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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

I wrote about our part time school experiences in my book Learning in the Absence of Education (a title picked by my young son when I self-published!) We found blending part time school and homeschooling too much of a compromise. I personally that it continually undermined my confidence in our home education.

At times I'd be so frustrated with the inefficiencies of classroom based education I'd want to pull the children out, but then something would happen at school that would make it look oh so much better than I thought I could do at home...

In hindsight I think that what was actually happening was that I kept having recurring self-esteem issues. These actually stemmed from our relatively stressful life, especially due to our financial situation: at the time Robin was finding odd jobs but had nothing permanent.

Part time school attendance does work well for some families. Because I was very involved in a hands-on way with the school and classroom I learned a lot about how learning happens in that environment. I went to primary school with my children most days (it was an alternative class that encouraged participation). Before our eldest went to high school part time I did one subject at year 12 level at the same school. This gave me a first hand insight into the school culture and its standards.

I am much happier that our sons did not follow their sister's footsteps to part and then full time high school. My experiences have led me to believe that, no matter how good or well intentioned, any school will undermine a child's individuality: Only the strongest of characters can survive this process.

If you can, keep your children out of school for as long as you can, and explore all options thoroughly before slipping back into the system.

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