Hi Jolanda, I agree with your comments regarding victims. The system is riddled with the ‘blame the victim’ mentality, and it seems to be the reaction of many unthinking and uncaring individuals. It is easy to blame the victim, and teachers do it all the time, this is one of the reasons why bullying thrives in a school environment.
With regards to your comment for applying for distance education, it may have merit for some, however home educators generally prefer to set their own curriculum, this is why home education has such outstanding academic results. They are not bound by the outdated, unwieldy curriculum’s of the State school system.
One does not have to be a qualified teacher to be an effective teacher. Remember, entry in to a Bachelor of Education course is granted with a very low VCE score, and the course is very easy. For many teachers the only qualification they have is an education degree. There is nothing mysterious or difficult about teaching, and while there are some brilliant teachers, many teachers have frightening gaps in their knowledge.
Also home educators do not number in the hundreds, they number in the many thousands in this state alone. To put it in perspective, in the United States there are over one million registered home educators.
This feeling that parents are not qualified to teach their own children is a symptom of the general denigration of parents in our society today. Research has shown that home educating parents do an outstanding job..

Hi Kay,

It seems that I can't quite answer your question in the space provided - I just typed a quick response, checked the word count and I had passed 1200!

You are welcome to email me privately on my hotmail address educationathome@hotmail.com and I will send you the mini thesis I have prepared :)

In a nutshell though - the laws vary from state to state as for requirements and legislation. It is wise to find out about your individual state as the laws can be liberal or very strict. What state are you in?

You can purchase pre prepared curriculum or make up your own based upon a variety of sources. Grading is not an issue as you can also use resources to do this, but when you are teaching your children it is very quickly evident that they are progressing well. This is usually at a more rapid rate than their school counterparts due to the ability to tailor the programme to their needs and provide practical experiences to compound their understanding of the facts they are learning.

As to marking of papers; I think that crosses the boundaries between the parent and teacher role. It is also not an esteem building process to ‘tick and cross’ their work. You may have noticed that in Uni, you often don’t get ‘corrected’ work, but rather a little note surmising the opinion they have of what you have put together, and encouraging you in any ways you may have missed. I think this is also the best approach at home, but in a verbal sense. It encourages open dialogue about the work, and allows plenty of room for ‘re-directing’ the avenue the kids are taking if they have fallen a bit of the beaten track. Having said that it is important to allow sidetracks as well because that is often where the most valuable insight comes from. It’s a matter of balance and allowing latitude whilst being there to lead the way when needed

I hope this has helped.

Gen

Thank you, Nicola, for your understanding. Here is why I believe bullying has reached the stage that it has.

My children have been overtly systemically targeted and bullied by the system for many years. When fellow parents saw what was happening to my children they didn’t offer support or help they got together and picked a representative to come to my home to tell me not to mention them, their kids or the school in my formal complaints as they were scared it would have an adverse affect on their children and that their children would also be victimized and targeted. They turned their back on my children and left them to be destroyed. The lack of public support made my children easy targets for the system.

Children learn by example. There are adults that are setting terrible examples for our children in relation to how to respond and deal with these issues.

I couldn’t believe that fellow parents could turn their backs on innocent children so I spoke to one mother about it and I asked her if she saw her daughters best friend being victimized and treated unfairly, whether she would stand up on her behalf and I was told NO!. I was told that if it didn’t concern her child that she would not get involved.

It seems like people like to wait until a child is either dying or dead or does something that threatens their child before they feel any moral obligation to intervene.

If the silent majority do not stand up and support each other against the bullies then we will not be able to overcome the problem. We live in fear or retaliation.

You are right about many wanting to set their own curriculum when homeschooling. I am not one of those as I find it really difficult, probably because my children are very highly intellectually gifted and I have no higher education or support and I stress. I actually don’t enjoy the presenting of work part of home-schooling. I do however enjoy being with my children, they are great kids.

Jolanda - sorry to hear that you are meeting so many obstacles. This is why we need a better system for resolution involving an independent body. You probably have a good legal case but as you say this is far too expensive for most and takes too much time and energy. It is impossible to do this without community support. I can quite see why you have opted for homeschooling although in your shoes I would probably move to a different area where the community is less hostile. There are plenty of nice schools and communities around although if homeschooling appeals to you then that is fine.

My suggestions as to using the P&C and OHS committees were more as a general advice to those who believe the problem ends by taking their children out of school and teaching them to avoid bullies.

It is good to see that you have made such an effort to try to address the problem. Good luck. And thanks everyone else for a good forum - most of my posts have been a little antagonistic mainly because the forum was becoming very onesided and would soon have got very boring. This issue is important and must be publicised more. Hopefully we have raised awareness of both bullying and the options that are available. There are huge problems with bullying in the workplace too and I imagine a lot of this could be reduced if we address the problem better in schools.

Homeschooling will never be practical for most families and we must use a more preventative approach. My backgroud is in OH&S and I believe that we should be pushing this legislation with regards to bullying rather than relying on ineffective Departmental procedures.

I'm in the same position as Lyn (above) and receive many calls each week from families seeking refuge from seemingly unsolvable problems at school.
There is a growing number of parents choosing homeschooling because they have children with ADHD or conditions with similar symptoms. Some of these children have a hard time at school because of their bullying behaviour. They often find it difficult to control their emotions, especially when they are provoked. Others find being in group situations exceptionally stressful. Many of these children are sensitive to chemicals, such as perfumes in deodorants, carpet fumes, and other unavoidable environmental odours.
These kids handle stress - any kind of stress - badly. They react, often over-reacting, aggressively. They find it hard to back away, as they often feel wronged. Once upon a time they used to look to the adults around them for justice, but because they are the most obvious aggressor they usually don't find it. I've talked to many mums whose children have been suspended, 'branded' as trouble makers and have become the target for blame whenever anything goes wrong.
When a parent is willing to educate her child at home - thus alleviating many headaches for the school staff and parents of other children - to protect that child from the vicious cycle of bullying - she should be supported. Think of it as 'time out'. I've met dozens of children who fall into this category who after a few years of homeschooling have finally mastered controlling their emotions and who behave with maturity and consideration for others.
Homeschoolng can be a very successful option, not only for the victims of bullying, but also for the bullies.

Forgive me for going at an angle, but I have just been discussing this topic with my friend who home ed's in NZ, and she tells me they pay you to home educate. So, Mr Bracks, if you want to control us be prepared to foot the bill!