Victoria Legally, teenagers are required to be at school or registered for home education until the age of 17. When kids aged under 17 move to a TAFE course, they may be asked for a Transition from School Form (form will download when you click the link) during the enrolment process. You can download the form using the link provided here, but it must be
If parents are receiving Jobseeker or Family Tax Benefit, they may lose it when their youngest child turns 16, but not everyone does. Jobseeker Once the youngest child turns 16, the automatic exemption from the Mutual Obligation Requirements ceases. You may still be eligible for an exemption but if so, you will receive the lower level of Jobseeker (not the higher level you received previously).
Can it be done? Yes! Parents often feel pressure from those around them to put their children into school for the high school years. ‘What about university?’ is one of the most frequently asked questions of home educators. ‘What about VCE?’ is another. Home educating your teenager isn’t as big and scary an undertaking as some may have you believe. While it is understandable
By Kirsty James Our family always joked about “those poor home-schooled kids with no friends”, as we drove from one playdate to another, but slowly as the kids got older our social circle decreased. We made new friends, but we had to try harder and travel further. My eldest is 18 now. He has a few friends who were educated at home, but he met most
By Marie Cosgrove I’ve always valued being different but now my girls say they just want to be ‘normal’… My home ed journey began long before I had children. I was first introduced to the idea by my sister–in-law, who was home educating my two nieces. At the time I was teaching in a primary school and struggling with a system I felt didn’t
By Sue Wight Home educating primary-aged children was easy as far as I was concerned. I spent time with them, read to them, played games with them, talked lots, encouraged their interests, took them to interesting places, and stood back and watched the learning happen. But home educating teenagers? I knew nothing about that! That would be hard – what about the Maths, what
By Lyn Saint It can be done If you have found your way to this article, chances are you are having an unhappy time at school. Maybe you are being bullied, or are bored out of your mind or are just plain angry that your life is being wasted in the schoolyard. You may think you are a failure because teachers have said so
By Jim Batt Yes it is possible, although not easy, to get into university without completing (or even starting) VCE. I have spent only a very insignificant amount of my time in high school but still wished to further my education at a university level. I began by undertaking the FAST course (Foundation Access Studies) at Ballarat University. This course is aimed at mature
By Sharee Cordes I think it all started for us when Jayden became interested in linguistics. I was searching on the internet for some way to help him find out more about linguistics when I came across the Open Universities Australia website. Unfortunately they don’t offer any undergraduate linguistics subjects, but there were so many other interesting sounding subjects on the list, so I
This is an excerpt from Otherways issue 128. It features a sample of former home educated students and details the pathways they took to university and other further education. Alumni Postcards
For families who have home educated through the primary school years, in many ways home educating a teenager is no different – you just keep on providing a stimulating educational environment and seeking out information and opportunities on topics that match their interests. The main difference is that as kids get older you use higher level resources. Teens also become more independent at finding
Many people home educate teenagers so you won’t be alone. If they wish, teens leaving school can maintain school friendships in out-of-school hours; they also maintain or make friendships from sporting and hobby groups; and are made most welcome amongst the home education community. To be ‘in the loop’ about what’s on, it is worth joining the network. Members receive weekly emails with coming events.
