It all comes down to choice and how we feel we can best support our children, the argument especially recently in Vic is that that choice may very well be taken away from parents to choose the appropriate education for their children.

Anyone can Homeschool if they choose as a family to go down that path then we as a community need to support those choices. Government policy has no right to choose what is right for our children - thats our job as parents.

More and more government policies are taking away our rights as families and citizens of this country. Protection is one thing but control is another and the governments lastest effort to further control families through Home ed legislation put further pressure on Homeschooling families. Homeschooling has proven to provide educational outcomes of academic and social excellence.

I've got one thing to say to the government of this country and thats leave our families alone and allow us to continue to make choices inthe best interests of our children.....

What you say is so true Hope. The State Government’s proposed legislation will remove many parental rights. It is atrocious that this has come from a Labor Government. We have always been Labor supporters, but if this bill is pushed through in its current anti family form, we, and many others will definitely not be voting Labor at the State election latter this year.
The hypocrisy of releasing the Exposure Draft just before the Christmas holidays was appalling, and a sly trick on the people who elected them. The Bracks' Government should realise they are there to represent us not to rule us.

Home ed's seem to be as bad as GB. The fact is there has always been bullying and always will be. Bullying doesn't stop at school it is all through life and if you don't develop the skills to deal with it then you will always be subject to it. I watch a doco on home schooling and most of the kids on it couldn't wait to leave home to get away from their parents.
Most kids are homed schooled because of religious reasons and while some parents do a great job most don't.

Kenny
Yes there always wil be bullies but there will also always be drugs, so to educate my child should I place my child among drug addicts, no thats absurd. Its equally absurb to allow children to be systematically bullied. Hsers have very sucessfully taught their children the skills to overcome adversity so really that does'nt wash.

as for the docomentary, it sounds as if only a selected few were interviewed what about the many hundreds of success stories out there? There are many stories of successful university applicants; tafe applicants. In the US studies show that universities favour Hsed applicants.

Countless studies prove Home Ed works!. Some years ago I was against Homeschooling until I started researching the subject and was blowen away by the overall educational standard which was above mainstream school standards across the board. There are even studies that showed children who do not pursue academics or a curriculum were well and truely on par if not above their peers socially and academically, that totally surprised me!

There are many many dedicated parents out there who Home school not because of religious conviction but because its best for their children and their lifestyle. Some HS because of a school system that simply does'nt work. Whatever their reasons, it takes committment, dedication and courage to HS so I for one take my hat off to those dedicated Home schoolers!!
I encourage you all to take a stand against the governments proposed legislation, children are already protected under the existing legislation, this new legislation is only about control and taking away parents freedom to really choose what is best for their children.

I find it difficult to believe that someone could base their opinion of a subject from an information source so sparse as a mere documentary. Kenny I suggest you perhaps should educate yourself on this topic before making such sweeping and ignorant statements.
There is overwhelming evidence that home education works. Many famous and highly successful people were home educated. Home education has been around a lot longer than mass education, traditionally all children were educated in the home, this is not some new idea dreamt up by hippies or those who wish to live an alternative lifestyle.
Mass education has a much shorter history, it has only been around for the last two hundred years or so. It is no coincidence that the push for mass education occurred simultaneously with the industrial revolution. Fodder had to be found for the factories. People were given enough of an education to operate the new machinery. The only needs mass education served were those of the industrialists who owned the factories. It would seem that today many still see the role of schools as to merely provide fodder for the job market.

Kenny,

You are right - bullying doesn't stop at school. It does continue through life. Have you ever considered the idea that maybe school teaches bullying? Children herded together have little power or control over their own lives. Some exert the only power they have left against smaller or less forceful children i.e. They become bullies.

Home educated children, by contrast, have significant control over their own lives. They, along with their parents, make decisions about what they want to learn, where they want to learn, how they want to learn, what they want to wear, do, read,etc; who they want to spend time with and so on. Perhaps it is for this reason, together with the presence of caring, involved adults at home ed gatherings/activities/camps and so on, that bullying is never a problem there.

I don't know what documentary you saw but it sounds like it did not reflect the real situation. You say the children portrayed could not wait to leave home and get away from their parents. I know many home ed families and have found the home ed community to be unusual in that young adults do actually want to spend time with their families - they consider them friends.

Home educators are not all religious either. Some are, many are not. People come to home education for a whole variety of reasons. Some, like myself, are mainstream parents who would never have considered home education except that school just didn't work out well for their children. Ten years ago I would have considered home education 'radical', 'way-out', 'impractical', 'bad for socialisation', and it was something I would have considered myself incapable of doing anyway. Bullying forced me into home education but now I have discovered its many benefits. Now I believe it is just a better way to educate chidren.