Learning in the Absence of Education
Essays on Homeschooling
© Beverley Paine
Index
Homeschool
Australia
A Radical Educational Alternative!
(continued)
Most of what I learn is from my own observation, and often confirmed within a short time by something I have read! When I talk to people about home education I draw upon my own experiences first. One of the most amazing things for me about networking is how most of the families I have talked to over the years echo my own experiences, despite varying philosophies and approaches to education. I learned that what we are doing, this thing called homeschooling, is actually more accurately labeled full-time parenting!
Many parents, particularly mothers, remember fondly their children's preschool years, as a time of closeness and busy-ness, filled with activities together. Disputes and problems had to be worked out quickly so family harmony could be restored. Homeschooling means retaining this approach for the next ten years of a child's life - with lots of learning done by both parent and child. In our home whatever we did well as parents of preschoolers we continued to do. Most of the things we dropped along the way were traditional educational activities and ideas. These often had no meaning in the home environment or were too contrived to be of any real use. The children were, and still are, our harshest critics of our educational and parenting approach!
What we do each day at home has naturally changed over the years. How our eldest child was educated/parented is completely different from our youngest. Permaculture and natural learning shape our lives now, not the messages in our heads, the ones we grew up with - the importance of appearance, competition and money. Every day we have to make difficult decisions about what we are going to do and how to do it. Difficult, because everything impacts on everything else and we need to tread lightly on the planet. Maintaining the wonderful relationships we have in this family is crucially important. I believe by building families we build communities.
Home education is an enormous commitment to our children's lives and futures. The responsibility of being there all day for them is sometimes daunting, but friends are quick to offer support. I know that we are pioneers of homeschooling in South Australia, and that pioneering work is often hard. I believe in a family's right to choose the most appropriate education for their children, as stated by Universal Declaration of Human Rights. So often people are happy to select from the limited selection already available without thinking they can create something entirely different!
With homeschooling education can be whatever you want it to be - whatever you need right now. For me that is freedom and power. These are what I want my children to grow up with.
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Excerpt from Learning in the Absence of Home Education: Essays on Homeschooling
© Beverley Paine, 1999
