Homeschooling - A Parent's Perspective

Teresa L. (name changed) speaks about her reasons for homeschooling and the day-to-day realities. Interview by Megan Manser.

What program do you use to home school?

The kids are enrolled in Brisbane School of Distance Education (BSDE). There are over 220 teachers I believe at West End from P-12 with a fantastic library (students are sent out library books regularly) and a huge indoor sports centre that has just been built. The children have regular phone lessons and they have regular activity days. These days are fantastic as the teachers plan some fabulous things for them to do including Aboriginal elders singing and talking, science days, sporting activities in the indoor sports centre, art and craft, concerts, excursions to Southbank, and plays.

With BSDE the parent role is one of home tutor being lead by the teacher and the curriculum they send and [they have] regular home tutor information days that can help teach the home tutor. They are known for a very heavy workload and high structure. Other families/parents prefer to have more choice in curriculum themselves [while other] parents prefer more of a natural learning style with very little structure where the child learns through self exploration/fun. I have seen how effective this style of learning is also and how much my own children absorb when having fun. But I like a balance of a set curriculum and guidance from a professional in education [without overworking] the child [to the point where they stop] having fun.

What were your reasons for homeschooling?

The Kumon program showed me how 10 minutes a day of maths work, for example, given to a child at their individual level was so efficient! This simple system put my daughter two years ahead of her classmates over a two-year period. My daughter would perform what she knew in maths at school and learn what she knew in maths at home or at Kumon.

So I really started to see school as a long and unproductive day. A far more dynamic prospect was all the exciting things she could do outside of school through a combination of individual tuition (by me and other professional tutors) and group learning and experiences (limited only by time and your imagination - netball, swimming, dressage training, violin and ensemble tuition, taekwondo, etc).

The more I allowed myself to think outside of what I thought I had to do (send her to school) the more I could see how easy it would be to replicate any of the positives we could see of school life (sense of belonging to a community, group learning - school is just about all group learning) and add far more.

I believe we added:

• Individual learning - Once you see the difference academically it would be impossible to go back to mainstream schooling. Many home schooling friends have pulled their kids out of school because of academic reasons.
• Improved social experiences - I would ask my daughter after school, ‘How was your day?’ and she hated the lunch hours most of all. Without efficient adult supervision (one teacher in the play ground is as scary for the teacher as it is for the children), bullies rule because younger kids do not have enough skills to cope positively with the majority of situations and some of the older kids have learnt negative skills when they were younger and haven’t learnt any better. So the cycle continues. Many home schooling friends have pulled their kids out of school for serious bulling issues and the schools’ inability in handling situations.

What are the benefits of homeschooling?

I love the fact the school work is so time efficient with no extra homework. I don't have to worry about many of the things my friends do with kids in mainstream schools e.g. not getting along with the teacher, bullying, kids struggling academically, [cost - approximately $1,000 per student per year], uniforms, petrol, and getting to and from school. The kids are developing close relationships and play really well together. Other people never believe this one. You have to be around some homeschooling kids to see it for yourself.

[You’re also] able to cater for the different sexes as well. Boys have short attention spans and loads of pent up energy and it is well known that boys concentrate better after they have gotten rid of pent up energy (even though they do not appear to do much about it in school). My son can concentrate really well for about half an hour and then becomes restless. If he can go and kick a soccer ball or jump on the trampoline for half an hour, come in, have a drink, cool down for 5 minutes, then he concentrates again really well for another half an hour. I know that he would not be progressing so quickly in the mainstream because he gets restless without the break.

Girls are known for perfectionist attitudes where they have a tendency to become anxious even when they are performing really well. Mainstream schooling in my opinion makes this worse. As my daughter has relaxed and doesn't try as hard, her confidence has increased and she actually also performs better academically.

What are the challenges of homeschooling?

The challenge is to be flexible with timetables and fit everything in including schoolwork, activities, housework, appointments, and office work [as a small business owner]. There are so many activities available. Homeschooling groups have activities every week including rock climbing, dance, indoor sports, and excursions to places all over Brisbane. The biggest challenge is to say ‘no’ to so many great activities to ensure schoolwork is up-to-date.

I found I need to be very organised to allocate enough time to school work and balance outside activities. The kids usually complete their schoolwork in the first half of the day and then participate in activities every afternoon. This keeps the day interesting and everybody is out and about socialising.

However, my daughter is in high school now and needs to allocate far more time to school work so she tends to also work nights and weekends. My daughter has her own laptop and can be more flexible around outside activities. She has also had to learn how to become far more disciplined in applying herself to her work. She was always a good hardworking student but was challenged to another level again after leaving school to be self directed and motivated to keep schoolwork up-to-date.

Would you ever go back to the mainstream school system?

I would see little benefit in any of my children going to mainstream school. My daughter who has been to school for Prep and Grade 1 and 2 never wants to go back, loves homeschooling, in fact wanted a contingency plan of how she could continue to homeschool if anything ever happen to mum or dad. My son who has never been to school is perfectly happy being homeschooled but may want to go to see what it is like one day. I would be fine with that, but concerned if he wanted to do grade 11 and 12 just because, academically, the school system in those years is very unnecessarily stressful. All day at school and three hours of homework and individual tutoring is a very clear message that the day is not productive.

What have been people's reactions to your homeschooling?

Most people have been surprised to shocked, yet once they understand more about it they think it is great even if it is not for them. I am able to help out with our own small business from home so it works for us. Although I have heard of people employing uni students - particularly those interested in education and obviously somebody they trust - to homeschool their kids while they are at work. The work is set out so simply to follow [that] it is just a matter of having patience and time to sit with a child and go through it, and as they get older they get more self directed and capable of working a lot by themselves.

Some [people] are really judgmental about homeschooling, but once you get talking to these people you realise they know very little about it and have a vision of the kids knitting at home, lonely and never seeing anybody. I don't think homeschooling is for everyone. If the adult is not happy with the idea then it most probably won't work. That is why it is great there are a lot of choices out there educationally for everybody. I just stress to my friends with children in mainstream schools to teach a lot individually outside of school and to be aware of where your child is at academically and socially.

Read more on homeschooling and other issues at No School Today: Talking Points