Why Christian Homeschooling is the Best Choice for Your Family
In these changing times parents want to know what their child is being taught and many are seeking an Australian Christian Homeschooling option. They say the school system is failing them. But how?
- Some feel it’s the peer group and social structure;
- Some feel it’s the lack of support for their child’s needs;
- Some feel it’s the erosion of academics in the curriculum; and
- Some feel there is an overemphasis on progressive ideology and activism.
Dr Terry Harding, a leader in the Australian Christian homeschool movement in Australia, recently studied the reason Christian homeschooling numbers were rising. He concluded it was because parents had “concerns about government ideologies and policies in schools such as ‘critical race theory and leftist-woke agenda’. They also cited perceived anti-family values, poor quality education levels, concern over COVID-19 mandated requirements, and their children’s physical and social safety as distinct push factors that motivated them to remove their children from traditional schooling”.
Why Is Christian Homeschooling A Good Option For Families
Many families choose to homeschool their children so they can build a foundation for their learning on their Christian faith. Seeking resources that reflect the goodness and greatness of God is a central requirement for the resources they use.
My Homeschool is pleased to support families wanting to choose Australian Christian Homeschooling resources and books that will help them share their Christian faith while also providing a rigorous education.
Options For Christian Homeschooling Curriculum
There are many ways Australian Christian Homeschooling parents can choose to teach their child at home. When making your decision, be aware application requirements differ in all states.
Curriculum Choices
- Charlotte Mason Curriculum – this is one of the most popular type of Christian homeschooling methods. Her ideas that education and spiritual life should be intertwined and her strong literary approach is why many choose the Charlotte Mason Method.
- DIY Curriculum – Many US Christian publishers offer a range of options. You can search many of these through the homeschool catalogue of christianbook.com.
- Workbook curriculum such as those provided by ACHS. These type of curricula follow a traditional workbook approach that uses a combination of American and Australian workbooks. Many of these resources don’t follow the Australian Curriculum or NESA Syllabus so in states where this is a requirement for registration, they aren’t as popular.
Homeschooling Verses Distance Education
There is a big difference between an using a distance education school and homeschooling although many use the terms interchangeably.
Obligations Requirements
Distance education requires you to be accountable to the school and follow the curriculum they provide. There is still paperwork to complete but it goes directly to the school. Education costs are much higher but that is because teacher support is also provided as part of the package.
When homeschooling you are not accountable to the school and you have much more flexibility in the way you choose to teach your child. You also have curriculum choice. You are responsible for your child’s registration, and you make the application to homeschool to your state’s registration unit.
Teaching Support for Families
Homeschooling education costs are much lower but you don’t get teacher support. However a lot of homeschool curriculum have parent guides built into their resources so you will know how to teach topics. Curriculum like Maths Online also has an inbuilt tutor. For example, at My Homeschool we provide our families support through our forum and self-paced courses, but we don’t provide tutoring or specific lesson support. We are always happy to answer questions about our curriculum and how to implement it.
While I'm responding I just wanted to take a moment to say that we are absolutely loving the My Homeschool curriculum. My children and I feel like we have breathed a breath of fresh air after a turbulent first and second term this year with a distance education school. We had signed up with them in an effort to reduce the amount of time I spend planning and reporting for HEU [Queensland government registration unit].
In fact the only reason we hadn't signed up with My Homeschool initially is because anytime HEU was mentioned my heart rate would increase and I'd want to run!
We were, and are, a Charlotte Mason style family and in hindsight I should have realised that the distance education route was going to be a disaster. Let's just say, in term 1 and 2, no-one saved any time, there were lots of frustrated tears from children and mother, and there was so much busy work to do and no time for a proper education!
Enter My Homeschool, oh how we loved term 3, our first term with you. My children were once more excited about 'school', I was once more loving learning alongside them. There was time to explore some of the creative tangents the children go off on when were learning new things, you know the sort, "if that happened, I wonder what happened when...", or the classic "why?".
Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all the hard work you do, your curriculum has provided a platform (and the reporting documents) that satisfies the HEU while still leaving us loads of flexibility and room to explore our amazing world and the people who have lived here and still live here.
You have saved me time in planning and reporting and the word HEU no longer makes me want to run. I have been so thrilled I tell all my homeschooling friends about your amazing program and one of my friends signed her family up with My Homeschool (PS they're loving the curriculum too).
Many blessings to you and your team, continue the good work you are doing. The hours are most likely long and some days feel fruitless, but you are without a doubt a blessing to many families.
My Homeschool has been the perfect fit for our family. It has provided the "hand-holding" I needed as a new homeschooler while still being flexible enough to be workable in everyday life.
It took the stress out of writing the application for exemption to homeschool as everything was laid out for me, and we were granted 18 months exemption.
I love that it uses a relaxed CM style, can be taught from a Christian worldview and is Australian. The weekly plans are not overly prescriptive so can easily be implemented according to the child's individual interests and pace of learning and whatever else is happening in our week.
Thank you for putting together this wonderful course. Over the last 4 years I have taken 2 of my children through Years 7 and 8 using a distance ed programme but this year my daughter and I have found this course to be a much less stressful transition to high school. I love knowing that we are still fulfilling the requirements for the Australian Curriculum but I have also been able to give my daughter the rich classical literature-based education that I was looking for. I have been interested in the Charlotte Mason style of education for a few years but until now I was frustrated that everything I came across was based on American history/geography/seasons. Thank you for putting in the time to track down and integrate appropriate Australian resources into the curriculum.
This was my first year registering with the Qld Home Education unit myself so I also found the information that you included regarding registering very helpful.
I have also used the Year 5 and Prep courses this year and found them to be wonderful as well. Thank you again.
This was our first year of using a complete curriculum through My Homeschool (we purchased 4 different year levels) and it has lived up to my expectations and been a good fit for our family. We have used a few different curriculums and are excited to find an Australian course that shares our Christian worldview and aligns with the requirements for Australian students.
Year 9 spreads a broad mind feast for the student. The subjects are cleverly integrated and the course is structured and paced in such a way that still allows our son plenty of time to pursue other interests, while at the same time being academically rigorous. The course material is well written in an engaging way and utilises excellent literature and carefully considered web links. This course seems to strike a good balance between traditional methods of education while at the same time embracing online learning. It covers Ancient History and Shakespeare alongside modern literature with internet links to current events and the latest research available. I feel confident our son is learning what he needs to and importantly he is developing a broader worldview and critical thinking skills.
Previously, this Mama keenly felt there were some gaps that needed to be addressed and was spread thin herself. We are thankful that Jo has been willing to share the knowledge gained in her studies and her professional expertise in education combined with the lived experience of being a home educating Mama with the homeschooling community. This course has been a blessing for our family particularly as the level of academic study increases. It means we can continue to home educate through high school with confidence.
Godly Children in the World
You want children that are in the world but not of it. You want books and resources that will support, encourage and equip them, not frighten them or depict aspects that aren’t in-line with your family values. With the My Homeschool graded courses you can be assured that our carefully selected titles are age-appropriate and serve to inspire and educate your child in a way that you will appreciate. Even when you come to more challenging titles for those older teenagers, we provide support to help you guide them through these more challenging themes. These are books that your family will treasure together and return to for sheer delight.
God-Given Talents and Gifts
You want to support and extend the God-given talents and gifts that your child has. With My Homeschool you can. Being a curriculum based on Charlotte Mason’s method, you can rest easy knowing that your child will be presented with a delightful curriculum that shares a whole feast of subjects. With lessons planned to take up mornings, afternoons are free for your children to extend their gifts and talents and serve in their local family, church and community.
Deciding to homeschool is a big choice for any family as is selecting the best curriculum to use. Hundreds of families have chosen to use My Homeschool graded courses for their Christian homeschooling needs and found them to be a delight.
We have families from Australia and missionaries who use our curriculum. So if you are looking for a well-recognised Australian Christian Homeschooling homeschooling option for your children then please take a look at the My Homeschool graded courses and know that you too can homeschool with confidence and ease.
We are an Australian family and have been living in Israel for the past 22 years, working for an Anglican mission. We have 3 children and have homeschooled since the beginning…Our youngest daughter is 12 and about to start Year 7 using your curriculum.
When we started homeschooling it was almost unheard-of in Israel. Finding resources in English was a challenge. We started with Sonlight Curriculum and My Father's World, but they quickly became too American for us ? So we started to piece together our own curriculum using some from the USA, some from the UK and some from Australia... Homeschooling Downunder. So our oldest two kids gave had a very mixed and often disjointed education. It is just the way it turned out for them in our current situation.
At the end of last year I discovered that you had developed and expanded your resources to become My Homeschool. I had become very disappointed with some of the American curriculum choices and was looking for something more like us ? Even though we have lived in Israel for many years, we still identify as Australians, and were looking for a curriculum that would fill the gaps in our Australian education. I am hoping that we will find what we need at My Homeschool.
As an international family using an Australian curriculum it would be nice to see a blend of World History and Australian history studied each year, rather than a whole year of Australian history without any World history and vis versa. This would give opportunity to swap out the Australian history for another country without disrupting the whole year of World History studies. Does that make sense? 🙂 But I also realise to keep aligned to the Australian Curriculum you need to study certain things in certain years.
I am curious to see how the Astronomy course will be for us in the Northern hemisphere. But many general topics apply to both hemispheres so I think it will be good too.
On the whole, I’m excited to use your curriculum and I don’t think we will need to tweak much to make it work well for us.
