| Day one, I had a five-year old who was showing | | | | locally produced biennial inter-denominational drama |
| interest in letters and reading. My mother who is a | | | | production of over 2 hrs duration with a cast and |
| teacher said - "It's time to start teaching her". | | | | crew of over 50, mainly adults. Whilst they gained |
| Fortunately, my mother had taught me in my early | | | | the experience of working with make-up, lighting and |
| days before I went to school and I had grasped the | | | | sound as well as drama, many of the adults |
| basics of literacy by the time I entered at school, so | | | | commented to us on their ability to communicate well |
| with her help I began. Using the phonic approach | | | | with all participants, the exemplary standard of their |
| seemed the most logical method - I was a great fan | | | | behaviour during often long and tedious rehearsals, |
| of starting with the simplest building blocks and | | | | and their ability to follow direction. |
| building up from there. | | | | They were all active members of the Guiding |
| Then we had to have a routine so that the children | | | | Scouting movements and the peak awards in these |
| still got schooled even when family life got hectic. | | | | organizations did much to further their abilities. Their |
| This I decided was best first thing in the morning | | | | leaders within Guides/Scouts commented on the |
| when the children were fresh and alert. Not being a | | | | extremely high standard of their projects and |
| morning person, this was a compromise, but we set | | | | challenges and their dedication to meet their goals |
| the time at 8am - a non-negotiable which has stayed | | | | and achieve in comparison with others and they were |
| throughout our home-schooling years. One hour in the | | | | all been chosen for leadership positions (they were |
| morning was enough to begin with, the idea being | | | | always the only home-schooled children in the group). |
| we'd do the academic subjects (maths and English) | | | | Many members of the community have commented |
| then and the more unstructured subjects:- home | | | | on our children's "unusual" ability to mix socially with all |
| economics, art, beginning science, physical education, | | | | age groups from the elderly to the very young, their |
| during the rest of the day. | | | | perception of the needs of others, and their |
| I started researching textbooks and workbooks. | | | | cheerfulness in attempting to meet those needs and |
| Some were full of pathetic exercises which only | | | | be helpful. By the time the eldest two left |
| asked children to "do the minimum required" and took | | | | home-school, they were very focused on their |
| up lots of space, so the books were hardly | | | | directions in life, despite choosing very different |
| value-for-money. Some were more about social | | | | paths - animation and hairdressing, and they had the |
| justice/welfare than they were about history, | | | | determination and goal-setting abilities to get there. |
| geography or English. I pretty soon worked out that | | | | Being a family that love to travel, we used our trips |
| I had to sight the books, and take time to scrutinize | | | | away to educational advantage, making sure we |
| them to find the good ones. Sometimes, this was so | | | | visited a wide range of learning venues as disparate |
| impossible, I wrote my own! At the beginning of each | | | | as a dairy, several factory production lines, historical |
| year, I would be there looking at what they were | | | | sites and museums of various items including one of |
| using in school, at times they were much better | | | | "barbed wire" - yes I'd no idea how many forms of |
| options interstate (yes, Signpost Maths is different | | | | barbed wire actually exist! We tried to schedule at |
| from State to State) or even overseas in places like | | | | least a three-week trip once a year and drove as far |
| Singapore! I even worked out that books that were | | | | north as Cairns and as far south as Tasmania. Each |
| out of print were often better than the choices on | | | | time we went away the children were encouraged to |
| offer - it is good to remember that books out of | | | | keep a diary of the trip and I made a point of buying |
| print, are not necessarily out of date. I also learned | | | | postcards, picking up brochures and keeping tickets |
| that it was just as important that I could work with | | | | for them to stick into their accounts and make it |
| the books as it was for my children to be able to. | | | | more visually appealing. The children still have these |
| As the second child started, I soon realized - | | | | diaries and it is a source of pleasure and amusement |
| presumably as every teacher in a one-teacher school | | | | to re-read them. It is surprising how much one |
| has come to understand - that my children were | | | | forgets over time. |
| going to have to take responsibility for their own | | | | We pursued any opportunity to encourage our |
| learning since one cannot possibly be with each 100% | | | | children to participate in 'work-experience' and they |
| of the time! Using techniques I'd seen many a | | | | again chose very differently, working in the local |
| teacher use in this position, I would set one some | | | | library, the community thrift shop and the retirement |
| work, work with the other, then come back to | | | | village before doing part-time jobs as shop assistants |
| check the first's work. Fortunately I had this | | | | during their final years. |
| mastered by time the third and fourth child came | | | | So what did my children miss out on if anything? Well |
| along! As the children hit High School age, they took | | | | they missed being the inadvertent victim of violence |
| more responsibility for their schooling - doing their | | | | directed at schools or victims of schoolyard bullying. |
| own marking (checked randomly by me). This of | | | | They missed the peer pressure driving them to make |
| course resulted in cheating in the early days, | | | | choices that may have been detrimental to their |
| however having pointed out to them that they were | | | | health or well being mentally, physically and |
| really only cheating themselves (I'd done my school - | | | | emotionally. They missed the feeling of being such a |
| it wasn't going to affect me!) and the fact that the | | | | small fish in a very big pond that they regarded |
| solution was in fact only a step in the process - ie. | | | | themselves as non-significant requiring remediation in |
| they'd got it wrong sure enough, but the important | | | | areas of self-confidence and self-esteem. Now they |
| fact was why?, they soon began to be very | | | | are becoming adults it is like watching caterpillars |
| responsible with self-marking. | | | | emerge from the chrysalis into butterflies - they are |
| As they hit teenage, my children started to show | | | | unique, beautiful and so totally themselves - an |
| inclinations toward various interests which pointed | | | | observation made, not by me, but by unrelated |
| toward careers. I encouraged them to pursue TAFE | | | | others who have watched them over the years - |
| short courses or community clubs which indulged their | | | | and I am a very proud mother! |
| passions. For example, our children were involved in a | | | | |