By contrast I also sought advice from the Education Dept. Apart from telling me it was almost impossible, they told me I needed to get “permission” from the Regional Director. I don’t what the law is now, but actually all I needed to do was inform the principal if withdrawing the children from school so they they wouldn’t be logged as truant. The Education Depatment sees itself as a mighty saviour of children, but too often they muddle legal requirements with their own self created policies that have no legal standing.

I urge anyone thinking about home schooling to seriously look into it. There are plenty of resources available, home schooling network groups and many other supports around. I often pray to find a way to manage it.

Frank Norros

Ephesians 6:4: And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord.

Donna Opie

Nice to see some familiar names among your respondents (hi Leon, Mansel, Jeremy!)

That H-S article is a great laugh! We know the Maretts, but we are not impressed by the “Psychologist and former teacher Sally-Anne McCormack”, nor the double-speak of “Education Department spokeswoman Jane Metlikovec”.

“the department support[s] the right of parents to choose their child’s educational environment.”

… but only on their regulated terms!

“children will stay at home to be tutored by their parents”

Notice the subtle undermining of parents: “tutored” (well, almost anyone can do that), not “taught” (only teachers are really qualified for the serious stuff), and I think Chareen Rushworth would have bought The Three Rs from us many years ago.

Harrold, may I suggest a slight correction to your explanation of Deut 6 (and other passages):
education as set forth by God Himself, Who knows what is best for us, is the standard.
But the idea of compulsory mass schooling has been with us a mere 160 years or so, and is truly the ‘johnny-come-lately’ of education theory.
The term school applies more precisely to a mass of fish swimming in the same direction…

So we usually refer to home education, even though the expression ‘home-schooling’ rolls off the tongue more easily, and Jeremy is correct: sadly, most people in the churches don’t see any problem with the school system, nor recognise any loss of freedom from the government’s actions.

John Angelico

Why would you want people teaching their children at home? They might indoctrinate the poor things with the Truth and with Facts? Heavens above!

Fiona Reeves

Yes, the increasing number of children being educated outside the watchful eye and control of the government is, no doubt, what promted the recent change in the law in Victoria.

The government knew they had to strike early. Despite the valiant attempts of home-educating parents, this legislation passed with barely a ripple being felt.

Now by the time politically important numbers of parents embrace home-education they will be already cowed and much more easily controlled by the threat of fines and having had to in-principle submit by signing the approved subjects list.

Mansel Rogerson

Of interest, in today’s Herald Sun there there is an article on the increasing number of homeschooled kids in Victoria: www.news.com.au/heraldsun/story/0,21985,25771575-2862,00.html

Bill Muehlenberg, CultureWatch