Home Education is a legal alternative to school based education for children in South Australia.
Families interested in teaching their children at home are urged to obtain a copy of the Education Act and Children's Services Act and become familiar with the regulations that apply to school attendence. Information about applying for exemption from attendance at school can be found on the Department of Education and Children's Services.
There are several homeschooling support groups in South Australia and these offer companionship and support for parents and children, as well as educational opportunities, excursions, activities and camps. Home educators seek the best education possible for their children and make use of the whole community, learning from many sources and in many different environments, as well as the home.
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SA branch of the
Home Education Association Inc.
The Home Education Association of Australia South Australian branch was formed in July 2007. This group is affliated with the HEA and aims to support and promote home education in Australia. For more information please email or Marina.
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If you wish to share your experiences as a home educator or would like to make contact with other homeschooling families in your area please consider listing yourself as a contact person on the HEA Support groups and Contacts SA page.
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Home Education SA
If you are interested in meeting other homeschoolers and going on educational and social excursions, please think about joining the very active and friendly Yahoo group for South Australian home educators:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/home-education-sa/
Your inquiry and questions will be quickly
answered. There are dozens of active members on the list experienced
with all aspects of home education, including getting approval for
exemption from attending school, answering doubts about socialisation,
different home education approaches, where to find resources and
educational materials, etc. Check out the files and database sections
for dozens of articles and links to other great homeschooling
resources.
"Thank you everyone - I
was very encouraged by your emails. I'm loving this group, wish I'd
found it months ago." Deb
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HBLSA Newsletter
This newsletter is a 'non profit' effort, to help those in South Australia (and beyond if you wish) to stay in contact with what is happening and some local resources. The articles are written generally by other subscribers of HBL, (the parents and children) about various activities they are involved in, and wish to share with you. Published 6 times a year in print and online format.
Nadia, the new editor would love to hear from you! Articles and items for inclusion in the newsletter, welcome!
For subscription details please visit: http://www.websouth.com.au/hbl/
The newsletter is the best way to
stay in touch with what is happening in South Australia with
homeschooling. It contains a list of activities for the coming term
and is a valuable networking tool. Please support and use the
newsletter by sending news, announcements and information about useful
resources to the editor for publication.
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SA Homeschool Camps
Different families
organise several homeschooling camps each year.
Camps are fantastic ways to get to know other homeschoolers
and make friends. Please join
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SAHomeschoolCamps
for more information and past and future camps.
The following articles are provided to help families organise and
prepare for homeschooling camps. If you like quality time with other
homeschoolers why not get together with some friends and organise a
homeschooling camp?
Information about organising homeschooling camps can be found in the e-booklet Homeschool Camps by Beverley Paine.
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Ashton Scholastic Book Club
The book club has been
split into separate clubs for the different metropolitan areas. Please post
an inquiry to
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/home-education-sa/
to find out who to contact in your area. It may take a day or two to receive
a reply from the coordinator in your area. If you don't receive a reply,
please ask again. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Getting
Approval to Home Educate in SA
Many families in South Australia apply for exemption from attending school and are member of the online support group:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/home-education-sa/
The group is a good source of up-to-date information about families' experiences with this process. Read through the archived messages or send a post to the group introducing yourself and asking any questions that you may have.
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Curriculum
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South Australian Network Library
The
South Australian Network Library is a free service
and is a part of the SA Home Ed yahoo support group. The library database on
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/home-education-sa/database is
available to all members, who can upload a description of any book
they wish to add to the library, or peruse to find books they'd like
to borrow. To borrow a book, please contact the owner of the book
listed on the database and arrange pickup/postage and return deliver.
To become a member of the library you need to become a member of the
Yahoo group. You can elect to not receive emails posted to the list
and simply use the library or other resources on the site if you wish.
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Research on Home
Education in Australia
Glenda Jackson has complied a very
thorough
summary paper on research on home education in Australia.
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Community Information Services Australia Inc has launched a new website called SAcommunity, with links to sites such as Eventspool, Infosearch, Commonwealth Carelink, etc.
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Charlotte Mason Support Group
Mason was an British educator who emphasized the use of whole, living
books, nature study and the humanities. Our group is for parents
interested in sharing their ideas on homeschooling with a CM flavour.
Meetings commence sharply at 2.00 pm and finish promptly at 4.00 pm.
Group Homepage:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/CatholicUnschooling/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
For those interested there's info on the ACER
(Australian Council for Educational Research) site regarding the
national tests conducted and some sample tests for different
year levels.
www.acer.edu.au/tests/schools/lanna/intro.html Thanks Tina for
this information!
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Child and Youth Health (CYH) offer free
screening done by CYH for all 4-5 year olds. This includes weight,
height, hearing and vision testing. It takes about 30 minutes. Just
book in at your local CYH centre.
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Home Education Australia
National association that organises national
conferences together with Education Choices:
http://www.hea.asn.au/
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UnschoolKidz
A place for homeschooled children to share
stories, jokes, games etc. By homeschoolers for
homeschoolers! No longer accepting contributions but still available for viewing.
http://unschoolkidz.beverleypaine.com/
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