What about high school??

[Smitten]

We are considering homeschooling, but only to grade 7. We would like our daughters to then go to a private high school. This is what we are thinking at the moment anyway.

I rang up one of the schools to see if they actually accept homeschooled children and the response wasnt all that great. They said it would be best if I did a distance education curriculum because it is "recognised" and more likely to be accepted. Also that "benchmark" tests would need to be performed like the Net tests (whatever they are) in grade 2, 5 and 7. So it seems to me that it would be very difficult to get into private high school.

Has anybody thought that far ahead? The waiting lists for some of these schools are so long that they are taking names down for 13 - 15 years time. How are you supposed to think that far ahead?

How far ahead do you think you will homeschool for and what do you intend to do for high school?

I think that is my main worry with homeschooling - my kids getting into uni etc etc and getting good jobs. Mainly because they dont have "Recognised" education ( not that you cant get good jobs without uni though, dont get me wrong) YKWIM

Whats your opinion?

[Susan Mac]

I plan on homeschooling right through, or as long as we are able.

I'm not worried about getting into uni etc because there are other means besides a school certificate. For example, there is a TAFE course that acts as a bridge between school and uni for people who only did to year ten. And I think once you are past two years out of school you are classed mature age and a school score is irrelevant for uni entry.

[~J'dore~]

I have researched a lot into this. I'm in NSW and this is what is on NSW Board of Education website:

These external tests are administered by the Department of Education and Training and are
available to home educators. The Basic Skills Test (BST) assesses students’ literacy and
numeracy skills in Years 3 and 5, and the Primary Writing Assessment (PWA) assesses their
literary and factual writing skills. The English Language and Literacy Assessment (ELLA)
provides an assessment of Year 7 students’ literacy skills, and the Secondary Numeracy
Assessment Program (SNAP) is designed to monitor their achievement in numeracy.



I think these may be what the schools you were refering to were talking about. So, yes we can do these tests as homeschoolers.

If you choose to homeschool through highschool (which we plan to), there are also courses through OTEN that are equivalent to HSC that if you have well documented history of your child's home education then you should have no problems getting into:fingerscrossed:

Also taken from the NSW BOE regarding entrance to the OTEN HSC equivalent:

"It is the responsibility of Home Education applicants to demonstrate that their program of study and
other life and educational experiences are equivalent to a School Certificate program. The principal assesses each case on its individual merits."