Red Balloon.

Spending time with mum and a red balloon.

It’s Time To Go.

This photo would have been taken during Andrew’s final year at school.

At the end of this year we made the decision to take both of our boys out of school and begin our home school adventure.

Most people don’t seem to like photos of themselves but I love this shot. I don’t remember who took it for me but I’m grateful. As you can see on the blackboard there was a good-bye party for two of the children and because I knew all the kids in Andrew’s class I got an invitation.

I love the look on my son’s face.

It’s late in the 1980s and my hair and beard are threatening to take over, I’m wearing my goofy smile, haming it up for the camera, and I don’t care.

Photographers rarely make it into the shot, goofy or otherwise.

Andrew’s teacher that year was brilliant, so was Matt’s for that matter. The school was good without being great but there was still something wrong.

An entire year of Andrew’s schooling could be messed up by circumstances. He lost his first year at school because his teacher left after two weeks leaving a novice teacher in charge of a double classroom of preps. I turned up everyday for nearly two months and helped this young woman teach until they finally got a replacement!

I’m not sure that I got a thank you.

Two years later his teacher did not show up on the first day. This would have been Andrew’s first male teacher but instead he got the local emergency teacher who was very close to being invisible.

Matt on the other hand had a dream run.

I remember both of my son’s teachers trying to talk me out of home schooling. My answer to them was,“Can you guarantee that my son will have you or someone as good as you next year?”

They could not and we had had enough of ‘classroom teacher roulette’.

Of course, this was only one of many reasons for our decision but it is the one that is related to this photo.

Creativity Investigation.

I dream of a world where children and creativity run wild and free, and no investigation is necessary.

Riding High.

Your children learn about the world from you. They learn to speak, sing, whistle, run, walk and deal with numbers, all in your presents and all because you create a safe and challenging environment designed to promote learning. Children are born with a hunger for learning, and all you have to do is feed that hunger.

No one understands your children as well as you do.

No one is more qualified to guide their education.

All parents decide on the quality and style of education for their child and, in this country that is every parents right.

Most parents entrust their children to an institution, be it public or private. They do so in the belief that ‘teachers’ are better at the job than they could ever be. This can be a convenient decision for all concerned (but probably not for your child).

In my city, Melbourne, in business one of the first questions you will be asked is, “What school did you go to?”

My boys would answer, “Walletta College”. “It’s a very exclusive private school where the teacher pupil ratio is one teacher to every two pupils”. The school name was a play on the name of our cottage but the ratio was spot on.

Mums and dads ‘teach’ their children all the basics before they get anywhere near a school.

It takes courage to swim against the tide but the rewards are enormous.

Photo credit

If You Are Lucky.

Illustration credit

As it was Mother’s day last weekend, and a lot of home school parents are mums I’m posting this illustration from an old story book. I’m not sure what is going on exactly, I just thought it was a cool drawing. If you are lucky you have a mum who can make the world look this interesting.

My mum certainly did.

Helping At Home?

I just could not resist posting this shot.

Even ‘back in the day’ publishers knew that children learn at home.

Very 1950s……… I wonder if anyone other than rich people were home schooling back then.

For a long time schooling at home was the preserve of the wealthy and the poor and middle classes had to put up with schools.

You don’t have to be rich to home school your children but it will take one of you out of the full time work force and that means that one of you will need to be able to generate a good income. Or alternatively you could job share which could stretch over the full seven days of the week, depending on what you ‘do for a crust’.

Anyone for cake?

No Road.

Where you’re going, you won’t need roads.

OK, so that’s not actually true, you will need roads.

Homeschooling needs lots of things, but mostly it needs you.

Your children will follow you into this amazing adventure because they know that you have their best interests at heart.

To start with, I’m sure that our two boys went along with the idea because it meant that they did not have to go to school anymore, and that was more than enough for them!

It does not matter that their motivation is to move away from a negative it only matters that you know that they are moving towards a positive: learning because it is fun; learning in their own time and learning the things they want to learn.