home schoolinghome schooling

[Nervous]

I am wondering if anyone has experience with home schooling.  The last 9 months have been so difficult due to various reasons and I cannot get my 14 year old daughter to attend her current school,  We have enrolled in a new school which is not a "mainline school" but are currently on the waiting list.  So in the meantime I am having to look into home schooling. 

How difficult is it to register for home schooling and how difficult is it to meet all of the required curriculum.

Our teenagers sure don't appreciate the stress and effort they put us thru!

[Taylor-RO]

Hey @Nervous, thanks for bringing this to the forums. Sorry to hear about how difficult things have been. This sounds like quite a hassle, if only the timelines could line up. I will tag some members below for some support although I imagine that home-schooling may be different depending on which state you live in? We do have some international members who may not have advice relevant to the curriculum but can at least provide peer support @taokat @sunflowermom @hippychick @softballmum. There is also a homeschooling thread here that might be helpful to you. 

[Breez-RO]

Hey there @Nervous this is a really important post, hopefully we hear back from some members soon and learn a bit more about this  

[Tulip]

Hi @ Nervous you don't say if you are in Australia and I shouldn't name the school my daughter attended online. But we googled distance education in our area and we're able to access a Christian school where we paid $40 a week and were able to have phone calls , online support and on campus visits. I'm sure we could have had the fees waived if we couldn't afford this. In year 10 my daughter did oten( a division of tafe) and is doing hsc through Oten too. It sounds hard but teenagers are so computer savvy that it's quite easy for them the only downfall is the lack of socialisation but you can find this in other activities. I would suggest you first google a couple and speak to them on the phone first. Good luck x

[taokat]

Hey @Nervous, I can relate to your situation as my daughter has had problems with attending school as well. I can only speak for my experiences in NSW, but I was encouraged to go distance education over home schooling for a few reasons. 

Distance Ed required an application via her enrolled high school. With home schooling I had to design and show a learning plan - it was all so involved and required me to be responsible for getting my daughter to complete the work. That was going to be a tough ask!

Distance Ed school my daughter enrolled in followed the NSW education curriculum, and after the very first home visit from a teacher my daughter was inspired to study again after 3 terms at home. They were fabulous and very used to dealing with kids with attendance problems. She finished Year 10 last year.

So I‘m sorry, I really haven’t given you much info on home schooling! However from memory, if you have a look on the Dept of Ed website there’s a link about home schooling. If my memory doesn’t serve me well, my other suggestion would be to google home schooling in your state. 

You’re clearly loving parents looking for the best situation for your daughter, and it can be really hard to know what to do. After looking at options I’ve learned to trust my gut feeling. Do you know how long the wait time is for the other school?

[Happy]

Hi @Nervous,

I had a friend that went through something similar.

She did most of the home schooling her self but also had a relative that was at University that was willing to help out two hours a week.

This allowed her to go to the gym or for a coffee with a friend and a little me time.

Do you have a friend or community member that can help?

l

[taokat]

Hey @Nervous, just wanted to check in and see how you’re going and if you’ve been able to find the info to help you make a decision? 

Great suggestion @Happy of recruiting help if you can. You can be pretty creative in the ways you achieve the educational requirements, and it would add another element of diversity, and yes, give you some time for you! 

[6littledoves]

Hi I’d love to know how you went ? I am in a similar situation with my 13 year old I have no idea where to start. I’m in WA.

[taokat]

I'm sorry you and your teen are going through this as well @6littledoves. 

Our changeover began with the school my daughter was enrolled in, so I'd suggest having a chat with the year advisor and school counsellor first up. It can all feel a bit overwhelming can't it! And sad to be honest - we just want our kids to be happy and not in any pain, physical or psychological. 

You're not alone, so I'm glad you've reached out for some support from the community. Hopefully you'll have found some of the info in this thread helpful as well. 

Let us know how you get on. Hang in there!

[Worrisome]

Thought I would let you know how things were going since you asked. My daughter behaviour has improved greatly since I removed her from school. She is just like a normal teen now. The home schooling is going well, except maths. She will be enrolled at the New school for the start of term 4. So just one term of home schooling hopefully. Fingers crossed that she will be happy there. It appears that all of the self harm in its various forms were to do with school. Hopefully one day she will share with me what went on there that disturbed her so much. I saw on the news the other night that home school has increased by 90 per cent... I think that this is a real issue that over government has to look at.