Homeschooling / Unschooling

[whoiam]

Anyone on PIo doing either Homeschooling or Unschooling? I have heard about homeschooling before but the term Unschooling was a completely unknown concept until a few days ago when I came across it whilst researching education options for the kids. Would like to know what you guys think of it.

[Guest Bazinga]

There's a Facebook group all about it. Based in Oz though not the UK. I think both are interesting but neither totally suited for my child as he needs specialist help that I am just not qualified or experienced enough to give (and I speak as someone who has spent their working life in Special Needs schools) plus I am going to have to work so really it is not an option.

[Guest]

I/we considered homeschooling our son but tbh he is such an outgoing kid and loves the company of other children, not letting him attend a school would be depriving him of a great deal that no amount of homeschooling will compensate for. We can still have a positive impact on his learning at home but outside of school time.

 

Also I hope to return to working a bit more in the not too distant future and homeschooling would mean I'd not be able to do that.

[pintpot]

I don't understand the attraction of this sort of thing. How much pressure are you putting yourself under to get it right?

[TheGrahams]

We currently homeschool our eldest son (5 yrs) and he is thriving. We decided for him not to go to school this year as emotionally we believe he wasn't ready.

 

There is no pressure on us to conform to anything. He can read, write, do basis maths and science and he really enjoys it. We meet up weekly with other homeschooling families locally and he has loads of friends. His confidence has grown loads in this last year.

 

We are not anti school, and when we get to Aus he will have to go to school, as will our youngest too, but they are aware of this and happy with that choice.

 

We believe that this is best option for our family and it is working very well.

 

As for unschooling, I don't like labels, but we do have aspects of unschooling in our life. I think that children are learning all the time, it doesn't only happen between the hours of 9 -3. We do do some formal learning type activites but we also do a lot of normal living stuff that teaches without teaching (a classic example is learning maths through helping with the weekly shop)

It is all about trusting your childrens innate desire to learn

[Guest cocoann]

this subjest came up this morning with a friend of mine who is a teacher in ireland. She told me there is a wonderful homeschool service in australia. It was done through the radio, she said maybe now they do it through internet. Because australia is so vast there are areas where it is maybe too far for childen to travel to school. im sorry i dont have the information for you and i am also interested in looking into this for one of my kids. but it does excist, there is a service where classes are taught for students while they are at home. not maybe the what you are looking for as its still school but there might be certain subjects that are taught that you might not be confident to teach, like mandarin, languages etc !!!! if i can find more info i will let you know. thanks, annie

[wakeboard1980]

this subjest came up this morning with a friend of mine who is a teacher in ireland. She told me there is a wonderful homeschool service in australia. It was done through the radio, she said maybe now they do it through internet. Because australia is so vast there are areas where it is maybe too far for childen to travel to school. im sorry i dont have the information for you and i am also interested in looking into this for one of my kids. but it does excist, there is a service where classes are taught for students while they are at home. not maybe the what you are looking for as its still school but there might be certain subjects that are taught that you might not be confident to teach, like mandarin, languages etc !!!! if i can find more info i will let you

know. thanks, annie

 

What your friend would be talking about is 'school of the air' it's out in the rural areas of Aua My cousins 2 kids did it. My cousin was also a governess many many years ago, she was basically paid to look after and teach the kids on the cattle station. They used school of the air with the qualified teachers then she basically continued on each week from that and helped the kids complete their work.

[Guest famousfive]

The system you refer to cocoann is the School of the Air is for remote students only,as far as I am aware,who have no local school to go to.These days it is taught via computer and is great for remote communities.

 

There is a homeschool network here which has a set syllabus and lesson targets etc...it is government regulated and they check up on you from time to time to see how things are going.Usually a local network will meet weekly for sport etc..so the kids interact with others of the same age too.

I am not sure of the link but if you google it should be easy to find.

[Guest nikkidel]

We homeschool and love it. We've been able to move as much as we have without having to worry about putting our eldest into one school after another and then taking him out just as he's settling in. We can plan trips to the UK to visit family without having to worry about only being able to go in the school holidays. Also, most days we are finished by lunchtime which means we can head off to the beach/shops/friends etc in the afternoons whenever we like.

 

Not really sure what unschooling involves though I have heard of it, but we love the way we do things and wouldn't change a thing. We find that it gives us a lot more freedom than we'd have otherwise.

[Maruska]

I personally feel that home schooling might deprive a child of the opportunity to learn social skills by simply interacting with his peers. It might be different if there is a lot of social network - family, friends, homeschool parent group etc. For us this is not an option and my son is thriving at his daycare/preschool ( he is 4 y old and it`s a Montessori school ). Not sure how to "substitute" certain topics in home school - like presentation in front of a classroom. In my son`s school there is a "show and tell" every week when a child presents something in front of the entire class.

[Guest nikkidel]

I personally feel that home schooling might deprive a child of the opportunity to learn social skills by simply interacting with his peers. It might be different if there is a lot of social network - family, friends, homeschool parent group etc. For us this is not an option and my son is thriving at his daycare/preschool ( he is 4 y old and it`s a Montessori school ). Not sure how to "substitute" certain topics in home school - like presentation in front of a classroom. In my son`s school there is a "show and tell" every week when a child presents something in front of the entire class.

 

We have weekly meet-ups with the other 20 or so homeschooling families who live within half an hour's drive of us...my kids are also best friends with our neighbours' kids and are over there at least once or twice a week. We have visitors to our house most weeks at the weekends who my kids enjoy socialising with and we're also out mixing with people we know most Saturdays too. I consider it wonderful that my kids learn to socialise with people of all ages and don't just spend the 12 school years mixing with only those of the same year group as them. My kids have friends their own ages, but also learn to interact with a wide variety of people of all ethnic backgrounds and ages. I feel that their social skills may well end up better developed at an early age than those of the kids who only socialise with others who were born within 12 months of them.

 

There are also all sorts of local classes for us to get involved in, though we've not really done that yet. We did join a primary age art class but we found that we were far too busy enjoying ourselves to manage to fit it in on a regular basis. Maybe when they're older we'll look into that sort of thing as well.

Edited March 26, 2012 by nikkidel

[whoiam]

We homeschool and love it. We've been able to move as much as we have without having to worry about putting our eldest into one school after another and then taking him out just as he's settling in. We can plan trips to the UK to visit family without having to worry about only being able to go in the school holidays. Also, most days we are finished by lunchtime which means we can head off to the beach/shops/friends etc in the afternoons whenever we like.

 

Not really sure what unschooling involves though I have heard of it, but we love the way we do things and wouldn't change a thing. We find that it gives us a lot more freedom than we'd have otherwise.

 

Hi Nikkidel, thanks for sharing. May I ask how old your kids are? Have you considered higher education options --like uni etc.

I am curious to know whether homeschooled kids sit exams and stuff esp in secondary school so as to get into Uni's or is there some other way.

[whoiam]

I personally feel that home schooling might deprive a child of the opportunity to learn social skills by simply interacting with his peers. It might be different if there is a lot of social network - family, friends, homeschool parent group etc. For us this is not an option and my son is thriving at his daycare/preschool ( he is 4 y old and it`s a Montessori school ). Not sure how to "substitute" certain topics in home school - like presentation in front of a classroom. In my son`s school there is a "show and tell" every week when a child presents something in front of the entire class.

 

Hi Maruska, I am considering montessori as one of my options esp since I have heard that its a lot more fun. What do you think of the Montessori system? is it all fun and play or are the kids gently guided to progress acoording to the curriculum?

 

I must confess that I wasn't awfully fond of school as a kid--Would have rather stayed at home and learnt--my best years were in primary school when I had a lot of input from mum and used to attend classes just 2-3 days per week.

[Guest nikkidel]

My kids are primary age so I don't have to worry about the whole Uni thing yet. However, I believe it's quite common for homeschooled kids to take the national high school exams...there are schools that will let homeschooled children attend on the exam days.

 

I believe it's also possible to get into college/uni on the strength of an interview...I'm not sure how you'd go about getting an interview other than writing to the uni or phoning and explaining the situation...not sure. I'd need to find out more about that process a few years down the track, but as far as I know it is entirely possible for homeschooled children to attend uni when they reach the right age. If I was in any doubt, I'd find out how to get my kids to sit the national exams and go from there.

[Chardy]

If our plans come together and we move in Sept/Oct, we would like to homeschool our 7 and 8 year old until the start of the new school year. This will give us time to settle and be sure of what area we want to stay in long term as well as check out the schools thoroughly.

Any links to Homeschooling groups around Perth would be great !

Cheers !

[Maruska]

We have weekly meet-ups with the other 20 or so homeschooling families who live within half an hour's drive of us...my kids are also best friends with our neighbours' kids and are over there at least once or twice a week. We have visitors to our house most weeks at the weekends who my kids enjoy socialising with and we're also out mixing with people we know most Saturdays too. I consider it wonderful that my kids learn to socialise with people of all ages and don't just spend the 12 school years mixing with only those of the same year group as them. My kids have friends their own ages, but also learn to interact with a wide variety of people of all ethnic backgrounds and ages. I feel that their social skills may well end up better developed at an early age than those of the kids who only socialise with others who were born within 12 months of them.

 

There are also all sorts of local classes for us to get involved in, though we've not really done that yet. We did join a primary age art class but we found that we were far too busy enjoying ourselves to manage to fit it in on a regular basis. Maybe when they're older we'll look into that sort of thing as well.

 

Where do you live right now, UK or AUS? Here in the US I can`t imagine socializing like this:eek:

it`s sad but everyone is so busy that you have to make arrangements to meet your best friend once a month:mad:

. It`s one of the things that helped us in making the decision to move. Enough of the wild chase !!!!

[Maruska]

Hi Maruska, I am considering montessori as one of my options esp since I have heard that its a lot more fun. What do you think of the Montessori system? is it all fun and play or are the kids gently guided to progress acoording to the curriculum?

 

I must confess that I wasn't awfully fond of school as a kid--Would have rather stayed at home and learnt--my best years were in primary school when I had a lot of input from mum and used to attend classes just 2-3 days per week.

 

I really like the Montessori school. That said, Montessori certificate does not mean that all schools are the same, I picked one that has been functioning for 30 years and the newest teacher has been there for 4 years, the others 12 year +. They are very experienced and the kids learn a lot. They have separate rooms and areas and rotate during the day, the kid usually gets a choice which area he would like to be in. There is science room, practical life area and the main teaching room. For example, in science they make experiments like creating a volcano model or planting seeds and watch them grow, also they have a turtle that they take turns feeding. Practical life - they may help the cook ( with the assistance of a teacher) prepare simple salad or mix a batter for a cake. They learn spelling and basics of reading and writing. My son just turned 4 and knows how to write his name and some other letters, recognizes all letters and is starting to read short words. They have a lovely outdoor area and have a baseball class once a week as part of enrichment program. In the summer they swim in the pool with a outside lifeguard/swim teacher and 1 of his teachers. I will be very sad to leave this school but he will be due to start elementary education anyway.

Bottom line, I think the kids in Montessori learn all the necessary skills and gain knowledge without the stress and I am looking into this in Australia too.

[NowPerth]

What strikes me about so many home schooled children is what confident, outgoing, interesting adults they turn into. Are there any forum members reading who were home schooled?

 

Not fitting into the usual system doesn't appear to do any harm, quite the opposite. The only negative appears to be from those who feel they missed out on socialising, but this can be avoided by regular meet ups with other home schoolers and with clubs like sports clubs and scouts. I love meeting adults who spent their childhood touring the globe on a yacht or travelling around different continents in a caravan. :jimlad:

[whoiam]

If our plans come together and we move in Sept/Oct, we would like to homeschool our 7 and 8 year old until the start of the new school year. This will give us time to settle and be sure of what area we want to stay in long term as well as check out the schools thoroughly.

Any links to Homeschooling groups around Perth would be great !

Cheers !

 

 

I think I too am going to homeschool/unschool the kids between July and Jan.This will give me an idea as to how well it works for them and for me.

[TheGrahams]

The key to succesful home schooling is finding a network of other home schoolers. They are a source of information, as well as the important social side of things. Where are you moving to?

[whoiam]

The key to succesful home schooling is finding a network of other home schoolers. They are a source of information, as well as the important social side of things. Where are you moving to?

 

 

We are moving to Sydney. What about you?

[Guest nikkidel]

Where do you live right now, UK or AUS? Here in the US I can`t imagine socializing like this:eek:

it`s sad but everyone is so busy that you have to make arrangements to meet your best friend once a month:mad:

. It`s one of the things that helped us in making the decision to move. Enough of the wild chase !!!!

 

We have Oz PR but are currently living in New Zealand. I think homeschooling is reasonably big over here, and certainly it seems to be well organised with plenty of co-op classes and meet-ups, plus monthly meet-ups in the evenings for parents.

 

I found the same when living in the UK, that you had to book social visits a month in advance, and when you talk about getting together with a friend for a morning everyone pulls out their diaries to try and find a day where you both have an hour free at the same time as each other. Nightmare! But here, the meet-ups are scheduled at the same time every week, so if you're free that day you turn up and if you're not then you don't. It's working really well for us at the moment. We also go to weekly swimming lessons.

[whoiam]

Just wondering--is there anyone on Pio who have been homeschooled themselves?

[pintpot]

Can I ask a straight question (honestly no agenda)

 

What is it in conventional education that people are trying to avoid in choosing homeschooling? Just asking, there must be something you don't like/want, that means you want to take this route. Hence my earlier comment about pressure - I sort of figure there must be something you really don't like in the way schools work that means you want to do this, ergo you care (obviously) about education, ergo there must be a real concern/desire to make sure when you do homeschool that you get it right, no?

[NowPerth]

The state education system can be a bit ' one size fits all'. Not all children thrive in that system. Children have to behave in a particular way for a class to function well with 30 or more children in it. What about those who really can't sit still and concentrate in 1 hour sessions. They are labelled as naughty and disruptive, rather than lively and enthusiastic. What about those who thrive in small groups and find classes of over 20 overwhelming? What about those who are very bright but have to work at the pace of the rest of the class and get bored, and don't reach their potential?

 

Also, the constraints of the national curriculum mean that teachers have to stick to a tough timetable. There just isn't the time to allow the class to go off on an interesting tangent whenever one comes up - they have a lot to pack into each lesson. The emphasis on passing exams means that a lot of time is spent practising how to tackle exam questions to get the most marks, rather than on investigating and learning new things.

 

Should children be formally schooled from they age of 4 anyway? If so, why don't they in so many other countries? I've seen many 4 yr olds and parents in tears as they are parted at the reception door. Many people home school until the age of 6 or 7 to allow children a few more years at home learning through play and investigation without a class setting. They can start school when they feel ready for it, rather than when the system dictates.