Home School Heartbeat Radio Program
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Ready to explore the Outback? This week, your travel adventures are sponsored by homeschoolers across the globe! Join host Mike Farris for an international tour, today on Home School Heartbeat. Mike Farris: Education in Australia began at home, back when the first Europeans moved there. Eventually, the Australian government mandated “compulsory, free and secular” education in the late 1800s. Between the 1960s and ’80s, homeschooling resurfaced. There are now between 20,000 and 60,000 children being educated at home. Homeschoolers down under range in practice from structured to eclectic to unschooling. The six states and two territories of Australia have fairly oppressive legislation and regulation. Often homeschooled children must be registered and monitored by the state. But in spite of these legal restrictions, Aussies from remote areas to urban centers are continuing to educate their children at home. Meanwhile, in the neighboring country of New Zealand, the legal atmosphere is fairly positive. Parents complete a 10-question form to assure the Minister of Education that their children are being educated according to the law. In fact, homeschooling in New Zealand is so free that parents get paid to do it! The Minister of Education sends a supervising allowance to the parents of children who are homeschooled under an exemption. This allowance is not tied to a national curriculum or any other factor. We’ll keep moving around the globe on our next program, so keep your passports out! I’m Mike Farris.
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