Caz

Hi fellow Blog Hoppers :D    This weeks topic for the hop, courtesy of Kylie over at Our Worldwide Classroom,  is state regulations/laws, etc pertaining to home educating.   What does YOUR state require? 

What does MY state require?  Well, for starters, I live in Queensland Australia... just so we all know where on the map we're looking!  I'll be perfectly honest and say that I'm not *exactly* sure WHAT this state requires exactly.   My first year as a home educating mum I elected to fly under the radar ;)  and last year (as well as this year) I hooked up with a great distance education school that helps me make a LOT of awesome stuff available to my boys that would otherwise be difficult to access.   But on the the state requirements that I DO know about...

I know that you have to send in an application to home educate, with a VERY detailed individual learning plan, listing all curriculum & plans,  for each child you are intending to home school.  I mean so detailed that I remember reading it going, seriously?  Teachers don't have to do that for each kid in THEIR classes!?!?!  

It was a little daunting, but I was also a newbie homeschooling mum, so I'm sure I could kick it's proverbial bum now that I have a few years experience under my belt ;)   Then,  after you've sent this small tome in, and possibly go back & forth a few times with your 'supervising' person to clarify and such, you get a letter in the mail authorizing you to home school for any time period up to 2 years.   I've heard some cases where people were only licensed for 6mos due to the HEU (Home Education Unit, part of Education Qld) personnel having 'concerns'...but I think most people come away with a 2yr cert.    

But since I tossed the ENTIRE pile of papers (ok, so I downloaded it from the web, so I *actually* sent it to the recycle bin... same end result though!) and skulked about the fringes for a year... I have no idea what happens after that lol.  Another mum I met, who is registered this way, said something about writing the annual 10th month report?  I'm guessing that's a narrative summary of what your kid/s have learned & covered over the year...but all I can do is guess ;)

Since that entire answer was almost totally a NON answer.. I'll share what *I* have to do to be all legal and square with the distance ed school we use.   We choose our own curriculum, which was very important to me, and I write up ILP's (Individual Learning Plans) for each of the boys at the start of the year.  This is really just a list of what resources, curriculum, external courses and such that we plan to use during the year.  Easy enough! 

Each term, or about every 10weeks, we have to email off assessments of our childrens learning for the term.  We use the same forms that the state uses in schools, which are broken up into 8 Essential Learning areas (think math, science, technology etc etc) Each of these areas has a list of expected outcomes that covers a 2yr period.  So grade 1 has it's own, then it's 2/3, 4/5 etc.  They are incredibly basic, IMO.  I do NOT teach TO the objectives/outcomes though!  I find that a huge percentage of the outcomes are easily covered by every day 'stuff' and discussions/questions that ALL children ask.  And the rest, it's easy to pick them out as we move through our chose curriculum and activities :)  Honestly, I'm doing our assessments for term one... and I'm having to pace myself to have objectives left to cover later on!

Looking forward to seeing what everyone else has to get up to in order to enjoy the wonderful world of home educating!



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13 Responses
  1. Anonymous Says:

    I am in South Australia and your requirements sound similar to ours. We are not 'registered' yet as my eldest is not yet 6 but it is a ready very daunting.


  2. Kylie Says:

    Having recently seen those outcomes I have to agree with you there. I know some are stressing over them but to me they seemed all very basic. As I was reading them I was going'tick' in my head one after the other LOL!!!!

    Does it really matter if you complete them all in the first term ROFL!!!


  3. Caz Says:

    Tinkr.. I'm interested to see what this national curriculum does with regards to us fringe dwelling homeschoolers!

    Kylie.. well, yeah! Only because we have to 'date' the outcomes (not that anyone can really CHECK our dates lol) so I figure it'd be helpful to spread em out a bit LOL.

    It really is kind of sad how limited the list of outcomes IS though!


  4. It sounds like you have some strict requirements though. That sure sounds intimidating, I suppose I actually have it easy with my state.


  5. Ms Eva Says:

    There are fringe dwelling homeschoolers in Oregon as well (I'd assume everywhere) that don't register and don't have their kiddos tested. Kudos to you for following your own path. :)


  6. legendswife Says:

    So true...kudos to you:) I'm kind of the same. (I like how you write down an individual learning plan)
    God BLess


  7. Debbie Says:

    Those seem like some restrictive laws there. This hop has been very interesting to see what other States and now Countries requirements are and how they work with homeschoolers. Thank you for sharing.


  8. Shelby Says:

    Hey there! Hopping around from the HS hop! GOing to follow you! Stop in and see me too if you get the chance!! Love your blog!


  9. Caz Says:

    Hi again fellow hoppers ;) Actually the requirements here have been relaxed! It was not that long ago (maybe 5yrs?) that you had to be a certified teacher to home educate your kids! Srsly.. can you imagne *insert eye roll*


  10. Anonymous Says:

    WOW! That's alot of requirements. I like the flying under the radar idea... That's the best way to do it. Heh.

    Our state is sooo easy, and I feel very fortunate to be a resident of it! We say, "Oh, hi, we're going to homeschool" and the state says "OK". Then, at the end of the year they want to know how many days we did. That's it.


  11. Caz Says:

    LOL Wendy.. I like that! Queensland kinda sucks :P But really, it's not all that bad.

    I did the boys assessments for term 1 today.. took about 1.5hrs *total* (including multiple interruptions of course) Next term will be much faster as I'll have had practice ;)


  12. Supermommy Says:

    I don' think the word here is "strict" but instead like you said "daunting". It's definitely a lot more than I would want to go through though! Thank you for sharing.
    And ps. I'm in a small town about 20 miles North of Macon. I've been to Agony...sorry, Albany a lot! =)


  13. Caz Says:

    LOL mother plus! I was back in GA last year.. a lot has changed over time. And not all for the best :( My hometown was a sad sad sight really. THanks for visiting!