Homeschool Australia

Planning a Homeschooling or Unschooling Camp? A Few Tips and Suggestions.

2012-01-22T17:24:00.000+10:30

by Beverley Paine

I’ve planned and organised a few camps in my time, includingcomplex ones that combine parent sessions, conference programs, specialistactivities as well as simple bush camping retreats. If you are planning yourfirst camp and want to keep it simple but still fun, engaging and inviting, thebest advice is to keep it simple – sometimes it is difficult to keep themsmall, especially if you advertise them through your local or regional homeeducation networks!

For a first camp I'd say aim for autumn, make it a caravanpark that has lots of natural areas and good tent sites (some powered, someunpowered - not many caravan parks seem to cater to for tents anymore, so bechoosy). Cabins will increase the number of people who will come - some withlittle children don't like camping and some who have disabilities find it toodifficult. Access to hot showers also boosts attendance!

Weekends are good because it allows working partners toattend. Mid-week is great because parks are usually less full... especiallyduring the tourist season.

An extensive playground and trees suitable for clamberingover or sitting in the shade under are essential. If the weather is going to beat all warm, water play is a good idea - either a pool, creek, beach, butremember that you can create safe water play areas with sprinklers, plasticsheet water slides, etc if the park allows that.

Children love to play chasey and hide and seek - keep that inmind when choosing a venue. Safety is a big concern, but look for areas thathave lots of neat places that encourage fantasy play.

Start each day with a morning circle for everyone. Somepeople will do yoga, etc before the circle, but if everyone comes together andplay a few circle games that really helps people to meet each other. Plus itgives an opportunity for everyone to have a say what they'd like to do that day- plan the games and any activities, say if they are going on an excursion(fishing, walking, etc) and invite others along.

If the camp has a communal kitchen, plan to use it forcooking meals. It is so much easier for everyone to prepare their own, but youcan pool food for one celebratory meal without too much hassle. Using the campkitchen brings everyone together. For a short camp I would simply use the BBQsand see how inventive we can all get with recipes and menus!

Quiz nights are hugely popular. They don't have to beelaborate, like the ones local clubs do for fundraising. They can be less'academic/intellectual' and more physical, role playing, etc. If two familieslive close to each other they can take on organising this - better if a coupleof parents take on this responsibility as it is a reasonably sized task!

If everyone who goes brings an activity to share - and itcould be as simple as getting a game of french cricket started - you will haveenough to fill every day. Someone could bring a box of books and a rug for areading nook under a beach umbrella... Networking beforehand allows forbrainstorming ideas like this.

I personally like the idea of everyone wearing name labelsfor the first few days. An early activity could be to make labels and perhapsplay a few games so that people begin to recognise who is who. Name labels alsohelps late arrivals feel part of the group faster.

Two to three nights is a great short camp and whets theappetite for more. Longer camps can be exhausting for younger children as wellas for large families. Nothing beats spending five days away with like-mindedfamilies though – the bonding and friendships that are made at a long camp lastyears, if not forever.

..........................................................................................................................

If you haven’t already done so, please think about joining our Homeschool Australia FAQ, it is a friendly, on-topic homeschool Yahoo group. We encourage people to share information and tips, as well as reviews on favourite homeschooling resources and where to get them. And, of course, to ask questions about any and all aspects of home education! To join send an email to HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ.Our Learning Naturally Yahoo Group aims to cooperatively widen our understanding of how learning occurs naturally in the home and community, and to share advice, tips, trials and tribulations so that we may all grow! We want to help dispel some of the myths that are out there about Natural Learning and Unschooling and make it easier for everyone to capitalise on these approaches as home educators. To join send an email to: learningnaturally-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally.And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!

Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377
Are you an unschooler or natural learner? 'Like' https://www.facebook.com/pages/Unschool-Australia/172176956215179 for updates to my Unschool Australia site and join my Unschool Australia Facebook Group to chat with like-minded families.

Create Your Own High School Curriculum for this Year

2012-01-17T10:12:00.003+10:30

by Beverley Paine

Many families faced with needing to withdraw their teenagechildren from high school hit the panic button at the beginning of the year andautomatically think that they will need a supervised correspondence course toteach their children at home. Queensland is the only state to offer privateprimary and secondary online education through religious educationalinstitutions: the other states offer public distance education but the studentsneed to meet strict criteria. There is another option and it is cost effectiveand not too daunting: write your own curriculum using the vast range ofresources available to classroom teachers.

Take a look at the range offered by long-term homeeducators, Frank and Valerie Marrett on their Homeschool Supplies website
http://www.homeschooling.com.au/catalogue.asp?time=0&id=&doc=1&page=newcatalog&k\
eysearch=1. Campions are also suppliers of school materials and have a hugerange:
http://www.campion.com.au/. Anothersupplier is Wooldridges:
http://www.wooldridges.com.au/.Ask if these companies offer discount to home educators – you might bepleasantly surprised. If you are operating on a budget, check outAussieHomeschool Classifieds http://aussiehomeschool.com/for second-hand high school materials and books: home educators have been usingthis popular forum for over a decade.

You can purchase text and student work books and simply work your way through them.This way your home educated student will be using similar materials to what shewould be using at school. Of course, his or her education isn't 'supervised' bya teacher but the scope and sequence will be appropriate and suitable for herdevelopmental stage and academic needs. Plus you can mix and match 'grade'levels - for example, she might be Year 9 in Maths and Year 10 in English, etc- you don't need to stick to the same year level across all subjects. If yourchild is self-motivated this approach will work brilliantly. If not, you will needto offer help, guidance and supervision as she works her way through the books,but you’ll find you will need to do this anyway even if you enroll her in aschool of distance education.

Most text or workbooks have 'tests' in them which will help both of youevaluate progress, plus you can use the contents as 'checklists', ticking themoff as she completes each area of learning – this would become part of his or herhomeschool records.

I created a 'report card' recording system for home educators (available from http://alwayslearningbooks.com.au)that is based on 'assignments'. You can fill it out retrospectively or use itas you progress through the year. The idea is to pick a topic if interest orconcept and create a unit study or assignment (that covers set objectives).There is space for 10 or a dozen of these to be
reported on in the report for each subject area. The report lists general objectivesfor each subject area for that stage of development (early adolescent is theone that would suit you). I used this recording approach for my sons (now adults).

For example, for English one assignment could be 'comparative texts' andincluded reading and watching different versions of the same story, lots ofdiscussions, plus a few activities. 'Reading log' was another - this couldinclude a brief 'book report' or 'summary' as well as simply log what was read.Suitable book lists can be found by browsing through catalogs such as Campions.A science unit study on animal husbandry could evolve from pet care – the complexityof the study evolves as the child ages. For a teen the unit could focus onanimal rights as well as the particular care needs of a pet, or it may involvean enterprise such as breeding and selling chickens or their eggs. If such unitstudies are drawn from areas of personal interest to the child, such as hobbiesor passions, then motivation will remain high and learning relevant to theimmediate and future needs of the student. There are many excellent maths textsavailable which teach the concept, offer examples, drill exercises, revisionand extension activities. Or you could avail yourself of one of the manyexcellent online learning programs which, for an annual or monthly fee, offer24 access to a maths tutor.

It isn't too difficult to create your own curriculum and supervise your child'slearning. You won't get a certificate of completion at the end of the year... youcan print your own! Plus your daughter will also have the flexibility and timeto look into and perhaps do accredited distance education courses - either
through open learning university, TAFE, adult colleges etc. Think aboutpathways to apprenticeships, universities etc - have a look at TAFE websitesand see what is on offer. Even a few short courses - for which she will get acertificate that will add to her personal portfolio and stand her in good steadwhen she needs to write a resume.

The flexibility and relative cost saving expenses ofcreating your own personalised secondary school curriculum will surprise you.There is always help on hand through homeschooling forums and online groups, aswell as local homeschooling groups, to support you and guide you over any bumpsor sudden losses of confidence. There are thousands of young adult homeeducated graduates that can attest to the value of ‘going it alone’.

..........................................................................................................................

And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!
Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377?ref=ts

A Few Tips for Registering as Home Educators for the First Time

2012-01-16T11:53:00.000+10:30

by Beverley Paine

At this time of year the home education community is swelled by new families just beginning this amazing adventure with their children. While some of us choose not to register for personal reasons and some the registration process is very simple and not at all daunting (lucky Victorians!), we can all sympathise with those applying for approval to home educate from the relevent government authority for the first time as it can be very intimidating.

If you are in that situation, here's a few tips that should lessen any anxiety you might be experiencing:

Prepare a basic learning plan for the year ahead, using dot points under the eight subject areas: English, Maths, Science, Society & Environment (Geography, History), Technology, The Arts (visual, performance, drama, craft), LOTE (language and culture other than English), Health & Physical Education. Think about what your child will be developmentally and educationally ready to learn in each of these areas over the coming year and create some activities or unit studies around that, add a few well chosen student work-books, text-books or online learning programs. Can you build some activities around personal or family interests? Most can be easily related to one or more curriculum subjects. Add them in too!

Keep it simple, keep it basic! There is no need to write reams: most of us go way overboard when we write our first home education learning program. We worry if we are covering everything our child needs to learn. But it is like most things in life - as we travel along the path the detail becomes visible, we fill in the gaps, switch direction to focus on something in more detail. That's okay, it works, and the person interviewing you and assessing the suitability of your program knows that. Create a personalised simple plan that includes learning objectives in all eight subjects that you can confidently talk about. There are sample learning plans on both Homeschool Australia and Home Education Association sites.

Ask for advice and pointers on where to find appropriate resources: remember that the person interviewing you has teaching experience and will have lots of ideas. See them as a someone there to help you build an excellent education for your child, not as someone there to judge you, your child or your home.

Remember that your home education program is only a plan: it isn't set in concrete and is likely to have changed quite a bit by the end of your first month! The authorities understand this too - your end of year report doesn't have to look anything like your initial plan. And that's true for families who have been home educating for years as well as beginners: life happens and we all take advantage of whatever educational opportunity or resources come our way throughout the year.

Keep records of your children's learning and their progress. This should only take a few minutes several times a day. Try different approaches to keeping records until you find one that you are happy to use on a regular basis. Our confidence grows exponentially when we record our home education journeys. And it will mean a lot less work come the end of the year!

Make it obvious you have support from other home educators: leave homeschooling magazines and books on display and talk about your local and online support groups.

And most of all, don't stress too much. If your plan isn't instantly approved, ask why. Ask them to tell you what is missing so you can include activities and resources in those areas. Don't take no for an answer: negotiate. It has been my experience that families who persevere eventually get approval.

...........................................................................................................................

Developing Strategies for Dealing with Children's Difficult Behaviours

2011-12-30T11:22:00.000+10:30

by Beverley Paine

Today I was given some examples of a child’s behaviour thatchallenged her parent and was specifically asked for ideas about what to do andhow to handle each situation. Anotherfriend gave some great ideas which I’ve tried in the past with my children andwhich have worked, so instead of adding more ideas I thought the issue from aphilosophical or general perspective: what is really needed and being asked ofhere?

All parents have wisdom to share: we learn from ourexperiences and our experiences tend to be fairly similar in most things. WhatI love most about the internet is how it allows this wonderful conversation todevelop between people: a rebuilding on the social networks that were destroyedby two world wars,
famine and disease and the embracing of the ‘nuclear age’ inthe first half of the 20^th century.

My first instinct when asked parenting questions is toconsider ages/stages and then transitions. We definitely go through stages ofdevelop at roughly similar ages throughout life and just knowing that can takethe 'heat' off some of our concerns. I've found that my expectations that mychild will behave in a certain way often have less to do with her developmentand more to do with what I perceive other people will think. This is myschooling combined with a schooled parenting framework (my personal childhoodconditioning) coming into play: my self esteem was hijacked in my early yearsand subverted to serve this thing society likes to label 'socialisation' butwhich is actually a mere subset of the actual socialisation process.

So, first thing for me to be - as a much wiser, older parentwho has seen the error of her ways and observed many other families - is tostep back and try to work out what is reallygoing on in each situation. I would examine the nature of the child and askmyself:

a) Is this behaviour coming from her centre, or is it reflected behaviour, projected behaviour, isshe merely 'trying out' something she has seen? Children, especially very youngchildren, mimic behaviour. They can learn some powerful and lasting habits thisway! We all do.

b) If it is coming from her centre and you do not value it, questionwhy you don't. Are your values solid, are they centred? Regardless of theanswer: Can you change? Do you want to change? Can you accommodate herpersonality, needs, abilities, disposition, temperament, likes, dislikes? Ourchildren challenge us to grow and develop. I like to think that is why we bringthem into our world, to teach us what we need. It is so easy to ignore thelessons brought to us by strangers, parents, friends, books, movies, nature,life... Hard to ignore the lessons brought to us by our children!

c) Okay, you definitely don't like it, it's not helpful,it's not constructive, you've decided there isn't a lot to be learned from it(open your mind wider - there is so much to be learned on many levels in eachmoment from every experience): this is the time to develop strategies foreither living with, changing, eliminating, or whatever, the offending behaviouror situation. Time to brainstorm with all the people affected (if possible). Ilove brainstorming because it doesn't get into judgment - it is a visualising,creative, imaginative fest where ideas are allowed to float to the top, getjotted or drawn on a sheet or paper (whatever allows everyone to do therecording too). No idea is good, bad, silly or brilliant. They are merelyfodder for the strategy fest that is to come next. I tend to select strategiesand solutions that 'build', have somewhere to grow and usually support or solveother problems at the same time. That's my permaculture framework learningcoming into play.

d) The hard part, the bit that often isn't fun and no onewants to do or maintain, is working at the strategy. Habits take a while toform and can take even longer to change. Change requires diligence andpersistence as well as constantly reminding oneself of the desired outcome(continue the dreaming and visualising), together with celebrating the processof change. We celebrate progress, we celebrate where we are at, we celebratethe journey; we celebrate simply being as well as doing, without judgingourselves on the journey or our progress. We observe and note what is happeningand from there decide what to do next. We work on acting rather than reacting and we do this by sharing, by talking,reflecting and dreaming together, developing and trying different strategiestogether. We can do this with people of any age, from tiny babies to toothlessgrannies!

To summarise: observe and understand the inherent nature ofthe child. Understand, from a sympathetic perspective, her needs. Wants respondto and arise from our needs. See the need.Meet the need. Wants often set up oppositional or defensive reactions inourselves and others: learning to uncover the need driving the want dissolvesthis tension and allows us to genuinely and sympathetically help people meettheir needs.

...........................................................................................................................

Does Natural Learning Work?

2011-12-29T09:01:00.002+10:30

by Beverley Paine

I think that expectation lies at the heart of our lack of confidence or trust in natural learning.

In my personal journey I have been doing lots of work on expectations in the last 18 months. I've come to see how easily they trip me up, confuse and distract me. For a very long time I have focused on 'realistic expectations'. Offering advice to other home educators I usually counsel them to have 'realistic expectations' when considering this question of what children should or could be doing. Realistic expectations are based on a general understanding of the nature of children/people at that age and stage of development as well as taking into account the personal nature, abilities, disposition, temperament and personality of each individual. All very logical and sound, except that I was still battling doubt, even with adult children who obviously display the 'success' of unschooling, home education, learning naturally, etc!

Obviously we're not going to eliminate expectation nor should we attempt to: it is necessary part of the dreaming, planning, doing, reflecting, celebrating cycle of learning. But we can reduce our attachment to expectation. That's what I've learned in the last half of this year and the more I practice becoming detached to expectation the greater my trust (security, general sense of well-being, joy) has grown.

John Holt said that unschooling isn't the rejection of text-books and student work-books, it is more about the how and why we use them. If we use them when we need to, not when we think we ought to, then they are simply learning resources and enhance our learning processes.

Natural learning is about using resources appropriately and in a timely manner, keeping our goals and objectives real and meaningful to learners and in context with their everyday lives, hopes and aspirations. The content and skills embedded in activities are not what we focus on, unlike traditional educational approaches where these are examined in detail and elevated to the utmost importance.

Our learning naturally children learn everything they need or want to in the same way they learn when they play. We undervalue the importance of play and hence the learning inherent in play because we perceive play as lacking effort. Another word for effort is work and work is usually defined as something we have or need to do rather than want to do. The work of learning doesn't have to be a chore or hard or unpleasant although it can be and often is, but it can also be seemingly effortless, joyful and fun. A year ago a friend said to me that we need to examine how we define 'working'. It is because we were schooled we are fixated on outcomes as well as the perception of the effort expended in achieving those outcomes our concept of educational and parenting success is underpinned by our definition of 'work'. Think about it. Can you change your definition of 'work'? In our home I interchanged 'work' and 'play': we played at working and we worked at playing. We worked playfully and we playfully worked.

Back to that notion of success and the importance of parenting style and education approach. As parents we have very little control over what careers our children ultimately choose or how they live their lives once they've left our nest. We kid ourselves if we think we do... But as parents we plague ourselves with this illusion of control and this feeds our insecurities and doubts which remain as a result of our own flawed educational process. We worry about we can plan for those careers when our children are little; what to teach, how to guide them, what resources we should buy or provide access to, etc. We feel compelled by parental instinct and need to make sure they will eventually survive and thrive as young adults; that we've given them all the tools they may possibly need and have helped them learn how to use them efficiently and appropriately. In a changing world this is indeed an enormous and difficult task!

But is it a realistic one? An achievable one? Are we setting ourselves up for failure at worst, never-ending doubts at best? The answer, I believe is to stop focusing so intently on the future and bring your attention to the present moment: be attentive to your child, to his or her needs, to your needs, the current situation unfolding, right here, now. What is happening? What do we need to do? Do we need to do anything at all? Does what we choose to do build towards the outcome we desire? Is it constructive? Helpful? Positive? Does it align with our values? But most importantly, does it meet the child's developmental needs?

As a home educator, how did I know natural learning was working? For me is was when my children demonstrated they were growing in confidence and independence. When they brought me interesting things to share. When they demonstrated they knew more about something than I did and could do things I couldn't, even - and especially - when I had no idea how they learned these things! When they were happy to think differently from the crowd - or from me - and confidently expressed their thoughts. When they questioned the status quo and made up their own minds.

Why is it so difficult to trust? It took me years to trust in natural learning. My head knew and understood the philosophy of natural learning and I confidently espoused that, but living it, breathing it, truly knowing it? That took time. Ultimately I realised that I only needed to observe without prejudice, to witness without judgement, that learning is happening all the time. I'd been trained by my parents, my schooling, and society not to notice the learning inherent in every moment of life. To help me notice it I created a list of our educational and developmental goals for our children (in our words, not drawn from some educational curriculum!) And for a while we created an annual reflection poster as well as a dreaming poster, upon which we wrote what we thought we had each learned or achieved over the past year and what we wanted to happen (dreams and goals) for the year ahead. Looking back over my lists and posters was incredibly reassuring: we consistently achieved 90% (the ones we didn't usually had something to do with owning a Lamborghini or winning 100 million dollars!)

What we do as adults isn't hinged on what and how we learned as children: it has as much to do with who we are, where we are and in what times we live. Ambition, competitiveness, talent and other personal traits make a difference in our children's adult lives. Opportunity and access to resources makes a huge difference. These are things we could be dwelling on instead of worrying about if our children are learning what we think they ought to be.

Three years ago I wrote; "My 22 year old finds it difficult to do some of the things he wants to because he doesn't have the skills and ability. He's impatient to do it now, not wait until he's paid for a uni or TAFE course to get him there in 2-4 years time. He finds his own way and usually gets there. Sometimes he thinks he is failing, other times he feels more confident. He's not willing to compromise on his lifestyle to reach his goals - he'd rather modify his goals! Or wait. Is this because he learned naturally as a kid? Nah - I've met schooled grads who are much the same. In fact, once they hit their twenties, there isn't a lot of difference between this wonderful schooled, unschooled, homeschooled, naturally learned young people. That is to say, I really don't think not learning in any particular way has much of an impact on how they achieve their goals. Method isn't as important as personality. But then again, maybe my kids attract free thinkers with 'have a go' attitudes as friends. Not many of their friends believe that to learn you have to do it in a particular way, even the ones that have become teachers.

By and large, my children have grown up to be the people they innately are. Nourished and loved, given everything a child needs to thrive and survive, in particular timely attention, they have become relatively confident and secure adults. 'Relatively' because they are still learning and growing, as we all do throughout our lives: life is a learning journey and who wants it to be over at 18 years of age! I recognise that we're exceptionally lucky to have lived such a privileged life where my children didn't have to suffer hardships, abuse, neglect, the effects of war, famine or pollution. Being able to lavish them with the attention they need and want as children, 24/7 every day of each year was an immense joy and privilege. And as a result, my children are awesome, people I look up to, admire and take counsel from!

...........................................................................................................................

Wants Versus Needs: is this the key difference between radical unschooling and natural learning?

2011-12-08T07:50:00.001+10:30

by Beverley Paine

I've worked out what I don't like about the word 'want' - it places my thoughts into the future rather than focusing on the blessings of the present.

Listening to so many people recently I felt overwhelmed by the focus and prominence given to 'wants'. It really hasn't been part of my conscious vocabulary for so long now and hearing it passionately voice over and again jolted me out of my comfort zone. Feeling at peace now that I am back to counting my blessings.

Below are snippets from a conversation I'm having on Facebook: writing, reflecting and conversing are the ways I learn optimally: voicing my insights and understandings as they arise helps me clear any remaining confusion from my mind.Muddling through thoughts about wants versus needs I wonder if this is the key difference between radical unschooling and natural learning.

I can dream without wanting - my goals and visualisations are dependent on wants. I am motivated by my needs, in particular my need to be creative, imaginative, to think laterally. My need to love others, to be there, to be caring, to be responsive, to give. My need to look after myself and my environment. Given the huge complex nature of my needs, is there any room to find time to attend to 'wants'? And if these needs are met what more could I possibly want?

Caring for the environment is a basic human need. If we soil our nest we don't thrive. And our current lifestyle soils our nests to the most incredible degree... Humanity's food chain now contains substances poisonous to the human body - many of these substances did not exist in nature a century ago. As consumers we all complicit in contributing to this undesirable situation. So caring for the environment is not a want, it is a need, a very vital one.

For example: if a baby sleeps in a room filled with cigarette smoke the baby will develop lung disorders, if not now then later in life. The quality of the air we breathe is vital to our health and to be healthy is a basic need. The provision of clean air is a basic need. We don't want clean air, we need clean air. If we think we only want it then we give ourselves the choice to ignore that need, which is just plain silly and counter to common sense.

Of course we all ignore needs in preference to wants all the time. What I've found though is that the quickest path to fulfillment of my wants is through meeting my needs. Life gets simpler, less complicated, the choices become much easier to wade through, I get to know myself better quicker.

Lately my mind has been tripping over comparative words that I and others use, such as 'better' and 'best'. Thinking about a friend's statement "I want to be a better person": this is how I spend a lot of my life, judging myself as not quite good enough or there yet... I am not interested in being better or the best I can possibly be. This moment and the choices I make now is all that really matters: if I meet my basic human needs in this moment I will be acting in a manner that ensures my survival and that will help me thrive, both in the now and in the long term, as an individual and as a member of my community.

That doesn't mean I don't make mistakes, interpret information inadequately or inappropriately or trip myself up - I do that frequently. And that's how I learn - by not be perfect.

'Want' brings the realm of choice into the area of meeting needs. I don't think there was ever a time it was a choice to meet our basic needs as humans... However, we lucky people living in our developed countries have become so accustomed to living lives of luxury we have removed ourselves from understanding and knowing what our basic needs are: when kings and emperors and the ruling class did this in times of old their empires crumpled as they became feeble-minded and corrupt, mental states which in part stem from a lack of any truly meaningful to do in a day. Fear is a tool used by those so disconnected from nature to prop up the perception of power that maintains their silly and self destructive lifestyles.

A natural education, led by understanding our nature and the nature of elements and interactions around us, is what is most needed now. We need to get back in touch with our nature and what we truly need. Wants are a distraction from the main game and the time we spend pursuing only delays the necessary inevitable adjustment.

I love how we can sit and chat about stuff like this over the internet or in our homes. My grandmother never had this kind of luxury - she could only dream about living like the 'upper classes' yet I am considered to be living on an income below the poverty line here in Australia. I am free to discuss philosophy at any time of the day whereas she would probably only find time at the end of the day and instead of doing that would choose sleep. Meanwhile, as I type this, a million tons of unbelievably high radioactive water seeps into the Pacific Ocean with unknown effects on the food chain on which billions of people are dependent and the proponents of nuclear power spend countless millions on propaganda to convince us that nuclear power is the solution to climate change...

It is only by holding the big picture in my mind that I feel empowered to make the changes that are necessary to ensure my survival.

Love and lack of judgment are so necessary to healthy development and growth. When we stray from meeting our basic needs we move into dis-ease and confusion. We can want to meet our basic needs, but meeting them in the now, focusing on making choices that truly honour our bodies, the environment in which we live and our growing sense of self within a supportive community makes more sense. Instead of saying and visualising 'what do I want to feel okay, at peace, whatever', say 'what do I need now to feel okay, at peace, whatever'. Just naming it is often enough to bring that state into being. Recognising how I am feeling and naming it, accepting the feeling as valid in the here and now, reduces the confusion in my mind, and I am able to ask for what I need. When I am clear to others about my needs others are more able to help me meet my needs. Recognising what I need and naming it - no matter what I need - brings clarity and motivation and I move in the direction that brings that need into realisation.

...........................................................................................................................

Will Your Children Homeschool Their Children?

2011-12-07T16:33:00.001+10:30

by Beverley Paine

The yardstick for success as a home educating parent used to be if your kids grew up 'okay' or made it into university: now people want to know if my adult home educated children are going to home educate their children... The pressure to perform never ends! In the last year or two it is a question I am being asked more often. At first it seemed innocent enough but then I began to think, what is driving this need to ask? Is it yet another expression of the insecurity we home educators all experience?

It is hard not to feel the pressure or to put pressure on our kids, especially for those of us who continue to be strident home education activists...

I've moved beyond wanting that reality for my grandchildren into accepting that my children will make the decision that suits the needs of their children and their families - just as I hold that space open for everyone I talk to about education. I feel blessed that I had the opportunity to walk a different educational path with my children and celebrate what that gave us as a family. But it was my journey much more than it was their journey - they came along for the ride because ultimately the choice to home educate was mine. As it will be theirs...

A friend commented to me the other day, "To those of us who've read your books and heard you speak, your children are 'characters' from the story of your experiences. We're naturally curious about what comes next for them where education is concerned. Relating it, of course to our own children and wondering how they will reflect on the choices we're making for them."

I don't see my children as 'characters' from the story of my experience and I'm sure they don't either.

As a reader I rarely want to know what happens next to characters - if the story was good enough it would satisfy me. As a writer I find it intrusive for people to want me to write sequels - for me, and for the characters in my stories, the story finishes on the last page. If the characters have something else to learn or do they demand I write more - the reader doesn't come into the equation.

For me the point of home education was to launch our children into adult life as capable people who can confidently determine their own paths. Being asked the question if my children will home educate their children steps beyond this: it does put pressure on me to validate home education as an option, particularly as my chosen role in life is to publicly promote and support the idea and option of home education. It may be an innocent question born of mere curiosity by some people (and I am being asked this question so often now I doubt that mere curiosity is the main reason) but it falls into the same uncomfortable area as 'what do your children do' (as in employment, tertiary aspirations, etc). Never felt comfortable about talking about my children's futures - that's for them to talk about not me. And I invariably get it wrong any way!

We shouldn't need grown-up home educated children home educating their children to validate the effectiveness of home education or to feel reassured about own choices: putting the question out there does raise this spectre of doubt and does evoke subtle pressure to perform (if not by me, then perhaps by others whose children are not yet adults listening to the question) even if it is not the conscious desire of the person asking the question.
I tell people that the decision to home educate is made by both parents and that beyond being the wonderful support I am for whatever decision is made I have no role in that decision.

...........................................................................................................................

If you haven’t already done so, please think about joining our Homeschool Australia FAQ, it is a friendly, on-topic homeschool Yahoo group. We encourage people to share information and tips, as well as reviews on favourite homeschooling resources and where to get them. And, of course, to ask questions about any and all aspects of home education! To join send an email to HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ.

Our Learning Naturally Yahoo Group aims to cooperatively widen our understanding of how learning occurs naturally in the home and community, and to share advice, tips, trials and tribulations so that we may all grow! We want to help dispel some of the myths that are out there about Natural Learning and Unschooling and make it easier for everyone to capitalise on these approaches as home educators. To join send an email to: learningnaturally-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally.

And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!

Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377?ref=ts

Home Education: Lifestyle Choice Not a Religion

2011-12-02T08:38:00.001+10:30

by Beverley Paine

Home education - homeschooling, unschooling, radical unschooling, natural learning - is a lifestyle and educational choice not a religion extolling us all to simply believe or have faith or trust that all will be well if we follow the 'right' path as announced by enthusiastic individuals excited by their own experiences.

As a lifestyle, like any other, as parents we are required to actively think and reflect on our actions and decisions and respond accordingly to meet our changing needs and those of our situation, circumstance and environment.

Uncritically following a rigid 'this is the path, do not deviate or else' approach preached by popular or self-appointed gurus leads to disappointment after the initial period of euphoria passes.

Home educators are vulnerable to hard and soft selling techniques proclaiming that if they do this or that they and their children will be better off, experience more success, or more joy in their lives.

Never let someone who does not know you or family intimately tell you that your past or present parenting or educating practices are abusive simply because they do not match that person's idea of 'perfect'.

We are all on parenting journeys, learning all the time, exploring and experimenting, becoming gradually aware as we make many 'mistakes' and get it 'wrong' countless times working to meet our children's and our own needs and those of the community in which we live.

We are all amazing wonderful people working hard and conscientiously doing something that is not appreciated, understood or valued by our peers. Remember that and be strong. Find your own path and what works for you and your children. There is no 'right' or 'wrong' way: there is only learning.

Is There a Difference Between Unschooling and Natural Learning?

2011-11-21T07:42:00.001+10:30

by Beverley Paine, Homeschool Australia

I definitely see a difference between unschooling and natural learning - my experience of the recent Unschooling Conference brought this into sharp focus for me. I posted this on my Homeschool Australia Facebook page in response to a question yesterday and once the National Home Ed Week Online Conferences are over and I'm home again, I'll be writing some more about my reflections on the Unschooling Conference - it was awesome and we definitely need events of this calibre happening around Australia at least annually!

My definition of natural learning is based on the nature of the child and the nature of learning rather than something we do or don't do with or to them... It's learning based on needs rather than wants. I see it as completely different to unschooling - unschooling is something we chose to do, natural learning is something we are all already doing. I think John Holt was talking about natural learning in his books How Children Learn and How Children Fail when he began to encourage people to trust in children's ability to learn without being taught.

For me, unschooling is choosing to let go of the need to overtly 'teach', especially for the sake of teaching or because of arbitrary standards or extrinsic goals - abandoning traditional educational approaches/methodologies and values. To get there one has to go through a process of deschooling, unless one has been unschooled since birth. But even then I think we pick up enough societal values (that don't make sense) and that deschooling is a process that is life long!!

John Holt definitely advocated for getting out of the way of the learning process - he saw what we tend to do as parents and teachers is mess up the natural learning that is already occuring, often causing huge problems which we then say belong to or arise from the child!

We're all going to do this anyway - we can't help interfering in our children's natural learning processes, especially if we aren't consciously in touch with our own. Plus we're all 'learner' parents and educators - none of our kids come with a user's manual!! Imagine how wonderful that would be - say if the placenta birthed and magically opened and had all the instructions tailored for this particular child, catering to his or her unique needs, disposition, temperament and personality with 'what to do when and/or if' different situations arise!! That would be nice! But it ain't going to happen so we learn by making a billion brilliant beautiful mistakes for which our children happily forgive us, provided we are attentive aware parents dedicated to consciously learning from those mistakes.

We interfere every day in unconscious and subconscious ways in our children's learning: our values determine what kind of life we lead, what type of house we live in (or not), how much money we have available for whatever purchases we want or need to make - all these things pre-determine what our children will experience and from birth our children have very little input. Our circumstances determine how our children will be educated and nurtured as much as anything else. Of course, we have choice - we can change our circumstances, but if we are to be authentic people, meeting our own needs, that necessarily produces compromise.

I love the way our children immediately compromise our lives from the minute we conceive them! That is a huge learning leap for most of us! Life is full of give and take when we focus on meeting needs - we aim for a win/win outcome as often as possible and gradually learned not to fret too much if that wasn't possible.

So unschooling is letting go of the need to do things that don't make immediate sense to us or the child - if we can find a rationale that satisfies us or the child as to why something must be done (or in a particular way) then let it go - it's not important! Children respond to reason - especially if their brilliant brains and bodies aren't bogged down with unnecessary unhelpful stress, particularly emotional stress. Children love having things explained to them and love contributing to the discussion - it can be really hard with little people but the effort is worth it.

Natural learning happens anyway - children at school often learn things the teachers and system least want them to, usually because schools are learning deserts, devoid of meaning and value and resources. There isn't much for kids to do but learn the stuff we'd rather they didn't! Their brains and bodies are itching to learn, driven by nature to learn. Give a child something constructive to do and value their efforts and they'll naturally be cooperative, friendly, helpful. They totally appreciate being treated as people.

I find it very unhelpful to define unschooling as the same as natural natural learning because I want homeschoolers and schoolers to see that no matter what their children are learning. I come at it from the position of feeling distressed every time I hear someone say that children need to learn how to learn, or learn how to think - they already do these things brilliantly - until we interfere too much and teach them how to shut down these exceptional skills.

Unschooling is choosing not to do certain things with or to our children, but at the same time it is choosing to do things in a certain way with our children. The pre-fix 'un' is often translated as 'hands off' or a 'do nothing' approach to education. What I often see with people new to the idea of unschooling though is the complete opposite, even though they believe they are not intervening at all: children are plied with an incredible and sometimes bewildering array of choices, particularly if the parent is worried they aren't meeting the child's wants or needs. This often provokes unnecessary stress in many children which interferes with their natural learning ability.

Natural learning brings the focus back to the nature of the child, the nature of the situation - from here we can help them determine what is needed, or simply meet those needs without fuss.

Proud to be a Hard-core Home Educator

2011-09-09T09:33:00.000+09:30

Lately I've been going through a hard-core home educator phase - I know that there are really truly fantastic and wonderful parents who opt to put their children through the school experience and who believe it was and is okay and really good for them, blah, blah, blah. And I know LOTS of young people in their 20s who went to school and are lovely people - as lovely as my wonderful three. But I am going through this very intolerant phase right now where I think of all the time and opportunities wasted during those school years and of the unlearning that needs to be done to break through those useless assumptions that will dog their lives for years to come... And they are the ones that have a chance of challenging those assumptions because their parents obviously put the time and energy and care that was needed. There are plenty of other young people I know who startle me with their ignorance, apathy, attitude - and sadden me as I watch them fall into despair and harm's way. Far from protecting these children from not so brilliant parenting and giving them choice and a chance school reinforced the self-esteem destroying messages these children were exposed to from an early age.

Albeit along with a lot of other factors, school is implicitly responsible for the woes in our society. Which is why I'm going through a hard-core home educator phase at the moment! I usually don't like to be so militant in my approach -I work hard to be inclusive and supportive. However, seeing young people with messed up lives makes me angry - I want to blame someone and so I blame the parents and the schools and the teachers and the whole school system. Humanity can do so much better than this - and does! Home education, in its modern revision, has proven beyond doubt that there is a gentler, kinder and saner way to bring up and educate young people. It is time the school system started looking at why we are succeeding and natural socialisation is one of the main reasons. Perhaps then I'd feel less angry and frustrated and more hopeful for the future.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you haven’t already done so, please think about joining our Homeschool Australia FAQ, it is a friendly, on-topic homeschool Yahoo group. We encourage people to share information and tips, as well as reviews on favourite homeschooling resources and where to get them. And,
of course, to ask questions about any and all aspects of home education! To join send an email to HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ.

Our Learning Naturally Yahoo Group aims to cooperatively widen our understanding of how learning occurs naturally in the home and community, and to share advice, tips, trials and tribulations so that we may all grow! We want to help dispel some of the myths that are out there about Natural Learning and Unschooling and make it easier for everyone to capitalise on these approaches as home educators. To join send an email to: learningnaturally-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally.

And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!

Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377?ref=ts

Addictive Socialisation

2011-09-07T08:32:00.003+09:30

by Beverley Paine

From birth we are conditioned by the school system that being in the company of same aged children is normal socialisation. It isn't. It's warped and very unnatural. No one hangs out with people all the same age year after year for 12-15 years, or didn't until compulsory education arrived only a dozen generations ago. However because of systematic brainwashing of successive generations schooled societies have come to believe that it is is 'normal' socialisation.

If every child was forced to drink cola for 12-15 years and the natural alternative, water, was frowned on, drinking cola would become the social norm - after half a few generations people would take it for granted that cola was essential to healthy development, even though there was mounting evidence that in these compulsory and large doses it actually harmed people. A few people would find cola doesn't affect them very much, but the majority would become addicted to some of its elements. Almost everyone would not consider they were addicted and would claim that drinking cola is beneficial, essential - to not drink it would be very damaging both short and long term!

School socialisation is like that. We were socialised in this way and it is hard for us to feel okay about allowing our children to socialise differently. We were taught that not having special friends our own age means we are social failures. The more special friends of our own age we have the more successful we are - success based on popularity. Because school is a competitive environment based on comparison the values upon which friendships are based are often distorted. If our best friend is in another class next year she no longer is demoted to simply friend. The frequency of how often we spend time in her company is important to maintaining this kind of friendship. If her parents can't afford or won't let her keep up with the latest fad then in order to protect our 'image' we drift even further away. It isn't socially good for us to be seen hanging out with 'losers'. We won't win the popularity contest that socialisation has become if we do...

Schools are deliberately structured this way. By alienating people from natural social situations, where friends are selected based on compatibility, interests, personal growth needs and companionship it is possible to manipulate whole sections of the population. In the early years of school the bond between the child and the family (parents and siblings) need to be undermined so that the teacher and principal and school can replace the natural authority and responsibility of the family in order to manage large numbers of children. Break the loyalty and ties to family and you create additional consumers down the track, fodder for the 'economy'. In traditional societies where family bonds remain intact people share, in fact, whole communities share expensive resources and resources are recycled (that's the way its been for millennium).

If our children have been in the school system then they have been exposed to this very powerful addictive socialisation process. The fact that we, their parents, have also been exposed and are in recovery means we are very vulnerable to self-doubt. We feel that what we are doing and asking of our children is radical, an experiment. In fact, in terms of human history compulsory schooling with its abnormal socialisation is the experiment. Given the increasing stress levels in society and accumulating incidences of mental illness I'd say the experiment is failing...

When we deschool our children and worry enormously that we're not meeting their needs, we can think about the cola example above. Our child might not be affected yet (or at all) by the addictive socialisation prevalent in society thanks to compulsory schooling and the attitude and beliefs it engenders. She might simply be an wonderfully social child who definitely needs a range of people in her life every day to thrive plus regular access to one or two special friends who are at the same developmental stage of life (not necessarily the same age!) Or she might be like the rest of us, craving something we've been coerced to believe we need, but when given in bulk and without alternatives, wears us out, makes us fractious and irritable, and leaves us confused, but still craving more.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you haven’t already done so, please think about joining our Homeschool Australia FAQ, it is a friendly, on-topic homeschool Yahoo group. We encourage people to share information and tips, as well as reviews on favourite homeschooling resources and where to get them. And,
of course, to ask questions about any and all aspects of home education! To join send an email to HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ.

Our Learning Naturally Yahoo Group aims to cooperatively widen our understanding of how learning occurs naturally in the home and community, and to share advice, tips, trials and tribulations so that we may all grow! We want to help dispel some of the myths that are out there about Natural Learning and Unschooling and make it easier for everyone to capitalise on these approaches as home educators. To join send an email to: learningnaturally-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally.

And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!

Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377?ref=ts

A Week's Worth of Reading - Many things home educational!

2011-09-04T15:58:00.001+09:30

Happy Father's Day to all those wonderful home educating dads across Australia and beyond!

Today’s blog is simply an eclectic collection of links I’ve picked up over the past week – take your pick of and enjoy! Thanks to all my friends who send these links my way… Every day I learn something new, revisit old lessons and grow some more!

Teaching Empathy at Home and School – Can Schools Teach Empathy was the impetus for my last blog post and started me thinking about the benefits of home education yet again. So many benefits!

Climb, Swing & Snuggle: Reading Readiness Involves the Whole Body discusses a subject I feel strongly about – allowing children plenty of time and space and encouragement to move. It is too easy for everyone to neglect this vital aspect of being alive!

Free Homeschooling Ideas, Activities and Resources : Inspiring ideas for creative home educating - free activities, resources, worksheets and information

Our Spring Nature Tables : more great ideas from Rhythm of the Home ezine, great for anyone interested in Montessori or Waldorf approaches to home education.

My friend Wendy has been busy blogging on different subjects:

Birth Matters: To grow up, the women's movement needs to focus on the truly transformative possibilities of valuing how we bring new life into the world, and how we live together in our families and communities.
Unschooling Prepares Kids for a Changing World: Rather than handicapping kids for dealing with the real world, life learning is helping them both create and flourish well in the coming sustainable economy.
The Hand That Rocks the Cradle Rocks the Boat; unschooling is the ultimate feminist act.
Save money and time, eat well, have fun, and build community by organizing a food buying club and a batch cooking group. For more information about how, see Food and Fellowship: Projects and Recipes to Feed a Community

Have a look at 7 year old Spiral’s Sing With Spiral blog! If you have a blog or know of any home educated children with blogs, let me know and I’ll add them to my Australian Homeschoolers Blogs page.

I enjoy dropping by at Parent at the Helm: Linda's articles are usually either reassuring or thought-provoking but always informative. This one is a favourite: Homeschooling Doesn’t TAKE Time, It MAKES Time

And I participated in an online conversation about how adults talk – or should talk – to girls and boys in relation to gender stereotyping provoked by Don’t Dumb Girls Down in the Sydney Morning Herald and my friend Jo’s excellent blog on how to talk to boys: http://unboundedocean.wordpress.com/2011/06/26/sunday-unschool-how-to-talk-to-little-boys/#comment-368

I am great fan of Ken Robinson, have been for a long time. It came as no surprise to me that he is a passionate advocate of personalised learning based on the way students (of any age!) learn: http://www.vancouversun.com/mobile/iphone/story.html?id=5298060. See also his TED talk.

Some of the ideas in this blog relate to home educating as well as school education: The Innovative Educator: Back to School Dos and Don’ts. Most of them we already know and do, but a gentle reminder now and then never hurts!

Everyone loves to read anything about home education written by someone who was home educated! Stories in the media such as I Was Homeschooled: What it Taught Me That a Classroom Never Could are a lot more reassuring and encouraging than anything written by their parents! Thank you Kate Fridkis for this excellent article.

Another convert to home educating life! Why we switched to Home School. Adding this one to my International Blogs page – if you have any favourite blogs by overseas home educators email the urls to me and I’ll add them too.

RESOURCES

Don’t forget to look into the annual Premier’s Reading Challenge – this link came up for the SA Challenge but there is one held in every state. http://www.premiersreadingchallenge.sa.edu.au/prc/

Geradine shared these links suitable for older home ed students looking at tertiary studies:

And while we’re on the subject of tertiary education, 5 reasons a college degree won’t help your business echoes my beliefs on the subject.

Alternative Learning Centers is a group for anyone interested in alternative learning centers as a choice for those who want a choice of learning environments outside of traditional school options.

Eclectic Homeschooling is a new FaceBook page by Joanne, a Californian homeschooling mom.

Unschoolers' Arts Gallery is an online art gallery for unschooled youth of all ages from around the world – well worth a visit!

Some homeschoolers devise their own forms for recording elements of their home educating programs, others find the perfect ones online. This site has 823 (and counting!) forms… http://highland.hitcho.com.au/Forms.htm

Whoa! What a huge list of links and articles… and it is only half of what comes my way each week. There is so many excellent things to share with my home educating friends, which translates into the wonderful fact that the times really are a’changing! There are so many of us working hard to shift the education paradigm from school-centric to student-centric. Well done everyone!

All the best

Beverley

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you haven’t already done so, please think about joining our Homeschool Australia FAQ, it is a friendly, on-topic homeschool Yahoo group. We encourage people to share information and tips, as well as reviews on favourite homeschooling resources and where to get them. And,
of course, to ask questions about any and all aspects of home education! To join send an email to HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ.

Our Learning Naturally Yahoo Group aims to cooperatively widen our understanding of how learning occurs naturally in the home and community, and to share advice, tips, trials and tribulations so that we may all grow! We want to help dispel some of the myths that are out there about Natural Learning and Unschooling and make it easier for everyone to capitalise on these approaches as home educators. To join send an email to: learningnaturally-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally.

And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!

Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377?ref=ts

Can Schools Teach Empathy?

2011-08-31T09:54:00.000+09:30

A friend posted a link to an article about teaching children empathy on Natural Learning Australia today.

The focus on 'success' at the start of the article brought to my attention Can Schools Teach Empathy instantly put me on guard. I have a lot of trouble with that word... I don't want my children (or me) to be successful. And I don't necessarily want us to be happy either. I know that we can't be both all the time but education sets up to have the expectation that it is possible if only we work or try hard enough and if we don't reach those goals there is something wrong with us. If we don't believe that (which is soul destroying stuff), we end up believe it is 'not our fault' and fall into the blaming/victim game.

'Be kind' is a 'nice' rule but some people define kindness differently. If I had to have one rule I'd chose 'be respectful'. Less open to being patronizing.

Schools have to teach these things - empathy, respect, ethics, morals - because one of the basic tenets of an institutionalized education system is to assume they don't have them in the first place - this is incredibly disrespectful and most kids are so confused by this they decide that what they do know and understand must be wrong and ditch it. In effect they become the 'blank slates' the school system assumes they are... This translates into more jobs, creation of more 'innovative' resources, more buildings, etc. Education is an industry with a vested interested in dumbing kids down. What saddens me is that almost everyone in the system truly believes they are doing the best they can to help children.

And the story concludes with a reference to the 'dog-eat-dog world' - another myth perpetuated by those who need to be in positions of power to do 'good'. Human nature is not enhanced by protectionist behaviour that promotes fearful attitudes. If we accept that children have advanced empathy from birth (that's obvious isn't it?) and learn from them how to repair and enhance our damaged empathic ability to build a world where bullying and intimidation aren't the norm.

Another fault I find with the thinking behind this article is the assumption that 'good' will prevail. I find 'good' a wishy-washy word, over used and not at all well-defined. Better to say what we need, actually find words which describe as accurately and precisely as possible what those needs are. 'It can't be good for me unless it is good for others' says very little at all. 'If it doesn't help me achieve my goal of feeling safe, then it won't help others feel safe' or 'Biting hurts me so I won't bite others because I don't like hurt'. Be specific. Good is a value laden word with moralistic overtones - too easy to misuse and confuse, especially young minds.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

If you haven’t already done so, please think about joining our Homeschool Australia FAQ, it is a friendly, on-topic homeschool Yahoo group. We encourage people to share information and tips, as well as reviews on favourite homeschooling resources and where to get them. And,
of course, to ask questions about any and all aspects of home education! To join send an email to HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ.

Our Learning Naturally Yahoo Group aims to cooperatively widen our understanding of how learning occurs naturally in the home and community, and to share advice, tips, trials and tribulations so that we may all grow! We want to help dispel some of the myths that are out there about Natural Learning and Unschooling and make it easier for everyone to capitalise on these approaches as home educators. To join send an email to: learningnaturally-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally.

And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!

Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377?ref=ts

Reassuring the Education Authorities with 'Evidence' of Learning - Recording Homeschooling

2011-08-28T14:48:00.000+09:30

Leanne asked: "Are you really required to keep such school-like records to satisfy the government?"

Many families find it helps to keep records in an organised way throughout the year as it makes pulling a review and learning plan for the next year less daunting, plus - and more importantly - helps to maintain and build confidence that their children are progressing. Records can also help to defuse 'concern' shown by extended family and reassure working parents who don't see the huge amount of learning that happens throughout the day.

Generally speaking the authorities require to see evidence that education is actually taking place. Because the officers who handle home education registration and exemption applications are (for the most part) teacher trained, this usually means they want some kind of documentation, usually on paper. It is what they know and it reassures them.

Some people manage to fit their learning program on a couple of pages and some states (such as South Australia) provide fill-in-the-blank forms to complete. Other people provide a lot more. One family I knew wrote 13 pages covering the different educational programs for her four children and was told not to 'write
a thesis next time'... Less detail definitely seems to be preferred!

The 'evidence' doesn't have to be much... but it does have to be enough to demonstrate that your children are actually getting educated. For example, whatever you provide should show educational progress, this is why it is important to date 'work' samples or examples of learning (photos, videos, etc). Three pieces of writing collected every four months would be enough to show progress in some areas - perhaps composition skills, grammar, spelling - or the progression of logical thinking or problem solving skills. That one piece of writing could be from one subject area or cover several - all depends on the topics. The topics could be unrelated too but still show progress in one or more skill areas.

I kept anything mathematical my children produced (which as unschoolers wasn't a lot) - it showed that they were thinking mathematically and developing, testing and using their own calculating and problem solving strategies. Often these were 'workings out' on scrap pieces of paper or charts, maps, rules for games, etc.

We had 'scrapbooks' I pasted our meagre collection of 'records' into - at first, in the early years, there was one for each subject for each child, but as time progressed it became one big scrapbook for each child. I wrote comments in the scrapbook, largely to remind me of the situation or the insight or developmental
milestone the collected item represented. We also had a photo album that showed the children working and playing with other children (socialisation!)

My experience leads me to believe the paperwork is purely only used to reassure the authorities that you are aware of the responsibility you are taking on. From their perspective, if they are 'approving' someone to educate their children at home they need to be sure they aren't approving someone who is going to neglect
their children's educational, developmental and social needs. The way I see it, giving us permission means they take on some of the responsibility for the outcome... So basically the paperwork really only means that they've done their duty.

I developed my Weekly Homeschooling Diaries and Learning Naturally Diaries to help reduce and simplify the amount of record keeping for families, especially unschooling families. I personally think that jotting down notes about what the children are learning and doing should only take 5-10 minutes a day at the most. That was enough to reassure me and my husband and my kids, and over the year it amounted to a much more impressive 'report' and collection of evidence than we ever received from a school teacher...

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

If you haven’t already done so, please think about joining our Homeschool Australia FAQ, it is a friendly, on-topic homeschool Yahoo group. We encourage people to share information and tips, as well as reviews on favourite homeschooling resources and where to get them. And,
of course, to ask questions about any and all aspects of home education! To join send an email to HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ.

Our Learning Naturally Yahoo Group aims to cooperatively widen our understanding of how learning occurs naturally in the home and community, and to share advice, tips, trials and tribulations so that we may all grow! We want to help dispel some of the myths that are out there about Natural Learning and Unschooling and make it easier for everyone to capitalise on these approaches as home educators. To join send an email to: learningnaturally-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally.

And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!

Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377?ref=ts.

National Home Education Week WIN WIN WIN

2011-08-27T13:41:00.000+09:30

WIN A FAMILY TRIP FOR FOUR TO ATTEND CAMPFEST 2012 in Albury - Attend the online daily conferences and workshops and receive a FREE entry for every workshop attended.

Do you want to know more about Home Education? Homeschooling is a legal and viable education alternate for Australian families. Join us to find out more and to get your questions answered.

National Home Education Week will occur during the week of 21st – 25th November 2011 and is a joint collaboration between Jenni Domansky of Australian Homeschool Network and Beverley Paine of Homeschool Australia.
Everyone is Welcome.
Thousand of Australian families are choosing to Home Educate their children. With numbers rising annually, this week-long series of daily information sessions will be invaluable for getting answers to your questions.
This event will be conducted online in the Australian Homeschool Network Online Chat Room and access will be available to ALL Australians – regardless of location. There will be daily online workshops and forums for anyone that is considering Home Education or for those who are new to Home Education and wanting to get more information.

National Home Education Week Flyer

For more details or to register your interest email nationalhomeedweek@gmail.com

National Home Education Week is Very Proudly Sponsored by the following Australian Homeschool Networks and Business's:Please offer them your support whenever possible.

What I am Reading Today - Saturday's Thoughts on Education and Parenting

2011-08-27T12:36:00.001+09:30

Some thoughts on the need for approval from a reply I posted on Homeschooling / Unschooling / Home Education... all things Unplugged! yesterday:
Kids only want approval if they are conditioned/trained to want it. If we don't teach our children to need or want approval then they don't seek it. Kids want support, recognition, acknowledgement, etc, not approval. They know they don't need our approval to feel okay about themselves and what they do.
Sometimes children's passions and interests line up with those of their parents, sometimes they don't. It is only natural for parents' interests and passions to be scaffolds for learning for children - no harm in that unless the parent restricts the children's activities. Children who are restricted in having their own learning needs met soon show resistance - this can be demonstrated as adverse behaviour, illness, boredom, depression, unhappiness. Parents who love their children seldom let their children fester in these states for very long - they encourage and support their children to pursue their own interests and passions.

I’m always learning and my online conversations with friends are one of my best learning tools. Today I had an insight about an important lesion I’m currently learning after reading Wendy’s blog called Cynicism is a Form of Resistance.

Great blog on ‘open source learning’ from Radio Free School picks up on the free courses offered by Stanford University I mentioned the other day and quotes another favourite author, John Taylor Gatto.

And finally, I thoroughly enjoyed reading Free Range Food - How Do You Do It and Does It Work? by Teresa Graham Brett. Food is a sensitive issue for many parents because the health of our children depends on the quality of what goes in – this is true not only of food but many other things. And this constant focus can lead to a great deal of stress as well damaging feelings of guilt. We allowed our children relatively free range to food without going the whole way – I still controlled the purchases and would maneuver them away from what I considered undesirables while shopping. I wish I’d been more adventurous and less insecure though… Hindsight is great isn’t it? Luckily there is a lot more support for adventurous parents nowadays. If you are already on the unschooling/life learning path, consider adding free range food to your family diets. It is never too late – in fact, I’m going to give up feeling guilty and start totally free ranging myself as from today!

cheers

Beverley
Homeschool Australia
proudly affiliated with Always Learning Books

What I am Reading Today - Thursday's Thoughts on Education

2011-08-25T15:09:00.000+09:30

I am feeling revived and revitalized after reading Laura’s blog, A Day Like No Other – really puts my problems into perspective!

What I love most about learning is that I am constantly reminded that everything that I have learned so far isn’t necessarily fact or truth: anything can change and frequently does! Black Death study lets rats off the hook: A study by an archaeologist looking at the ravages of the Black Death in London, in late 1348 and 1349, has exonerated the most famous animal villains in history.

In the northern hemisphere summer holidays are over and it is the first week or so of school. Millions of children will be starting school for the first time. Our family were lucky: we discovered home education before our eldest turned six and when we did venture onto the school grounds we picked a school that let us attend with our children – homeschool at school! My thoughts echo those of one of my all-time-favourite home education authors, Wendy Priesnitz, “I live for the day when the supports are in place so that children can maintain the close physical and emotional attachment they need as long as necessary, and are given the freedom to explore the world at their own pace...no matter what their age.” Read the rest of her blog The First Day of School and explore the rest of her thoughtful and informative website: www.wendypriesnitz.com

I had to pass on this link to the Essential Parenting site – it says in a nutshell many of the parenting practices I feel I learned the hard way through experience!

http://www.essentialparenting.com/get-started/nuts-and-bolts/

And another site worth taking a peep at is Early Play Australia, which aims to be "a great place to connect all those involved in early childhood in Australia".

And this is for everyone who asks me if their homeschooled children will be able to get into university, etc… Education is changing, faster than our school system can handle. Every year I read about tertiary courses and subjects being made available free through online learning. Stanford University is now offering limited certificate courses for free. “We want to open our lectures and bring education to places that can’t be reached today, to people that haven’t had access to higher education,” said Professor Sebastian Thrun, artificial intelligence lecuture from the engineering science department at Stanford University. 124,000 students have enrolled in his free class…Stanford for Everyone: More Than 120,000 Enroll in Free Classes.

Until tomorrow,

all the best

Beverley

Homeschool Australia
proudly affiliated with Always Learning Books

What I am Reading Today - Thoughts on Education

2011-08-24T09:12:00.000+09:30

So many great stories and links come across my desk each day that I want to share with everyone and I thought, why not add them as a blog page?

Parenting: Don't Praise Your Children! | Psychology Today

www.psychologytoday.com

‎"Good job!" is the worst kind of praise. By Jim Taylor, Ph.D....
My favourite quote from the article: “…you don't need to praise them at all. The best thing you can do is simply highlight what they did.” That just about sums it up for me! Common sense prevails. An excellent tip on exactly what to say when that inane and probably damaging praise is about to tumble from our mouths.

Can Education and Creativity Mix? | Innovations

blogs.smithsonianmag.com

"Most schools follow a model designed for an industrial economy. Can our education system foster the creativity and collaboration needed in a digital world?" This article argues that we need to focus "on teaching digital literacy, not so much how to use the tools—the kids could teach that—but how to use them to develop ideas and express themselves responsibly." Follow the links to videos, which include some by Sir Ken Robinson.

Home schooling grows in popularity Local Gold Coast News

www.goldcoast.com.au

LAST year 195 Gold Coast children were registered for home schooling as parents attempt to combat a growing culture of schoolyard bullying, misbehaviour and limited teacher-student contact.Another Aussie media story about home education!

Age distorts ADHD diagnoses in kindergartners, studies say

www.theglobeandmail.com

Research suggests immaturity is confused with disorder – and many children could be misdiagnosed. Essential reading for parents of toddlers and preschoolers... I have long suspected this - we have become so accustomed to reducing everything down to a list of symptoms we are losing sight of the big picture - children should be allowed to get on with simply being children! We are in such a hurry to churn out adults that we make the same mistake with our adolescent children too. A timely and important article - essential reading for parents of pre-school aged children.

Parental Intelligence Newsletter Issue 199

Latest issue of the Parental Intelligence Newsletter! Always a great collection of relevant articles and a great read – thanks Bob!

That's all for today - don't have the time to read anything else!

cheers

Beverley
http://homeschoolaustralia.com

A Question About Age Appropriate Chores for Children

2011-08-15T12:07:00.002+09:30

Jude asked: "How do you know what amount of chores are reasonable for each age/stage/child?"

I think we all tend to think our children are capable of a lot more than they really are. Children are in a hurry to grow up and most of the time their parents (and other adults) are in just as much a hurry... One of the best things about home education for our family was that it helped us slow down so that we made time for the really important things in life, such as being, working and playing together.

Like most parents I asked my children to do things I thought they should be able to do and was stumped when they either didn't do them, didn't want to do them, got grumpy, acted bored, started crying, became irrationally angry, fought with their siblings, etc. What actually was happening was that they didn't know how to do the task I'd given them or they actually couldn't do it on their own and needed help.

Helping our children is teaching our children. Helping them do chores teaches them a lot more than simply doing chores.

My children taught me (the hard way!) that I need to look at them as individuals when considering what they could and couldn't do. Age came into it a bit, but learning styles and personality much more.

Tidying their rooms was probably my hardest lesson. In the end I gave up and simply did it myself, asking them to help out in small ways. What I later discovered was that this was actually only giving them manageable tasks, things they could reasonably accomplish. I also manipulated the environment so that it was much easier for my children to find things and put them away afterwards (shelves instead of cupboards and drawers, many of them labeled, some with pictures as well as words). We didn't have too many things either: the children didn't have oodles of toys and clothes so it was fairly simple to keep these under control. They had high bunk beds which meant they had doonas which made it easier for them to make their beds. My aim was to create an environment in which it was easier for them to look after their own things. We also had a few rules, such as there always had to be a clear path through whatever game was being played on the floor at the end of the day, just in case I needed to get to them in the night. Another one was that they couldn’t have more than one game or set of toys in one area at the same time (unless they were being used for the same game).

Most days the children helped with preparing dinner. They got their own breakfast and lunch. I didn't ask them to do the dishes as a chore (I'd been forced as a child to do this) but if I did ask I expected help. What I found was that because we didn't have a list of chores for each child when we asked them for help they were usually willing. But again, I think this worked because we helped them with the tasks we asked them to do, especially when they were younger, rather than making them do them on their own.

Involving the children in the day-to-day work of living in a house together from an early age is something children naturally expect: if we do everything for them they learn to be entertained and waited on! But if we do things with them they watch and learn and naturally get better at doing them. In time they build confidence in their ability to take on the responsibility of doing tasks on their own.

I don't think it is unreasonable to ask a toddler to help you. Just keep in mind that he is helping you, not working for you!

The older and more capable children get the more they look forward to being given responsibility. You'll know if you're asking too much or giving them too much - they will show signs of stress. Just back off a little, talk to them about the task, tell your reasons for wanting them to help you, if there are any problems you've not thought of, etc.

If you liked this article you'll enjoy Jan Hunt's Ten Ways We Misunderstand Children, an excellent and well written succinct article that goes to the heart of the matter.

If you haven’t already done so, please think about joining our Homeschool Australia FAQ, it is a friendly, on-topic homeschool Yahoo group. We encourage people to share information and tips, as well as reviews on favourite homeschooling resources and where to get them. And,
of course, to ask questions about any and all aspects of home education! To join send an email to HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ.

Our Learning Naturally Yahoo Group aims to cooperatively widen our understanding of how learning occurs naturally in the home and community, and to share advice, tips, trials
and tribulations so that we may all grow! We want to help dispel some of the myths that are out there about Natural Learning and Unschooling and make it easier for everyone to capitalise on these approaches as home educators. To join send an email to:
learningnaturally-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally.

And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!

Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377?ref=ts.

When Homeschooling is Working Well, Resist the Drive to Change It!

2011-07-17T10:48:00.001+09:30

Rose wrote: “I’m bored, in a rut, how can we spice it up?”

My advice is when you are onto a good thing and it is working well DON'T change it!

Have a close look at the concept of boredom instead and see if you can get to the bottom of it. My booklet on Motivation might give you some ideas to think about.

All too often we think we're bored but something else is going on. For instance, this morning I felt bored with life but in actual fact I've just stopped working on a huge project that has dominated my life for four years and what I am actually feeling is loss and a sense of emptiness. I have plenty of things I want to do (no end of exciting things as usual!) but I still need to get used to not doing that other thing.

My son used to say he was bored but when we examined what was really going on it was because he was waiting for the next big thing in life - usually waiting for a new computer game to come out, his next birthday, when his friend could come over again, etc. His 'boredom' was driven by his impatience. Once we identified that he found it much easier to manage.

Sometimes I feel bored when I know I have to do something I don't want to do. So I keep putting it off and try to occupy my mind with other things but it hangs over my head - like a simmering nagging guilty feeling that won't leave me alone and won't let me enjoy the other things I am doing!

'Bored' generally really means something else. When we identify and name that something else we are empowered to change what we are doing and get on with life.

On the question of how to 'spice it up', perhaps you are not feeling fully engaged with what is already happening. School education trains us to expect something new tomorrow and is built around the idea that learning must be fun. Novelty is addictive. Novelty isn't in itself a bad thing as it drives innovation, creativity and technology but always needing to be entertained is something very new in human society. You may be experiencing a necessary symptom of deschooling - a period where your conditioning from childhood is driving you to want something new to engage you.

Instead of looking for something new outside of what you are already doing, how about going deeper? Follow the learning as far as it can go. This may require you to challenge yourself - learn new skills, take on tasks or head in directions that you might not feel comfortable with, etc.

For example, if you are following an unschooling approach and your children are being particularly self-directed in their learning at the moment you may not be as hands-on as you usually are. Get interested and involved again. Look at what the children are doing and ask yourself if their activities could be enhanced by the provision of new materials, or perhaps a different point of view. Brainstorm some ideas with them, find new resources, take the learning further, build educational scaffolds on which they can climb. For example, when my children were playing shop (a great way of learning maths) I introduced post office shop props.

If, on the other hand, your children are learning from a particular text book and you aren't having much input at all, consider introducing some games that you can play with them that will add value to that subject. Or an excursion, or a group activity. For example, when my children were learning place value in their maths books I sat and played with multibase blocks and their Brio trainsets, building skyscrapers with different numbers of units ("now build me a building with 7922 units" - I was the 'unit bank' and they had to do all the exchanging).

Often we are bored because we are not engaged. We are not living in the moment but are thinking instead of what we've done or will do, or worse still 'should' do! Bring your attention back to now and centre yourself. Ask, 'what do I really need', rather than 'what I do I really want'.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you haven’t already done so, please think about joining our Homeschool Australia FAQ, it is a friendly, on-topic homeschool Yahoo group. We encourage people to share information and tips, as well as reviews on favourite homeschooling resources and where to get them. And,
of course, to ask questions about any and all aspects of home education! To join send an email to HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ.

Our Learning Naturally Yahoo Group aims to cooperatively widen our understanding of how learning occurs naturally in the home and community, and to share advice, tips, trials
and tribulations so that we may all grow! We want to help dispel some of the myths that are out there about Natural Learning and Unschooling and make it easier for everyone to capitalise on these approaches as home educators. To join send an email to:
learningnaturally-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally.

And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!

Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377?ref=ts.

Are Parents Without Formal Teaching Qualifications Equipped to Home Educate their Children?

2011-04-26T18:14:00.000+09:30

© Beverley Paine, Interview with Julia Harris, journalist student

1/ In your opinion, are parents without formal teaching qualifications, equipped to home educate their children? Why/ why not?

Parents do not need formal teaching qualifications - or any kind of qualifications for that matter - to help their children learn, either as parents of schooled children or home educated children. The majority of parents are equipped to 'learn-on-the-job' and simply pick up and continue using the skills they honed in their child's first five years of life. Some people might think that teaching a five or a ten year old is tricky, but it's a breeze compared with trying to work out and meet the developmental needs of a one year old!

To get the most out of the home education experience for both the parent and child, parents must enjoy the company of their children. The parent needs to have an open mind, willing to be flexible and adaptable. It helps if he or she enjoys learning and is willing to let go of some of the myths and misconceptions about how to learn and how to teach. Children are excellent at guiding parents to find the best resources and methods - especially if their parents are practiced users of observation, reflection and evaluation skills.

Being able to find one's way around a library and the internet are helpful. Basic literacy and numeracy skills come in handy. :-)

There are no requirements for home educating parents to have formal teaching qualifications in all states and territories of Australia.

2/ Do you see a need for a homeschooling teaching qualification/course for parents? do you think this would assist or hinder homeschooling parents? why/ why not?

I don't see a need for formal teaching qualifications or courses for home educating parents.

Voluntary, inexpensive (or free) courses and workshops do have a place in helping those parents that lack confidence or wish to improve their skills, knowledge and understanding in any topic. Home educating parents are always learning and the opportunity to learn with peers (either in small groups or by distance or online education) would be welcomed by many parents.

Home educators self-organise conferences, seminars and workshops for other home educating parents. As a course or workshop presenter I find that the majority of questions relate to parenting rather than educational issues. Parents are confident educators but, like all parents, worry about parenting. Managing life and parenting issues - organisational issues - can be a source of stress that is often expressed as a lack of confidence in ability to teach. Questions about time management are fairly typical - looking after toddlers while helping older children, finding time for mum's activities, getting the children to help with chores, etc - are asked more often than how to teach the times tables or Australian history, for example.

Home educating parents are very resourceful. There is a strong support network across Australia, especially online.

Home education is very hands-on learning. Parents often take an experimental approach to methods and materials. They drop what isn't working and find new resources and approaches as soon as it is obvious - and it is usually very obvious! What works for one child might not work for another. They develop truly individualised learning programs for each of their children that are responsive to the child's developmental and learning needs.

Because home education tends to be very responsive to the child's learning needs, parents are always looking out for better methods and resources. Many are often using tools and techniques at the cutting edge of education. I'm not sure that teacher training would be of any benefit to parents such as this: in any case, parents are constantly self-educating about more effective ways of helping their children learn.

3/ With your great experience, what in general is the opinion of the homeschooling parents in the teaching industry?

Most of the parents I have met (thousands!) would feel affronted if formal teaching qualifications were required to home educate their children. After 30-40 years the home education movement has adequately proven both here and in the USA and UK that parents from all walks of life and educational backgrounds are capable of teaching their children from home. Research studies have confirmed this - though hundreds of thousands of adults who were home educated are proof enough.

Nearly all of the parents I have met would think that implementing a teacher training course to qualify parents as home educators would be a waste of resources and money. The time and energy to provide this would be better spent on appropriate support for families and groups.

Teachers need training because they are teaching up to 30 children whom they do not personally and intimately know, and because they are answerable to the parents and to society in general. Home educating parents know they children very well and use this understanding and knowledge to help their children become motivated, self-confident and enthusiastic learners. Home educating parents are answerable to their children and society in general. They are not being employed to do a job - they are home educating because they love their children.

4/ What do you believe parents bring/give to their children when homeschooling, that 'regular' schooling cannot?

There is no short answer to this question. Parents bring/give their children so much - great parents will do this for children anyway. Parents simply need to be great parents, interested but not obsessed in their children's development and future. Interested enough to make space in their day to be with their children and to do things together. In other words, be attentive to their children and their needs. Few parents seem to manage this consistently. It's been my experience and privilege to hang out with a special bunch of parents who enjoy the company of their children and love learning alongside them. More have been home educating parents than parents of schooled children.

See my articles on the benefits of home education from a parental perspective for a more thorough list: http://homeschoolaustralia.com/articles/benefits.html. Although it lists the benefits I've gained, it is obvious that the benefits are a two-way experience. As I learned how to be a better parent from home educating my children they also gained much. I am a much better parent because I taught my children from home - this is a common experience in homeschooling families.

There are more listed on my Benefits index page: http://homeschoolaustralia.com/index/benefits.html

How doing my best and working for better grades damaged me

2011-04-23T12:52:00.002+09:30

At 52 I am rebelling against the need within to finish everything I start. It began to dawn on me some time ago that my sense of self-worth is tied to successfully completing anything I choose or am required to do. I think this began in school: my teachers were happy with my results and attitude to work but always put ‘Beverley could do better’ or ‘isn’t applying herself to the best of her ability’, especially if my report card showed more Bs than As. As a result I grew up thinking anything less than 100% wasn’t good enough and that to be completely successful one has to do the very best that one can do in each and every moment, striving for the perfect 100% all of the time.

Sounds like a recipe for failure doesn’t it? It’s not surprising that every day as I reflect on my achievements I feel like and see myself as a failure. Or that, no matter how hard I try, I can’t reach that 100% goal - I’m always a few percentage points short! Most people think I’m crazy and that I’m an over-achiever and that I should be happy with 95%. But on the report card in my mind at the end of each day it says, ‘could do better’. That translates into ‘not good enough’: I’m not good enough. I’ve personalised those comments from long ago and taken the judgment to heart, made it about myself.

This message was reinforced continuously for twelve years from the age of five and became a conditioned response, a mantra that runs through my head every day. But it’s worse than that. For twelve years how I was judged as a person came down to whether or not I successfully completed discrete tasks called assignments, essays or tests. Finishing was all important. Failing to finish was exactly that – a fail! For the next twenty-five years of my life I was goal-oriented. Success was measured not only in how well I did (anything less than 100% fell short of course), but also occurred only when the task was completely finished. And once it was finished I could begin to enjoy the fruits of my labour.

This resulted in me becoming fixated on getting things done because only then could I fully enjoy life. When I had finished school I could get a job and enjoy being an adult (the whole point of school, right?) When I finished building my house I could relax and enjoy it (no one mentioned maintenance!) Finishing became the goal and the purpose, with the enjoying the end result the motivation.

As a home educating parent I discovered that the process of learning and doing is way more important than the products. It is where most of the enjoyment happens too. Learning and doing is fun. There is intrinsic motivation in both. I knew this as a child but school and grades systematically erased that knowledge and understanding. As a parent I worked hard to de-school my homeschooling practice but de-schooling myself is an ongoing process – it never stops.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you haven’t already done so, please think about joining our Homeschool Australia FAQ, it is a friendly, on-topic homeschool Yahoo group. We encourage people to share information and tips, as well as reviews on favourite homeschooling resources and where to get them. And,
of course, to ask questions about any and all aspects of home education! To join send an email to HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ.

Our Learning Naturally Yahoo Group aims to cooperatively widen our understanding of how learning occurs naturally in the home and community, and to share advice, tips, trials
and tribulations so that we may all grow! We want to help dispel some of the myths that are out there about Natural Learning and Unschooling and make it easier for everyone to capitalise on these approaches as home educators. To join send an email to:
learningnaturally-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally.

And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!

Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377?ref=ts.

A Gift for Baby

2011-03-03T18:17:00.000+10:30

written by Jan Hunt, illustrations by Sunny Rosanbalm

Book Review by Beverley Paine

Written in both Spanish and English this charming story relates a toddler's curiosity about a special gift. "Is it a photo?" the infant muses, then is distracted by her love for her mother. As the day progresses the child's attention is caught by the colourfully wrapped gift but quickly finds something more compelling to think about.

This simple and engaging story reminds us of what is important in life. We are blessed with gifts everyday and don't realise it. Life and love don't come gift-wrapped - or do they?

This book would make a wonderful gift for parents about to give birth as well as for children of all ages.

Jan Hunt is the founder of the Natural Child Project, an organisation focused on promoting child-friendly parenting practices. Visit naturalchild.org for "parenting and unschooling articles and advice by leading writers, information on child advocacy, recommended books, related resources, and teh Global Children's Art Gallery". Jan also offers counselling services.

Available from all good bookstores or from naturalchild.org

A Few Strategies for Coping as Home Educators

2011-02-27T09:24:00.003+10:30

Rose asked:
"How do you refresh yourself after being with all the kids all day, all week? How do you make yourself stronger and happier to cope better?"

After a very long time battling chronic ill health which included depression and unpredictable mood swings I settled on a fairly basic discipline which I describe in my Motivation booklet. Although aimed at helping understand children's seeming lack of motivation and what to do about it, it goes to the heart of what I think has happened when we become or feel overwhelmed.

For me, the number one thing I must do is adhere to early nights. Every night after 10pm progressively wears me down and leaves me vulnerable to feeling overwhelmed. Another thing I should do and am slowly putting into practice is giving me permission to 'do nothing', something the children taught me was essential and enhanced their capacity for learning but which I didn't think to apply to myself! Although in hindsight I recognise that in those early years of homeschooling ill health forced me into the position where I did nothing for hours or days on end – during which time my children miraculously continued to learn an amazing array of skills and knowledge!

'Doing nothing' time is misnamed - while 'doing nothing' we give ourselves time to relax. What we are not doing is being overtly productive... We might be playing a card or board game for fun, mucking about telling jokes or sharing imaginative 'what if' scenarios. We might be sitting on the garden swing or on the veranda or the couch, quietly thinking. Or flipping through a magazine, maybe even reading a chapter or two of our book. It's tiny to short segments of 'time out' where we do something that is relaxing.

Meditation, prayer, gentle stretching exercises, Tai Chi... anything that leaves you refreshed after doing it.

As home educators we gift ourselves an enormous amount of time to enjoy our children and family life. Instead of capitalising on this though we cram it full of busy work, both for ourselves and them. We are in such a hurry to achieve our goals and objectives, with one eye always looking over our shoulder to make sure other people are satisfied with our progress. Chill out! We have until our children become adults to set the foundations for life learning. Stop thinking about the enormous body of knowledge and skills those people over your shoulder say you have to instill in your children and think instead about the basic essential learning tools you can help them explore and learn how to use.

In my Natural Learning booklet I advise parents against creating a ‘smorgasbord’ approach to home education driven by the need to teach them ‘everything they need to know’ (as one home education officer from our state authority put it). Doing a little bit of this or dipping your toes into that subject is the way schools approach much of the curriculum. Children will happily immerse themselves for hours, days and sometimes weeks on end in projects that engage their attention and answer a fairly immediate need within them to know and understand. Why interrupt such active learning to expose them to a topic that someone who doesn’t even know your child thinks should be learned – not only learned but in a particular way, using particular materials and a particular age? If there are things that you think the child should know, but all means teach those things, but don’t try to teach everything.

And don’t think that just because your children are not at school you have to be the only teaching resource in your home education program – make use of people in your local community that offer group activities, classes and lessons for children. These may be held after school, on the weekend or during the school holidays and can easily be built into your homeschool schedule. Quality textbooks and workbooks, the type that guide the learning process, can also lift some of the ‘teaching’ burden from your shoulders. As a home educating mum I found my main role was finding resources and activity ideas, recording my children’s learning and subtly guiding it in the direction I felt was best for each child.

And finally (although I can and have written so much on this topic!), eat well and drink lots of water. Pretty basic stuff but it is easy to overlook. I indulge myself when I am feeling low and eat a lot of food that my body doesn’t like and causes the symptoms of my illnesses to flare. So it is important that I interrupt the downward spiral as soon as I recognise it happening. I have a ‘nurturing Beverley’ plan that focuses on bringing balance into my life and regularly read through it as a reminder.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you haven’t already done so, please think about joining our Homeschool Australia FAQ, it is a friendly, on-topic homeschool Yahoo group. We encourage people to share information and tips, as well as reviews on favourite homeschooling resources and where to get them. And,
of course, to ask questions about any and all aspects of home education! To join send an email to HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ.

Our Learning Naturally Yahoo Group aims to cooperatively widen our understanding of how learning occurs naturally in the home and community, and to share advice, tips, trials
and tribulations so that we may all grow! We want to help dispel some of the myths that are out there about Natural Learning and Unschooling and make it easier for everyone to capitalise on these approaches as home educators. To join send an email to:
learningnaturally-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally.

And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!

Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377?ref=ts.

CHOOSING HOMESCHOOL CURRICULUM, Part 1

2011-01-16T13:43:00.000+10:30

Here are a few questions to ponder and guide you when considering different homeschool approaches.
Some approaches are more directed and structured, others flexible or adaptable, and some leave it up to
you to determine the direction and content. It helps if you know what kind of a person you are, how you
learn and teach best, and the same for your children.

Did your child perform well at school?
Does she like reading?
Does he like working towards a goal, such as completing assignments, without prodding?
Can she work independently or unsupervised?
Does he enjoy stable, predictable routines?
Are you task-oriented?
Does she thrive on extrinsic rewards, such as stickers, grades and certificates?
Does he prefer to know where he is and what is coming next?
Do you enjoy chatting to your children?
Is a fair degree of autonomy important to her?
Did he perform poorly and hate tests at school?
How creative are you?
Does she find it hard to sit still and concentrate?
Do you prefer to follow step-by-step guidance or instructions?
Did he complain that what he learned at school didn’t make sense?
Would you describe yourself as a ‘control freak’?
Do her eyes glaze over when listening to a lecture?
Is he always busy, finding things to do on his own?
Does his mind ‘wander’ frequently?
Do you love reading aloud?
Do you love sharing your life and passions with your children?
Does he find working to deadlines stressful or difficult?
Does she always wait to be told what to do?
Is he a methodical learner?
Are you a multi-tasker?
Does she frequently compare herself with others?
Would you prefer to be doing your chores or playing with your children?
Is achieving goals important to you?
Does she learn best if she revises or practices often?

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

If you haven’t already done so, please think about joining our Homeschool Australia FAQ, it is a friendly, on-topic homeschool Yahoo group. We encourage people to share information and tips, as well as reviews on favourite homeschooling resources and where to get them. And,
of course, to ask questions about any and all aspects of home education! To join send an email to HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ-subscribe@yahoogroups.com or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaFAQ.

Our Learning Naturally Yahoo Group aims to cooperatively widen our understanding of how learning occurs naturally in the home and community, and to share advice, tips, trials
and tribulations so that we may all grow! We want to help dispel some of the myths that are out there about Natural Learning and Unschooling and make it easier for everyone to capitalise on these approaches as home educators. To join send an email to:
learningnaturally-subscribe@yahoogroups.com, or visit http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally.

And once subscribed, don’t forget to post an introduction and begin asking questions, sharing tips and ideas, etc!

Please become a ‘fan of our Homeschool Australia page by copying and pasting this very long url into your browser... http://www.facebook.com/pages/Homeschool-Australia/102822156428377?ref=ts.

National Home Education Week 2010

2010-11-26T17:46:00.000+10:30

Through the National Homeschool Network, Jenni Domansky organised a series of free online conferences from the 15th to the 19th of November, including facilitating several ‘park meets’ for home educating families across the country. Four of the online conferences were presented by veteran home educator and author, Beverley Paine, www.homeschoolaustralia.com.

The 2-3 hour presentations included a Powerpoint slide show with Beverley talking about her experiences and sharing her knowledge. They covered state by state legal requirements, socialisation, organisation and getting started, and learning styles. After each slide show participants were offered the opportunity to ask questions. The evening session on different approaches to home education was very popular and it is planned to hold more panel sessions of this kind next year.

More than 50 parents registered to attend, many new to the idea of home education. Many expressed appreciation at being able to attend the conference from the comfort of their own home, not needing to organise child-care or find car parking. Most found the conference room easy to use, especially the ability to log into the conference and leave at any time without disturbing other participants.

The series of conferences offered many attendees the reassurance they needed to feel confident to begin home educating next year: “It put my mind at ease knowing that I can do this too.” Others found the information presented gave them ‘starting points’ for further exploration of home education as an alternative, as well as valuable advice on pitfalls to avoid.

Attendees came up with an impressive list of future workshop and conference topics. Jenni would love to hear from experienced home educators willing to present workshop using the Network.
The National Homeschool Network is planning monthly workshops, beginning with Natural Learning in December and Choosing Curriculum in January.

Regular sessions currently held through the Network allowing parents and children from all parts of Australia to get together for social or support. To find out more visit http://www.rainbowdivas.com/NHN.html.

Independent Public Schools

2010-11-08T13:47:00.003+10:30

There is a growing trend in the western world for the provision of independent state schools. To me, that sounds like an oxymoron – how can they be independent if they are paid for by the state? But then I remembered that here in Australia private schools allegedly receive more funding per student than state schools, which means that private education is paid for by taxpayers as much as it is by the parents of private school students. Unlike state schools, however, private schools are able to manage the schools the way they want, and this includes determining how they deliver the curriculum. Some are even able to write their own curricula. And that’s the thrust behind the creation of independent state schools.

Since the early 1990s I’ve watched the debate about giving state schools greater autonomy with some interest. On the one hand it places greater responsibility on school councils which have positions usually filled by volunteer parents of varying management experiences and abilities. This generally translates into areas with a wealthier and/or tertiary educated parent body managing quite well, whereas schools in financially depressed suburbs or towns find it a struggle to get ahead. Even though we home educated, the health and prosperity of a community is related to quality of education available.

In the UK, the new ‘free school’ template allows schools set their own curriculum and control admissions, as well as selecting staff. The UK model was inspired by the charter school movement in the USA, where more than one million children are educated. In Australia, Western Australia moved to implement independent public schools with over 30 schools trialing the concept throughout 2010, giving principals greater control over staffing and budgets.

Research from the USA on the charter school movement offers mixed results: good for students in lower socio-economic areas because of better quality teaching, but with some in other areas schools underperforming compared to their state or private counterparts. The ability of private and independent state or public schools to pay teachers more may eventually impact on the availability of quality teachers in the public education system.

What is obvious from the movement is that governments are beginning to investigate different approaches to delivering quality education to children and young people. Home education should be one of the options in the mix. Sadly it is still overlooked. Although recognised as a viable alternative to school based education there is no official recognition and thus no funding provision. Home educators need to keep pressuring their local member of parliament, both state or territory and federal to put home education on the education funding agenda.

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit Always Learning Books for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Perth Home Education Conference July 3rd & 4th

2010-06-05T09:42:00.000+09:30

Beverley and Robin Paine will be guest speakers at the annual Home Based Learners Network of WA Conference: http://www.hbln.org.au/

Prolific home ed writer and supporter since 1989, Beverley began home educating her children in 1986, but like many families this really started with the birth of her first child in 1981. It's almost 30 years later and Beverley is about to become a first-time grandmother – she now finds herself pondering the homeschooling implication of this amazing event!

Being a parent profoundly changed Beverley's views on education and parenting. She's moved from a `layering on' and `filling the pail' view of both to one that works with and honours the nature of each individual child. Her `educational' experience includes a four year voluntary stint working in an alternative classroom with children aged 5-13 years, during which time her confidence in home education grew exponentially!

She's not just passionate about homeschooling – she's also a keen gardener, landscaper, builder and writer. Her practical and logical approach to life informs her views on education and learning. At the Perth conference she'll talk passionately about what she believes are the essential learning and developmental experiences for children, and how families can build a curriculum around simply living in a way that naturally and largely effortlessly develops the skills and knowledge children need. She'll touch on learning to describe daily life in education-speak and why she thinks recording is invaluable for all types of home educating approaches.

Beverley's been a home education activist for 20 years and feels like she's `been there done that' many times over. Her session on `Getting Involved' will be a great opportunity to pick her brains, ask her opinions, get some tips, etc. She began promoting and supporting home education by producing South Australia's first homeschool newsletter, has organised a few conferences and seminars, run home ed TAFE workshops, as well as organised a few homeschool camps. She is currently a committee member and the Editor for the Home Education Association of Australia, and owns and runs Homeschool Australia, Always Learning Books and several yahoo support groups.

Another consuming passion is considering the role of motivation in our lives – particularly how to avoid doing what we don't want to for reasons that don't make sense to us. In a nutshell, how to deschool ourselves so that we can allow our children to learn efficiently and with the least amount of hassle.

Beverley and Robin will both be present at the conference – please introduce yourself (if you get the chance). Their three children are all now adults, living happy lives doing what they want and consider themselves active lifelong learners.

The Difference Between Natural Learning & Unschooling

2010-05-10T08:59:00.000+09:30

For some families the terms natural learning and unschooling are interchangeable. Others see natural learning as the Australian term, unschooling as the USA term and informal learning as the UK term.

Unschooling to me means taking the school out of education - that is, approaching learning from a more learner-centred point of view. Unschoolers don't work try to fit the learner into an arbitrary sequence of learning processes and knowledge to suit someone else's agenda (eg to suit national politics, improve the school's reputation, produce a particular type of employee, or even what mum's short and long term goals!) Unschooling starts from the learner's needs and puts learning into a meaningful context that is both immediate and long term, but makes sense to the learner. Unschoolers typically use a hands-on, integrated unit study approach to covering the typical school subjects with activities that make use of the whole person - head, heart and hands. Recording helps the parent feel confident and more at ease with this approach in the early years.

My definition of natural learning is that everyone learns all the time. It doesn't matter where you are - if you are a school student you are still learning naturally. A lot of what school children learn isn't in the curriculum and I believe they learn this stuff because the other stuff (that is in the curriculum) is either boring, way above their heads, already known, presented in a manner that doesn't suit the individual learner or just doesn't make any sense, sometimes because it isn't accurate or is doled out in such a piecemeal manner it become contradictory. And the learning environment is a desert, almost devoid of anything children tend to use when learning is at a peak for them. In the absence of anything meaningful to learn children still learn - they are keen observers of behaviour, for example. They will use any resources to make sense of the world around them, and if they aren't given the opportunity to pull things apart to see how they go together will end up 'misbehaving'.

I'm wandering off the subject however…

Natural learning is recognising that we are all learners and that no matter what we do or happens there are lessons and abilities that we are learning in each moment of every day, even when we sleep and dream. Instead of adding arbitrary and often unnecessary tasks to our daily lives, we capitalise on the learning that is already happening. Natural learners take their cue from what is happening as a natural consequence of living. There are important lessons to be learned that arise naturally from daily life: nutrition, staying healthy, caring for possessions, pets, family, others, creating an environment that sustains life and feeds the soul. Humans have been living and learning like this for millennia, creating civilizations along the way.

Unschooling is challenging because we don't have timetables and curriculum checklists to mark off as milestones and parade to insecure others to prove our children are actually being educated (and usually to a high standard, though not necessarily at the same rate/pace as schooled kids, or towards the same goals).
Natural learning is very challenging because our lives move to a completely different pace to others. We also seem to speak a different language. Ours is not a rush to learn everything that can or should be learned, or to cover a certain amount by a particular age (adulthood) - it's life learning. We talk more about the processes at work when we learn and we like to reflect on those learning processes. We know that everything in life is interdependent so learning is integrated. It can be exceptionally hard to translate natural learning into educational jargon to help insecure others feel okay about what we're doing (and therefore give us 'permission' to continue!) You can tell by how I'm writing this that natural learning isn't something we do to or for children - it's something we all do, all the time.

I began home education as a school-at-home mum, modelling our learning program on my daughter's experience at pre-school (kindergarten) and my own school life from years before. We then spent many years unschooling as my confidence, knowledge and understand about the nature of learning grew. My youngest child experienced the tail out of my unschooling behaviour and I feel confident to say his education was 'natural'.

That isn't to say natural learners and unschoolers don't do anything 'schooly' from time to time. Both use the best tools in their educational toolboxes to achieve their goals. The difference between school and unschool has often been cited as the motivating force driving the act of learning - who is in charge really? Is it life compelling learning forward, the will of the child, the will of the parent, or the will of the State? Natural learners are compelled to learn because they are allive. Unschoolers blend this with the need to learn particular things deemed important by the learner, parent or tutor. School layers on so much other less personally interesting stuff that the natural learning agenda is hindered, subverted or almost completely squashed.

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit Always Learning Books for a list of books written by Beverley.

Unschooling and motivation to do the 'have to do' things in life.

2010-04-26T09:07:00.000+09:30

I've just read an excellent post by Kelly Hogaboom's Life in HQX blog, a reaction to the current internet discussion prompted by an inflammatory media article on unschooling aired this week in the USA. My attention was caught by her comment "if I may be so bold to rephrase, she worries a child who is not raised with duties and commitments they “have to do” will develop to be entirely self-centered."

I find it hard to convey to homeschoolers who aren't unschooling yet but look wistfully over their fences at it, that unschooling, or natural learning as we tend to call it hear in Australia, is definitely not abandoning the concept of duties and commitments children have to do. Heck, life just ain't like that - it won't allow us to do that. Children can't handle it either. They quickly show signs of real stress.

Parents who love their children will do anything to alleviate this stress. If a parenting or educational approach or method isn't working, parents make adjustments. We're constantly looking for win-win solutions, which means we're constantly compromising, negotiating and cooperating with our children and our selves.

I've had a problem with the definition 'child-led' learning for a long time because it's a piece of jargon and jargon isn't well understood outside of its niche. All learning is learner-led. You can lead a horse to water but you can't make it drink. Of course unschooling is child-led learning. But what makes unschooling so successful is that context that learning-led learning is embedded within.

The level of permission and freedom to learn in the way that best suits the individual is paramount to that success. We're not putting fences around the learning moments, saying it has to happen in this or that way, but in the best way that suits the learner. We're shifting responsibility of the learning back on the learning and in the process, unshackling their ability to learn. This keeps curiosity, creativity and motivation alive and ticking at full pelt. And not just for children - for any learner at any age.

One of my most poignant memories of unschooling learning is when my son, then 15, consciously tackled overcoming his lack of motivation to do things he 'had to do'. He's always done things he hadn't wanted to do, having found some motivator or other to convince him they were worth doing (which included at time, doing them to please me, whether I had asked him to do them or not). However, at this age, for some reason, he'd come across something he couldn't avoid doing and he simply didn't want to do it. THe goal he'd chosen required him to do it. If he wanted to achieve his goal, he had to do it. Unlike many people, he's a thinker and self-reflector. Unstanding motivation, cause and effect is important to him. He truly wanted to know how motivation works and why we do the things we don't want to do, or do things we know are not right for us, or why we don't do things that are right for us or others, etc.

Each of my children has worked through this personal understanding of motivation, but in different ways. Life doesn't happen to these young people - they are actively and consciously involved in the construction of their daily reality. There are LOTS of things they don't like about life. They do lots of things they don't want to do. They do lots of things they are compelled to do for reasons they don't like and sometimes don't even understand (such is the nature of society and its rules!) But they don't mindlessly do them because someone else is in charge. They make their own choices.

And that's what unschooling has given my children that I see missing in so many of their schooled and unschooled peers.

Homeschooled and schooled families both admire the results and fear the method. Kelly's observation is spot on - us unschoolers all too often promote the results enthusiastically, but lack the perception to fully understand the motivation behind the fear, and to answer those needs. Only then will we be successful in convincing others that it's okay to give it a go, experiment with the unschooling approach, see what works, see what doesn't, build on success. That's what we did. Getting something right or wrong, or incorrect or correct, is nowhere near as important as playing the learning game.

At the heart of their fear is the feeling that they will lose control. We need to help them see that this control is an illusion - they never really had control of their children's ability to learn in the first place.

http://homeschoolaustralia.com

Are You a Home Educating Activist?

2010-04-19T08:09:00.000+09:30

This article was inspired by an article in Fruitful, a regular e-zine by UK homeschooling mum and lifestyle coach, Sally Lever.

As a teenager I wanted the world to change, to become a more child-friendly place. My frustration that generations of wise, educated people hadn’t fixed the world’s problems continued to nag at me and pointed me in the direction of education. Luckily I failed high school, missed my chance at becoming a teacher and became a home educating parent instead!

Teaching my children at home – changing the world one child at a time – was never enough to satisfy me. I needed to share what I was learning with others. My brief foray into alternative schools was disappointing but illuminating. It was hard and often unrewarding work being an activist pushing for change within the education system. I gave up on that and put all my energies into helping other families enjoy an old, tried and proven approach to education, one that within a supportive community works really well.

Activism conjures up images of people chained to trees, lying across roads in front of bulldozers, defying soldiers with guns in poverty stricken or totalitarian countries far away… Those people put their freedom and even their lives on the line to make a statement about what they believe in or to fight for change. We don’t do that, but we do push boundaries and engage in activities that challenge our perceptions about ordinary everyday life; who we are, what we want and how we can achieve our goals.

In her article Sally asks: “How can we follow our hearts and speak out for what we believe in without causing further suffering or hardship? How can we be effective and consistent in how we decide to act? How do we engage in non-violent methods of transformation?” Fortunately for home education the issues we face rarely require radical action, but many of us do face challenges that leave us stressed, disturbed, frightened and sometimes inclined to react rashly, often in ways that can impact negatively on our lives.

One of the side effects of becoming an activist is being more visible in the community – we put ourselves in the spotlight and this means we can become the target of criticism or adulation. Neither is welcome and both are stressful to manage. We can also, as I did, expose our family life to the world, which can be a positive experience, provided our families are happy to have their privacy destroyed for a ‘good cause’. It is difficult to be an effective activist when using a pseudonym and probably impossible in this internet-connected world.

For a long time I wasn’t clear about my abilities as an activist and tried to do too much. ‘Burn out’ is a common symptom; too many of my friends suffered breakdowns, ill-health and even marital problems due to not understanding their personal limitations or the limits set by their circumstances. The need for change is so great and the work required to bring it about so vast it is hard to know where to begin or where to stop…

This means that the first thing to do if you’re thinking of becoming a home education activist is to take inventory of your personal skills, ambitions, limitations, situation and circumstance. Work out what you are a good at, what comes easily, what can fit into your current lifestyle without too much personal or family sacrifice. This will translate into action that doesn’t drain you of energy.

Determine what kind of action suits your personality. Are you a communicator that loves writing. I am, hence I write for my website, edit and produce newsletters and magazines and books. Perhaps you love talking to people; you could find yourself happy giving seminars or training people. Or maybe you are a whiz at debating and love a good argument; working towards legislative change may be your niche. If you are great at persuading people, finding ways to market your goals to a wider audience could be the way you work to change the world. Or you could be a ‘people person’, able to put people in touch with other people; every cause needs a campaign manager.
What life skills do you have that you can bring to support this cause? The home education movement needs book-keepers, lawyers, public speakers, salespeople, writers, child-minders, caterers, managers, teachers, sound technicians, secretaries, visionaries – you name it, there is a job that can be filled by a volunteer at some time now or in the future. Organisations like the Home Education Association have volunteer registers where people can put their names down for helping out should the need arise.

Activism doesn’t have to be loud campaigns seeking solutions to immediate problems; a softer form of activism exists in which ongoing education, mentoring, coaching and training, writing and journalism and facilitation of discussions work continuously to effect change. I take heart when I read that over 400 home educating events and activities were organised by HEA members in the past year – every one a sure and steady statement that home education works and is a viable alternative to school based education. Getting together and sharing our experiences is the simplest but probably most powerful form of activism.

If you’d like to help promote home education, ask yourself what moves you emotionally the most. Are you angry that the law, or how it is administered, discriminates and victimizes some families? Are you passionate about promoting an educational approach that respects children’s individuality? Follow your heart when picking your causes; your passions will motivate and energise you.

Analyse the situation carefully; what needs to change? Research all aspects. Tune into news about your cause. Have others found appropriate solutions that could be adapted to your situation? What can you learn from them that can help you in your cause? Anticipate and understand the obstacles that may stand in your way, be they legislative, bureaucratic, lack of education or training, lack of funding, etc.

Find allies, people who think the same way as you. It is more productive to seek like-minded people and form coalitions than it is to spend endless hours persuading people with opposing opinions to your point of view. Think laterally – you may find allies in surprising places. Don’t be an island; communicate with others regularly. Keep in touch by telephone, messaging, emails, newsletters, online social networks, blogs, etc. Seek out mentors and personal heroes, activists that inspire and encourage you by their stories.

You will need to work out how much time and energy and which of your personal skills and attributes you can dedicate to your role as a home education activist. We are all time-poor parents living busy lives and our first responsibility is to be there for our children and families. Be realistic. Set clear boundaries about what you can do and when you can do it. Learn to say ‘no’ as often as you say ‘yes’. But most of all take care of yourself. To serve others and your cause you need to regularly express gratitude for being, work to stay healthy and enthused about life, serve and take care of others, be interested and involved in your community and what’s happening around you and in the world.

On a personal level, being a home education activist has added meaning and purpose to my life and given me a tremendous feeling of achievement. Feedback from people whose lives I have touched by my writing or workshops – families who were desperate with children falling behind at school, or homeschoolers who felt lost and ready to quit – encourages me to continue. I know that my efforts, no matter how small or insignificant they feel to me, count and make a difference.

© Beverley Paine, 2010
first published in the 2010 HEA Resource Directory - www.hea.asn.au
Homeschooling since 1986, Beverley writes practical e-books for families getting started. See her suite of home education websites at Homeschool Australia.

This blog has moved

2010-04-17T11:11:00.001+09:30

This blog is now located at http://homeschoolaustralia.blogspot.com/.
You will be automatically redirected in 30 seconds, or you may click here.

For feed subscribers, please update your feed subscriptions to
http://homeschoolaustralia.blogspot.com/feeds/posts/default.

Home Education Article Published in 'School Days'

2010-02-03T08:27:00.000+10:30

I was invited to write an article introducing home education in Schooldays magazine: http://www.schooldaysmagazine.com/februaryissue/homeeducation.html.

The blurb for the magazine says, "Schooldays magazine is for designed for school educators and parents who are interested in their children's education. Written by international specialists in their fields in education, the magazine is filled with a variety of quality editorial on topics such as child development, home education, personal development, learning difficulties, professional learning, school marketing, time management for families. Plus there's product and book reviews and fabulous giveaways. In future issues Schooldays will report on different school systems, learning styles, gifted and talented learning, interviews and there will be special features, profiles, special offers and much more. Take advantage and register for your free subscription now - they won't be free for long and be in the draw for one of the great giveaways!"

It can be found at http://www.schooldaysmagazine.com

cheers
Beverley
http://homeschoolaustralia.com
http://alwayslearningbooks.com.au

Nothing lazy about natural learning

2009-09-20T08:03:00.001+09:30

Nothing lazy about natural learning, that's for sure. For our family it means a very busy, productive lifestyle full of exploration, investigation, experimentation - full on being and doing.

An example of why I love how we home educated our kids:

Robin and I were installing a wardrobe at my parent's house yesterday and had left our two sons (age 22 and 26, both unschool grads) at home to install our new and rather complex pull-out pantry. We arrived home to find little progress. No problems there, but Roger was excited about what they'd been doing instead...

He'd hunted down a blow fly and dropped it into our inside fish pond. The fish were interested and started nibbling it, but a spider dropped down from a web above the pond and started 'fishing'. They watched and took photos as she reinforced her web, attached lines to the fly, poisoned it, and began the process of hauling it up out of the water. They had questions like 'would she be able to break the surface tension of the water?' They described to us in the detail how the spider had made the web stronger, how she drew out the web and wrapped it around the fly. The spider was a fraction the size of the fly. We think she is some kind of widow spider, related to the redback. I reckon she could be a juvenile redback...

This kind of observation and learning about what is happening around us goes on all the time at our place. I'm rapt that natural learning and unschooling didn't stop when my kids turned 18. My kids are appreciative that they could do this kind of thing all day instead of book work. They make time to learn about the world, are observant and reflective. They know that they are always learning. They want to learn. How cool is that?

A lot of people would have simply seen two fellas shirking work, larking about instead of completing the job they were supposed to do, being lazy...

Some Good Questions about Natural Learning

2009-09-09T10:57:00.002+09:30

Recently a home educating parent asked me a few questions about natural learning:

Q: "What expectations to you explain to your kids in terms of what you would like them to `do' in a day. Is it all just one big holiday, or do you say `let's produce....a scrap book. a diary, a maths concept....???"

My concept of natural learning is that we are all learning, all the time and can't stop ourselves. We each learn in different ways - this was a hard lesson for me to learn so I'll harp on about it a bit!

I used to dismiss how other people learn, thinking that they weren't learning at all because they weren't learning the same way I did. My husband, for example, seems to have no awareness of the learning process. He gets stressed and confused if I ask him to talk about how he learns something. If I go on about it enough, he gets demoralised and thinks there is something wrong with him... However, he's brilliant, successful, productive, knowledgeable. It's just that he doesn't self-reflect in the same obvious way I do.

My daughter used to calculate sums in her head, even complex ones. I insisted she do the working out on paper, so I could see where the 'mistakes' were being made, and also because the school books said this was the best way to learn maths. My brilliant mathematically minded daughter stopped loving maths at age 9 and even now, as an adult, doesn't think she's good at maths, even though she's a natural. I can't do maths without using pen and paper. By forcing my learning methods on my daughter I undermined her confidence as a mathematician (not her skill).

What's my point? Do some research on the internet about learning styles. Work out your own learning style, then work out your children's. Don't stick them on yourself or children as labels, but realise that the aim is to build on strengths, recognise and work with limitations (some people call them weaknesses but I don't like that term). Look at the holistic picture, but don't aim for a perfectly rounded child good at everything.

The easiest way for me to do this was to devise a list of THE most important things a child must do each day. My natural learning checklist has things on it like 'giggle', 'run, hop, skip', 'dream' - things that simply sum up activities that we all need to do each day to be healthy and happy individuals living together. When I go for a walk (being physical) I day dream (imagination/creativity) and plan (problem solving). Walking helps my brain do all these things better.

What do I want my children to 'do' in a day? First of all, 'be' themselves. Then I want them to be responsive to the needs each day naturally brings. We all work to do that is essential and important. This work - the daily chores of living - teaches so much that is otherwise packed into school curricula in rather meaningless ways. By simply living your children have easily and naturally learned at least half of the school curriculum!

So make sure that being involved in the humdrum of family and community life is an important part of your daily schedule. Involve them and include them. Be their mentor and tutor. Let them be your apprentices.

If there is any time left over, which there should be, play.

Play is a huge topic and can be almost anything. In our home I coined the phrase - "we work at play and play at work". When we worked, we worked playfully. When we played, we played workfully. We learn when we work and we learn when we play.

I wasn't overly fond of the 'fun' distinction society places on play, or the push to make education 'fun'. Learning isn't fun, it's learning. It can be easy or hard, fun or a drag. We don't learn because it is easy or fun, we learn because we need to learn - learning is a part of growing and we all need to grow. Children learn in all sorts of ways and don't really care how (until we teach them that it is hard, boring, that they can 'fail' at it, that it needs to be fun, etc).

To determine what I would like my children to do in a day I worked out what was important to me for them to learn. And we'd do that. For instance, if I felt that drawing was important (and it is, for dozens of reasons!), I would set aside some time in MY day to sketch. I'd head into the garden or sit on the floor with lots of pencils and all the sketch books and draw. In no time I'd have three children drawing beside me. Unless, of course, they had a far better game going.

If I had to clean the bathrooms I'd ask them to help. If I was cooking dinner I asked them to help. They hung out the washing, collected the firewood, set the fire, fed the animals, helped in the garden, helped us make furniture, etc. And we played LEGO, dress ups, board games, hide'n'seek, etc with them. We also had plenty of time where we did our own things, uninterrupted.

All in all it was a very busy productive life!

I guess what I'm saying is that I definitely had expectations of my children. We would talk about them, work out how realistic and reasonable they were. Sometimes I would moderate my expectations and sometimes the children would have to moderate their expectations. We did a lot of negotiating!

Recording what we do and how we did it as learners helps us to not only see the learning processes at work (and thus realise what wonderfully effective natural learners we are!), but also produce the evidence we all seem to require that we are actually learning something. Children don't need this proof - they move from one thing to the next quite happily. But us adults need this proof - we've been conditioned by our schooling and cultural heritage to feel insecure without it.

Recording also offers lots of opportunities to learn really valuable skills. The scientific method depends on recording, so keeping scrapbooks or taking photos, or writing on calendars, developing charts, keeping diaries, etc naturally teaches our children how to think scientifically!

Let go of the way schools divide learning into discrete subjects as the only way to learn and mix it up. Realise that when you child is asked to cut the cake into eight equal pieces she is dividing and learning equivalent fractions. Realise that when she scoring in a game of cards or dice she is doing maths. Keep life 'real' but in your head and in your homeschooling diary record what your children are doing in the curriculum subject areas. This will help build your confidence and reassure you that learning naturally is an effective curriculum.

Q: "Am I still expecting to much?"

If you are comparing your child to a schooled child and expecting them to do the same, learn the same and be the same, then yes. The answer to that is 'stop comparing'. What is the point of the comparison? Create your own list of goals and objectives, keep records that are meaningful to you and your children, and assess them on their progress, rather than some arbitrary 'outcome' determined by strangers.

Q: "Is some structure good?"

Life at home is incredibly structured. We all have routines and structures that we follow. There are things that need to be done by set times every day and every week. Go with those structures - they are definitely good!

Learn to recognise the arbitrary structures that don't make sense in your life and your children's lives. Needing to do something to please someone else, or to finish a page, or a book or whatever, might not make sense. Be flexible and adaptive. Negotiate. Some things are important to me, some things are important to my child. I give a little, he gives a little. We aim for win-win which means we are ultimately happy with whatever compromise we devise.

I gave up the idea of having a spotless house that would look good in a magazine to spend more time playing with my children. My son thought this was a good idea because, as he put it, "I can't see the mess, don't know what you are talking about." Making him clean up a mess he couldn't 'see' didn't make much sense to him. By the time he was in his early teens his rooms was kept tidy and relatively clean. His approach worked. Before I moderated mine, it produced stress and tears.

What had happened was that we'd both recognised that a tidy and organised space means it is easier to do what we want to do each day. That's natural learning. Icky isn't pleasant, clean is pleasant. We learned to do what was necessary to enjoy life - for us - not to please others (unless we wanted to - for example, my children would often clean the house as a 'gift' for me, especially on my birthday).

Educational structure? Sometimes it is easier to learn things in a sequential manner. Sometimes it is easy to learn something from a book or a workshop or regular class. No one questions learning karate in a structured way. Use structure if it makes sense.

Q: "Is letting them only do what they like teaching them to avoid anything `too hard' or as my 4 year old said when I was running through sums, traveling in the car...`only give me the easy ones that I know'!"

From birth children have been naturally tackling things that are too hard. I am amazed at how toddlers can lift their weight - no way can I do that! It's too hard for me. Yet no one says to me that I ought to be able to do it, that if I don't I'm 'avoiding' it, or worse still, will become lazy and spoiled!

Children want to do things that are difficult and too hard. We teach them how not to - "don't touch that, it will hurt you, you will break it, you're too small, etc". By the time they are seven or eight, especially if they have been too school, they know that simply being in the world, as a naturally curious inquisitive being, is 'wrong' and leads to trouble... Oh boy, how sad is that?

Children don't like to perform for performance sake, yet adults insist that they do. We need to see that they can 'do' something, that they've learned it. They can't see what the fuss is all about (unless we've trained them to perform). Children will often practice a skill in private and then suddenly appear able to do it. Or they will simply learn it naturally without practice, by observing others doing it. We've all seen moments like this in our children's lives.

As an adult I only want to be given 'the easy sums'. Doing stuff that is easy helps build my confidence. I know when I am ready to tackle the hard stuff. And when I am, I happily tackle it. I am usually in a state of excitement and fully immersed in the task when I'm challenging myself with something hard and new. Children are the same. You can throw a 'hard one' at them any time of the day, but if they resist, recognise that they aren't ready yet, and help them. Work out the sum aloud. Don't teach, simply demonstrate. Don't expect an answer or response, simply say your bit and shut up. Understand that they are listening, but that's all that need to do. It's what you'd want from your friend and mentor, right? Some space to learn in your own way, in your own time...

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit www.beverleypaine.com for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Why Haven't School Reforms Worked?

2009-09-09T10:54:00.001+09:30

When our eldest was four and at Kindergarten I read two books by John Holt - 'How Children Fail' and 'How Children Learn'. These were written in the 60s, at a time when I was in primary school. Holt wrote about his experiences as a teacher - what worked and what didn't work. It was his ability to self-reflect and evaluate his own learning processes that resonated with me. Instead of simply teaching, he was passionate about how and why his students learned, or didn't learn. Those two books were packed with tips and insights into how children think and respond. Holt approached the children with respect and trusted that they could learn, that problems could be resolved.

What surprised me was that despite the efforts of school reformers, who began criticising the institution of school since the inception of compulsory mass schooling, what happens in the classroom hadn't altered much. As a student I enjoyed 'new maths', weird classroom furniture, and the 'open classroom' experiment of the 70s, but ultimately what sucked most about school was the attitude that children are like blank slates - they need to be taught to think, how to think, and how to learn. It's an insult. A vast dumbing down of whole generations.

I know that teachers now, by and large, think of children as learning partners, responsible for their own learning, but the way schools are set up, it is really hard for them to implement respectful learning programs. As home educators we have the advantage of lots of space, access to lots of resources per student, and lots of time. All we need to do is respect the child as a human being, not some 'unfinished' human product, know that the child was born capable of learning and thinking, and trust that if we get out of their way with our limiting behaviours and thoughts, he or she will simply get on with the job of learning with relative ease and enthusiasm.

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit www.beverleypaine.com for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

An overview of why I think schools are failing

2009-09-04T08:00:00.001+09:30

We began homeschooling in 1986, so I feel I have a reasonable overview of what has happened over the last couple of decades.

The 70s were a heady time when almost anything seemed possible and innovation was welcome, especially in education. The one thing that was missing, particularly in SA but I suspect across the country (and in the UK, whose trends our politicians and bureaucrats slavishly follow), was adequate and systematic evaluation of the results of the experiments and changes. This is a fact. Even today there are very few ways bureaucrats in the education system can assess what is actually going on in schools. The Naplan tests are a crude - but very importantly cheap - measure. In the late 90s the education department in SA had no way of telling how much money was spent on art supplies in primary schools across the state without contacting each school and asking them. The unit they set up to evaluate school performance was scrapped within a couple of years. Everyone knows how important evaluation is to successful education... except perhaps those that govern the system.

In the 80s many of us were hopeful and inspired, but already the lack of evaluation, which hid the problem of inadequate resourcing, had begun to demonstrate that schools weren't delivering what they or the politicians promised. Conservatives wanted a return to the old ways. Meanwhile many of the teachers of those heady 70s and optimistic early 80s had been promoted to positions in bureaucracy within the state education departments, away from the classrooms where the unsupported new methods were failing children. The theory became idealism and hence an institution that influenced curriculum development for the next two decades.

The other thing that happened during the eighties which I believe has left education in such a mess, was the optimism that information technology was the only thing on the horizon. States closed technical high schools because all the students would get jobs in IT. It was the promise of the future. IT would pay huge salaries. It was easy for students, especially boys that would have picked a trade had they gone to tech school, to be convinced that a high paid career in computers, which delivered such fun at home playing games, awaited them once they finished year 12... Sadly, few teachers were given training in how to use IT in their classrooms. For a decade computers were heralded as THE thing in education but they were thin on the ground. If a class had one, it was used for playing 'educational' games by a handful of students, on a rostered basis.

All this time the federal government gave less money to the states and both sets of governments allowed the infrastructure to run down. Teacher morale dropped. Without any way of judging the effectiveness of teaching, the system decided to blame children and parents for the woes schools experienced. More than this, the state turned to parents to boost funds to pay for what the government was neglecting and when the parents ran out of money, they targeted local community and businesses. If a 14 year old boy is disruptive in our local school, they find a local business that will take him under the wing, teach him work and life skills for a day or two a week. It's a good idea but is used for all the wrong reasons.

It's only natural that our government would try to hide the mess while trying to deal with it at the same time. The result is yet more throwing the responsibility back onto parents and children. To do this they resort to cheap to implement measures, such as not paying benefits to impoverished families whose children don't go to school, or in the case of Youth Allowance, don't progress adequately (who cares why the students are failing - it is easier to blame them than offer a meaningful education). Or introducing a prescriptive curriculum and forcing communities to accept it. When it fails to deliver, as it will, it will be the fault of parents and children. Already the fear is that low socio-economic areas will do badly, not because schools fail those communities, but because the parents don't have the educational skills to help their children. Yet we all know that inspirational teachers and well-resourced schools can turn the lives of impoverished students around (or so the many movies based on true accounts since the 1960s tell us...)

The nanny-state is all too keen to blame the family for its shortcomings. A huge amount of money is spent on convincing the population that families are to blame for their children failing at school. If only that money was spent on the children!

I am unashamedly cynical about the state of education in Australia. But also hopeful - home educators are turning out a bunch of people who are more self-reliant, switched on, with critical thinking skills and creativity in abundance, who think for themselves, know how to set goals and go about achieving them. It is a quiet education revolution but it is beginning to attract attention because it is achieving the results schools promise but don't deliver. This will only want them to have a piece of the action, take it over, control it and take credit for it (and in the process, do their best at destroying what makes home ed work!)

We need to be diligent and protect whatever freedoms we have won since home education revived as a modern alternative education movement in the early 1970s. How we each do that is an individual choice. We can do it by becoming informed and assertive and not letting bureaucracy pressure us into doing things we don't want or need to. Or we can share our experiences and work together, on a small local scale, on a regional or state scale, or on a national level. It doesn't really matter, so long as we are each individually aware that we don't have to roll over and put up with what the bureaurcrats and politicians dish out.

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit www.beverleypaine.com for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Life After Home Education

2009-07-15T08:11:00.002+09:30

[first posted on Homeschool Pen Pals : http://groups.yahoo.com/group/homeschoolpen-pals.]

Hi, my name is Beverley and I'm from South Australia. I have three adult children who were home educated. I'd like to correspond with other parents with home ed graduates.

I am still active in promoting and supporting home education, enjoy gardening, landscaping our property, building and travelling. It is my ambition to find time to continue writing fiction. I am the editor of a home ed newsletter and online magazine.

Since my early teenage years I've been interested in education and socialisation processes and what motivates people. At the moment I'm pondering the issues around 'nature' and 'nurture' - why our children turn out to be the people they are; what worked for us as parents; what worked for them as youngsters.

As a older homeschooling parent I always found it difficult to talk about my worries and doubts - too many younger mums needed reassurance that home ed will work for them and I didn't want to undermine their confidence. It worked for our family, but that didn't stop me from worrying! Now I'd like to chat with other older mums like myself openly and frankly about our home ed experiences. My interest is personal, but I am a writer and tend to eventually pull my thoughts together and put them down in an article or two. It's my way of making sense of the world.

Get Motivated... or how to do what you don't want to do but have to! Part 3

2009-06-25T16:47:00.003+09:30

You know how I wrote about staying focused and minimising distractions yesterday? Well, today I'm going to tell you to do the opposite!

That's right: sometimes it is quicker and easier to take care of our distractions and then come back to what it was we were doing before. This is especially helpful if we're fazing out and not really capable of focusing. We need a break and instead of being a distraction it will help us to get back on track!

Sometimes as home educating parents we forget that our children are, after all, only human. Like us, they can't work continually, especially if they are waiting and anticipating something happening later, like a treat or a birthday or visits from friends arriving later in the day. Have a quick chat about their anticipation - this lets them know you realise how hard it is to be patient. It will only take a couple of minutes, and you'll cover another valuable homeschool curriculum topic (under Health and Personal Development) at the same time.

And then there are times when our children are fidgetting and can't sit still. There's nothing wrong with everyone having a quick romp around the room, a silly chasey game that ends in a heap on the living room floor with a manic tickling session and lots of laughter. Or a fifteen minute game of catch with a ball on the lawn. Scheduling some fun playing with the family pet could take care of a couple of chores, as well, so long as you remember not to get too distracted from the original task!

And then there are days when you simply must abandon whatever you are doing to take advantage of that once in life-time learning opportunity: a downpour that turns into a cloud burst and provides an opportunity to witness erosion at a massive scale at the local creek (watched from a safe distance!); rushing to the beach because your friend phoned and said there was a whale and her calf frolicking in the shallows; taking care of an injured bird that just flew into the window, etc.

We homeschoolers need to be flexible and adaptable. Seeing disruptions as learning opportunities will help us feel less distracted. Handling distractions in a positive and constructive way will help us to feel and stay motivated as home educators.

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit www.beverleypaine.com for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Get Motivated... or how to do what you don't want to do but have to! Part 2

2009-06-25T16:15:00.003+09:30

Yesterday I wrote Part 1 of my blog about motivation. If you're a homeschooler you might like to buy my Practical Homeschooling Series booklet, Motivation in the Homeschool. It is a compilation of the various workshops I've given over the years about how to overcome many of the problems that we face as parents teaching our children at home.

I spoke about my need to plan my day according to my moods and state of mind: today I'm focusing on another tip I find really useful.

All too often I find that in the middle of doing one thing I think about something else and, worried I will forget about it, stop what I'm doing and do the other thing instead. Rarely do I get back to completing the first thing? And you can imagine how many unfinished projects I have lying around my home, can't you? And I bet you have just as many...!

One day it occurred to me that I'd be better off carrying around a notebook and simply jotting down my thoughts instead of doing them. This way, half of my 'must do' tasks turn out to be not that essential after all. The other half get done, but because I'm not rushing to get back to the unfinished task, they are done with more thoroughly and care. And I'm less likely to break something!

We can apply that kind of thinking to homeschooling too. While helping our children with a unit study on volcanoes we might come across some interesting information about plate tectonics. Yes, they are associated topics but wandering off topic exploring why earthquakes happen won't get that model volcano spewing out foam before dinner time! Staying focused will help us - and the children - learn as much as we can before moving on to the next topic. And it keeps the lessons short and sweet, just the way we all like them. I've read that it is better to stop while the children are interested than wait until their eyes glaze over and their minds begin to wander.

Staying focused is also helped by minimising distractions. Turn off the television, use a static screen-saver on the computer so that it doesn't catch the eye, mute the computer so you can't hear when the emails arrive, be selective with background music (so it stays in the background!), put the answering machine on and leave a note on the front door that says "Homeschooling in Progress! Disturb only if absolutely essential!"

Give your children your complete attention during homeschool lessons. They deserve it. You'd be miffed if their teacher kept interrupting his or her time with your children to answer the phone, talk to other teachers, read her emails, chat on Facebook, manicure his nails or fix the phone, etc. Even if is simply reading a story together or mucking about in the junk box with the glue and sticky-tape.

When we minimise distractions and focus on what it is we're doing we end up completing many more tasks each day. This makes us feel good. This makes us feel motivated!

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit www.beverleypaine.com for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Get Motivated... or how to do what you don't want to do but have to! Part 1

2009-06-25T15:58:00.005+09:30

A few years ago my then teenage son and I would have long conversations about the nature of motivation. Basically, both of us were struggling with having to do things we didn't want to do, but had to do. You know, the daily chores - washing the dishes, hanging out the clothes, sweeping the floors, etc. Boring, mundane and what we considered to be very unrewarding tasks! Sometimes something would come along that was completely unpleasant but needed to be done. We agreed that such tasks meant that after hours or days - even weeks! - of procrastination, we'd finally drag our heavy bodies and reluctant minds to heel and get the task done.

What we discovered was that afterwards we'd feel really great, and wonder why we'd made such a fuss in the first place!

One tip I've learned to manage handling these tasks is to plan ahead. One, to make sure I have left enough time to procrastinate a satisfying amount of time, but mostly so that I can complete the task when I'm in a better mood or state of mind. Two, planning helps me select the time of day I'm more likely to be in that mood. For instance, we leave the dishes after dinner as we relax after eating and doing the dishes is work. Problem is, the dishes are there in the morning - ugh! Instead of beating myself up, I happily leave them until about 4pm, when my mind turns to preparing the evening meal. As I'm in the kitchen then (I usually spend most of my day either at my computer or in the garden) I'm happy to knock over the job of doing the dishes, while I dream up a yummy meal.

We can do the same with homeschooling. Once we've spent some time observing our children and getting to know their learning styles we're in a much better position to know when they are at their best, most awake, most imaginative, receptive, happy, eager to learn, etc. I knew that my children were most interested first thing in the morning, so if there was something I really wanted them to learn, like the 4x tables, I'd schedule a lesson in at around about 8 am, minutes after they'd woken up - just before they picked up a box of LEGO to play with!

Munching on the muesli and playing with the times table cards and counters didn't seem so much of a chore then, to them or me! Finish breakfast off with a quick listen to the skip-counting tape and that's that: maths lesson done for the day. (Not really, that was just the thing I wanted them to learn that day!)

After lunch their energy would wane somewhat - this was the ideal time to slip a taped documentary into the video player, or leave some books scattered on the rug in the living room. This was and still is a good time for us to check our emails, muck about in Facebook, play computer games - anything that didn't require problem solving or making decisions.

Knowing when to take advantage of our state or mind and moods can really help avoid motivation problems.

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit www.beverleypaine.com for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Homeschool Time Tables and Schedules

2009-06-22T08:53:00.003+09:30

What do you put when applying for registration as a home educator if it asks how much time will be spent on each subject or topic - minutes a day and how many days a week? Is it necessary to include a time table if it's asked for, or an outline of a daily homeschooling schedule? These are questions I'm often asked.

How long you spend on each 'lesson' depends on the age of the child/ren and the nature of the lesson.

For example, a maths lesson on exchanging (hundreds, tens, units) might take a few minutes or half an hour. I would spend as long as it took for the child to get a grasp on the concept, knowing that we would be revisiting it soon to reinforce what the child has learned. I might be using counters/matchsticks or MAB blocks (MathsUSee blokcs do the same thing) together with number cards (I made based on some I saw at a Montessori school) as well as recording on the sums on paper in a structured prepared lesson. Or I could be using anything to hand to help my son calculate a sum he wanted help with... My children would often bring sums and spelling tasks to me, asking for help and I'd use the opportunity as instant mini-lessons.

I'd often include board games as lessons. We created a shopping game that would take about an hour to play and involved a fair bit of maths. When the children were young I'd make sure they had access to the maths blocks, calculator, pen and paper so that they could do the working out themselves, even though it slowed the game down.

With maths 'book work' I'd set them as many pages as I felt the children were capable of doing before they'd get grumpy, bored or would lose interest. I remember April galloping through three levels of maths books at age 6 - she'd do six pages a day and probably more if I'd let her. By the time we got to Year 4 level the number of problems on each page had quadrupled (and doubled again the next year!) - that's when it all began to get a little bit tedious and repetitive, so we changed tack and dropped most of the bookwork, using the 'test' and 'puzzle' pages to see if she understood the concepts and could use the processes needed to calculate, etc.

Each child was different and worked at a different rate, learning and revising in different ways. For example, I had to teach maths in a very different to my youngest as he wasn't reading independently until age 11, which meant I could leave him to do bookwork on his own.

As a quick guide I'd put down lessons as lasting half an hour, but allowing for less or more as per the individual child and topic. Most homeschoolers find that the basics - reading, writing and arithmetic - can be covered in a couple of hours, usually in the morning. I would encourage my children to get up and have a drink, stretch and bite to eat in the middle of a 'study period', or when we put the maths books away and started writing.

The timetable generally lasts for a year or so until home education relaxes into a more natural and family family routine. Some families find timetables essential as they have a lot of 'extra-curricula' activities to squeeze into each week and it is too easy to forget to fit in art, history, and sometimes even maths lessons. As home educators we run the risk of not having enough time to fit everything we want to do into our weekly homeschooling schedules. I used a calendar and diary to help me stay on track for the first few years of our homeschooling life.

Keeping track of hours and minutes spent on each subject distracts from focusing on the much more important content of those lessons. I wouldn't want to pin it down. I'd rather make sure that I was covering a good cross-section of different areas of learning each week, with time for the 3Rs set aside each day.

Writing an outline of a typical homeschooling (stay at home) day offers a useful guide and is reassuring for the regulating authorities, but we need to remember it is a simply as snapshot of what usually happens and isn't something we need to religiously adhere to. Timetables are useful in school settings for all sorts of administrative rather than educational reasons.

This is the 'typical day' I used to offer:

* Completion of chores - personal, house hold, and animals.

* Daily focus on maths/language based activities drawn from learning program (about 1-2 hours for younger children, 2-3 hours for older).

* Snack and stretch.

* Free personal time, hobbies, including play and computer.

* Lunch.

* Time to pursue personal interests and/or on-going projects - construction, art and craft, researching, technology.

* Outside physical activity - sport, walking, swimming, tree climbing, etc.

* Music practice.

* Reading together, silent and shared.

* Chores - personal, household, and animals, preparation of family meal.

* News and current affairs, discussion and conversation.

* Watching documentaries, movies; or playing educational and fun games; or use of computer for games, projects, etc.; or quiet reading.

from http://homeschoolaustralia.com/articles/typicalday1.html

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit www.beverleypaine.com for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Sharing one of my favourite parenting newsletters....

2009-06-16T17:53:00.002+09:30

Here's a link to a newsletter I get regularly. Bob collects articles about parenting and unschooling and it's great because he's a dad so he focuses on that a bit, which helps people like me (females) see the other side of the story.

He comes up with some great links to articles and websites - anything to do with being a more switched on child-friendly person.

In this month's issue of Parental Intelligence:

BOOK REVIEW

Raising Intuitive Children

FEATURE ARTICLE

Parents and Friends

ARTICLE LINKS

To Be a Baby
Four things you won't like hearing
Feminism, fathers and valuing parenthood How Using Social Media Has Helped Me Be a Better Dad Developing Choices about the Emotions we Experience with NLP Is Gifted and Talented a Life Sentence?
Textbook rant
Q&A: How to raise 'global students'
Unschooling is homeschooling without the school part Great Thinkers on Self-Education: John Holt Surprise! Daydreaming Really Works the Brain

NOTICE BOARD

ADHD Research - Help Wanted
Neuro-Linguistic Programming: Liberating Parents How I Parent Guiding Stars of the New Parenting Movement Kindred Magazine Natural Child News Connection Parenting Parenting For A Peaceful World The Double Bind Rally for Homebirth Connect to your unborn baby (for dads) Attachment Parenting Australia Pinky McKay Family Matters Etendi BRIDGE The Mother magazine Juno Do Schools Kill Creativity?
Rethinking Education is rethinking EVERYTHING!
Free Learning Monitor
Ditch the Backpack: 100 Essential Web Tools for Virtual Students Sandra Dodd on YouTube Part 3 Dayna Martin on YouTube
101 Reasons I'm An Unschooler
Be curious. Be kind

To read the Parental Intelligence Newsletter online, please go to http://www.parental-intelligence.com

Internet Etiquette and Cautiousness

2009-06-15T10:36:00.002+09:30

While it is important to share our stories on forums like this we all need to be aware that these are public forums. It is easy for anyone to join them, even with moderator approval. I'm a moderator and group owner of a couple of groups and rely on the honesty of those applying to join to determine if they are suitable. I can't know if the intentions of the person joining the group are in the group's interests until the person starts posting... and if they never post, I'll never know.

We need to be remain aware that when we post on forums our messages can be read by people we don't know. They can tell others who aren't members of the yahoo group what we have written - or their interpretation of what we have written. I think it is important to remember that what is written on the group remains online or on a hard drive somewhere 'forever', even if individual posts or the whole group is deleted. That's the nature of computers and computing.

I've been on a group where someone wrote something about another person (not a group member) that was considered defamatory by that person. Court action was threatened. I don't know the outcome and I wasn't involved, but copies of the offending post were sent to me, which is how I know about it. It made me aware that when I write about other people in my emails I need to be extra vigilant that I don't say anything that I will later regret. It also made me aware that even when I am writing private emails to individuals I need to be careful not to let emotion take over, which is when I usually start to say stuff that may end up hurting someone else. With email, nothing is truly private. That is the nature of the internet.

Reporting the truth as we see it is always important and I hate the whole idea of censorship. I want to be upfront and honest about what I think and feel. I don't want to inadvertently upset someone, or say something that will be interpreted differently to what I meant. Most of the time I am very careful to remember to re-read what I have written before I hit the send button. Sometimes I won't post it until the next day. I seem to delete half of what I write nowadays, thinking 'better safe than sorry'. (That's hard to believe, isn't it!)

When we write about our experiences using email or on the internet we need to be guarded.

I never used to think like this. I've written hundreds of articles about my homeschooling life, never thinking about the impact my honesty and openness would have on my children's lives. Happily for me it isn't an issue for them, but I am lucky - my ignorance in the past could have been the cause of constant source of pain and hurt in my family for years to come. When I write about other people I need to be even more cautious - there is not the carefully crafted and nurtured bond of love and respect I have with my own family to protect me. Other people are not as forgiving of me as my family!

When we write on the internet we need to remember these things. I've seen lots of people protect their children's privacy by using DS (dear son) or DD (dear daughter) or simply using the child's initial. It's too late for me but I'd recommend that tactic for others to adopt. Plus I tend to generalise statements now - talk about the topic, rather than the person, when having a whinge session or needing to get something off my chest. I'm much more interested in issues and solutions and have learned the hard way too often to focus on the personal stuff involved. If I mention names I try to keep it factual and cut out any emotional comments. Internet communication can be tricky. I wouldn't want to go back to the past when I felt incredibly isolated - I love the internet and I'm an email addict. But it is important to be aware and be a little bit guarded in how we use it.

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit www.beverleypaine.com for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Field Guide to Homeschoolers

2009-06-12T09:16:00.003+09:30

The 180th Carnival of Homeschooling consulted the "Field Guide to Homeschoolers" in an 'attempt to describe this fascinating specimen of educational freedom and gain a greater understanding of its habits, habitat and daily life.'

It begins...

"The homeschooler, elusive and quick, is one of the most difficult creatures to study. They do not survive well in captivity, and field studies to date have focused on small, easily observable populations..."

This exceptionally clever essay on home educators is a MUST READ for anyone remotely interested in this growing phenomenon!

http://principleddiscovery.com/2009/06/09/field-guide-homeschoolers/

Some of the things I've learned as a homeschooling mother about handling anti-social behaviour

2009-05-24T11:19:00.003+09:30

We were paranoid overprotective parents and proud of it! I saw what happens in playgrounds first hand as a kid myself. I didn't see any difference in children's behaviour when I grew up. In fact, the same anti-social rules occur in the workplace, groups, clubs, etc with adults. It's not a nice world for children. There was no way my husband and I were going to allow our children out into it unsupervised!

This isn't to say we controlled all their social activities and actions. We monitored and supervised them, often from a distance, but generally within sight. I believed, and still do, that this builds confidence and resilience in children.

For example, should an anti-social behavioural problem start to manifest either between my children or in a group, my children would naturally glance over to where I was (usually chatting with other adults). They'd see that I was keeping an eye on them and know that if things got out of hand I'd intervene. They knew from experience that my intervention would usually begin benignly, in a non-intrusive and non-confrontational way. I might chose to call out and ask my children a question totally unrelated to what was happening with the children - maybe a question asking them if they were hungry, for example. This alerted all the children to the fact that there was an adult in the vicinity. Often that was enough to tone anti-social
behaviour done.

If I felt that someone was being victimized or inappropriate behaviour could lead to someone getting hurt, I'd move closer and start a conversation with the kids in the group - often it would be about something else entirely. Children know when they are behaving inappropriately - most look chastised even though I haven't mentioned the inappropriate behaviour. Some are less sensitive (brazen, used to being bullies) - these I tend to engage directly in conversation. My tactic is to let them know not that I disapprove of their behaviour, but that an adult is in the picture: I'm watching and interested in what is going on with the group of children. That usually does the trick.

If the behaviour has escalated into direct bullying, I have no qualms about putting a stop to it and protecting the children - even the bullies - from the consequences of the behaviour. That's our job as adults.

Some families think it is pain to be around their children all the time. I don't. And my children (now adults) don't either. We made sure that the things we wanted to do as adults we could generally do with our children present; and vice versa. Some people may feel that it is too much of a sacrifice of our own time: if that is the case then I still believe it is hugely important that children are not left to fend for themselves, but to have a responsible person (old enough to understand that concept and be aware of consequences) that can 'look out' for them, at all times, until they are old enough to do it confidently for themselves.

This is what we want as adults: we want friends that will back us up, look out for us, warn us of danger, etc. In fact, as adults we demand this level of care and responsibility from the government, businesses, community centres, etc. Although we acknowledge 'caveat emptor', we insist that the welfare of everyone is everyone's responsibility, yet we expect little children to fend for themselves in the name of 'socialisation'.

So, if you need time to yourself, you need to find someone who can look out for your child in a responsible way. We arranged our lives so that we can do what we wanted and needed to, but in the same area as our children. We were on call, and happy to interrupt what we were doing to meet their needs, help them sort out problems, gently guide or supervise their activity (often from a distance, usually not directly involved in their play), answer their questions, offer new directions or ideas for play props (guiding and providing learning opportunities through play), etc. If you can, find someone who can do this for your children, even if only for a couple of hours a week. Or, if you work (even from home), for whatever time period is
necessary.

We saw this as part of our 24/7 commitment to our children as parents and home educators.

When my seven year old went to play with his friend - and occasionally I let him go with me and his siblings - the mother of his friend would allow them to watch unsuitable movies and head off for an hour or so into the nearby dunes with an air rifle. My son reported that his friend shot at birds as well as collected lizards. Once I found this out I made sure that he didn't visit his friend without me again. I explained to the mother and the child my opposition to guns (of any kind) and made sure that if the boys were watching movies or computer games there was an adult in the room with them.

This gave an opportunity to talk about the content. I have always found that children are keen to express their concerns about what they are watching and talk about the issues if adults are interested, rather than simply condemning in an authoritative tone. With my own sons we had a continuous dialogue about what I considered to be unsuitable content - they moderated their behaviour to please me (they didn't like to see me worried, concerned or upset) but still continued to do what they wanted but in an AWARE and critical way. As a result they learned to see the difference between fictionalized, unrealistic violence and real violence.

My seven year old continued to enjoyed his friendship with his friend. He experienced things he wouldn't have if I had simply said he couldn't play with this boy any more. His friend learned that other people have different values and standards and that some mums care enough to enforce them. Sure, he didn't like not having the same freedom to play with my son, but he was happy to accommodate our needs so that he could still play with his friend.

This is true socialisation! Learning how to get along with everyone, not just pleasing oneself.

My youngest is a very independent, strong character - a 'leader' - and this was apparent from an incredibly young age. He was the one that suffered most from the 'I want it my way' attitude that all children learn to overcome between the ages of 4-7 years.

As a teen and a young mum I observed that many children seemed to develop what I considered to be the very anti-social behaviour of being angels when in the presence of adults and holy terrors when the adults were out of sight (even at the age of 2!). I worked out that this seemed to happen most when their parents forced their toddlers to be 'nice' to others, even those that were ignoring their needs or hurting their feelings. Parents would tell their little ones that they had to accommodate the other children's needs first, that they had to share their toys, their parents, their personal space, etc, or they would be told off, disciplined and some were even punished. I wondered if forcing children to share from an early age made them insecure and taught them that people, especially other children, couldn't be trusted. I also wondered if this taught and reinforced in little children competitiveness - that they needed to compete with others, rather than cooperate, to have their needs met. The exact opposite of what the parents wanted to achieve!

So I didn't ask my children to share: not their toys, their space or their parents. I made sure there were plenty of toys to go around, and put away any special toys that my children valued when others came to visit. I guarded their private spaces - if they didn't want others to play in their bedrooms I closed the door and told everyone it was off limits. If my children needed my attention to ask a question or talk to me, I would interrupt my conversation. I wasn't perfect in doing this and it took me a long time to break my conditioned habits, especially as it was going against 'normal' parenting practice.

As I got better at 'protecting' my children, the result and rewards became obvious: people often commented on how well socialized my children were, how mature they were for their age, how polite and well mannered they were, and how happy they always seemed to be. But most of all people were amazed at how cooperative my children were.

Back to my youngest: we had a saying when he was a toddler - "let the wookie win". When his frustration built to the point of no return (about to become a tantrum) we'd often say "let the wookie win" and he'd get his way (so long as it didn't hurt others). By about age five he'd worked out how annoying this was, and that by getting his own way he was missing out on something important. He didn't know what it was - the opportunity to learn, which is something all children instinctively crave - but you could tell he wasn't happy with the way we caved in to his irrational behaviour. He moderated his behaviour. It didn't happen overnight. He began to see that getting his own way all the time wasn't normal behaviour - no one else in the family got their own way. The urge to be like others (socialisation) kicked in and he gradually stopped being demanding. I think we all go through this phase, but for strong, independent people who are natural leaders the need to
understand and work with the ego is much harder. We needed extra patience with this little fellow!

Everything I've written so far goes against what I was taught or told about how to parent as a child, teen and young mother. I worked out most of it by observing the behaviour of others and myself, questioning my own conditioned responses, and rejecting methods that I could clearly see weren't producing the desired results.

I did my best to shut out advice from well-meaning people, including my own parents and in-laws and siblings, that echoed the methods I knew didn't work. I muddled on and made lots of wrong turnings and back tracked all the time. I experimented with different ideas. My parenting wasn't consistent, even though I knew it was supposed to be. So I apologised often - almost every day - to my children for my inexpert and confused parenting. I explained to them why I did things, as well as why I changed the way I did things. And as adults now they all have a good grasp of what motivates
people, how people can change, what people need to feel okay about themselves, etc. They aren't perfect people - they have flaws and issues they have to work through and with, but they have an awesome sense of self-awareness and strong morals and values.

So I make no apologies for supervising my children, either closely or from a distance, for being there and making sure that what influenced their lives and development was in accordance with our values and beliefs. I make no apologies for protecting my children. I reject the notion that children should be left to grow each other up. It doesn't make sense. Children naturally look to adults for models to emulate - in nearly all of their games they pretend to be adults. They want to be involved in the world of adults - as much as they want to hang out and play with their friends.

Society has forgotten this need in children. We need to provide opportunities for both, and until children reach the age where they can confidently look after themselves in most situations, we need to hover, keep an eye on them, letting them know that if things get out of hand, we'll be there, not to rescue, but to model appropriate and constructive ways of handling the situation, demonstrating to them and others that it is possible to overcome these difficulties without getting hurt or hurting others.

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit www.beverleypaine.com for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Socialisation or Social Development - what do we want as homeschoolers for our children?

2009-05-08T08:14:00.001+09:30

A home educating parent on the Australian Homeschool Yahoo group wrote: "There are so many ways we can correctly 'socialise' (goodness I hate that word!) children without school..."

The way the word is used and interpreted by educationalists bugs me too. It is because they (those that seek to 'approve' our homeschooling activity) define it as the ONLY aspect of social development - they lump everything to do with social development under that one word. Just shows how ignorant they are about child development really, doesn't it?

Socialisation is the process by which we learn how to belong and get alone within groups. This is necessary to our survival. Without adequate development of social skills - particularly intra-personal (getting to know one's self) and interpersonal (understanding our relationship with others) - socialisation can go seriously awry. We end up learning how best to cave into peer group pressure, undermine our moral development, lose touch with who we are, what we want, and even how to problem solve to reach win-win solutions in social situations.

Socialisation can have negative as well as positive consequences - we learn valuable lessons from both, and rightly so. Our aim as parents and educators is to keep these in balance, making sure that we focus on the holistic development of SOCIAL SKILLS. We can't do this in social isolation - it is impossible. However limiting exposure to unsupervised social situations in the first eight years of life appears to have more beneficial outcomes in most children than allowing children to socialise each other without appropriate and constant guidance.

Child-care, preschool and school based education pay too much attention to the socialisation aspects of social skills and not enough attention to the others. Children need to develop a healthy sense of self to develop resilient and healthy socialisation skills - this is best done when surrounded by people who they can trust have their best interests at heart - people who love them.

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit www.beverleypaine.com for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Socialisation - Why it is easy to over do it when homeschooling

2009-05-07T07:46:00.002+09:30

Over-stimulation through homeschool activities is one of the things I try to warn new homeschooling families about. We all do it – mostly because we’re worried about the socialisation factor. We feel guilty because we think we are depriving our children of friends because they aren’t at school. I’ve done a lot of thinking about this over the years and a LOT of looking at and observing children’s behaviour, mostly to work out in my own head why we feel this pressure to be so busy socially.

In tribal village life, which is what I think humans are best suited to, children play with each other when there is nothing else to do. Mostly children are engaged in activity that supports the survival of the family, tribe and village. They are involved in creating shelter, sourcing and preparing food and water, taking care of siblings and younger children while adults are busy and playing. They have relatively free access to a range of adults and children and naturally seek out what they need in order to develop holistically.

The way we live – in a nuclear family arrangement – means we don’t have the contact with a range of adults and children we need to learn the social rules of society naturally. We’re a couple of hundred years – 8 or 9 generations – removed from this experience in our society. Plus, the practice of schooling has effectively and deliberately removed any skills we may have had. Parenting is much harder for us because school interferes with the development of our parenting skills. Ever since the advent of mass compulsory schooling, teachers have had to gradually pick up more and more of the workload of parents as each successive generation ‘forgets’ natural social skills. As a result we’re confused and end up over compensating, or delegating the responsibility to people who probably have less skill than us (at least parenting skills develop over time, for decades most teachers and educators were childless spinsters or bachelors!)

We’ve been brainwashed into believing children need full on contact with other children to develop properly. We’ve been told this is best handled by trained adults during the hours of 9am to 3pm five days a week, or under adult supervision in controlled situations. We grow up believing this and nearly everyone around us – including homeschoolers – are convinced. Before school hammers this indoctrination into our heads with addictive socialisation. Around the fire tribal and family story telling that is personal and reflects village life has been replaced by story books, television programs and movies where fictionalized characters build a idealized version of socialisation. These stories are written not by the whole community, but by a tiny minority. Sometimes the agenda for the stories we grow up with was nothing more than profit or income, at other times it is a deliberate attempt at social engineering on a massive scale…

Add to that the inhuman pace of life we suffer from in our technological societies and it no wonder we crave a more simple, peaceful existence! And the immense loneliness that is a result of the effects of the first half of last century, where world wars, genocide and pandemics had a devastating effect on the way people live, scattering refugees across the planet, breaking bonds with land, culture and family, the very things that naturally socialize us.

Those of us brave enough to turn our back on this insane need to be with others every day, to be busy, to fill our lives with doing something to affirm our worth, and to carve out a different existence based on our instinctive needs, will find it unsettling and hard. My own experience has shown me that it doesn’t get any easier – even as the children grow into adults. Are we doing the right thing? It feels right in the right places in our hearts, minds and souls, but our conditioned intellect can’t help by worry.

We are right to try and resist the pressure but it is hard finding a balance that suits not only your social needs but also the social needs individual children in your family. Children need lots of time alone, lots of time with siblings, lots of time with parents and access to others in as many natural situations as possible. Too many homeschoolers try to replicate school without seriously questioning the reasoning behind why schools operate the way they do or considering the long term social outcomes of such an unnatural education. We fall back on our conditioning to create social opportunities for our children rather than thinking through what our children really need to thrive. By observing children, by taking my cue from them, from their needs, I’ve learned that they prefer to set the pace of their socialisation development in less contrived social situations, generally within family or extended family sized mixed gender and aged groups.

We need to go with what your instincts are telling us and shut out the nagging doubts or peer pressure to do otherwise!

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit www.beverleypaine.com for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Homeschooling Resources for a Natural Learning Child

2009-04-26T07:43:00.005+09:30

On the Learning Naturally online support group, Veronica wrote:
"This brings me to the question of resources. I see so many books and DVDs etc claiming to teach everything from ABCs to piano and I feel overwhelmed. Where do I start? Do I buy everything or nothing?"

The answer to that question for me is based on the answer to the question how much money can you really afford to spend? I think as parents we will be seduced into spending quite a bit because we feel insecure about our children's abilities to learn or our own abilities to help them learn. We've been trained from birth to feel this way, so it's only natural that we'll reach out for attractive gadgets and tools to help us. Some - many - of these resources will be brilliant and very helpful, but in essence very few of them are necessary.

There are many things to consider when evaluating purchasing educational resources. One article that appears in my Getting Started with Homeschooling book is on my Homeschooling Australia site here: http://homeschoolaustralia.com/articles/evaluatingmaterials.html.

But I'd go further than this now (I wrote that more than a decade ago). I base my natural education curriculum on a child's developmental needs - this covers all areas of their growth and development, not just academic and future work skill needs - which what the school curriculum targets.

For those that need a daily reminder, Robin has created a colourful fridge magnet of my natural education checklist. I put it together after spending a lot of time trying to think of ways to help parents feel reassured that their children are covering all of the school curriculum subjects by simply being children in a caring family and community environment.

How our children will 'turn out' depends as much on their genetic inheritance as it does the type of education and environment they experience. This is especially true in societies where children are naturally nurtured, are considered to be people with rights rather than property, and not routinely subject to famine and war, etc.

Genetic inheritance interplays with parental nurturing in so far that doctors' children often become doctors, builders' children tend to be handy people, mechanics' children are good at fixing things, and most girls grow up to be mums like their mums and boys grow up to be dads. Parents follow and pursue their own interests, as careers or hobbies, and children witness this - it is way more powerful than the stuff they learn at school because they already have some patterning for this coded in their cellular make-up. This natural tendency is powerfully reinforced. Sometimes it is expressed in a different way to how the parents express it - organisational skills exhibited by a librarian father might express as business skills in a media career in a child, or as a research scientist...

Our role as parents is to provide what our children seem to lean toward, while taking care to balance their developmental needs. Therefore a computer nut who loves to play games and tinkers with programming needs lots of hands-on time at the computer, but must have a couple of hours moving her whole body boisterously, preferably in fresh air. She will do her best work on the computer if she gets this daily dose of movement - it guarantees holistic development of the brain, not just bits of the brain!

Good (unpolluted) nutrition is probably far more important than the educational tools and gadgets we buy our children.

Cultural and social experiences are natural teachers of many skills. We usually don't realise how powerful they are transmitting information and skills and after the experience, and only then when we start to work out how our children learned what they suddenly start to perform!

Children learn most of what they know not from things but from people. People resources generally don't cost much... Few of us are socially equipped to be able to confidently access the people our children need to help them learn naturally. We might consider spending money on things to help us bolster our personal confidence and social skills that will help us develop a local social network - instead of children taking drama classes perhaps we need to! This social network is by far the most important tool our children will use and need when they reach their teens...

Back to nuts and bolts resources. Buy and make what you want but don't fool yourself into thinking that it is the resource that is working - it is the child that is working! A child will naturally reject a tool or resource that doesn't do the trick. As parents and educators we have very little way of knowing what trick our children are learning in any given moment of the day. This usually only becomes apparent after the learning has occurred!

I tried to provide my children with a huge smorgasbord of resources they could select from... and promptly felt annoyed that so many of the expensive or carefully crafted resources were under-utilised!

What did my children use most? The things we as parents used the most during the day... the tools we used to learn and create and care for ourselves, our animals and our property. They spent their days playing with a lovely assortment of play props (which I quickly learned could simply and cheaply stimulate natural learning in many curriculum areas). I spent my day hovering near their play, or playing with them and encouraging them to help me with the chores or become involved in our hobbies and interests.

Any toy or play prop that is open ended and can be used imaginatively will help your children learn a myriad of practical skills and abilities. Conversation is the best learning tool for gaining information and knowledge. Games - physical and intellectual - are essential. People are the most valuable resource - and have been for millennia regardless of what kind of society we live in!

So to sum up, back to my original point: buy, make, borrow or invent what you want to and let your children interact with those resources in whatever way takes their fancy. Don't feel disappointed if the resources don't do what you thought it would - it's probably working in some other way you might not fathom until days, weeks or years later! We only run into problems when we force children to use resources in particular ways for reasons unrelated to their immediate developmental needs 'for the sake of learning'.

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia to read more original articles on home education by Beverley Paine. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschool Australia Newsletter. Visit www.beverleypaine.com for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

It's okay to be a homeschooling feminist!

2009-04-03T08:48:00.002+10:30

Years ago I was daring enough to volunteer the information that I was a feminist at a homeschool support group gathering. I was kind of shocked at the response. It polarised opinion and started a heated debate. The term 'femi-nazi' - something I'd never heard before and which deeply offended me - was casually tossed into the conversation... A couple of friends distanced themselves from me at future gatherings. Sadly I'm no longer in touch with them. 'Feminism' is a dirty word in some homeschooling circles. But that is what happens to words that become trendy - their meaning becomes distorted and abused.

Recently a good friend and mentor, Wendy Priesnitz, wrote a lovely long article which describes the type of feminist I am in the Natural Life magazine. I'll share with you a snippet from her article in the hope you'll feel intrigued to read it all, and better still, feel the need to read more of her writing. She's been an inspiration to me for more than a decade...

"One of the questions I asked almost 40 years ago – the one about paying for childcare in order to have a career and retain the feminist label – is still on my mind. These days, some feminists are working to solve that conundrum through the use of tax credits or other methods of financially rewarding caregiving parents; others believe higher quality childcare, workplace reform and better pay for childcare workers is the solution.

But there is, as I mused so many years ago, a third way. What if we overturned the male model of success that feminism adopted in creating equal opportunity for women? If we reject the idea that success is only about money, we can forge new attitudes toward what’s important in life. Challenging the notion that feminism relates only to equal opportunity within the workplace and can only be obtained by a full-time paying career is controversial, but there is a growing movement that questions the tradition that well-being is based totally on economics."

Read Wendy's article: http://www.naturallifemagazine.com/0906/unschooling_as_the_ultimate_feminist_act.htm

© Beverley Paine

Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia for more original content. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaNewsletter. Visit www.alwayslearningbooks.com.au for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

It's okay to love your children and homeschool!

2009-03-21T17:22:00.003+10:30

Bob Collier sends me a wonderful e-newsletter - Parental Intelligence - every month or so, full of inspiring articles that both reassure and challenge me.

In the March 2009 issue he links to an article called "Banished! Are parents who follow their hearts left out in the cold?" by Robin Grille, an Australian psychologist and psychotherapist with over fifteen years of experience working with families. The article was included in Jan Hunt's excellent web site, The Natural Child.

The article points out that all too often parents who chose to nurture their children in very hands-on way are "are denounced, dissuaded or even shamed". I was accused of being an 'over-protective' parent or 'molly-coddling' my children. I was told they would grow up dependent and clingy, unable to socialise as children or adults. Guilt, insecurity and lack of confidence plagued me for years. Fortunately I'm a stubborn person and learned early to trust my heart, not listen to the thoughts and judgments of others. Over time my children showed me the truth: their behaviour slowly reinforced my belief that nurturing them as I myself would want to be nurtured as a child was (and is) the best policy.

This 'natural' style of parenting is still rubbished by many, especially when it is expressed by parents who opt to home educate their children. Among 'natural learners' I find many families who find it difficult to socialise with 'normal' families. It is true, my children did it find it difficult to play with children who were overly competitive, followed fads without thinking, disobeyed their parents, bullied each other and who needed to change the game every thirty minutes. Used to enjoying the company of their siblings they found it hard to hang out with children who told them it was uncool to be friends with one's brother or sister. And it is also true for parents. It can be hard to not say something when one's friend always wants to go to fast food restaurants for family outings, or who verbally abuses his child for not 'winning' on the sports field. Eventually, we just stopped socialising with people whose values didn't match our own.

Which left us a little bit isolated for a long while. Fortunately the internet came along for our family at just the right time. We connect with many families via the internet, especially via my Yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/learningnaturally/. It only one of many networks for families like ours on the internet. Even though sometimes it is hard to organise physical play dates for our families, talking about how we experience the world, our parenting worries and joys, helps us feel less isolated.

Every week more people join my yahoo group and ask about how to make the switch to a more child and human friendly parenting style. I take comfort that little by little the world is changing to a more caring, responsive place.

© Beverley Paine

You may reprint the above article provided you include this information:
"Have a homeschooling question? Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia for more original content. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaNewsletter. Visit www.alwayslearningbooks.com.au for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Should we worry about achieving 'school' outcomes with natural learning?

2009-03-05T12:13:00.001+10:30

A question came up - 'How are all schooling outcomes achieved?' with learning naturally.

Have to admit, this one bothered me for years, but I battled on, questioning the need to achieve schooling outcomes in the first place. I think if I'd tried to achieve them we wouldn't have been learning naturally at all anyway.

My approach might be seen as a cop out, and easy way to avoid answering the question, but in hindsight it was definitely the right way to approach it - for our family anyway.

With learning naturally we set goals for our children the same as any parent would. But more importantly, we honour the goals our children set for themselves. In addition, we work WITH the raw material in hand - the nature, disposition, temperament, personality and abilities of the child. Instead of trying to fit the child into a curriculum determined by others we fit the curriculum around the child.

You can't use an 'off the shelf' curriculum with a natural learning approach to education. You can use bits and pieces as necessary. Natural learning doesn't mean abandoning school methods of learning - it means using whatever tools are most appropriate for the job in hand for as long as necessary to get the job done.

Some children will pick up a maths text book and spend a couple of minutes learning a technique for calculating that is needed for a building or art project. Other learning naturally children might select the algebra components from a series of maths text books because they are exploring electronic engineering (this is what my son did - he also enrolled in an electronic engineering distance ed course).

We set our own 'outcomes' and wrote our own curriculum. For 'approval' purposes (registration) we worded them in a way that school teachers can understand. It wasn't hard to cover the knowledge and skills taught by the school curriculum when drawing on the whole of life at home and in the community for inspiration and resources!

Having set and written down our own goals and mapped out a plan for achieving them, the next step was getting on with life and rejigging our 'plan' to reflect all the learning activity happening. I'm a huge fan of recording home educating life: it is because of my rather haphazard records that my confidence in determining our own curriculum rather than needing to achieve school outcomes grew.

There were days and weeks I despaired that the children weren't getting a 'good education': checking back through my diaries and recording pages demonstrated in minutes the huge amount of activities my children engaged in, the stunning complexity of knowledge they were exposed to and picking up (and retaining), and how far their skills and abilities had progressed over the last couple of months.

What really helped though was the comments from people we'd just met - they couldn't get over how informative, talented, motivated and pleasantly natured our children were. We'd get comments about 'mature for their age' and lots of questions about how we had somehow avoided the kinds of problems that beset other parents, particularly through the teenage years.

I'm glad I questioned the validity of achieving school outcomes for my children. When I look around at the educational level of the majority of children leaving the school system I'm glad that we protected our children from such haphazard outcomes.

My children are now aged 22, 26 and 28. Our eldest had what we call a 'hybrid' education, with quite a bit of part-time and four years of full time school. The youngest was not exposed to school at all. I volunteered at school in the classroom for many years while my children attended part-time, was a member of School Council and attended a professional development days in the school staffroom. While home educating I undertook university studies in early childhood education. My best friends during those years were trained teachers. I've read three different Australian curriculum guidelines from start to finish.

Although I found this much interaction with schools challenging and it often undermined my confidence in learning naturally, my children's continuous progress and the absence of problems my friends had to encounter everyday in the school system, convinced me we were on the right track, for our family anyway.

© Beverley Paine

You may reprint the above article provided you include this information:
"Have a homeschooling question? Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia for more original content. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaNewsletter. Visit www.alwayslearningbooks.com.au for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Why a National Curriculum won't fix the woes of a school education

2009-03-03T10:29:00.003+10:30

On my Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions Yahoo group recently Rebecca wrote:
"I have found that schools can be a bit "one size fits all". In the cloths industry 'one size fits all' certainly doesn't fit all, so why should it be any different in the school system."

This started a train of thought that led to the implementation of a National Curriculum, and how effective it would be in achieving the goals the politicians and educationalists set out.

And how many times have we tried on a size 14 in one style or shop and then another size 14 somewhere else and they were completely different sizes? I've found this to be especially true with shoes. My menfolk have found that within the one make, on the one shelf, one size of boot can vary from a size to small too as size too large.

Even if the National Curriculum goes ahead and is embraced by all states and all schools there will still be huge differences in how the curriculum is applied at the school and classroom level. How a topic is taught and what children will learn from it won't be uniform even within schools, as is presently the case, as each teacher teaches differently.

The 'one size fits all' issue within the school system is not that students are taught the same material in the same way, but that students are treated as though they all learn in the same way. It is impractical for schools to offer students learning programs based on their learning styles and needs suited to the individual developmental progress. What happens is that schools aim at a median - somewhere
below the average ability of the class, so that everyone more or less progresses at the same rate in a manageable way.

I can't see that changing while the teacher to student ratio remains economically viable. It's my opinion that to teach using individual learning programs we need a ratio closer to six students per adult, for all age groups.

That's one reason why home education is so successful - the children have contact with many more adults that schooled children do. The idea that homeschooled children are cooped up with only one adult throughout the week is a by and large a myth. Yes, it does and can happen, but it hasn't stopped school of the air students from becoming successful and well-adjusted adults - that system of education/socialisation has been accepted by the community for a century.

© Beverley Paine

You may reprint the above article provided you include this information:
"Have a homeschooling question? Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia for more original content. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaNewsletter. Visit www.alwayslearningbooks.com.au for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Failing Handwriting at School

2009-02-25T08:01:00.001+10:30

What surprised me about handwriting is the genetic component. No-one talks about that much. I disciplined my daughter at age eight for writing in her father's photo album containing photos of his trip from England to Australia made in 1966. On closer inspection I realised that the pencilled captions had been written by him - their handwriting style was identical at the same age! That taught me a huge lesson about the development of handwriting.

The only subject I failed at school (before year 12) was handwriting in grade 5. I was devastated and cried all the way home. I thought my parents would be upset, but they didn't seem to notice. My sister had failed maths at year 8 level and that was much more of a tragedy to them. I strove throughout school to win the approval of my parents and teachers. Learning wasn't about my future; it was about making sure I satisfied my parents and teachers and that they were happy and, most important of all, approved of me.

School damaged me. Decades later I'm still feeling the effects and reacting to the conditioning laid down in those years, but especially to the manipulation of motivation. And every so often I get one of those dreadful 'school' dreams where I'm back at school, trying hard to please people...

I was, and still am, an excellent student but educating my own children at home has convinced me that school didn't produce that - I began school with innate abilities and these are what made my schooling successful. I responded well to brilliant teachers (who wouldn't?) and scraped through with the dreadful ones. I took from school what interested me and polished that. I have largely forgotten anything that I didn't find interesting at the time or never used as an adult.

My family life looms large in my memory as a 50 year old - the holidays we took, playing with my brother in the back garden during the holidays, games with the neighbours' kids after school, the long summer evenings without a tv playing card games with my parents, Brownies and Girl Guides, the rock and mineral club. I can recall snippets of school - largely recess and lunchtimes and the odd few teachers but very few lessons. I realise that my knowledge and abilities today stem from what happened outside of school and my experiences as an adult, rather than the education I received. Some elements, such as the 'hidden curriculum', had more of an effect - although I tend to thing this is caused more from generational than educational factors.

Failing handwriting (back then we had to learn to write with nibbed pen and inkwell - not for any sane reason, just did) is a vivid memory of distress. I learned from my parents' reaction that no-one really cares how neat one's writing is so long as one passes maths.

However, at year 12 level it was stated on the matriculation exams that illegible handwriting would result in an automatic fail. I think most of us were getting close to that after writing five essays in a couple of hours...

So much of what we do in life is just plain silly. I still haven't worked out why we force ourselves and others to do silly things.

© Beverley Paine

You may reprint the above article provided you include this information:
"Have a homeschooling question? Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia for more original content. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaNewsletter. Visit www.alwayslearningbooks.com.au for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Home Education Association Inc. Launches 2009 Resource Directory

2009-01-28T16:40:00.004+10:30

Oh behalf of the Home Education Association Beverley Paine is pleased to announce the launch of the 2009 Resource Directory.

In additional to being a useful resources guide for homeschooling families, the Directory includes articles of interest to families considering teaching their children at home for the first time.

HEA members have each received a complimentary copy of the Directory, together with a colour poster and information about home education leaflets as part of the HEA’s promotion of Home Education Week, which will be held from the 16th to 22nd of February.

The 2009 Resource Directory is available for $5.95 from the HEA: visit the website www.hea.asn.au; or contact The Secretary, HEA Inc, 4 Bruce St, Stanmore NSW 2048; email secretary@hea.asn.au; or phone 1300 72 99 91 to inquire about ordering your copy or copies for your homeschool group.

Why I joined the Home Education Association of Australia

2009-01-04T13:21:00.003+10:30

I joined (this is my second time) because I believed that a national organisation would benefit homeschooling in Australia. Plus I have a lot of energy to give away and wanted to work with other people. I've given a lot of time and energy over the years to supporting and promoting home education but mostly on my own. I wanted to work with others with the same goals and interests as myself, particularly so that I could learn how to work efficiently within a cooperative environment. I'm always learning!

I tend to jump in at the deep end with community involvement and volunteered to be on the committee. Other members volunteer in other ways, but most members don't get involved in the running of the organisation. The HEA sends out a bi-monthly (or thereabouts) newsletter, and is about to start producing a bi-monthly homeschooling
magazine in the alternative months too. That's my main interest, plus as I organise the odd event I take advantage of the volunteer insurance offered by the policy the HEA has taken out.

I've always found that it is hard to gauge the benefits of an organisation until one needs information, products or services (benefits) personally. Most of the time when I've been a member of something I've not had to use the services and that has led to me questioning the value of remaining a member. I dropped out of one organisation a couple of years ago and then, within months, suddenly needed information from them, so rejoined.

For me, the main benefit of being a member of the HEA is that I can part of an organisation that has over 800 homeschooling families as members. Being able to 'talk' to them through the newsletter, and to get feedback from them, is reassuring. Even after two decades of homeschooling experience I find that I still have much to learn about home education from these families. It is the sharing of information and the sense of belonging that keeps me 'at the coal face'.

Plus, I like the idea of belonging to something this is enduring, that won't disappear next week, or when the homeschooled children grow up or families move on.

Not everyone will find being a member beneficial or useful, and some people will have had negative experiences, either as members or not as members. That is the nature of organisations. It is hard to meet the needs of everyone in a 'family' without considerable compromise. When I was younger I would have found this annoying and would have been a lot more demanding.

© Beverley Paine

You may reprint the above article provided you include this information:
"Have a homeschooling question? Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia for more original content. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaNewsletter. Visit www.alwayslearningbooks.com.au for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Mental Arithmetic and Natural Learning

2008-11-25T08:23:00.001+10:30

I'd like to put in a good word about mental arithmetic. Although it was one of the things I least liked when I was in primary school my children learned maths largely by working sums out in their heads, without using pencil and paper. I learned the value of children working things out mentally when Thomas, at the age of four, asked ‘Is half of a quarter an eighth mum?' We stuck to teaching him maths mentally from that point, only letting him use paper once we knew he fully understood the concepts he was working with.

Our eldest child was mathematically capable very young and we introduced workbooks at age five. She raced through the Rigby Module graded books and at age seven began to do the same with the Mortensen system, which uses coloured ‘bricks' similar to Maths-U-See. By nine she had begun to lose the plot and had started to believe she wasn't any good at maths, even though she could do the exercises in the maths book with over 90% accuracy. She hated doing the ‘working out' on paper as she could often ‘see' the answer in head and didn't understand why all the steps, which she didn't understand, had to be written down. We backed off and she didn't do any maths bookwork for two years, instead using maths to solve problems every day but in her head.

At the age of eleven we gave her a maths test for her grade level – which was two years ahead of where she'd left off doing maths bookwork. She achieved 95%, with long division to four decimal places the only sums she got wrong. She had correctly worked out the multiplication to four decimal places, even though we'd never taught her how to do large multiplication sums. She'd never done or seen long division before… As with her younger brother, this was a powerful demonstration of our children's natural ability to calculate and problem solve in their heads. It made me even more determined to allow Thomas to learn in this most efficient and obviously effective manner.

We didn't use a mental arithmetic book or short tests the way I learned at school decades before. I made the mental arithmetic problems as real as possible, keeping them in context with their everyday lives. I trained myself to see and use any opportunity to gently weave a mathematical calculating or problem solving question in here and there, trying to keep it natural rather than making it sound like a test or lesson.

In this way I built a ‘hidden' structure to our unschooling, learning naturally lifestyle. Most people think of natural learning as the children simply doing what they want when they want and haphazardly learning what they need to – the criticism I hear most often is that this produces gaps in the young person's knowledge and skills. That's not what we did at home: the structure was there, but it wasn't overt or obvious. By keeping homeschooling records I could see what my children were learning and when, what they needed – or I wanted them - to learn next. I could tweak our learning environment to produce the desired results. Nothing was haphazard or unstructured about it. And once I understood the power of learning in this way, instead of abandoning text and workbooks altogether, we used them they were most appropriate and useful.

I believe that mental arithmetic skills are one of the best tools we have in our brain's ‘tool box'. Like spelling and grammar, mental arithmetic is a foundation ‘tool' – it's like my husband's favourite and trusty hammer, an owner builder it is something he'd be lost without. It is quick, comfortable, does the job and does it well. Without the hammer we wouldn't have the lovely house we have today. Teaching our children how to use these foundation tools – mental arithmetic, spelling and grammar – in whatever way works best for our young learners and ourselves, is an essential part of our homeschooling lives.

© Beverley Paine

You may reprint the above article provided you include this information:
"Have a homeschooling question? Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia for more original content. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HomeschoolAustraliaNewsletter. Visit www.alwayslearningbooks.com.au for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!"

Focus on what you want and why you want it.

2008-11-22T11:20:00.005+10:30

How are things in your life right now? Mine could be better, that's for sure, but every now and then I'm reminded that my cup is half full, rather than half empty... Of course, if my aim was to drain the cup and finish the drink then I'd be okay with the half empty cup analogy, but you get what I mean, don't you?

Today, The Drewsletter landed in my mail box. I like reading Drew's rambling posts, mostly because they give me time to reflect on how my own life is going. But more than that, he offers valuable tips from his own insights on how I can tweak my attitude so that my cup feels abundantly full most of the time.

I'm not saying I agree with everything that Drew writes, or believe what he believes, or apply his philosophies of life to my situation. I am saying that I'm happy to learn from any source that speaks so directly to my need.

Here's a taste of what Drew had to say today:

"I recommend that you start your day by taking 10 to 15 minutes each morning sitting someplace quiet. Think about what you'd like to create in your life and allow yourself tap into the feelings of your desires. (An effective way to do this is to ask yourself WHY you want what you want).

Think about money flowing to you. Think about living in perfect health. Think about feeling inspired and connected in your work. Think about being in a relationship that amplifies the joy in your life. Put your awareness on that which feels good. Practice. And then watch what happens.

Change your thoughts and you change your life. The power is yours."

By now you are probably asking; "How does this relate to homeschooling?"

We are often confronted by many questions in our daily homeschooling lives, and we are definitely beset by many doubts. By sitting and imagining how we'd like our day to unfold, what we want to manifest, how we want things to turn out - and by asking that critical question 'WHY' - we begin to slowly change the way our reality occurs.

We can't change everything, but what we can change - most powerfully - is our attitude to everything that does happen. How we choose to react determines how situations pan out.

You may be unhappy with how your son isn't learning the maths from his maths book. Forget about the book, forget about the lesson, forget about his apparent learning block, or laziness or whatever. Think about WHY you wanted you son to learn maths in the first place. Remember your true goal. Then imagine him achieving whatever it is you think maths will help him achieve. Chances are you will discover why he isn't happy learning maths using the approach he is at the moment...

Practice choosing the thoughts that feel good to you, that make sense to you, that reflect what you truly want and believe.

© Beverley Paine

You may reprint the above article provided you include this information:
Have a homeschooling question? Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia for more original content. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschooling Australia Newsletter. Visit www.alwayslearningbooks.com.au for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!

Converting Homeschooling to Natural Learning

2008-11-21T08:05:00.001+10:30

For those new to the concept of learning naturally and wanting to know more, but feeling a little unsure about the transition, I asked the members of my Learning Naturally Yahoo group to share just one way in which we have converted a school-at-home practice or belief into a more relaxed learning naturally approach.

For example:

I remember the day I recognised that my motivation for asking my children to do 'book work' wasn't so that they would learn something (academic) but because I needed reassurance that they had, despite 'doing nothing' for a few weeks, had actually learned quite a bit. Instead of asking them to do bookwork to learn I started asking them to do bookwork to keep my paranoia about the effectiveness of homeschooling at bay. By doing a few pages of book work for a few days they could quickly and efficiently dispel my lack of confidence (until the next bout of doubt would hit).

My children didn't like doing bookwork for reasons that didn't make sense to them. Helping mum feel okay and reassured was, to them, a legitimate reason for doing something they really didn't want to do.

What did my children teach me? Life isn't about achieving goals that will one day lead to a better paid job: it is about building relationships and friendships and giving our time selflessly to others to help them feel okay too.

© Beverley Paine

You may reprint the above article provided you include this information:
Have a homeschooling question? Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia for more original content. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschooling Australia Newsletter. Visit www.alwayslearningbooks.com.au for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!

Saturday November 29th is "Buy Nothing Day".

2008-11-20T08:23:00.003+10:30

According to http://www.buynothingday.info/main.html "Buy Nothing Day is a holiday, a street party to celebrate sustainable lifestyles, a break from the shop-till-you drop culture. It is what we make it. You can just take a day off or organize something."

Why buy nothing on just one day?

The main reason is to give us time to pause and think about what and how much we buy effects the environment, our own well-being and that of other people, especially in developing countries. However, by not buying on one day of the year we are making a personal statement that life isn't just about making and spending money, that there
is more in life than simply the economy. We're saying we're tired of the endless focus on economic growth at whatever cost: we want change. And we want that change to be kinder to our fellow humans and all other life on the planet.

Buy Nothing Day was started in Canada by Ted Dave in 1992 and is promoted by the Adbusters Media Foundation (Canada) http://www.adbusters.org.

As I produce the Home Education Association Resource Directory and promote advertising I can't help but think about consumerism and the endless drive for economic growth. As someone who creates products for people to buy I participate directly in the market economy. I want people to buy my books - the money we earn is put directly into our savings account so I can go on holidays! (Actually, for the last year we've been spending it on groceries...)

As a participant in Buy Nothing Day I'm not saying I'm against the whole concept of capitalism or buying and selling. But I am concerned about the 'why' of not only selling, but also creating products and services in the first place.

Often as a homeschooling parent I couldn't get my children to do things that didn't make sense to them. By challenging me constantly to come up with sensible reasons for my requests I began to realise that a lot of what I did or wanted to do wasn't because it made sense, not to me or my future, or even my well-being, but because it was the 'done' thing - others expected it - and few seemed to know why!

Gradually I changed what and why I did things to reflect need. I began to understand what was truly 'needed' and what was desired or 'wanted'. I began to differentiate
between need and want. Up until then I would treat a want with the same urgency as a need. Up until then I would demand that my wants be met as though they were needs. I began to see that the consumeristic lifestyle we enjoy in our society is based on this misunderstanding.

Buy Nothing Day for me celebrates the fact that I, personally, finally know the difference between 'want' and 'need' and feel confident that when I go shopping I can turn away from things I want but don't need. And even when I buy something I want, I know I don't have to, it isn't necessary, the item isn't vital to my survival. And I remember as I buy this unnecessary but wanted item that I live in the lucky country during a time of unprecedented peace and prosperity. I give thanks for this as I make my purchase.

© Beverley Paine

You may reprint the above article provided you include this information:
Have a homeschooling question? Become a member of the friendly Homeschool Australia Frequently Asked Questions email group. Visit Homeschool Australia for more original content. No time to visit the site? Subscribe to the free Homeschooling Australia Newsletter. Visit www.alwayslearningbooks.com.au for a great range of homeschooling, unschooling and books on natural learning!