Hi Everyone,Well, now my little boy has turned six and is officially a homeschooler! Of course he's been learning for six years, but now I officially have to account for when, where and how he is learning :)
I find this interesting because I do understand the need for children to have a well rounded experience of the world. However there is a small part of me that says
I care for my children more than anything, as a family we've made many lifestyle adjustments to enable us to homeschool the children, why can't we just get on with parenting them, which includes educating them? I wouldn't bother homeschooling if I didn't want what's best for them so why all the jumping through hoops?I don't mind the review process, it's just the principle that irritates me.
In Australia the process of homeschooling entails parents/guardians registering their child with a school just so that the carers can then apply for and hopefully be granted an exemption...it defies logic. Why not just register as homeschoolers and leave it at that. Have regular reviews if that's deemed necessary for the well being of the child, but why not find a more direct way around these archaic laws?
Someone suggested to me that a virtual school would be a viable alternative. I can see the attraction of this as opposed to walking into a school to register your child, only to tell the busy office staff that your child won't really be attending, but you need to put junior's name down just in case. In case within the next twelve years, homeschooling doesn't work for you and you need a spot in a school.
Luckily our local school was really helpful and offered to send us the online newsletter and generally made me welcome but I don't mind admitting I felt uncomfortable walking in there.
Anyway, that's my rant out of the way...and I must say at this point that I have honestly never had a negative experience with the review process. All of the reviewers I have encountered are genuinely kind, interested people concerned with the well being of my children and I am happy to spend one morning a year chatting with them.
I get helpful information about resources available to us as homeschoolers and I do like the motivation to get all of our bookwork into a folder every now and then. Who knows when I'd get to it otherwise, we're just too busy going out having fun, learning, and generally getting on with the business of homeschooling.......
Talk Soon, Cynthia x
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