "qualified" teacher can teach children; or the whole 'socialisation" issue which we get over and over again. But I have to say (surprisingly), that most people have been supportive of our choice. Even those who I really thought would not be supportive have really shocked us with their enthusiasm for home education!
Home education/schooling is very different for every family. No two families operate the same way as education in general is a very individual thing. Our life and our world around us has become our classroom. I do not think home education is for everyone but it has certainly been the right choice for us.
Web sites
For a great list of sites that has been supplied by all our Home Schooling essential baby members go to the Home schooling forum.
www.hea.asn.au
www.thehomeschoolmom.com
Read our feature member article about Steiner schooling here.
