My Life
Home Schooling
in Australia
2013
Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
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6.
7.
8.
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10.
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12.
13.
Facts About Me
Choices For Schooling In Australia
Home Schooling In Australia
Questions And Answers About
How I Home School
How Do I Home School?
Daily Schedule
Curriculum Resources
Math
Other Math Resources We use
English
English Next Year
Other English Resources We Use
Other Subjects
14.
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23.
24.
25.
Natural Learning Projects
Out And About
Family Traditions
Birthdays
Christmas
Easter And Other Traditions
Project Learning
Project Learning Benefits
Bethany’s Greek Dinners
Project Learning Next Year
Why I Home School
Photos Of Bethany And I
Home Schooling
26. Thank You
27. Bibliography
Facts About Me
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Birthday – 1/12/1998
Age – 15
Physical Description – Dark Blonde Hair And Light Blue Eyes
Parents – Mother Kylie 35/ Father Paul 35
Siblings – Sister Bethany 13/ Brother Harry 9 Months
School – Home School
Hobbies – Drawing, Photography And Computer
Future Goals – To Be A Photographer And Computer Game Designer
Favourites
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Colour - Blue
TV Shows - Doctor Who And How To Train Your Dragon
Food - Carbonara Pasta
Animal - Turtle
Choices For Schooling In Australia
In Australia there are many choices for schooling which parents can choose from:
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Public Schooling – Every state in Australia has a different system of schooling, however, we now have
one National Curriculum. This National Curriculum is only new for Australia and schools are still
implementing it. Students usually attend public schools from 8:30am to 3pm from Monday to Friday
each week and have two 40 minute lunch times each day. School is attended all year round with four
sets of holidays: six weeks in December/January, two weeks in April at Easter, two weeks in June and
two weeks in September. The school year is divided into four terms. Schools have to report to parents
twice a year. Public schools are free for any child to attend. You are also only allowed to attend public
schools in the region where you live.
Private Schooling – Private schools are often run similar to public school except they tend to have more
holidays and sometimes finish school at 2:30pm. They range in cost and teaching style; Christian,
Catholic, other religions, Montessori, Steiner and a few secular styles. Private schools on average cost
around $10 000 or more a year per child and they interview parents and children for acceptance.
Home Schooling – Parents choose and teach their own programs and are registered with their state for
home schooling.
Distant Education - Students can be enrolled in distant education where they work at home with a
program organised jointly by their distant education school and their parents There are a variety of
Distant Education Schools which have different program types and procedures. Most of the distant
education schools are Christian.
Unregistered Schooling – Many children do not attend school and are home schooled while being
unregistered. Some parents like to have complete freedom to teach what they wish without having to
be registered. It is illegal in Australia to be unregistered but the consequences are not harsh initially. If
the parent is found out, then he or she is given a warning and asked to register the child. If the parent
does not register the child, then the consequences are escalated.
Home Schooling Approaches – Curriculum Based, Religious Based, Classical Style, Natural Learning,
Unschooling, Eclectic, Unit/Project Based, Charlotte Mason method, Waldorf/ Steiner method and
Montessori method.
Home Schooling In Australia
 In Australia people are given the option to home school or to send their children to a public or
private school. The general public do not know a lot about home schooling, so most families send
their children to school and do not realise that home schooling is actually an option.
 Every state of Australia has a different system for monitoring home schooling.
 In Queensland home schooled children must be registered with the Home Education Unit (HEU).
 To register with the HEU a parent must submit a yearly program which outlines everything that
the child is going to do.
 HEU will approve it and send the parent out a certificate stating that the child is registered for
home education.
 The parent goes about teaching the program for that year. Then about three months before the
end of the year HEU sends out a reporting pack to the parent to fill out.
 This reporting pack does not ask parents to report on the program they have submitted, or for
any work, or assessments the child may have done during the year. In the reporting pack the
parent must send two samples of written work, math work and work form a third subject of
choice such as science that the child has done. These samples must be accompanied by a written
explanation about how the child has improved from one sample to the next. Also a multiple
choice sheet is included for parents to fill out. This sheet just asks simple questions about how
the year of home schooling went.
 Once the parent has finished the reporting pack, then the parent sends it off to HEU in the mail
with the new program for the next year of home schooling. This process is then repeated each
year.
Questions And Answers
About
How I Home School
What Choice Of Schooling Do I
Follow?
My mum has registered me with the
Home Education Unit (HEU) for home
schooling.
What Approach To Home Schooling
Do I Follow?
I do curriculum/ project based home schooling.
My mum also likes the classical, Charlotte
Mason, Montessori and natural learning styles.
How Long Have I Home Schooled?
I have been home schooling since I was 9 years
old. So I have been home schooling now for
about 6 years. Before I started home schooling, I
attended a private school.
How Do I Home School?
 My mum chooses resources for me to complete which she thinks
will build my skills in different areas as well as being interesting
and engaging for me.
 We try out different methods each year including resources,
schedules and study locations.
 We home school during the four school terms and take holidays
the same as public schools do. (2013 Terms) and (2014 Terms).
 We start school at 10:30am and work for four hours until 2:30pm.
We do not have breaks during this time like school would.
 Usually we would do the first hour math, second hour English,
third hour another subject like social studies and the fourth hour is
for project work.
 We tend to do school work at any time if we feel like it; even if it is
on the weekend. Also if we go out and do something else during
school time, like go to the park, then we will just change our plans
for the day.
 School work is usually done in my room, in the lounge room and
on the deck.
Daily Schedule
• My mum makes a new daily family schedule each
term.
• She tries to keep everything simple so that it can
be followed easily by everyone in the family.
• Sometimes we have to change the schedule to fit
new things in, or to delete things we no longer
want to do.
• Here is our schedule for term 4, 2013
Curriculum Resources
We use a variety of brought curriculum
for our home schooling as well as
creating our own natural learning
projects!
We Mainly Use
The Following Resource For Math:
These math textbooks have been written by a female television
actress just for girls. They are easy to understand and fun to
read!
The Danica McKellar Math Series
Math Doesn't Suck: How to Survive Middle School Math Without Losing Your
Mind or Breaking a Nail/ Kiss My Math: Showing Pre-Algebra Who's Boss/ Hot
X: Algebra Exposed/ Girls Get Curves: Geometry Takes Shape
We plan to use this
series throughout
next year.
We Mainly Use
The Following Resources For English:
The Excellence In Writing Program and YWriter
This writing program teaches you how to write by using key words to rewrite
sentences in your own words. It then gives you dress-up writing techniques to
use which improves your sentences.
This program is taught by Andrew Pudewa through a series of DVDs.
We also use Ywriter Software to plan and write our own stories and books.
Next Year We Are Going To Start The
Following Writing Curriculum:
It teaches you everything about how to write a novel in one year!
Other Subject Resources We Use:
The Lab Of Mr Q
Australian History In Pictures And Stories
Hands-On History Series
Top Documentaries
We do our own activities for social studies which include a weekly family reading/discussion
group with informative articles we find on the internet. We also watch movies from the Top
Documentary Website and mark where they are from on our world map. We write down
discussion notes and have a discussion about the documentary afterwards. We also look up
the country in the atlas to learn more about it. Learning about other countries is also done
through our communication with our pen pals in France, Canada, England and Switzerland.
My mum wants us to do summer and winter sports. We are going to do ice skating in summer
and probably tennis in winter. We are not very sporty people, but it will be nice to get out and
active more.
At different times in my life I have done piano lessons, violin lessons, art lessons, karate
lessons, drama lessons, gymnastic lessons, Irish dancing lessons, netball and choir. I wouldn’t
say that I’m an expert in any of these, just that I have tried them out over the years. At the
moment I am not going to any lessons as we are having a break with baby Harry to care for. I
am learning a lot about caring for babies now that I have a baby brother.
We also do lots of project work for other subjects
Natural Learning Projects
Natural
Learning
Out And About
Family Traditions
Project Learning
Out And About
My mum likes us to have lots of new experiences and to spend lots of quality family time together.
Every Sunday we go to the markets to buy our fruit and vegetables together. We walk around and
decide what vegetable and fruit we want and then buy it from the stall holders. We try and get value
for money as well as the freshest home grown produce. We also eat breakfast at the markets as
there are always lots of stall holders who sell different types of foods. We usually get Transylvanian
Cheese Pie and Poffertjes.
We try to go out each week to new restaurants or to new places. There are always new beaches,
waterfalls, nature walks, light houses, lakes or towns to visit. We don’t mind driving long distances, so
we often go on trips for the whole day.
We are currently exploring the area of Ipswich where we live. We have only been living here for 2
years now and before that we lived in Brisbane.
Mum made a list up of the best 20 parks around Ipswich for us to explore. We try to go to one each
week to see what it is like. My sister and I ride our scooters and rollerblades. We also take lots of
nature photos while we are at the park.
Next year mum is saving up for us to try some fun short courses together. She wants us to get out
into the community and learn skills from experts in different fields. She has found some short courses
for knitting, origami, cooking, gardening, jewellery making etc.
Getting out and about is a big part of my learning experience. Mum believes that we learn a lot from
exploring and experiencing the world around us.
Family Traditions
Birthdays
We have a family tradition that on birthdays we must do something that we have
never done before. We also have to eat out at restaurants for breakfast, lunch and
dinner on our birthdays. It is such a fun day and we all look forward to the next
birthday.
Christmas
As we grew up Christmas was mostly about Santa. On Christmas eve we put milk and cookies out for Santa and carrots and a
bucket of water out for the reindeer. On Christmas day we opened our presents under the Christmas tree. Also during the
month of December we have always done lots of Christmas crafts and cooking.
Over time our family traditions for Christmas have grown and we are doing a few different things this year for our baby brother
Harry. Mum wants to continue these new traditions every year.
Christmas Tree Day - On the first Sunday of December after my birthday, we will decorate the Christmas tree and watch
Christmas movies all day. Also we will put up the household decorations and the Christmas stockings. We are also going to make
snowman shaped pizza to eat.
12 Days Of Christmas Sweets - Mum will wrap up 12 lollies or chocolates that have a Christmas theme e.g. Santa, Snowmen,
Reindeer etc. and also matching Christmas ornaments. These are matched with Christmas stories that have been found on the
internet and printed out. Every day we will unwrap and eat the lolly, put the ordainment on the Christmas tree and unroll the
story to read. Baby Harry will just get Christmas ordainments until he is old enough to eat sweets.
The Polar Express Light Show - We watch the movie The Polar Express and read the book. We then get into fun Christmas
clothes and put Harry into his bed. In his bed is a golden ticket for the Christmas express. The ticket gets hole punched as we
hop into the car. Then we drive around looking at all of the Christmas lights, eating special snacks and singing Christmas songs.
Happy Christmas Around The World Advent Calendar - We have a jar with paddle pop sticks with flags from 24 different
countries and the words Happy Christmas in each language. Each day of the month we take a stick and say Happy Christmas in
that language to each other.
Outings - During the month of December leading up to Christmas we will go on a number of outings. We will go into Brisbane
city and look at the Christmas window displays and the Christmas tree at night. We will go to the Christmas Caves which are
special Christmas themed shops. Also we will go and get Santa photos for Harry and take Christmas photos at different
decorated places around the city. The Carrols by candle light in the city is another activity we will do.
Last year we went to a restaurant called Sizzler on Christmas Day for lunch. It was really nice because it had lots of yummy
Christmas food on a smorgasbord and it was cool with the air-conditioning. On Christmas day here in Australia it is really hot so
it was nice to spend a few hours in the air-conditioning. We have decided to have Christmas lunch there every year and we have
already brought our tickets for this year.
As most of our closest Family and Friends live far away from us, we visit them on Boxing Day and later after Christmas.
Easter
We also celebrate Easter and have always had the Easter Bunny deliver Easter eggs in a
nest made out of a towel at the end of our beds. After we wake up in the morning we
find our eggs in the nest and have to search for the other eggs hidden around the
house. We also have an Easter story that mum has been telling us since we were little.
Of course we do special Easter crafts and cooking during this month as well. In
Australia we have the Easter Bilby that comes as well as the Easter bunny.
Other Traditions
This next year mum wants to celebrate special days from other cultures such as The
Chinese New Year, St Patrick Day, Halloween etc. She wants to decorate our kitchen
window in the theme of each day celebrated and hopefully go out into the community
and partake in celebrations for that day. As Australia is very multicultural we have
large population groups from different cultures around the world who celebrate these
special days in Australia.
Having Family traditions for birthdays, Christmas, Easter and other events all bring the
family together and help us spend special time together. Mum believes that home
schooling gives families more time to enjoy family traditions and therefore helps to
strengthen the family bond.
Project Learning
I complete different types of projects which I must follow through from idea to presentation.
This school term I have been working on two large projects:
eBay – We have set up an eBay Store using my mums account called Second Hand Mania. We
have gone out every Friday to the Recycle Area Of The Logan Tip. Here they sell toys really cheap
every Friday at 10am. We have to be very fast to get the toys because everyone runs in wanting to
buy them first. After we have got enough toys, we clean them up and make them into packs to
sell. Next we advertise them on our ebay store and sell them. Most of the time we have local pick
up but sometimes we have to post the toys. Postage requires a lot of working out. So far we have
sold a number of packs and have made $135. We are all sold out now and we have to relist some
more toy packs. This project is really fun because we get to go second hand shopping every Friday
and to make money. This first week of selling mum did it with us using her money. This next week
mum is giving us our own money to buy and sell our own items. She has challenged us to try and
make more money then what she initially gives us through our buying and selling.
Minecraft – My sister and I have been given the challenge to make our own Minecraft server.
Minecraft is a computer game. We have been working very hard at getting this done. My
Minecraft world is about Animals and Bethany’s is about Mermaids. They have to be made so that
children can play on them in a safe and supportive environment. Bethany has nearly finished her
Minecraft map and is going to launch it on a server soon. Once our maps are on their own servers,
we will be able to add mods and other stuff. This project is really fun because I have learned a lot
about using Photoshop and other software required for different scripting or editing within my
map. Our goal is to run a free child friendly Minecraft map which will hold 50 players at a time.
The Whole Family Gets Involved With,
And Benefits From, Project Learning!
My sister Bethany is currently completing a project about Greek Cooking. In this project
she cooks with mum 28 Greek dinners which mum plans and then she plans and cooks
one week of her own Greek dinners. They are planning to repeat this process with meals
from other cultures. They plan to do French, Italian and then Mexican. Each day they
cook for quite a few hours to make these special meals and they set the table nice as
well. While we eat we listen to Greek music and have candles. The whole family really
enjoys eating these special meals together.
Everyone helps out as much as possible with our projects to try and make sure they will
be successful. So everyone gets involved and excited about them.
Mum encourages us to complete projects that we are interested in. This means that at
times my sister and I will do the same type of project and at other times we will do
different projects.
Project learning helps me to feel more confident with doing different tasks and provides
me with a variety of skills. Project work is never assessed like projects would be at
school. Also most of the time there is no real set time limit. I just work on it until it is
finished. Then I start on the next project.
Bethany’s
Greek
Dinners!
Project Learning Next Year
We are currently working out some new projects for me to do next year:
Breeding Guppies - I am going to self-study aquaculture next year with the purpose of learning how to breed guppies. I have already
got six fish tanks brought ready for this project. All I need to get are the pumps and other fish tank equipment now. Once I have a few
different breeds of guppies established, I will sell them at the local markets. Mum will help me organise and set up a market stall for
selling them.
Websites - I also am going to run two websites next year. Mum and I have already set them up and they are nearly ready for me to
start adding content to them. These websites are actually self-hosted WordPress blogs which we run on the domain name as a
website. They are surprisingly really easy to make and run.
The first website I am making is called My Coffee And Chocolate Kitchen and it is going to be about cooking with coffee and
chocolate. I have the challenge of making 100 coffee and chocolate recipes that are successful and enjoyable. These will be posted
on my website. Hopefully people will follow me as I complete this challenge and make nice comments.
The second website I am making is called Florinda’s Photo Diary. This website is where I will post lots of the photos I take and explain
how I took them. It will be like a diary of my photography. I would also like people to comment and follow along with this website as
well.
Once I have achieved my goals with making my websites and getting lots of followers, I will try to make a best of book for each of my
websites. So for the Coffee/Chocolate website I would have 100 of my top chocolate and coffee recipes on the site in the book. Then
for my photography website I would have a book with the best photography activities to do. Mum says that she will show me how to
sell the books as an instant eBook download and also as a print on demand physical book or CD. This will most likely not be done
until 2015 as I will need all of 2014 to actually do all of the activities for my websites.
When it comes to completing projects mum likes us to complete projects which might also earn money. She wants us to feel
confident with earning money in different ways and to learn about providing a service/product and also buying and selling. Mum
talks to us about how important creative and productive skills are in the workforce and encourages us to be as creative and
productive as possible when it comes to our projects.
Why I Home School
I love home schooling because I have choice about what I
learn and how I learn it. Also I am able to do work at my
own skill level and learn information in sequences that
both challenge and match my abilities. I get more
opportunities when I home school which I would not get
at school. At school I would not be able to do my project
work as they tend to focus on just completing boring
workbooks. I really enjoy the freedom and support that
my mum gives me while I home school. I have made
some lovely friends who also home school and I get to be
apart of a home schooling community. Yet at the same
time I get to meet and interact with the wider community
while I complete my learning projects. Lastly, I get to
spend more quality time doing interesting activities with
my family.
Thank You!
Thank you for learning about home schooling in
Australia and about my life as a home schooler!