Learning in the Absence of Education
Essays on Homeschooling
© Beverley Paine
Index
Homeschool
Australia
Time Spent at an Alternative School
It is difficult to homeschool in the country and find others doing the same within walking, or short driving, distance. This social isolation, both for us as parents and beginning to be keenly felt by six year old April, was a key reason for looking for a suitable school. Access to specialist teachers for some creative movement, music and physical education was another consideration. These reasons eventually saw us move our home to the Fleurieu Peninsula to participate in an open, non-graded and rather revolutionary class attached to the Yankalilla Area School.
In may ways this class is a homeschooling dream come true, and even today boasts several part-time homeschooling students. The school fees are very affordable, being a government school, and the hours are flexible, open to negotiation with the teacher. The class is resourced by the Education Department, housed in the original heritage listed school building on over one acre, and separated by a road from the main school. The Annexe boasts a hall, main class room, parent room, kitchen (doubling as arts and science room), office, store room, several sheds, male and female toilets, a playground, lots of gardens and an orchard.
While we were there the Annexe had a Parent Council which met monthly and decided what and how the children were going to learn. Although the State curriculum was roughly followed, the parents and students had a major say in when and how. Parents could access the class at any time in any way they chose, and were encouraged to take an active role in all facets of school life.
We participated in the Annexe full time for eighteen months, and saw the enrolment fluctuate between twelve and twenty eight. Several parents came into the class each week to teach various subjects. I taught media studies, science, maths, gardening, art and craft, Indonesian, language, cooking, drama, organised festival and celebration days, fundraising, and more. I worked with individual students, small and large groups and the whole class. I generally spent all day, every day at school with my children, two year old Thomas in tow. It was really homeschool at school!
Homeschooled children slot into the daily program relatively easily, being able to choose when and how to participate. Usually parents attend with their children. When we began to go part time I always went to the class and offered what service I could. Sometimes it was just tidying and cleaning the shelves, cupboards and rooms, or gardening. Sometimes I'd work with the children. A lot of time was spent exchanging ideas about education with other parents, or just catching up.
The best part of belonging to this alternative 'school' was the access to the social life, which at the time continued after school hours. Camps and dinners were regular features, valued for the social bonding they provided and carefully slotted into each term's program. These were seen as absolutely necessary to knit the community together into a smooth and successfully operating unit.
Because of the size of the grounds, the range of the curriculum encompassed, and the different developmental needs of such a large age range, the Annexe relied on at least two to three parents to be in attendance each day to operate smoothly. In our first year this was easily reached, but the numbers slowly dropped off over the next few years, until the class was forced to become less alternative to manage. The class was also forced to take on 'problem' students rejected from other classes, and this severely disrupted the educational programs on offer in the Annexe.
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Excerpt from Learning in the Absence of Home Education: Essays on Homeschooling
© Beverley Paine, 1999
