Deee
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Posts posted by Deee
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If you can afford Epping or surrounding suburbs like Cheltenham, the public schools are some of the best in the state. People move there to get their kids into the high schools. If you move to the North West/Hills area (Castle Hill, Baulkham Hills), the public transport system is almost non-existent but there are lots of homeschoolers. Newcastle is seriously great and still affordable, but expect to add 3 hours to your husbands day for travelling time.
44 degrees tomorrow - can it be autumn soon?
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I've got one, too. He's 12. Secretly I'm devastated by his continued apathy, but I've decided this year to stop trying to please him. Its the middle of our summer holidays (and its hot!!!!) and he's just as big a misery-guts while he's not doing school work, so its time to just harden up (me) and suck it up (him). Seriously, its high school and its time for some hard work. The lessons are varied and the content is interesting so if he doesn't like it, tough. Its going to be hard work for me (cos I'm putty in his hands) but I used to be an Army instructor, so hopefully I'm up to it. Maybe I'll sniff some boot polish to get in the right frame of mind......
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I'm in a semi-rural area on the North Western fringe of Sydney. You can buy a nice, family house on a quarter acre block for $500,000. The down-side is the 1.5-2 hour commute to the city (we work locally, but both of us commuted for a long time and its hellish). French's Forest is on the north side and is very nice. Its leafy and cooler. The Northern Beaches are nice. Its expensive and can be hellish to get out of, but public transport is reasonable (by Sydney's standard, which I'll admit is absolutely woeful). Domain.com.au is the best website for property, including rentals. Sydney's property has been appreciating forever, but prices are now unsustainable and I suspect they won't grow much more.
Its hot here today (37 degrees Celsius) because I'm out west. The Northern Beaches rarely tops 30 because of the sea breeze (the good folk of the city and northern beeches think they are dying if it gets hotter than 28, while we Westies think that 30 is a respite day).
Given the choice, I quite like Adelaide (its a liveable scale but bloody hot) or Tassie (because its usually cool, although not this week). I actually really like Melbourne (shhhh), having spent lots of time there as a teenager, but Sydney gets into your bones and I love the city, despite its dirt, traffic and unweildiness.
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We'll start year 7 in February. I'm doing the "big plan" this month. Part of me loves it, and part of me loathes it. I have a Board of Studies inspection for registration due in March, so thats a good excuse to get organised. High school is a bit daunting if I stop and think about it for too long.
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Oh, and you can choose your own curriculum as long as you meet the Key Learning Areas set by the Board of Studies. The BOS is very flexible and accomodates all styles, including natural learners.
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I'm on the outskirts of Sydney - it is cheaper further out but petrol or train fare for your partner will add to your costs. Its not unusual for workers to travel more than an hour each way for work and traffic is pretty bad. Our petrol is more expensive, I think. Electricity and water costs are rising rapidly, too. Property taxes (called rates and paid to local councils) are between a $1-2000 each year, but you won't pay those unless you are buying. Food is more expensive than the US, from what I can gather, but the quality is excellent. Homeschool books are more expensive (shipping is a killer) and the second hand market is much smaller. We have lots of homeschool groups, though. Check out HEA and SHEN - the Sydney Homeschool Network, which organises lots of events.
Homeschooling is regulated by the NSW Board of Studies. Most people find them really helpful and supportive. You send in an application, they ring and arrange an in-home visit and then come and have at look at your plan, talk with the kids and look at your previous work and record keeping. Australia is transitioning to a national curriculum, the scope and sequence of which you can find online via the NSW BOS site.
The rental market is very tight. Short term leases are very rare, unless its a fully furnished inner-city apartment, which will be really expensive.
Schools are vary variable: Sydney is divided by socioeconomic class and the better schools are largely in more middle class suburbs. There are some academic selective schools. We also have a very large private school sector which attracts a fair amount of govt funding (both state and Federal) and attracts more "aspirational" families and these factors have had a negative impact on public schools. If you rattle off a few suburbs, the Sydney-siders here will be able to give you a fair idea of what they are like.
It is, of course, complete rubbish that Melbourne is better than Sydney. The Melbourne-ites have been telling this fairy story for years to distract visitors from their dreadful weather ;) Sydney is fabulous: bold, busy, beautiful, full of cultural diversity and the food and climate are fantastic. But it is bloody expensive (and so is Melbourne). Canberra is cheap, but very boring.
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Have at look at permaculture. The UK Permaculture Magazine is probably the best place to get a feel for what's going on ( I can only just type on my new iPad, so a link is beyond me at the moment) . Lots of urban food growing, sustainability, and earth building. Also google " hobbit house Wales" for a lovely building. And "tiny house". - cubby houses for grown ups. DS 12 loved the you-tube clip.
There was a Grand Designs episode on an earth ship in France. And there is a guy who build houses out of rubbish. I'll try to find a link later.
Have you looked at the book Shelter by Lloyd Khan?
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Sounds like you need some help on the farm: you could look into WWOOFERS (Willing workers on organic farms - work half day each day of their stay in exchange for food and board) or a CSA where you provide boxes of produce for both a time and monetary commitments. Do you have a permaculture group in your area? They may be able to provide help, interns (ie unpaid help that you teach your skills to), landshare and customers. You will need to use chemical free and organic methods, though.
Also have a look at the book Your Money or Your Life. It will teach you to rethink your relationship with money, and give you some parameters to determine why you are working (because for many of us, its not just about money) and what you spend your money on and why.
Its bloody hard to work and homeschool - I did it for several years, with DH and I both juggling work and school. We still both do this part-time. I have to plan in advance, be organised, choose resources carefully and I often have to be the happy face and the driver. I know I am the one who holds it all together. That's OK, but it is draining and sometimes I just want to do big slabs of nothing.
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I am a truly woeful speller. I always have been. I got in trouble for it at school (to the point of caning), never had a gold star on my chart and was made to feel like an idiot (despite being several years ahead in maths and reading). I spent hours each week trying to learn spelling words. I will still rearrange sentences and substitute other words for those I can't spell. I am a voracious reader, I read early, and I won the English prize at school (my English teacher used to marvel at my shocking spelling in year 12). I have a science degree, and I worked for several years as a scientific writer and editor for the one of the world's most highly regarded evidence-based medicine journals. My poor spelling has been a pain at times, but it has never had a big impact, certainly not on par with the importance given to it when I was in primary school.
My son and husband are fabulous spellers. Both are/were advanced readers. I have never taught DS12 spelling because it would be silly given that I often ask him how to spell something when we are working on a summary on the board together (he used to find this hilarious). He and I have discussed this and he thinks its because I don't (can't or won't) form a picture of the word in my head. My mother is another advanced reader and lousy speller, as was my dad. I'm sticking with the genetic hypothesis!
Danielle
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Hi everyone,
I've only read up to page 2 of this thread and must now stop to go and do something, but I just had to say a huge THANK YOU! This thread is the Christmas present I really needed
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We've been involved in Steiner education for the past 8 years, first as part of a playgroup, then with my son at a Steiner school from preschool (aged 4), through kindergarten and first grade, till we removed my son in second grade, aged 7. We have used Steiner homeschooling materials, mainly from Christopherus, from grade 2-5, and have become more classical in our approach from grade 6 (we're on summer holidays now, and will begin year 7 in February). We are Australian. Steiner education isn't huge here (there are 3 Steiner schools in Sydney, a city of almost 5 million). And what you call Waldorf, we call Steiner, so when I talk about Steiner, I'm usually referring to the movement, not the man.
Ok, with that background out of the way, on with the story! We removed our son from school because of his class teacher. The class had a huge gender imbalance (18 boys, 6 girls, young male teacher) and a big focus on sport (unusual for a Steiner school but based entirely on the interests and talents of the teacher). My son is very bright, was an early reader and has non-verbal dyspraxia. It was an unhappy mix. He had become the target of bullying, was really miserable and the class teacher did nothing to curb the problems, blaming most of them on DS. He also ran quite a punitive regime and clearly disliked my son. I want to stress that it was the teacher's lack of ability to deal with the situation and his own feelings that caused us to remove DS, rather than any problem with the philosophy at that stage. But there were warning signs. I felt that the school was pulling DS away from us, his parents, and that the school wanted to be the dominant influence. The class teacher had no idea that my son could read in grade 1 and this wasn't valued - it was something to be worried about (he swore openly when he discovered the level of DS's reading ability, which was about grade 6 level in grade 1), and DS was being singled out for "extra lessons" to deal with his "clumsiness" and lack of ability to "cross the midline". When we questioned the bullying and announced we were about to homeschool, the only solution offered was to drop DS down a grade. As he was the only literate and numerate child in the class, this was completely unacceptable and we removed him within the week. The school dropped us like a hot scone. Incidently, bullying continues to be an issue in that class, to the point of attempted self-harm in one child.
Of course, the above is about one school and one teacher. The lack of school hierarchy (many school don't have a principal) makes complaint very difficult. I didn't see great evidence of outrageous anthroposophical teachings in the stuff I looked at, but some of the homeschool materials (which usually come from Steiner schools) are weird. DH and I are scientists. I've had no trouble with science in primary school, although some of the "man and animal" block from grade 4 is kooky (eg Live Education - great drawings, weird science. Christopherus is scientifically sound). Maths can be light on (eg Live Ed) or extremely rigorous (Christopherus, Making Math Meaningful, Path of Discovery). Language arts is usually sound (the US Steiner homeschooling materials are better than Australian mainstream materials- we remain grammar-shy), and art, music and foreign language is fabulous in the schools themselves. It can be hard to stick to or adapt to a lack of media, but once we embraced this, it was a huge plus (we are less concerned now DS is older), and I actually think that its the lack of media, lack of junk food, and lack of violent toys and images that makes Steiner parents stick together - once you rid your house of plastic horrors and T-shirts with armed monsters, you and your kids find them really jarring (my son once ran screaming from a rack of pyjamas at the shops).
It isn't unusual for kids in Steiner schools to still not read at 9. Its considered perfectly OK. Reading is taught beautifully and the lessons are rich and highly verbal, so your daughter won't miss out. Ask to attend the school (you too) for a week. Ask to look at the work of kids from higher grades. The school won't tell you about anthroposophy, so you will have to read the high schoolers work to see how it permeates areas like science and history. There may also be a strong Christian emphasis (which is where we have parted company in the last year or so). You will only find this out by looking at samples of work, and looking past the truly spectacular art and presentation.
I'm not sure why you've decided to stop homeschooling (although once you start, I suspect you never really stop), but it might be worth looking at some of Christopherus materials - they are very rigorous and I think, the best of the Steiner materials on the market. Not quite open-and-go but very easy to work with. They will also send you previous years work (eg language arts) if you need it to catch up. A Little Garden Flower is another option - very gentle. Both the authors of Christopherus and ALGF dealt with delayed reading in their own children.
I hope some of the above mad ramble was useful!
Danielle
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We do this, as well as adding on a more laid-back writing program like Killgallon, which we do in 2 x 30min periods each week. The rest of our writing instruction happens in history and science. DS has just turned 12 and will start year 7 next year. He's very capable but loathes the physical act of writing (he has mild dyspraxia). We read between 2 and 4 sources and then make a plan. This might be a mind map if its large subject (eg Celtic Britain), or a list of important points to flesh out (like a primary outline) for a single subject summary (eg Celtic religion). The former is then tackled as separate smaller summaries using this list method. Once we have a list of important points, we flesh them out with details from the various sources. We then compose an essay: opening paragraph (define topic, tell them what you're going to tell them) and a paragraph for each important point, adding the details we've noted, then a closing paragraph (tell them what you've told them). I don't follow the 5 paragraph essay format.
We do this together. There is lots of discussion. Sometimes I scribe and we usually compose the summary on the blackboard before DS copies it into his book. DS watched this process for 6 months or so before I pushed him for input (he usually gave some anyway). He can now do it by himself, but I reduce the source materials down to 2 and make sure that they aren't radically different or that one adds detail to the big picture presented by the other, and I'm always on hand.
Science is similar, depending on the content area. Lab reports are a bit more formulaic. I'm currently pushing structured short answers for geography and science (seems essay writing is easier!), and we'll start lit and poetry analysis next year, with writing attached.
I'd be really pleased if WWS was released in a "Complete Writer" format so that I could run the process with our content, but I'm happy using Killgallon for creative writing and it has improved DS's writing across the board. I also pick bits out of Writing Strands.
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Killgallon turned my reluctant writer around. And Brave Writer fixed his mother - it made me relax and enjoy the process, rather than worrying about the product.
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I'm not sure that I get this. You've said you need ways of reducing his load, he's asked you to help him get more free time, you don't want to push him and yet you want him to go to a maths camp on the other side of the world that he doesn't want to go to. Of course he's not keen on being away from you for a month - he's 12.
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I don't think measuring homeschool time against school time is helpful, despite our years of conditioning. Schools are fabulously inefficient at teaching bright kids and the level of intensity of teaching and learning in a room of 25-35 children simply does not compare to one-on-one. I had one-on-one teaching for English in high school, with the same teacher I shared with 20 other girls for a lower level of English the rest of the week. I covered more work in 2 periods one-on-one than I did in 5 periods in a larger class. It was intense, I learned a great deal and I was mentally tired after each lesson - this was my fun subject and I LOVED it, but it was hard work.
I agree that a day of nothing is a good idea. For mum and dad as well.
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Hi Ruth,
I was your son. I was burnt out by the time I got to Uni at 18. I failed first year. It was a valuable lesson. I had no idea how to say "no" to anything (I'm still not great at it). I was the first person in my family to go to uni, so there was no one to give me advice. I had no studying skills and no idea how to set priorities or juggle competing time commitments. And because I had taken extra subjects for the HSC (year 12 exams) and worked away from home in the 3 months immediately following the exams, I was exhausted before I even got to uni.
Your son is the same age as mine. He is a child. He gets to voice preferences for activities, but he doesn't get to choose what he does when. You are the grown-up. You have to set some limits. He's telling you that he needs you to do that for him. His school work consists of several intense subjects, mostly skills based, which last for long periods, and you both have very high standards. He has a lot of afterschool activities. He needs some time when he has nothing on, preferably several hours each day. Seriously, having nothing to do and having to think up something to occupy you is a vital part of a child's development. He needs to be bored, go for a ride to the park, do stupid things with other kids, get up to mischief...... You'll give him a fabulous gift if you give him freedom. You both have to ask yourselves, "what is the point of all this?" The journey should be as rewarding as the destination.
How to cut it all down? Can you take 30 mins off maths each day and slow writing down a bit so that it takes 45mins instead? Science and history are probably his break subjects, so leave them alone. That's academics down to three hours. When he gets used to it, he'll probably achieve the same amount of work in a shorter time. As for afterschool activities, 2 is quite sufficient. Really, it is!!!! He might have to alternate different activities over different terms. Swimming or win tsun (but not both!) and homeschool group stay (sport and recreation are important to balance we all-in-the-head types). He needs set reading time at night and then the light goes off (my son would read till the next morning if we didn't physically remove the book and turn off the light).
I think you've really identified one of the major problems: his teachers are only focused on their subjects, so they have no concern for the big picture. He will still have musical aptitude when he is 18: he just won't be a remarkable protegee. He will have something far more valuable: a childhood. This is the big picture. And that's your job.
Good luck!!!! I'd send you a big hug smilie, but I'm too tired to find it (I'm not so good at taking my own advice).
Danielle
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I have a reluctant writer (he composes writings happily, but loathes the physical act of writing) so I kill two birds with one stone. We do our writing in history - read, take notes/outline, compose summary, he copies into book and illustrates (we have come from a Steiner model). He's interested in the content, so this helps him stay motivated. There is no way he would sit through 3 hrs of language arts (or even WWS + history writing), and neither would I. Language arts (grammar, some composition eg Kilgallon) is 30mins/day. Reading is extra - he's a book worm and we read aloud twice a day, as well as in science and history. I loathe written comprehension work so that's never going to happen at our house, but we do discuss a lot.
Danielle
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We're due to finish next week. We should have finished this week, but DS11's brain fell out sometime in 2nd term and I have been looking for it ever since. Progress has been slooooooooow. I really hope 12 is better than 11! Right now, I just need a holiday.
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Its my guess that if this book wasn't American many of you would feel differently. TKAM is a big part of your culture, and I think its fabulous that this very frank story is so well read (we are still in denial about much of our past in Australia) but in my not very humble opinion, its not Ok to present an 8 year old with ideas like rape, incest and domestic violence. This is not a child's book. The fact that you have to ask probably means you already know the answer. I don't mean to sound narky, but I feel really strongly about this. She will be a child for such a short time. Savour it.
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Your son is six. He's still a baby. Good on you for not obsessing about accelerating and choosing what will work for your child instead. For kids your sons age maths need to be about games, getting to know numbers and lots of fun. Make a shop, sell him his lunch or some toys. We did no maths at 6. Seriously, NONE, apart from counting and writing numbers. We covered place value and the four processes in year 2 and then started to ramp up in year 3. We switched to MEP this year (year 6). I wish we'd swapped earlier, but I'm still happy with our earlier approach (a Waldorf curriculum, Christopherus, with Key to... books). My son has struggled to learn his times tables, not for want of trying. MEP has greatly improved his mathematical reasoning and all of a sudden, his multiplication facts are just falling into place. He's enjoying maths and I'm amazed at his progress. Its a fairly subtle spiral curriculum and I think this has really helped.
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We tried to learn maths facts. We recited tables, skip counted, walked, stamped, clapped, wrote them out, made posters, etc, etc. None of it worked. We changed to MEP this year (DS is 11 and we jumped in at MEP6, with some backtracking for new topics). He gets it! He knows his tables (he couldn't recite them if he tried, but he can divide and multiply with the best of them). He's turning into a maths boy. For us, trying to learn tables was just an exercise in frustration. DS learned the info through repeated application in a good, conceptual maths program.
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We used Christopherus from grade 2-grade 5. It has plenty of grammar, just no busy work (ie there are very few worksheets!). Grammar is taught during other subjects, while the children are writing about the current topic. Do you have the complete Christopherus curricula for each year, or just a few of units? The grammar is only really in the full years' curricula, but Christopherus does have a language arts book which basically covers grades 1-8 (which I must admit I haven't laid eyes on). I know they will sell you the previous years language arts stuff if you've bought a full years curriculum and need to back-track. They are very helpful if you contact them.
Danielle
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We've jumped into year 6 and are back tracking where we need to for new concepts (eg negative numbers). I started in yr 6 rather than yr 7 because I thought the concepts were better explained. We'll finish MEP yr6 half way through yr7 for DS11. I plan to use MEP yrs 7&8 as review in the second half of the year, as well as covering some bits of the Australian syllabus that we'll miss. This will leave us doing MEP year 9 in our year 8, on track to finish the course by our year 12 if we don't jump across to an Australian curriculum.
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We're nearly finished 6th grade. We still use main lesson books for history and maths, and more or less for science and English. We began as Steiner homeschoolers and still are in many respects, although we no longer do main lesson blocks. For history, all DS11's work goes in the MLB - summaries, drawings, etc. Sometimes he writes the summaries, sometimes he copies them from my writing on the board. Sometimes he draws, sometimes we download pictures form the internet (depends on how we are going for time). We still cover history in time-period/country blocks, so we've just finished Rome and are looking at the Celts, before starting the Middle Ages. His main lesson book is less elaborate than last year (5th) because I am demanding more from him in terms of reading source material, planning the block, writing summaries, drawing maps, etc, so there is less time for pretty borders and illustrating each page.
For maths, his MLB, which he started in 4th grade, is his main information source. Each time we cover a new topic (we now use MEP), we write a summary and an example in the MLB. If he needs to refer back to something, the MLB is there. Worksheets are kept in ring binder. English is similar. We're having a year off formal grammar, so we've been a bit eclectic. He's just finished Vocab from the Classical Roots and has done the work in an exercise book. A summary of the root words, prefixes and suffixes has been placed into his English book (presentation book with plastic sheets). This contains his 4th grade summaries of the parts of speech, sentence types, etc from 5th grade and is his reference book. We also used Killgallon, and we did the same thing: work in an exercise book, summary in English book.
Science is a bit different this year. We've been working on earth science and have made lots of beautiful MLB-type pages on volcanoes, earthquakes etc, but they are going in a ring binder, along with his science notebook (A4 with punched holes) and his current work on physics (a mix of MLB-style pages, home-mad worksheets and prac reports). Last year science was all MLB, but the change to a binder seems more appropriate this year.
Something to keep in mind: pictures of other kids MLB are usually stunning. Remember that the goal is to educate your child, not produce pretty MLB. They do seem to develop a life of their own, and this can be a source of angst for both parent and child (and yes, that is my voice of experience talking!)
HTH
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Anyone homeschooling in Australia?
in General Education Discussion Board
Posted
Sorry - I'm a bit slow today. Chatswood will be expensive for houses because its got lots units and houses are rare. Anything on the north side of the city is expensive. Really, anything within half an hours commute of the city is unaffordable for mere mortals. You could try Hornsby, Mt Colah and Ku ring gai. Lovely leafy suburbs on the train-line, and on the edge of the national park.
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