Need help registering for Home Schooling our kids whilst travelling Oz

We did distance Ed. There were very few dead lines. We just didn't put stuff in if we couldn't and they were fine with that. We never had to do phone calls etc, not sure what you mean by weekly calls. From the many hundreds of people we meet Distance Ed in NSW was considered the best of all the states due to the flexibility and what we could manipulate. Class notes were simply mailed to the next destination it maybe 3 weeks before we got there and we told them we were going to be at XX date. It also didn't cost all that much, certainly not 1000. We spent 6 Months so far travelling.

Sounds like you got the wrong inexperienced person on the other end. Happens heaps with almost every thing we try to do. Its just an inexperienced person answering the phone. A bit like an apprentice mechanic working on my car never again. I would try again even getting a contact person from others that have done it. I used Dist Ed last year and it was ok at home but on the road it was a nightmare. It took a full day from 9am to 3pm to complete the required units not to mention the two weekly mail out and in. As for the phone you simply cannot do it with dist ed while on the road you need a land line. I asked about using public schools but that idea was rejected due to funding. I am training to be a teachers aide and blown away by the amount of stuff the kids at school are not finishing because of classroom disruptions. Mostly by unruly children that are not disciplined at home. I am seriously thinking about taking my daughter back out as some of the kids there are taking up so much of the teachers time with disruptive behaviour. Sorry my gripe for the day.
Try to contact one of your reply's to get their contact person to talk to.
Good luck with your plans.
I firmly believe our children get a better junor education from a loving family and ones that travel.

Hi

I too am looking into home schooling rather than distant ed and have just received my pack and it looks very complex.....I have just been to see my neighbour who is a school teacher and she tells me that at the end of this year distant ed should be a lot easier as the whole of Australia will be singing off the same sheet i.e all children will be learning the same in all states so she thinks that the cost may come down.......she also stated that distant ed would be the way to go as I wouldn't be able to teach all the curriculum doing home schooling........I know this doesn't answer your question but thought it may help somehow!!!

Regards

Karen

Change your kids schools from independent back to the public system , confer with the school principal and your kids teachers and get them to give you the basic outline of work /study that the kids would be undertaking if in the classroom for the period of your travels , set aside a school work period each week be it only 2-3 hrs , have the kids email their school a letter outlining their travels and adventures on a regular basis while away ,,,
Kids generaly learn more in 6mths " on the road" than they do in the same time frame sitting in a class room ,
Dont know about the system in NSW but our young fellas QLD school principal and his teachers were more than happy with the arrangement , at the end of year exams after 6mths away he was in the top 5 of his class in all bar one subject , Lote.

Hi There Road to Discovery!
Mate you are in for the time of your life. My wife and I and our 2 boys 9 & 12 headed off around Oz for 9 months last year. We had concerns about schooling also and heard the scary side of distance ed. Like you, we had no concrete plans except what direction we were travelling! There is no way I could have told anyone were we would be more than a couple of weeks out.
We looked into home schooling also and that is definitely doable for Qld based families as we met families on the road from Qld doing it. I had discussions with the Principal of our kids "State" Primary school about just taking the kids text books and looking after the kids schooling ourselves. She knew us well and was confident that we would keep the kids going with academic work so she was able to sign off on a 9 month leave of absence from attending school. Qld school principals have the authority to make that decision so discuss your options with a State school Principal in NSW. AS Alloy mentioned it might be worth enrolling your kids in public school while you are away.

We met a family from WA doing the same thing. They tried to regiment the schooling to much by insisting that it happen everyday and they had a lot of tears and arguments by not going with the flow more.

The way we handled it was to have a school "day" somewhere in the week where it suited us to be stationary for the day and my wife would be the teacher and take them through the work in their text books. At the start the boys had to be spoon feed all the way but by the end of the trip they were very independent learners and could get through the work on their own most of the time. This meant they could the school work while we were driving and having it finished so they could go exploring when we stopped was good motivation! We backed the school day up with fun math activities, spelling and times tables on other days of the week.

A trip around Oz is like one huge school excursion. We met up with school groups every where. We even asked one group if our kids could join in on the activities and they gave us a copy of the quiz sheet their students were working on. There are real life lessons every where and the kids will understand and retain the information so much better than in the classroom. We were at the bottom of Tasmania below 43deg Latitude so talking about that with the kids resulted in the compass coming out and an impromptu lesson on Lat & Long. We even built a sun dial the next day! Great stuff and incredibly bonding for all involved.

My advice to panic about the school work too much. Take their Maths and English text / activity books and mark the pages so that you know what you have to get through each week to keep them up with their peers. The kids learn a lot from the questions they ask and the answers you give. Wireless broadband is a blessing and invaluable for looking up something that Mum & Dad can't remember the answer to!
Focus on enjoying your trip first and the school work second and trust me, it will all work out fine and your kids will be more worldly wise and be better off for it. We haven't regretted it for a moment.

We left on our trip after New Years 2009 and we wanted to be back so the boys could complete the last term of school, mainly because the oldest was in year 7 last year and was starting high school this year. With your kids being as young as they are having the year off wouldn't be a problem. Focus a lot on reading and you'll be fine.

Have a great time!

As an ex teacher I have never known students who travelled with sensible parents to be disadvantaged when they returned to school. They are usually ahead. It will be a great experience for you all. I would recommend Distance Ed if you feel you need support for teaching materials etc. As others have said there is no need for great panic and rigidity. At the ages of your children there is not a lot of difficult academic content to worry about. Keep up their reading and maths and take advantage of all the opportunities you find. A wonderful teaching/learning tool is to help them each keep a scrapbook/diary of the trip. This will cover most skills and will be treasured for many years. It will be something to show their school when they return.
You will need to be a bit organised and spend some regular time on learning but not a lot and not even every day. Children in early primary school don't spend all day toiling away at written work! Think about how long it takes to mark the role, collect lunch money, line up, go to the library, do sport etc. Work early in the day when everyone is fresh and hold out rewards like swimming etc when it is finished. Try to avoid battles but make it clear from the beginning that SOME things have to be done and they will soon settle in to Mum and Dad helping with school work. Good luck Lynne

Hi :)
We aren't travelling around Australia as yet, thats planned for later this year once we sell our house.

However I do homeschool my 5 boys! I plan to just go. I use pre set curriculum books for maths/english/science and personal development/health (purchased from local educational bookshops), the rest we will make up along the way (so if we see a particular animal, then that weeks work will be photographing it, searching on the laptop for habitat/food/history etc then they will write and assignment with photos! Same as we get to exciting towns, or towns that have particular industry etc. That way they are learning more by actually being there than at home at the table!

I dont think I will even tell the ed dept here, we will jsut disapear, then re-register once we settle long term in a new state.

I have special needs children, so formal schooling has never worked for us anyway (autism or mild intellectual disabilitites/physical disabilities for them all). I cant imagine trying to struggle and do distance ed while travelling! I like to make my own curriculum to suit the situation!

Good luck with what ever you do!

Hi there,
We are currently travelling around with 2 boys who we school through the Distance Ed Centre in Melbourne. We have found the lessons to be well set out and very informative but also that the whole system is very flexible for travellers.
The boys usually study for about 2 hours a day, which we find best done in the mornings, when possible. When we first set off we tried doing school work in the afternoon after our other activities but soon realised that the boys were tired and not able to concentrate so we changed our tactic and since then all school work is the first thing we do.
At first we found that our older son was being snowed under with work because we were trying to complete every activity in the book, but after a phone call to his teacher she said not to worry and just complete what we could and to make sure the boys at least keep a daily journal, do some reading and some maths activities.
Yes you all need to be disciplined but it is a small price to pay to get the chance to travel and see so many awesome things that our country has to offer and the children learn so much more from the experience.
The boys know that if they do their school work without any whinging and whining then they will be rewarded in the afternoon by going to a park/museum or anything that is appropriate at the time.
The Distance Ed Centre was only $120 per student for the year which I think is excellent for the amount of resources they send out to you.
To enrol we just needed a letter from our principal at the time stating that we were travelling for 6-12 months.
I hope that you can get your education dilemmas sorted out quickly and smoothly so you can get on the road and do what so many other families are doing too. I'm sure you will never regret it.