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Saturday 19 February 2011

We're 'official'

Yes folks, on the first day of the school term this year we received the letter I'd been waiting for - we have been granted provisional registration as home educators!  Yay!

And so this blog was created :)

Recent stories from other places have made me realise how very lucky we are in Tasmania that the regulatory body is accepting of many styles of home education.  As long as you cover the basics of literacy, numeracy, arts, ICT, physical activity & socialisation, they don't dictate HOW you have to teach those things.  Some families follow pre-packaged curriculums (more of a "school at home" approach); others are radical unschoolers, allowing the children to make most of the choices about how they live & learn.  We're somewhere along that continuum, leaning more towards the unschooling end of the scale (AKA 'natural learning').

We have countless workbooks for Jasmine, but she rarely shows an interest and bores of them very quickly.  Nor has she really been one of those children who sits for hours with a colouring book.  It really hit home one day when I was trying to 'teach' her something.  She lost it.  "I don't want you to tell me how to do it!  I want to do it my own way without you telling me".  Now, she was about 3 or 4 at the time, so not entirely unusual for a child of that age to express their independence in such a way.  But it was at that moment I realised that she really wouldn't do well in a classroom environment with 30 other kids and a set schedule.  Some children genuinely seem to love the structure of the school environment, but not this one!  So, that was the clincher.  We would continue in the same way we had since her birth - learning thorough play and interaction with all things & people in her environment :)



So, here's our first "official" week of NOT schooling (but lots of learning).......

First day - spent at the playground with friends - living & otherwise ;)
(and yes Mum - I can see what you mean about her disjointed head now )

Crafty Koala - an idea from one of our MANY kids' art books

Bumble bee at the playground - this pic triggered questions about bee anatomy & physiology

Her first painting on a canvas, rather than paper - a good chance to discuss scale and perspective ;)

Jasmine also assists her Dad (henceforth known as "D") once a fortnight at the local library, reading & singing nursery rhymes to a younger audience.  The library staff commented to D this week how confident & outgoing Jasmine is.  I'm pretty sure we won't have to worry about any of those "socialisation" issues non-home educators always bring up ;)

But I think that will do for today's post.  Time to go & watch Madagascar 2 as a family before D has to return to work after long-service leave in a couple of days.  No - scratch that - she's decided she wants to go out & play soccer instead.








5 comments:

  1. Your header is gorgeous! I'm so glad we'll be able to follow what you're up to when we're SA...hooray for blogging! xx

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  2. Oh poo, I wanted to make the first comment and J has beaten me to it lol

    Looks fantastic though, and I'm sure that I and the snowflakes will be avid followers :)

    Congratulations on becoming Official!

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  3. Just found you via Hobart Natural Learners :) We are about to officially register our daughter (NW Tas) and will be following an eclectic unschooling path too. Our daughter is an only child (also?) and it does seem to present some issues, well for me anyway. She also wont allow me to "teach" her, just like your daughter, layed down that rule quite early haha, but is happy to "play schools" with my mum and they do maths etc together once a week.
    I hope everything is well with you, and i'm so glad to have found your blog :)

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  4. Thanks Allana - glad that you can relate to so much of our story :) Yes, raising sole children does come with some unique challenges, for sure (one of which is not enough time to keep this blog updated much anymore - LOL). All the best for your first official year :)

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