From the end of July 08 this website will no longer be updated but will remain online as an archive.
For current information about home education in Australia please visit the Home Education Association of Australia.
While there, please consider joining this vital support network that works hard to promote home education in Australia.
Please note that Beverley Paine is unavailable to answer telephone and email inquiries, etc. Please join a support group in your state.

Home education is a legal alternative to school education in Australia. State governments are responsible for regulating home education.
Different states have different requirements, however homeschooling families are able to develop curriculum and learning programs
to suit the individual needs of their children.

by Beverley Paine

A few years ago I brainstormed a list of objectives I'd like my son, Roger, to achieve in his early adolescence. As time went by I realised these reflected a longer growth and development time frame, and added some more objectives as the need arose. It forms a pretty basic curriculum, covering many life skills. To this we added interest generated activities, some that he came up with and ones we developed as a family. These included solar technology, computer upgrade and repairs, modelling using LEGO, medieval weapons, astronomy, circus skills, South Australian historyand many others. A highschool equivalent curriculum for home education doesn't have to follow what schools do very closely. Covering the basics is essential and can be worked out using common sense. I did use the National Curriculum Guidelines in places to help me develop this, and to ensure that I was covering similar material and skills over time.

• Personal Computer Repairs (ICS certificate course)
• Basic First Aid, including CPR
• Nutrition
  - what is a good diet for me?
  - why do I eat the food I do?
  - how healthy is "healthy" food?
  - where does my food come from?
  - additives to foods - how are foods processed?
  - what's my opinion on genetic engineering and food?
• Getting Involved in Community Organisations
  - Trees For Life
  - Landcare
  - Local Exchange Trading System
  - Meals on Wheels (Senior Citizens)
  - Sport and Recreation
  - Wildlife/Conservation
  - Overseas Aid/ Human Rights
  - Health Promotion
  - Youth Issues
  - Arts
• Visit Local Council, Parliament
  - understand meeting formats and processes, decision making, planning and development locally
  - effectiveness, how and why of rules
  - how does this all affect me?
  - do kids have any power, rights, how do they assert them if they do?
• Understanding of different cultural practices in Australia
  - especially related to current affairs
  - ways in which different Australians practice and celebrate cultural heritage
  - look into historical causes of wars, etc, around the world changing borders, politics, greed, religious, resources
  - form some opinions based on fact about Australia's multicultural identity, population control, immigration policies
• Positive thinking practice
• Personal empowerment and assertiveness Regular exercise program, recreation/ sport
• Conflict resolution strategies
• Recognising and managing own stress levels and understanding causative factors
• Camping and survival skills - bushcraft
• Cooking for different occasions
  - different groups of people
  - balanced, appropriate menus
  - preparation, clearing away
  - budgeting and shopping
• Maintenance of clothes
  - basic sewing skills, laundry, shoe care
• Telephone skills
  - answering/making (all types of calls)
  - emergency calls
  - information accessing
  - using the White and Yellow pages
• Staying safe in the community
  - peer pressure to conform
  - unwanted attention
  - invasion of privacy
  - safety in the home and environment
• Media awareness
  - reading the "bottom line" - how what I am watching, reading, listening to how the media is trying to sell me an idea or message, the techniques used to "sell" ideas , opinions and products (mass manipulation and control through technology and images, small bites of information repeated, etc)
  - what do I want, what do I need - really?
• Using multi-media effectively and the Internet
• Computer programming and game making
• Make a useful piece of furniture, a kid's toy, etc.
  - using wood/metal/plastics/fibre
  - safe use of tools
  - care of tools, including power tools
• Experiment with clay - raku firing (figures, sculpture, wind chimes, wall plaques, plates, pots, tiles)
• How has the environment I live in changed in recent past, 50 years, 150 years, 1000 years, 10,000 years, 500 million years?
  - what do I think about this?
  - how is this environment different from others I know (visit and compare)?
  - what is it like in other countries
  - how does landscape (and climate) affect how people use the land
  - how are "borders" of countries determined
  - is colonisation a good/bad thing - is it happening in the world now, where, who were the first colonisers
  - what other species of life "colonise" and what effect does this have on the local flora and fauna

• Gardening
  - use of plants (food, building, fibre, fuel, aesthetics, etc)
  - wild foods, traditional uses across cultures (Aboriginal, herbal remedies)
  - use of plants and indigenous plants in the area
  - conservation (why, how, where, effectiveness, responsibility)
  - grow own food, including harvest, care, composting, chemicals, treatment
  - become a Trees For Life grower
• Start recycling and reduce consumption
• Do some simple science experiments in biology, physics, chemistry
  - visit Investigator Science Centre, Museum, Natural History Centre
  - start a natural history collection - identify and label, sort and classify
• Make something or things to sell at a LETS market stall
  - organise your own stall at a market
• Become involved in writing for local publications
  - newspapers, local newsletters, magazines, youth publications
  - letters to the editor
  - responses to articles
  - what is good and bad in the area, how things could be better for kids
  - creative writing - own poems, short stories, illustrations, puzzles, cartoons, etc
• Begin car maintenance, on own car
  - wheel changing, oil and water, basic repairs, trouble shooting, pull bits of engine, car to pieces and rebuild, use of tools, including power tools, visit a mechanics shop, use of petrol/gas bowser, car cleaning and care
• Learn how to drive, and apply for learning permit.
• Open a bank account
• Organise home weekly budget for family or yearly one for self
• Write personal and business letters
• Filling our all sorts of forms
• Personal journal on a regular basis
• Keep own calendar
• Demonstrate (and practice) proficiency in basic maths functions (plus, minus, divide, multiply) to four digits, including decimals
  - become familiar with databases and spreadsheet applications.
  - times table, fractions and decimals
  - using calculator
  - be able to estimate with reasonable accuracy
  - practice in real life mental calculations (shopping, cooking, making things)
  - accurate conversion in measurements (weight, capacity, length - e.g. metres to kilometres)
  - use spacial terms (geometric) to describe things (spherical, angle, parallel, etc)
  - be able to draw to scale
  - read charts, graphs (weather, statistics, in media)
  - read and interpret timetables
  - read maps, flow charts
• Devise ways to manage own time - stay on task, finish things, avoid distractions, making and meeting contracts and agreements to do things in a time frame (finding out what it is I really want to do)

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