Articles Homeschooling No First Day Of School
| No First Day Of School |
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| Monday, 26 July 2010 10:53 | |
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Dear Parent of a Preschooler,
Dreading the first day of school for your child? You don't have to! Don't worry about whether to put them in school, or hold them back, or how they'll cope, or how you'll cope, just homeschool them! Homeschooling is legal in every state in Australia, although each state has slightly different guidelines. Somewhere around the age of five or six the each state requires that you register with the body that supervises education (the Board of Studies in NSW). You don't have to be a school teacher, the only qualification you need is the one you already have – you are your child's parent. You have already been homeschooling your child since the day they were born. You just didn't see it like that. You've successfully taught your child how to speak, stand, walk and run. Your preschooler can likely feed and dress herself and interact successfully with peers. She may even be able to write her own name and count to ten. You are the one shaping your child's values and character. By example, and the way you respond to your child, you have taught them how to deal with anger, how to be a friend, what to do when things go wrong. You have started teaching them to drive, by modelling how to drive. You have been a teacher all along, but you never knew it. There is nothing magical about the age of five or six. Nothing abruptly changes in your child that means they suddenly need the supervision and input of a professional. Learning to read and write doesn't require a school. Up until the last hundred or so years children were required to be reading, writing and have basic numeracy skills before they started school. Do you remember those long, drawn-out days of sitting in a classroom, counting the minutes until the next break? It doesn't have to be like that! Learning can be exciting! It can be challenging! It take whatever journey you and your child desire. While pre-fabricated curriculum materials are available they are by no means compulsory. There is a broad spectrum of beliefs about children and they way they learn wrapped up in the bundle of people we call the homeschooling community. No two homeschooling families look the same. While most classrooms in your state will cover the same content for the same age group each year, no two homeschooling families will cover the same content in the same depth, which makes sense really, since no two families are a carbon copy of the other. Imagine, school life, the rush out the door at 8:30 to get your child to school, get home at 9:30, only to have to rush back out at 2:30pm, come rain, hail or shine, to pick your grumpy child up, who is tired and hungry and just given the best of their day to a group of strangers. Now imagine getting out of bed at whatever time best suits your body clock. No rushing out the door. No panic because you've run out of bread for sandwiches – no problem, you'll cook pasta instead. No stress because Joseph has no clean school socks and Martin has lost his homework. Instead, learning happens from the moment you awake, to the moment you fall asleep. Prepared lessons (if that's the route you take) can take place at whatever time your child has their peak in energy levels – first thing in the morning, last thing before bed or any time in between. Imagine having the time to teach your child to cook, sew, play cricket or whatever it is that sparks your passion. Imagine guiding your child into activities that suit their skills, talents and interests, helping them discover who they are and, long-term, guiding them into a career that is best suited to them. There's a myth out there, somewhere, that children who are homeschooled are maladjusted and socially inept. I'd say most of those myth-bearers have never met a homeschooled child. Some believe that farming children into a classroom with children of the same age helps them be “socialised”. Most homeschoolers believe that this artificial grouping is harmful to children, and they are much better “socialised” by interacting on a regular basis with people of all different ages – a luxury that only a homeschooling life can afford. There is no need to fear the first day of school. The first day of your child's learning happened the day they were born. If you choose to send your child to school – and not every family is in the position to be able to homeschool - then embrace it willingly, and without fear. However, there is no need to send your child to school just because “everyone else is doing it”. A whole new world awaits for parents who are willing to share a life-long journey of learning with their children. It is you who is most capable of teaching your child. Liz For more information on homeschooling please visit The HEA. This article first appeared in Mixtapezine |
