Homeschooling radio interview on Fairdinkum Radio 8/7/2015

The other week I was invited to speak with Leon Prittard from Fairdinkum Radio. Here is a link to the interview. 

Interview with Leon 8/7/2015

Please feel free to comment and share the blog and the interview on Facebook. You can also "Like" my Facebook page "My life as a homeschooling teacher."

Love Alexis

The reasons of others

I've already covered our personal reasons for home schooling which you can read about.

But what about other home schooler's reasons?

Well there are many reasons parents choose to home school. Some welcome the decision while others feel like they've been forced into it due to their circumstances. The reasons for home schooling our kids is wide and varied, but the one thing we all have in common is that we do what we believe to be in the best interests of our children. Here are some of the reasons parents choose to home school their kids.

Special Needs: A common reason for home schooling that I see is students with special needs. Parents with kids that have Attention Deficit Disorder, Autism, Anxiety, Oppositional Defiance Disorder and Dyslexia (to name just a few) often make the decision that home schooling would be best for their child. They feel that the school can't provide the time and resources for their child. There are parents who have children with health issues such as epilepsy, anaphylaxis and diabetes. Both the student and the parent are worried about 'something happening' while they are at school. There are also children who have long term health issues that physically stop them from going to school. This includes kids who are having ongoing treatments and are too sick or weak to attend six hours of school each day.



Quality time: I know of a home schooling mum who made the decision to pull her daughter out of mainstream schooling after she separated from her husband. Let's call her Sue. Sue's main concern was the lack of quality time she was spending with her daughter. She figured that the school days were a 'write off' because school mornings were rushed and all about breakfast, lunches, finishing homework and uniforms. Quality time in the evenings were even harder to find. Her daughter would come home tired and cranky, and there was always homework to do. This was, of course, in between all of her after school activities which included basketball, dancing and drama classes. Sue's now ex-husband had their daughter each weekend. This left her with mornings and evening, none of which Sue felt was 'quality time.' Sue has now been home schooling her daughter for a few months and it is going well. This is one example, but Sue is not alone in her worries about the lack of quality time with her daughter. It's what every parent wants- right?

Stress: As a teacher I had no idea of how many students were stressed about coming to school. All I saw were a few kids at the beginning of the year who were a bit hesitant to come to school, but this only ever lasted a week or two. And even in those first one or two weeks the student seemed fine once the initial start of the day and saying goodbye to mum part was over.  I would never have imagined that students and parents would lose sleep because of school. Students are (amongst other things) stressed about how well they are doing compared to others, the work load put upon them (see my post on homework) the expectations they feel their parents put on them as well as friendship and social issues.

Then there are the Year 11 and 12 students who aren't coping with the pressures of their final two years of schooling. The work load is too overwhelming. There is the added pressure of needing to know what they want to do with their lives at a relatively young age. They have to choose subjects based on "what they want to be when they grow up" when they are finishing Year 10. If they don't choose 'correctly' it means they mightn't have the prerequisite subjects to apply for certain courses. I completely understand the rational behind prerequisites but it is a big thing for young kids to think about. I've seen parents home school their kids in the final few years of high school by extending it out to two years instead of three. This allows students to focus on 2-3 subjects at a time rather than a full load of subjects. The parents can work at their child's pace which the student feels comfortable with.

Working in levels: Some parents feel that schools don't adequately cater for the learning needs of their child. This includes children working well above the expected level and those who are working below the expected level. This is certainly a big issue when you are working in large classes. Please see my post "Twenty five one and onlys" for more class sizes.

What do you want your kids to learn?

What they are being taught: Some parents are afraid of what their child is getting taught in school- besides the ABCs. I'm taking about learning to obey without question, that authority is always right and must be obeyed. I remember having a student teacher a few years ago. She was a forth year university student who was in 'full control.' This means she was acting as the class teacher from the start of the day until the end of the day. I was there to observe and supervise her. There was a situation with one of the students who was swinging scissors around on his finger. She asked him to stop to which he replied "why should I?" The student teacher replied "because I'm your teacher and I told you to stop. That's why." Hhhhmmm. In this situation I'd be focusing on the fact that it was a fair and reasonable request that he stop doing what he was doing, rather than expecting him to obey her just because of her position as a teacher.

Traveling provides rich learning experiences

Travel:I used to be a teacher who used to baulk at families taking their kids out of school on holidays. Past tense. Used to. I now think that traveling the world, experiencing all that life has to offer is the best kind of education there is. What a fun way to learn about geography. How valuable would it be to learn another language by visiting and staying in that country for an extended period of time!

Never my child!

Bullying: Then there's the bullying. This seems to be a big reason for parents pulling their kids out of mainstream schools. As a teacher you see this often, if not daily. It's hard to deal with for many reasons. It's difficult because there are few parents who want to believe their child could possibly be a bully. For them a bully is a big, burly brute who throws other kids into garbage bins while other cheer them on. It's hard to believe that their precious child with pigtails and dimples could possibly be biting, pinching and scratching other children. As a parent I understand how hard it would be to believe.





As a teacher it's hard to deal with students who constantly bully other children. You want the behaviour to stop so that the other students can come to school knowing that they are going to be safe and happy throughout the day, but the sad fact is, bulling still happens. Just because I want my classroom to be a "Bully free zone" and do everything in my power to stop it from happening, it still happens. It happens while they are waiting in line, it happens in the bag area, it happens in the toilets, it happens so easily- and many times for no reason. I remember seeing a boy punch a classmate in her tummy while they were standing in the back of the line. Nothing preceded it, he just punched her- in front of me- no trying to hide it. The young girl he punched was a lovely, well mannered and friendly student who I'd never had any problems with. When questioned as to a possible reason he punched the girl his reaction was to shrug his shoulders and say 'I don't know.' (FYI the shoulder shrug is one of my biggest pet hates as a teacher) His mother defended him saying "oh yes, he has trouble controlling himself sometimes." And here we have the problem. A parent justifying their child's poor behaviour. Parental denial is a huge problem when trying to deal with bullying. Sure, there are certainly some children who legitimately struggle to control their behaviour but the kid getting punched in the stomach doesn't care about that. They care about the fact they've been punched for no reason, by a child who is going to be in close proximity for a whole year.

Then there are parents who acknowledge their child's poor behaviour who often believe the student, teacher, principal and victim's parents are overreacting to the bullying. I've seen a male student continuously snap the bra strap of a Grade 6 student. This went on for weeks with numerous trips to the principal's office- but it still continued. The mother of the offending student acknowledged that it wasn't the right thing to do but when it was suggested that he may get suspended if it continued she said that a suspension would be 'a bit harsh' because 'boys will be boys.' (I'm always amazed at how many parents justify their boys poor behaviour with this phrase.) I have often found myself wondering if the parents were bullies too when they were at school, and this is why they don't seem to have a problem with it.

What should I do next?

Sometimes parents are well aware of what their child is doing but they don't know what to do about it. They want help and they take the help that is offered to them by the school and outside facilities, but the behaviour just doesn't get any better. Even though these parents often are in the hardest situations (usually because of the severity of their child's behaviour,) and their kid is extremely challenging to manage (let alone teach,) I do feel for these parents. They are often pulling their hair out, they've often exhausted all of the resources available to them but the behaviours still persist. Sometimes they choose to home school their kids.




Regardless of the situation, the excuses/ reasons a child bullies others the issue is still there. It doesn't matter to the victim if the parents of person who is punching them are separating, they don't care if the bully is 'getting help for his/her anger' or if the bully says a forced, insincere "sorry." They care about whether it is still happening. Sometimes it's the class teacher not doing enough, sometimes it's the principal lack of effort, and sometimes it is the Education Department not doing enough. There are different levels of bullying, some of which can be dealt with at a classroom level. There are also more serious, constant bullying that is a matter for the principal and school to deal with. And there are extreme cases where the school has asked for assistance from the department, and they have received no help at all. Frustrating!

So as you can see there are many, many reasons for homeschooling. Parents do what they think is the right thing to do for their kids. When I hear of a parent struggling with the "will I or won't I " home school them decision, I always remind them that their decision is not an irreversible one. If it doesn't work out the way you want, you can always look into other alternatives, or send them to a regular, mainstream school. You have to find through trial and error what works best for you, and more importantly your kids.

Have I included your reason for homeschooling on my post? 

I hope you've found this informative and helpful. Please feel free to share on Facebook and to make a comment.

To kinder or not to kinder- that is the question!

My boys simply love kinder. And what's there not to love. There's singing, dancing, painting, mess, chickens hatching, puppet shows, noise and laughter. Elliot and Nate not only love going to kinder, they will ask if they can go even on their non-kinder days. Wow! So what's the problem?

The problem is this... it's kind of getting in the way of homeschooling. For us our boys go to kinder two days a week. The kinder is in a daycare centre and they go there for a full day on the days we choose. The issue is that if we didn't have the boys in kinder we could meet up with a lot of other homeschooling parents and their kids. I like the idea of getting some social circles going before we start the 'real stuff' in 2017. However that's going to be really difficult if the boys aren't 'free' to catch up because they are at kinder.

Then I had the wonderful idea that I could pull them out of daycare kinder and put them into 'real kinder.' You know the ones run by the parent community. I was discussing the issue with another homeschooling friend and she felt that she was in the same position as us... kinder was cramping her homeschooling style. And it was only going to get worse when her daughter goes to four year old kinder in 2016. Four year old kinder is four half days a week with a total of fifteen hours per week. These half days meant that she would find it difficult to participate in homeschooling activities with her eldest child who she has just started homeschooling. This is because many morning homeschooling activities go past 12 o'clock when the daughter would be starting her kinder.

So the question for us is- do we pull them out of kinder all together so that we can establish some solid relationships and friendships (for both the kids and the parents) in the year before we officially start. That way we can focus on the task of educating when we start. Or do we leave them in kinder for as long as they would be if they were going to mainstream schooling. There are plenty of pros and cons for each side but its a matter of what is best for our boys and our family.

We have yet to decide what we are going to do so only time will tell... anyway, Tony Abbott may be making the decision for us. 

Please feel free to share on Facebook and comment at the bottom of this post.

Love Alexis.

Twenty five one and onlys

 Twenty five one and onlys

As a beginning teacher I thought I understood how important each child was to their parents. Once I became a parent I realised that, children weren't important to their parents- they were their whole world! They want what is best for them, and many parents will do whatever it takes to give their children 'the best' of everything. I truly get that now... although there's differing opinions between parents on what constitutes 'the best.' So when parents go on school tours, or onto school website and they see the phrase 'catering for the needs of all students' (or something similar) most parents would think 'great, that's just what I need for my child.' Sounds fabulous. May I have an enrollment form please...  However, what seems to be a fantastic opportunity is flawed in many ways.

One of my main concerns as a teacher and as a parent is class sizes. Before we decided to home school I wanted my boys to be in a school that offered small class sizes because, of course, that's what they needed and 'deserved.' Where is this magical school where classes were small, all the way through the school (not just in the first few years), that is Government funded, where there are places, that is located nearby?

In my time as a teacher I've had as many as twenty nine students and as few as eighteen at one time. If you've got less than 25 students in one year you feel like you've won Tattslotto. But in reality even 18 students is a lot of kids who need your time and resources.

This is a common concern many home schooling parents have and the reason cited for their decision to take their kids out of mainstream schools. And rightfully so. Why? Let's break down the typical school day.

Thumbs up for small groups... but what about the rest of the class?

Reading, Writing and Numeracy is expected to be taught each day, for an hour each. Sound great! Sounds like plenty of time to work with each student! Hhhhmm. Well, let's break it down further. Each one hour session should consist of a 'whole group focus' which should take 10-15 minutes. An independent learning task which should take 25-30 minutes. In this time students work in groups at 'their level' and the teacher works with a 'focus group' for around 15 minutes of this session. Then there is a 'share time' at the end session which takes around 15 minutes. Sound great. Let's break it down even further. Let's look at that middle 'independent learning' block. This includes group work which always includes a group using technology (i.e. ipads, netbooks and PCs) It usually takes 5-10 minutes to get the computers that the kids are using to work and for the kids to find the app or website which they are meant to be using during that session. After these kids are sorted out and working, the teacher then goes to the kids working in the 'focus group' to spend 15 minutes with these kids. After the session with the focus group is over there are 5 minutes left to work with the rest of the class... If I exclude the children who were in the 'focus group' -you've still got around two thirds of the class that you haven't 'seen' yet. So in the average class of 25 kids, you've got around 16 kids you haven't seen yet for this session.... So you then have your share time and move onto the next lesson, hoping that anything they've written down will give you a clue as to how they were going to understanding the concept of the day's lesson.

This is what it feels like!

As a teacher I feel guilty about not being able to 'see' each student individually for the all important reading, writing and numeracy. I endeavor to make sure that my focus groups for each of these lessons are with different groups of children. That way I've at least seen each child once a day-even if I don't see them individually for each session.

Teachers, principals and schools know this is a problem. This issue is addressed by using the phrase 'differentiated curriculum.' For non teachers out there this means, that the lessons are designed to be 'open' enough that all students can enter the lesson at 'their level.' This is often incorporated into the lessons with the use of group work. Each group has a different task each day of the week and they work with students who have similar needs to their child. For parents going onto the school's website you'd be reading this, thinking, "Wow that's great." Well here's the reality of what's I've seen. I've seen students working in groups at roughly the same 'level' but expected to complete the same task as students in every single group in the class. The only difference is that they complete the task on a different day to the others. So the highly able kids work on the same task as the kids who are academically struggling- just on a different day.

This is what it feels like being a classroom teacher.

Then there is the size of the groups. I can remember seeing one class who had three groups during each Numeracy session. There was a 'bottom group,' a 'middle group' and a 'high group.' (I've used quotation marks around these group names because these were the names given to each group... I have a big problem with these names.... but that could be a whole new post!) In this class of Grade 1 and Grade 2s there were 26 children. There were two children in the bottom group and four students in the high group. Which means there were 20 children in the middle group. I'm not joking. This was in a room where the teacher claimed that their lessons were differentiated. 

I'm by no means saying that class size is the only factor that influences student performance but it is a contributing factor. There are many factors that have an impact a child's education- and this is one of them.