To school or not to school is something we used to think about alot (me more than Dan). Both Daniel and myself have an opinion (they are usually completely opposite)- mine is a little more free flow actually mine is ALOT more free flow. With myself already having a background in early education I learnt from early on there is more than one way that children can learn. Our children are 7, 5 and 4 so only Jordan and Amity are in school, we chose the closest school to our house that we were in the catchment area for- Bletchley Park Primary School Perth Western Australia, it’s a great school, it’s big and has it’s usual school rituals. Cayden will most probably not enter school at this stage, but that is going to be all their choice when they are old enough to make that decision if they want to re-enter the public school system.
As time has gone on and the decision to travel full time has been cemented we have been forced to decide how we are going to educate our children. We have looked at different ways of schooling our children which has drawn us down many avenues. Wildschooling, unschooling, home-schooling, distance education and I am sure there are a few more out there. Although there are only 2 of those previously mentioned that are legal here in Australia and that is Homeschooling (WA) and Distance Education (WA), legally here in Oz you must have your children enrolled in the school system.
When first starting to plan all of this we were swaying towards distance education which is essentially taking the classroom with you. We would have to follow an already set curriculm and do a certain amount of hours everyday, with exams, worksheets and hand it back to be marked by a certain time period etc which was not really what we were searching for- we kind of felt a little depleated at this stage. To be honest I am all for teaching our children while on the road but it wasn’t really what I had in my mind plus this is good for short term not long term or for long term travels outside of Oz. As for myself I was looking for child-led learning and to find something that supports this. Which is essentially where you follow the interests of the child. Which makes perfect sense as we will be travelling and learning on the road anyways. So I had no choice but to look at home schooling- in all honesty it was my only choice left. After meeting with the moderator I was hooked and pleased- Dan was kind of just going with the flow which is his style lol. Homeschooling is where you must follow the criteria for the Curriculm for Western Australia but meet this in any which way possible and you can do this by following your child’s interest. BUT here’s the catch- you must program and set the learning for your child each and every year and make sure they are up to date, you do need to send off photo’s, video’s, work examples to a moderator and she ticks you off for the year and gives the children the pass mark for that particular grade. For example- Jordan learnt his numbers 1-30 from watching his Dad’s local football team before he was 4, he memorised who wore what number shirt and learnt to count up to 30. So instead of being in the classroom and sitting at a desk he was learning through something that he enjoyed- Football. It was a win win.
Our children are only young and it’s relatively ‘easy‘. I am a big believer in play based learning right up until 9-10 years old. Trying to convince the home schooling moderator this will be a different story but they are very supportive of you as the home eduactor and how you plan your child’s learning. But in all seriousness we are just rolling with what feels right at the moment and I’m sure we will find our groove as time goes on. We feel like we have made the right choice and are looking forward to seeing our children learn and find out what they are really interested in and not what school is telling them to be interested in. Dan and myself are going to share the roles of home schooling (thank goodness), not sure how that is going to go. I’m extremely scared and I may go a little koo-koo and lose my sanity but hey who knows- wherever the winds blows us right lol. I am sure that will be a whole different post on how both Daniel and myself are coping cough cough, I mean ‘enjoying‘ home schooling and what the children think of this change, as communication between the 5 of us will have to always be open so we can understand where everyones stands and how they feel. Any questions pop them below or visit our facebook page Fearless and Free Range
Living Fearlessly Kylie xx
