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18 Years Home Educating our Family Noose Home Education Conference 2004 Keynote Address From the outset I'd like to confess that I'm a paranoid, over-protect parent and I'm proud of it! These are my babies, my darlings, the most precious things in my life. I have an obligation, a duty as a parent, to take care them, nurture them, and prepare them for adult life. I take this responsibility seriously. The future of humanity alarms me. It's not a nice world out there. We live in the lucky country, but it won't be lucky forever. Nothing ever is. There are too many greedy people in the world with too little care for each other and all the living creatures we share wonderful planet with. Nuclear power, dioxin in every living cell, genetically modified organisms, chemical and biological weapons stored in decaying drums, declining rainforests, rising sea-levels, rising temperatures, and non-stop conflicts that kill indiscriminately, are frightening enough, but we have leaders who stick their heads in the sand, pretend we're living 50 years ago and say "she'll be right mate". We're supposed to be living in the 'clever country', and I believe that this was once the case. In the past we've boasted some of the finest minds the world has seen, great inventors, great humanitarians, sports men and women, amazing people from all walks of life who inspire us. I loved the advert run by BP years ago as it really epitomised the Australian way of life. We were truly a nation of quiet achievers. But we've changed. We're no longer busy producers of our own ideas and things we need in daily life; we're consumers, passively entertained, happy to be supplied with goods manufactured by people in other countries less well off than ourselves, content to sacrifice a future for our children, for humanity, for the sake of what can get out of life right now. We've lost the essence of who were as a nation, the pioneering spirit. So, where does this fit in with the topic I'm supposed to be talking about today: the benefits of home education? How many of you are familiar with the work of John Barratt Peacock? John's a good mate of mine, even though he is a Tasmanian; he's one of my most cherished mentors. A learned fellow, university lecturer and theologian, with more letters after his name than in it, he wrote, some years ago now, "They Why and How of Australian Home Education". John is the father of six home educated young people, most of them university graduates themselves. But the thing that strikes me about John, that I admire and seek to emulate, is his pioneering spirit. We're not content to stick our heads in the sand, pretend we're living 50 years ago and say "she'll be right mate". Especially when it comes to giving our children what they need to survive in this less than nurturing world. When I was thirteen I became increasingly frustrated, as many teenagers do, that I couldn't come up with the solutions to the world's problems. The temptation to give up in despair and become numbed into passivity was great. I should have knuckled under, studied harder, passed Matriculation, gone to University, got a well paid job, worked hard and amassed oodles of superannuation and put my children into a good school, but my inner drive to survive was greater. I wanted and needed solutions. I wanted my children to live in a better world. It was my responsibility to make this happen, for them and for me, and for every one else. I was told that education was the solution. Schools would deliver the promised land, the freedom from harm, access to the lucky life. But even at the age of thirteen I could see that schools hadn't worked. Education, it seemed, wasn't the answer. Religion hadn't delivered either. Too many people had allowed the corruption of consumerism to undermine their faith. Values in the church and schools had declined. Why did something so noble in intention fail so miserably? I believe it's because schools were never intended to produce a better society in the first place. They were essentially an experiment to control and direct the masses to produce profit. Find a country full of schools and you'll find a nation of consumers, not producers. Once upon a time Australia was a nation of producers, of quiet achievers. And what was it about those generations of pioneers and producers and great thinkers. They were brought up by their parents, on the farm or in the city, working hard to carve out a living in this new country. Every day life was hard, full of work, not entertainment, full of making things, not buying things. Few went to school beyond learning the basics. Most were auto-didacts, learning what they needed from life itself. There it is again - the pioneering spirit. This is what we, Robin and I, have learned as parents of our children. This is what we've gained from home educating them. This is probably the most important benefit we've found. Discovering that what we need more of in life, what the world needs more of, is the pioneering spirit. So we've become pioneers, producers, builders, thinkers and problem solvers. And we want our children to be pioneers too. I'm a home educating pioneer because I truly believe that education is the only solution to the problems humanity has created. Driven by a need to make sure that my children survive in an increasingly chaotic and hostile world, I knew I had to take the bold step of becoming personally responsible for the education of my children. There was no way I was going to leave this up to chance. As a paranoid, over-protective parent, and proudly so, I had to have total control over , why, when, how and what my children learned and from whom they learned it. Feeling in control, a wonderful illusion, is another satisfying benefit of home educating. Too bad the children undermined this aspect of my life all too regularly! These are some of the things we have loved most about home education:
It's easy to see from what I've said how our children have benefited from home education. But what about us? Years ago I wrote a list of the ways in which I'd personally benefited from home education - you can read it here: http://theeducatingparent.com/articles/benefits.html . A week ago, in preparation for today, Robin and I went through it again and updated it. Home educating our children has:
And the most important benefit, the gift that home educating has given us? The satisfaction of knowing that we are part of a growing movement that can change the future, one child, and one family, at a time. In conclusion I'd like to mention a few notes I picked up from the Internet recently, from We've Grown Up and We're Okay -- An Exploration of Adults Who Were Home-Educated As Students by academic researcher Gary Knowles, of the University of Michigan. Knowles found that adults who have been home educated are located in both rural and urban areas; they are employed in a variety of professions and occupations, although many seem to be concentrated in those occupations that allow for independence, flexibility and, often, creativity; and they exhibit a wide range of political views and religious affiliations. He also found that the majority reflected a positive attitude toward their home education and family experiences. Forty-two percent had attended a college or a university after being home-educated for at least two years. Twelve percent had completed advanced university degrees, another twelve percent had completed an undergraduate degree, and a further sixteen percent had completed some graduate school courses. Nearly two-thirds of the formerly home educated adults were self-employed, indicating, says Knowles, a high level of autonomy and independence. None were unemployed, although some chose to stay home to care for children. When asked whether or not they would wish to be home educated if they had their lives to live over again, ninety-six percent answered positively. Positive aspects of home based education included strong family relationships; the self-directed, individualized nature of their learning; the resulting self-reliance; and the flexibility. Respondents felt that home-based learning had encouraged the development of self-reliance and resourcefulness, as well as the study skills associated with attendance at a university or college. Knowles contends that his "his survey and the life history accounts that arose out of it clearly show that, done in an enlightened, broad-minded way, with plenty of flexibility in curriculum and methods, home schooling can be a positive experience for children with benefits that last for many years." Was this article helpful? Was it worth $1.00 to you? Your gift of $1 or more helps to keep this site operating offering encouragement and reassurance to families wanting better outcomes for their children. Beverley Paine with her children, and their home educated children, relaxing at home. Together with the support of my family, my aim is to help parents educate their children in stress-free, nurturing environments. In addition to building and maintaing this website, I continue to create and manage local and national home educating networks, help to organise conferences and camps, as well as write for, edit and produce newsletters, resource directories and magazines. I am an active supporter of national, state, regional and local home education groups.
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and Learning without School! We began educating our children in 1985, when our eldest was five. In truth, we had helped them learn what they need to learn since they were born. I am a passionate advocate of allowing children to learn unhindered by unnecessary stress and competition, meeting developmental needs in ways that suit their individual learning styles and preferences. Ours was a homeschooling, unschooling and natural learning family! There are hundreds of articles on this site to help you build confidence as a home educating family. We hope that your home educating adventure is as satisfying as ours was! Beverley Paine
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