Homeschooling NT
If you’re considering homeschooling your child in the Northern Territory, it’s important to understand the legal requirements and available curriculum options. This beginner’s guide will provide you with the information you need to make an informed decision about homeschooling NT.
Frequently Asked Questions For Homeschooling NT
Do I Need To Register?
If you live in Northern Territory and plan on homeschooling your child then the Northern Territory Board of Education states it is a legal requirement to register to homeschool from ages 6 to 17 – if your child is not enrolled in distance education, or at a school. Having said that some homeschoolers do not register as they feel it is a parent’s right to educate their children.
Can My Child Part Time Homeschool NT?
Part time homeschooling NT is available to students in Year 10 – 12. Otherwise it’s not an option.
When Can I Remove My Kids From School For Homeschooling NT?
You are supposed to wait until your registration is approved before you remove your child from school.
I have spoken to a few parents homeschooling in NT who have said that they just post in their registration form and then remove their child from school. From the feedback I have received the NT Home Education system is quite broken and it’s set up to suit the NT education staff and not the parents. This process can take 10 weeks and they only have two home education application intakes a year. Some parents get a doctor’s certificate for stress leave for their child until registration is approved.
Where Can I Get Support For Homeschooling NT?
If you are looking for some support for homeschooling in the Northern Territory – this FB group of NT homeschoolers is terrific.
Can I Travel and Get Registered?
Homeschooling NT registration does not cover extended travel (6 months travelling around Australia as an example). NT Board of Education suggests that you do distance education while travelling. Because of this silly rule some homeschoolers choose not to inform the Board of Studies about their travelling plans.
The Registration Process For Homeschooling NT
We know that the registration process can be quite a complicated procedure for new homeschoolers so at My Homeschool we have simplified it for you as much as we can.
You will still be responsible for your child’s registration, however we’ve made it easy.
On the NT Department of Education website you will find the information that will tell you all the nitty-gritty details of registration but I’ll give you the simplified version.
STEP ONE: Download and fill in your registration form from the Northern Territory Home Education Page.
There are two forms; one for initial registration and one for re-registration.
STEP TWO: Start preparing your plan. This will be easy if you are using My Homeschool Courses. In each purchased grade we have prepared a basic yearly plan as a Word docx. for you to download and modify for your registration. It includes a typical weekly plan and yearly time allocation.You just need to add a few details like:
- Your child’s name
- A short blurb on your child’s specific learning needs
- Special activities that you plan for the year.
- If you plan on making additions to our program or tweaking them you can also modify the plan.
You can also add the My Homeschool scope and sequence for the years you are teaching. These have been written to comply with the Australian Curriculum and have the Australian curriculum codes for all the subjects.
Add a few sample weekly lesson plans to show your basic timetable. You can make up a suggested timetable as you need to give a timetable as part of your application.
STEP THREE: Send in your plan
Homeschooling NT – The Registration Visit
STEP FOUR: This step involves your registration assessment visit from a principal or teacher from a local school or a Department of Education officer.
You do not get the principal from the school you have left.
The visiting officer contacts you after you send in your application and they will want to make an appointment. In reality, these visits can take months to arrange. Some parents said they were never contacted others said it was about 6 months until they
were contacted.
A visit takes around one hour.
What Happens On The Visit?
The assessor will come and ask to see your plan and meet your child. They will not test your child. They will ask to see where your child takes their lessons.
What you should show them:
- Resources you have bought
- Your homeschool plans form My Homeschool
- Your My Homeschool weekly planner that you download w
- You can even show them this website so they can see how your lessons are organised.
Approval Recommendation
After they have spent some time talking to you, they might ask you a few questions about how you plan on covering this or that. Your stock standard answer should be you’ll follow the curriculum.
Nine times out of ten, they will then tell you that you have been approved for registration and that you will be sent a registration approval form in the next month or so.
On the rare occasion that you are not approved you can contact the HEA and ask for help. (This is a support body for home educators in Australian and you can join if you haven’t already).
Re-registration Visit
Each year you need to reapply for registration. This is done 3rd or 4th term and requires another home visit.
Re-registration is almost the same as your registration application.
STEP ONE: Fill in the continuing home education form from the NT Homeschooling Government Website.
STEP TWO: Prepare documents as for initial registration.
STEP THREE: Prepare for home visit.
Can I Buy A Plan?
Yes! When you use My Homeschool we give you the essential building blocks for your personalised learning plan.
We’ve done 75% of the work. We provide idea prompts and suggestions to help you personalise your application to suit your child’s specific needs.
With each grade we include:
- A learning plan in an editable Word document. Just fill in the sections we recommend.
- A scope and sequence with all syllabus outcomes and codes linked to resources.
- Editable Term Reports to make re-registration easy.
100% of our members report passing their registration and reregistration when using our templates.
What a relief and blessing for homeschool families to have all the nitty gritty details of daily homeschool and homeschool registration designed for us. It is wonderful to see how simple registration can be.
Michelle you have created a method for recording that oozes simplicity and that is what we all want. Michelle and Jo you are a very present listening ear and help on the My Homeschool forum and your advice is all about making homeschool work for each one. I have absolute freedom in how I use this resource.
I have not followed the schedule as is but have felt encouragement from you to make it work for my busy family lifestyle, quirks and passions. Year 5 is helping our ten year old to move into written narrations and I have found Our Sunburnt Country broken into small chunks with a notebook page for each reading, is so simple and achievable. My daughter's confidence in writing has grown in the first term of using My Homeschool following this very natural method.
Thank you Michelle and Jo, for your commitment to making homeschool simple. What a blessing you are. Kindest Blessings Renelle x
Let Us Help You On The Homeschool Journey
My Homeschool is more than a curriculum, it is a holistic education community that supports parents and children on their homeschool journey. When you buy a graded homeschool program through My Homeschool you are joining a community that supports and mentors parents interested in educating their children academically and spiritually.
We give you a shortcut to help you get straight into giving your child a delightful and robust education without spending days and days researching and tweaking unsuitable content.
We Wanted A Curriculum That Worked For Home Educators
Our curriculum writers have already done the juggle of homeschooling a few children at once.
- We knew how lovely and important it is to learn as a family so we made some lessons and read alouds possible to teach as a group.
- We reduced the time needed for formal academics by crafting our curriculum so our resources and books often teach multiple topics.
- We made each grade fit each state’s syllabus so you can get registered easily.
- We gave you a streamlined intentional curriculum so you could give your children a wholesome integrated education from kindergarten to high school.
- We made sure it was academically challenging so your children will have career options, and a pathway to university if needed.
- We put it all in one place so you weren’t hunting around looking for resources every time you wanted to begin lessons.
- We made it easy to access your lessons and planner when you were out and about or travelling just by picking up your smartphone.
Disclaimer: This is general information on homeschooling in Northern Territory and is not meant to be used as legal advice.
