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Non-year 12 entry to university: an example

Non-year 12 entry to university: an example Home educated students have successfully applied to universities all around the country using non-year 12 pathways. In Victoria, high school students at school typically sit their VCE exams and receive their ATAR, which then allows them to enrol in a university degree if certain requirements are met. But what do you do when home educated kids can

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A Safe Place to Land

Pavlina McMaster A little over a year ago, we moved out of our community of 20 years. I was excited to find a mould-free rental with a back yard, but at the time, there were so many unknowns. How was I going to find friends for my kids? How was I going to find the same support level? Was I going to find adults

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VHEAC Election – Candidates Information

The VHEAC election is now open and all registered home educators have received voting instructions from the VRQA. If you did not receive your email, contact them on 9637 2806 or home.schooling@education.vic.gov.au You can find their nomination blurbs below. Voting opens on Aug 2 for two weeks ===================== The Victorian Home Education Advisory Committee (VHEAC) provides feedback to us and the VRQA about the

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Well, we are up for Review!

Well, we are up for Review! Catherine Durrant Our family has been chosen as one of the families to have a review. Although Paul and I were against the review process and any changes to the regulations, we have no choice but to be open to the reviews and use it to our advantage. We feel the reviews will be a good opportunity to

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Lessons on the Road

Cheryl Dedman I am from Tatura in Victoria and I home educate our son Jacob (11). My husband Pete, Jacob and I have just embarked on an eight-week trek through parts of South Australia, Northern Territory, Queensland and NSW. Our adult son is home, caring for our ‘Castle’, whilst we travel in our portable ‘Castle’ which some may call a caravan. This is the second

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Home-Ed Friendships

Jacqui Rickard The Rickard family have shared some amazing home ed adventures on the road by car and bike. See Otherways issues 141 and 143 for details. They are Jacqui, James, Nathanael (13) Ezekiel (12) Levi (11) Joash (8) Elijah (6) and Adeline (3). Here Jacqui talks about their pursuit of home ed friends on the their latest adventures in America.   At home in

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Socialisation – JBP

John Barratt-Peacock “But what about socialisation?” is the second most asked question of home educators. Why? If you want a technical definition of socialisation Berger and Luckmann will tell you that it is about relating to others, learning to fit into your allocated place in society and that school attendance is vital for accomplishing it. For over fifty years home educators have been demonstrating that the

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7 Precious Years of Home Education

Jane Sultana I live in Moe, Victoria, and have two sons aged 12 and 10 . Until the beginning of 2016 neither son had been to school.  I chose home education primarily because I really enjoyed spending time with my children and did not want to hand them over to others for a large part of each day. Secondly, having worked as a primary

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Mental Health and Home Education

By Belinda Lee Sometimes it’s difficult to write a post on how our days have been. And this isn’t because it’s difficult to write about. Simply, every time I write about how wonderful, amazing and fulfilling a day has been, I realise that it absolutely comes across as arrogant, conceited and, to be honest, showing off. This is never the intention.  You see, most

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Otherways needs you!

Otherways is Australia’s longest running alternative education magazine, produced quarterly by a team of HEN volunteers. Otherways supports you by bringing together an amazing collection of stories and advice from home educating families willing to share their experiences with others. This makes Otherways truly a community effort!  Putting together a 50 page+ magazine is no small feat and takes at least two months to

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Volunteers and Home Ed Students

The Value of Volunteers

This week is National Volunteer Week. Without volunteers from our community working together to oppose overreaching regulation on two occasions, home education would look very different in Victoria. Without volunteers, few groups or excursions would be available. Without volunteers there would be no websites or Facebook pages to help us network and answer our questions. As home educators we are immersed in the volunteer culture, with

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Time Off

Annie Regan I’m often asked if I give my kids time off during the school holidays. Depending on who is asking and how much time I’ve got, I sometimes answer ‘Yes’, or ‘No’, or ‘Well they’re learning all the time, so if something interesting comes up during school holidays then we go with it, I don’t stop them!’  The truth is that the kids do

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Road Schooling

Yasmine Davy Watts We live in an age of increasingly flexible working options, coupled with ever-growing connectedness through the internet. As a result, families are taking charge of their lives in a way that hasn’t been possible before. No longer shackled to rigid 9 to 5 hours at a desk in an office, more and more families are taking up long-term travel as a

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Home Ed Our Way -SG

Sara G. Each January I take some time out to sit down and do some thinking and planning for the year ahead; I always check with the kids whether there’s any new activity they’d like to try, or what they did and did not enjoy from the previous year.  When we started home educating three years ago, we had a look around to see

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