Kingsley Educational Pty Ltd

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Throughout this Web site:

= Australian;

= Christian;

= new/updated;

= Special.

= Early (age 3-9);

= Middle (age 7-15);

= Senior (age 13-18);

= Parents;

= Everyone

Ready? Set... GO!

Ready?

If you have already been homeschooling for some time, all you may need is to jump straight to our catalogue (see above). However, you may still want to check through here to assure yourself that you have covered everything.

Before you can start, you need to research home education. There is no point in stumbling around in "blind alleys."

Firstly, you need to know the education laws for your State.

Your local library will probably have a copy of the law available for reference (check that it is up to date). Make sure you know the law very well - it will save you a lot of trouble in the long run. If you need some more help, you will need to ensure that the legal assistance you seek is competent in the home education laws of your State or Territory. If you need a referral for legal assistance, please ask us.

As a generalisation, we have to report sadly that, in almost all States and Territories, homeschooling is not viewed very favourably by Education Departments. Also, since it is a little-known option among family, church and friends, it's likely you will face the prospect of being challenged in some way about your choice to educate your children at home.

The best way to meet this challenge is to consider your reasons and motivations, and make a clear family decision about whether you are educating your children out of preference or conviction.
We firmly recommend that you establish your home education on a solid Scriptural foundation as a matter of conviction, since you are taking on a serious responsibility and your strength needs to come from the Lord.

Secondly, learning styles.

You may want to explore the difference between a more formal curriculum-based approach vs a "natural-learning" approach. These terms are only approximate, and KEPL offers a "curriculum-based" range of materials, whereas you may find help on natural learning via the Australian homeschool web site.

Thirdly, you need to be familiar with what curriculum is available.

There are many publishers and thousands of lines - each with a different purpose, focus or philosophy. You will want to at least know the difference between a subject based curriculum approach like Lifepacs, A Beka or Rod & Staff and a Unit Study approach like Konos or Weaver.

Do not make the mistake of buying everything! The job before you now is to read as many catalogues as you can. From the descriptions, select the products that look as if they might suit you and your family. Form definite questions in your mind, and attempt to answer them. If the answer is not in the catalogue, write or phone the supplier and ask.

And finally, home education is not a dead-end street.

Tertiary education is available to home-educated children, many of whom have been right through and are now holding responsible positions in the work force.

Now that you know something about home education, you must also know about yourselves.

What are you trying to achieve?
What direction has God shown you:
- regarding you and your family's ministry in the Kingdom?
- regarding the children He has given you?

You must have coherent goals to aim at, so you are not merely stumbling around. As our late pastor, Rev Colin McLean said, "If you aim at nothing, you're sure to hit it!"

Set...

Don't start by having an impressive array of books to simply gather dust on your shelves. Only buy what you can use immediately - your bank account will thank you for it! For children under the legal minimum school attendance age, you do not strictly have to observe any legal requirements, and this may allow you a little more freedom. For families with a variety of ages and some young toddlers, you may want to look at our Early Education paper for useful information.

Since reading is a basic skill required by children and essential for future progress (almost all curriculum consists of printed words!), as soon as young children show an interest in reading, you should consider fostering their interest and deliberately teaching them to read. We recommend the LEM Phonics program as being a high-quality, thorough Intensive Phonics system, which will provide your child/ren with the best possible start to their reading, spelling and writing skills.

GO!

If your children have never been to school, congratulations - you can begin home educating immediately! In fact you may not be aware that you have already taught them a great deal at home.

If you have children already in school you will need to decide when to withdraw from the school. Once this is done, you can usually begin immediately.

Depending on the State/Territory, you may have only a short time before you are required to notify relevant authorities about your choice to homeschool. These details should have become clear when you checked the legal background.

Wherever you are, there will be some sort of records you will have to keep--from the simplest (a pocket diary to record attendance) to the most complex (progress charts, goal records) but remember that, whatever legal or Departmental status they have, you can make them work for you as a means of tracking the progress of your children.

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