From the end of July 08 this website will no longer be updated but will remain online as an archive.
For current information about home education in Australia please visit the Home Education Association of Australia.
While there, please consider joining this vital support network that works hard to promote home education in Australia.
Please note that Beverley Paine is unavailable to answer telephone and email inquiries, etc. Please join a support group in your state.

Home education is a legal alternative to school education in Australia. State governments are responsible for regulating home education.
Different states have different requirements, however homeschooling families are able to develop curriculum and learning programs
to suit the individual needs of their children.

Allow Time to Deschool

© Beverley Paine

In addition, there's a good chance that the child has had her natural desire to learn, as well as her creativity and imagination quashed. She will need time to detox, take a vacation, have some down time - or all three!

The parent needs to deschool as well. For most of us the only educational approach we've known is some kind of school - institutionalised learning. We're used to the idea that education is a passive 'they teach and we learn' kind of thing. Educators, even in schools, know this is only a tiny part of what really happens. We need to update our notions about constitutes an education. The easiest way to do this is to talk to other homeschooling families, hang out with them, and see for ourselves how children learn outside of a school setting.

Some of the myths about education we must dispel are:

• It cannot take place without a university trained and qualified educator
• It has to take place in a classroom or classroom environment, with desks, texts or workbooks
• It takes place Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• It stops when we graduate from high school
• Children must learn certain concepts in a predetermined manner
• Children must learn certain concepts at a specified age
• Children cannot learn without a qualified educator to hold their hand and guide them through the learning process

See Deschooling Defined for more information.

Some books I recommend for parents are:

• Challenging Assumptions in Education
• Dumbing us Down
• Self University
• Creating Learning Communities
• Punished by Rewards

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