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Getting Started with Home Schooling: Practical Considerations

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Reasons

The reasons families chose to begin or continue homeschooling tend to change over time as the benefits become more apparent. Some of the reasons, cited in research include:

• A marked lack of confidence in state related institutions, with a tendency toward conservative view points;
• Lack of direct influence in determining curriculum and school agendas;
• Opposition to the ideological content of school programs and/or methodology used;
• Conflicting value orientations of home and schools;
• Need for individualised attention for children with special needs (gifted and talented and specific learning problems);
• Focus on perceived gains in social development from home education, with a strong emphasis on family unity and relationships;
• Concern with declining academic standards in schools;
• Perceived lack of availability of educational programs to suit individual children's learning needs, styles, rates and interests;
• Avoidance of negative peer influences and damaging socialisation experiences;
• Perceived lack of attention in schools to holistic development of children, including spiritual:
• Strong parental sense of primary responsibility for children's education, with a need to have access to, and some control over, their children's educational experiences as a strong motivational factor;
• Offers solutions to present or potential educational problems, sometimes as a result of deterioration of communications and hostile relationships between families and schools;
• Parents' own educational experiences, or memories of unhappy or unsuccessful personal experiences of schooling;
• High cost of alternative and private schooling, including correspondence education;
• Lack of educational and schooling choice in local area;
• Opposition to the competitive nature of schooling, grading or testing;
• Perceived gains in autonomous home learning programs, independent study skills and higher student motivation;
• The development in parents of a stronger sense of satisfaction with their own lives through directing their children's education;
• Home education offers a natural learning and socialising environment as opposed to the contrived and artificial environments and learning programs of schools.

Characteristics

Each homeschooling family undertakes a journey, an adventure in home learning that is not static, but flexible, responding the to ever changing conditions, situations and opportunities that active learning brings.This creates a diverse range of homeschooling practices, but the following characteristics are common to most homeschooling situations.

• The practice of home education follows closely from the reasons for choosing it and from lifestyle choices.
• Parents are highly interested in children's personal, social and spiritual development.
• Both parents are actively involved in home educating their children with the mother generally fulfilling the role of 'teacher' most of the time.
• Most, though not all, parents have attended or graduated from some kind of tertiary education.
• Learning programs tend to move from formal structured activities to generally more informal, spontaneously generated learning activities, with time and experience.
• Learning programs tend to be flexible and highly individualised with use of both home made and purchased curriculum materials.
• Home educated students study a wide range of subjects, including conventional school ones.
• Many families are interested and involved in home birth, breast feeding, and healthy lifestyle choices.
• A variety of religious beliefs are represented among home educating families.

See the following articles for additional information :

• Australian and Overseas Research Links
• Exploring Homeschooling Diversity Ann Lahrson Fisher
• Solid Evidence to Support Home Schooling Michael Farris

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	Choosing Homeschool Curriculum
	Getting Started - how to write your own learning programs
	Natural Learning Answers
	Beverley's E-books
	Learning Without School - how 30 families homeschool
	The Homeschooling Trail - Christian unschooling life
	Learning in the Absence of Education - how we did it
	Practical Homeschooling Booklet Series - your questions answered!
	Educational Games Booklet Series - make learning fun!
	Practical Homeschooling Language Development Series
	Natural Learning Series
	Homeschool Diaries
	Ready to use Portfolios / Report Cards
	Sample Learning Programs
	Stock Clearance

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