From the end of July 08 this website will no longer be updated but will remain online as an archive.
For current information about home education in Australia please visit the Home Education Association of Australia.
While there, please consider joining this vital support network that works hard to promote home education in Australia.
Please note that Beverley Paine is unavailable to answer telephone and email inquiries, etc. Please join a support group in your state.

Home education is a legal alternative to school education in Australia. State governments are responsible for regulating home education.
Different states have different requirements, however homeschooling families are able to develop curriculum and learning programs
to suit the individual needs of their children.

© Beverley Paine, February 29th 2008

Every so often an idea comes along that I think is worth promoting. For many years I've counselled home educators who feel inadequate and lost during
the first year or two. Many are what I term 'refugees' from the school system, families desperate for their children to be educated in a safe and supportive
environment. Every so often I come across parents who barely literate themselves know that unless they teach their children at home their children are lost...

This is why I think distance education is a valid option for homeschooling families and why I include distance education under my broad definition
of home education.

Without particularly endorsing any specific endeavors, Robin and I support effort to create and deliver alternative pathways providing education to students and families in need. Our main aim in life is to support families find solutions that suit their individual family situations and circumstances. It is not up to us to judge the validity and quality of any programmes on offer, but to help people access resources so that they can make decisions for themselves. The way we see it, the more options for families, the better!

Michelle and Andrew Hornery, homeschoolers living in Brisbane, have decided to meet this need, as well as to help encourage and support homeschooling
families who find it difficult for whatever reason to jump through the bureaucratic hoops to 'legally' home educate, by starting a distance education college.

This new school of distance education is working its way through the registration process at the present time and URGENTLY needs expressions of
interest from homeschooling families from across Australia.

Aademeia is a proposed private school offering distance education for home educating families faced with the necessity of registration the ability to continue offering their children individualised educational programmes that work
best for them.

Families that enroll with Akademeia will be able to discuss their preferred approach to teaching their children and work out a suitable assessment
framework that suits departmental guidelines yet still allows a freedom of choice.

To accommodate the a broad spectrum of people for whom different levels of assistance is required Akademeia offer a sliding scale of assistance, from advice, access to teachers and resources, parent support and feedback, through to a highly structured support system.

In brief, Akademeia aims to offer home educating families three levels of service:

* where the enrolled family will be registered with the school and then proceed to direct their own learning programs in light of the agreed Learning Outcomes, including a short period of assisted assessment;

* opportunity for a more structured delivery methodology, with Akademeia recommending particular curriculums or programs to suit each family;

* working together to design individual learning programs suited to the family’s curriculum needs using whatever style of learning the family chooses to follow, for those people that may be thinking of home based education, but feel that they may not possess the necessary skills or experience to undertake such a path initially.

Akademeia is currently taking expressions of interest from families who think they might like to enroll with the school from Term 4 2008, or who would like to know more information.

The future of this school depends on families contacting Michelle NOW. Even if the families decide not to enroll once the school is established it is important for the authorities to understand the need that is in the home educating community for such a support resource.

Please email Michelle Hornery at akademeiasde@gmail.com

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