Homeschooling in Australia.

[harrypmgaga]

I'm thinking of starting homeschooling here in Australia soon but I read that you can't take the SC (School Certificate) or the HSC (Higher School Certificate). I'm scared about how that will affect my child going into university after he completes homeschool.

 

Also, I was wondering what places I can go to where I can purchase some textbooks for a Year 8 going into Year 9 child that is very bright and highly academic.

 

Thank you,

 

Adrian.

[AnneC]

Hi Adrian,

 

All the capital cities have education bookshops to buy education resources. I can help you for WA and the ACT but I don't know about the other states, maybe try the yellow pages.

 

As for getting into Uni there are other pathways than the HSC. Some unis accept a portfolio, many unis also have an entry exam. It is best to contact the uni you are looking at and find out.

 

Have you contacted Home Education Australia: http://www.hea.asn.au/ ? They can tell you who to contact and point you to the right guidelines for your state.

 

HTH

[Stacy in NJ]

You may want to PM Peela. Do a board search for "Peela". She has older children in or approaching High School level and lives is Aus.

[harrypmgaga]

Thanks for the words, I'll have a look at this ASAP.

[Melissa in Australia]

hi. I am planing to get my children to university by getting them to do a few courses of Open University in year 12. Apparently the courses can go toward their degree, If they do a minimum of 2 courses they can get austudy allowance, and they then don't have to worry about a HSC certificate.

 

As for text books, I have followed the recommendations in WTM, I have bought all the books in Australia. I get some from LEM in Canberra http://www.lem.com.au/ from Chariot press, who does special orders

www.chariotpress.com.au

and from adnil press http://www.adnilpress.com/

I have also bought curriculum from fishpond.com.au. if your order is over $50 than the postage is free

you can also buy the text books that schools use. most large towns have a bookshop or newsagent that is the book supplier for the local schools.

if you have any more questions, I will be happy to try to answer them.

[Peela]

There are other ways into uni that dont involve getting your HSC, but I am in W.A. and am not so familiar with other states- but I understand they are similar in that respect. I am intending on using the TAFE system- my dd15 is just finishing a cert 3 course in general adult education which will allow her access to cert 3 or 4 level TAFE courses- and from there, if she wants to, she can go to uni. Some unis here, as Ann says, accept portfolios. Some unis- only U.W.A. here- dont allow kids without a TEE ranking but I know one homeschoold girl got into their music school anyway, and it is prestigious and hard to get into. Its worth just talking to the unis themselves.

My understanding is that you can actually do the TEE- I'm not sure about the HSC- as a private student. I am intending to avoid it, because I feel its a bit of a waste of 2 years in the prime of my kids' lives.

As Ann says, you can buy text books from school book shops in most major cities. You can also buy them online. You may find though that school text books are not necessarily the best option for homeschooling- there are many books written for homeschoolers (usually U.S. based) that are much more interesting and appropriate for a child at home than a dry textbook.

It takes a while to find your feet though, and school books may be your best option till you work out what else is out there.

You can usually find The Well Trained Mind at your local library, or get it through interlibrary loan. Its a great read and you will find it useful even with a highschooler. It will open your mind to education outside of the school system.

[keptwoman]

DS is in Gr 9 this year. We pulled him from school at the end of Grade 7.

 

I've found Australian highschool textbooks to be yawningly boring. I guess they have to have them for consistent curriculum across multiple schools but we don't have to use them so feel free to explore your other options!

 

I also think the Victorian maths is not as rigorous as other programs such as Singapore so I've ditched it in favour of Singapore NSM which I feel is a much stronger program.

 

DS will be doing some OUA papers soon and possibly we will also persue some TAFE courses too. At the moment I'm concentrating on his work, but in about 6 months we will make a plan for him to get into Uni, and the first step in that process will be speaking to the Uni he wants to go to.

[LindaOz]

hi. I am planing to get my children to university by getting them to do a few courses of Open University in year 12. Apparently the courses can go toward their degree, If they do a minimum of 2 courses they can get austudy allowance, and they then don't have to worry about a HSC certificate.

.

 

This is what I'm planning too, although we may start before year 12. Once a certain amount of Open Uni courses are done, they can transfer into uni courses without having done HSC.

[harrypmgaga]

Thanks for this, I'm still not sure about the extra work that is required. It looks very daunting and time-consuming. He goes to a pretty good Catholic School here in Sydney, so I might just leave him there lol. So he can just get the HSC for the Uni he wants to go to (UNSW).

 

Thanks everyone,

 

Adrian.

[Melissa in Australia]

Thanks for this, I'm still not sure about the extra work that is required. It looks very daunting and time-consuming. (UNSW).

 

Thanks everyone,

 

Adrian.

 

 

I am not really sure what you mean by extra work. school is a lot of work and is very time consuming, if it is at home or at a school. it takes a lot of time and effort. I really think homeschooling can take less time than school because of all time saved by not traveling, quieter environment , not so much homework etc.