ALLOW STUDENTS TO REPORT EVENTS

It is important the the bullied child have an avenue to report incidents without feeling being the "outsider". Children will want to appear to be "in" with the parents. Thus, it is up to adults to make dob in a bully easier.

MANY TEACHERS ARE BULLIES TOO

Relatedly, if schools, even teachers personally, are not recognising their duty of care, compensation via the courts and removal of teachers should also be employed. Extreme. No:

I can recall a teacher when a student years' ago who would have students sit on footballs and then kick the ball from underneath the child. Another teacher by the name of Lyons who physcally threw a thirteen year old over three desks because the kid called him Mr Tigers. In the days of corporal punishment, a teacher who have boys come to his office three or four times before actually canning them, a day or two later. I could go on with dozens of examples.

None of the above was experienced by me personally, but I saw these events. Although, in fourth class (Primary), I was whipped with a key chain by a teacher for being "stupid", when I suggested that the electron beam from a cathode ray tube might form the basis for a rocket populsion engine.

So, it is the teachers as well as the parents, who should be in the cross hairs. Perhaps, a some bullied students should look towards at owning teachers' houses, via the courts

I found this excellent UK website that gives very good advice for parents and children on how to deal with bullying in schools:

http://www.bullying.co.uk/index.html

Nicola -
'Why is it that parents are so belittled in our society today?' - are they? Maybe you have just a bit of a chip on your shoulder.

'The only qualification most teachers have is an education degree' - sounds quite appropriate to me although I would like to see more teachers who are parents themselves - they generally are more understanding and better equipped to deal with difficult children.

'Many thousands of parents home educate their children up to university level all the time' - and hundreds of thousands don't.

'The information available to people via internet, books and libraries is overwhelming' - there is an awful lot more to education than absorbing information.

'The‘professionals’ we pay to do the job are often undereducated and failing at an alarming rate' - actually the teachers do pretty well, it is the parents who are failing to teach good self-discipline and class sizes are way too big. Maybe we should have compulsory training for all parents before their children can start school. Parents should also be provided with a copy of the schools anti-bullying policy to read and sign.

There really is no need to denigrate the school system in such a negative manner. Before we had schools only the wealthy could afford an education - the rest were mainly illiterate and poor, working on farms, in mines and factories from a young age in terrible conditions, could not vote and bullying was a way of life. We have come a long way by providing free access to education for all - there is room for improvement but in the main the education system is quite good.

To Eco, Gen, and Lyn

Many thanks for your feedback. Very helpful.

Kay

The curriculum in Victoria is currently set by each family based upon their choices for education of the children. There are options to purchase pre prepared curriculum which can be followed from pre school to the end of VCE, however the majority of families that I know opt to use a variety of resources. The home environment is fundamentally different from the school environment, so parents often find that the best option is to relax the ‘school’ attitude and follow the children’s interests.

My autistic daughter is fascinated with Geology and we use that as a catalyst to encourage learning in the other areas she is not so fond of. For example, we do our maths based upon rocks – working out what percentage of limestone is in a given sample of rock, work out what the probability is of gold in a particular area based upon the rocks found and the data collected. Another example is in our Italian, we learn first the names of the geological forms in Italian, then, of course, you need basic Italian language skills to illiterate them properly, etc. By using her interests, she has excelled in all the areas of learning. We make sure that a little geology is in every topic eg. volcanoes and dinosaurs, or how ancient Egyptians used stone to build the pyramids. She learns all about the other topics effortlessly whilst following her favourite subject too! This gives her the invaluable skill of making any education relevant in a real way to her. Schools cannot possibly give this level of tailoring to their programme.

It is also amazing to see just how much can be learnt by involving children in daily life. It’s all about providing the opportunities for the children to learn in your environment and allowing them to actively take part in the world is an invaluable way to do so. This way they don’t feel disjointed from it and see the valuable input they are having. Instead of doing ‘money exercises’ on paper at school they help with food shopping. To be continued...

They start with the budget for food; help with the shopping list to fit the budget and nutritional needs; then shop, helping make the decisions on what best fits the price range allowed and considering the discounts, then subsequently pay for it. They may even have enough money left to purchase treats if they are extra careful with their planning. This kind of activity is a real life example of what would take a lot more effort in a school to 'teach' because on paper it is not so relevant, nor interesting. Shopping is simple, fluid and relevant. It teaches an abundance of different skills from reading, writing, nutrition, reasoning, problem solving, basic maths; money handling; adding; subtracting; multiplying; dividing; percentages (discounts); and the list keeps on going on. How many hours would you expect to spend at school covering all these topics? That was just one example of one weekly ‘learning’ exercise at home and it covered almost all the core areas of ‘curriculum’ without being contrived... It helps to foster a true love for learning as there is an understanding that education teaches useful life skills.

Home ed is a real option for parents, it is not the only valid one, but its favour in society is rising as the schools are falling in popularity, even though in many groups home ed is still ‘taboo’. Many parents who turned to home ed out of desperation, used to be of the opinion that you just HAVE to go to school, but now have realised just how sensible an approach it is.

Just because many home educators have firm beliefs in what they are doing, does not mean they are denigrating the school system or the teachers. It is quite simply that we are now facing a fight for the very survival of home education as we know it. It has been so ‘hushed up’ in society, and by the government, that we have to make our voices heard. It needs to be recognised as a viable option that any family can make if it suits them.

Something interesting I came across on the web. A survey done about disciplinary problems in our schools. 45 years ago, the problems they had with students were talking, chewing gum, not waiting in line, making noise, running in the halls and not wearing proper clothing.! 10 years ago, the problems were rape, robbery, assault, burglary, arson, bombings, murder, suicide, vandalism, drug abuse, pregnancy, gang warfare, drug pushing, alcohol abuse, VD and abortions!! Do I need any other reasons to home educate my children!

And heres another to think about. This little paragraph I also found on the net........"While many people think of home education as a relatively new concept, in truth, it has been the predominant form of education during 6,000 years of recorded history. Famous home schoolers include Benjamin Franklin, Daniel Webster, Winston Churchill, Alexander Graham Bell, Albert Einstein, Thomas Edison, Pearl Buck, Agatha Christie, C. S. Lewis, Franklin D. Roosevelt... to name only a few!"