Homeschool Australia Teach Your Children at Home

Congratulations on your decision to teach your children at home!

This page will give you some clues as to what to do next... There is a LOT of information available on the internet and hopefully this brief guide will get started.

My name is Beverley Paine and I began home educating in 1986, which means my three children are now all adults. They are all happy they had the opportunity to learn at home and in the community, rather than at school.

The pages in this section of the Homeschool Australia website include:

First of all I'd like to reassure you that homeschooling is a legal alternative to school based education for children in South Australia. Secondly, you aren't alone in your decision to home educate! There are hundreds of families registered with the Department of Education (see my other article on registering as a home educator in SA).

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.

The HEA provides support group listings for SA in the online Resource Directory: http://hea.asn.au/resources/results_sg.asp?state=SA .

Anyone can list a group using this online form: http://hea.asn.au/resources/support_add.asp. If you'd like other families to contact you, use this form to register your interest. HEA members can elect to have their contact details displayed as individual contacts.

There are public and member forums on the HEA website - many homeschooling families use the public forum to seek others in their area, or like-minded families using the same or similar homeschooling approach to build friendships: http://hea.asn.au/forum/display_forum.asp .

In South Australia the main way the homeschooling community keeps in touch is through a Yahoo Group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/home-education-sa. There is a Yahoo Group for country homeschoolers too: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sacountryhomeschoolers; and one for families interested in organising or attending homeschool camps: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/SAHomeschoolCamps .

I can send you an information pack about homeschooling in SA - simply send three 55c stamps with your postal address to:
Beverley Paine,
HEA SA Chapter,
PO Box 371,
Yankalilla SA 5203

A good place to start homeschooling is by reading as much as you can about home education. It will be daunting at first because there is SO much information!

I've written quite a few books and booklets for Aussie homeschoolers - links to these can be found in the right hand column on this page. I take a personalized approach to education and my book Getting Started with Homeschooling is a practical manual that describes how you can write your own learning programs and build your own curriculum to suit your family and your individual children rather than buying one off the shelf. A do-it-yourself curriculum isn't hard to create and doesn't take long to do. Visit other homeschooling families and join a support group so that you can see how easy it really is!

The Home Education Association Inc of Australia produces a regular newsletter, online magazine and resource directory for members: see http://hea.asn.au for more details.

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.

Click here for more information about homeschooling in South Australia.