For P.E.(physical education), we had three paper routes that we walked every day rain or shine, or blizzards as the case may be.

Er, no! Paper routes are something kids do for pocket money but adults do for added income. I'm not saying the walk wouldn't do you good, though we wouldn't want little kids fainting from heat exhaustion. In fact, during an economic downturn, at the beginning of the 1990's, all our family chipped in to earn such income since we weren't getting unemployment benefits.

But this is not PE or sport as it is understood here, but what you would call an educational extra, to be done in your family's and your spare time. PE is things like gym, marching drills, breathing exercises, dancing, tunnel ball, overhead ball, athletics, even rounders or softball - somewhat boring baseball look-alikes - as well as first-aid, lifesaving, even Occupational Health and Safety. Sport might also include cricket, basketball, hockey, tennis, football, ice-skating, bowling, rock-climbing, swimming, yoga, or even golf. We had yearly swimming and athletic carnivals at all grades of school. The curriculum definitely includes cross-country running (or walking) and also personal development.

I took Chemistry and Biology out of the house. We had dissections and various experiments that we did. My teacher for the Chemistry class was a marine biologist.

I should think so! I never did Biology, myself, preferring to do veggie science, that is to say, combined Phys/Chem. The idea of dissecting a rat was a definite turn-off and I'd hate to think of having to teach my children at home how to do such a thing. It was bad enough when one of my children who did do Biology came home with an assignment to rear a duckling for Biology, and the poor little thing died because none of us knew the least thing about how to look after a duckling and keep it warm in the middle of winter. And I'm not sure how parents are supposed to handle chemical experiments which can leave the house smelling of rotten egg gas, and which can go badly wrong without qualified people around.

On the other hand, I agree that most of the Physics experiments with refraction and reflection of light, and with levers etc could well be done at home, if the parents understood how to go about it.

In the US, parents can educate their children however they want as long as they pass the tests established by each state to ensure the children are progressing properly (though I happen to live in the state with the laxest rules; it's not required that I take a test or submit samples of my schoolwork at all).

Whereas in Australia, Sir Henry Parkes, often considered the Father of Federation, was responsible for the Public Schools Act of 1866 which stipulated that no man or woman would be allowed to act as a teacher who had not been properly trained in teaching and which is still in force, as far as I know.

Sir Henry Parkes, who had himself received little schooling, believed in free, universal school education being available to every child, regardless of family income, something which became part of the ethos of Australian education. And so we have compulsory school attendance, with, as I've already mentioned, distance education for those who are too isolated to attend any of the local public or private schools on offer.

Homeschooling is something that may be new to some of us Aussie members of NarniaWeb, as a consequence.

I don't see why no religous peopel go to religous schools it is just stupid and learning soemthign you don't even believe in.

You could be right. People who send their children to religious schools without actually believing in the religion do so basically because they are against the egalitarian ideals of the Public School system, and maybe because the religious schools have a reputation for strictness. The idea is that the more prestigious the school the better chance the child might have of getting good results, access to an influential old-boy's network, and a passport to good jobs later on. This is why these parents are prepared to pay heaps to attend fancy schools like Geelong Grammar or Kings in Sydney.

Awww, why'd you have to tell your PSAT score, Lucy P.? Now I'm depressed. I took my PSAT at a local school too, and would have scored very well if it weren't for the math test.
We use the ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) curriculum, which covers basically everything from kindergarten to high school. Some courses are better than others: English, Etymology, Physical Science and Chemistry are pretty good, but Geography is deathly boring, Old Testament Survey is down-and-out ignorant, and there is no real literature until the last two years of high school. And the whole curriculum is written from a pretty extreme *culturally* fundamentalist point of view--you know, all boys (all good, sanctified boys) must not allow their hair grow long enough to touch their collars, girls must wear ankle-length skirts, never pants or slacks, all good Christian graduates must attend a Bible College after high school, etc. etc. etc.
But it's not all bad. I do like the structure of the curriculum, which allows for some flexibility when your schedule gets crazy. Does anyone else on NW have experience with ACE?

edit:
WWW, I think most homeschoolers do not have the kind of PE program you're talking about. I certainly don't. The frustrating thing is that most public schools will not allow homeschoolers to take classes with them, or play on their teams, or (most frustrating for me) in their bands, even though we pay school tax just like everyone else. So a lot of homeschoolers play private teams, and I play my trumpet in an independently chartered, auditioned youth orchestra. Homeschoolers will find a way.

daughter of the King wrote:

For P.E. (physical education), we had three paper routes that we walked every day rain or shine, or blizzards as the case may be. Some of my older siblings played basketball in the homeschool league and I took ballet. We had bikes and a basketball hoop and played baseball. We also attended lots of summer camps that involved either theatre, music, or computers depending on our interests.

Much as I can personally identify with the job-that-involves-walking-in-bad-weather part, I have to agree that neither paper routes nor summer camps would be accepted as a legitimate P.E. credit outside of homeschooling. They didn't have a word for "deep vein thromobosis" back in those days. However they did believe that physical conditioning helps children learn better. Either way, there was definitely an unofficial health-professional mandate that P.E. should break up the student's day to keep them from sitting for 7 hours in a hard chair.

Bicycle riding is borderline, since most schools didn't have them so bike riding was considered "fun time." Ballet and ball sports would definitely be accredited, though. I've heard that sometimes homeschooled students end up in enrolled in martial arts classes, too.

Question for those of you who know enough for comparison-shopping: suppose a new parent is considering the homeschool method but is unfamiliar with the curriculum/publishers. Which courses are available? How many grades does it cover? Of which cultural affiliation, and of which denominational affiliation?

Someone earlier mentioned that Mother of Divine Grace is Catholic-oriented and ACE (Accellerated Christian Education) is "culturally fundamentalist." So that's two.

I've a few acquaintances on other boards who mentioned that they were curious about homeschooling but that they have no idea how to even look into the possibility. So as many options as possible would be appreciated.

I can give you textbooks, but depending on the age and state, it won't always mean much. HSLDA has a line that folks can always call with questions and each state (I believe) has a support group that can link you to homeschoolers in your area and fill one in on the legal logistics for your state.

A splattering of textbooks though. We used ABeka grammar/lit which gave me a very strong background for the technical aspects of writing. I enjoyed their lit, but some of my less bookwormmy sibs despise how much they pack in. English (the writing aspect) was a mashing of ABeka and Mom-assigned projects.

For history, we used ABeka and touched up where our interests led us with further study. Personally, I hated the books; they were drier then dust. I'm not a huge history fan to begin with though.

Science was ABeka in grade school (I would not recommend this though; much too facts and classroom oriented for youngsters). We discovered Apologia in time to use it throughout all of my high school learning. These are the cream of the crop, IMO, for homeschoolers at the moment. They are written to be enjoyable reads, experiments are included which are feasible (cleaning supplies can provide chemistry chemicals; dissection kits were purchased and actually not that bad to do). Also, they are Creationist and Christian. Wasn't a problem for me, but I know it may be for some.

Math was Saxon, with DIVE (I hope that link works). Dive is a CD which contains lectures and blackboard videos to explain the concepts one is learning in that specific Saxon lesson. Very helpful for me. We did cut the Saxon problem sets into just odds or evens, because the repetition was a bit overkill for me. If I got less then 80% right (or maybe 90%, it changed with the years), I had to do the other half.

A lot of homeschoolers go with the pick and choose method. Different textbooks are going to work for different folks. The ability to switch around to what helps you learn best was a boon to me.

On the whole PE thing, grade school was fairly unstructured. High school I was on a swim team, which also included cross training (weights, calisthenics, etc.)

*Edited for touch ups and links*

I have to chuckle a little bit at the PE requirement. In public school, when PE would come, they had mandatory exercises we would typically do for portions of the year. I remember for a portion we had very minor weight training, including free weights and squats (I couldn't stand without groaning for a week after that...I remember quite well!), but easily 2/3rds of it students were allowed to roam about the gym and do whatever pleased them. The "Nerd Clique" would often play ping-pong or chess, neither of which can be remotely categorized as physical activities.

Still, being in the nerd clique, I did learn to refine my chess game in PE. I beat the class Valedictorian in a game or two as well, which was far more gratifying than getting knocked around underneath a basketball hoop by a sweaty sophomore standing at 6'3" and sporting the beginnings of a full beard.

PE was good in primary school but it still beat science with mr lloyd in highschool.

Gladius wrote

Does anyone else on NW have experience with ACE?

Yup I do, did (and still am doing) the curriculum since 1rst grade, I'd have to agree with you on the extreme part but altogether it isn't too bad. I also like the structure of the curriculum as I need quite a bit of flexibility these days trying ti fit everything else that I do along with school work. I guess that is one reason why I glad that I don't actually go to a school, all that precious time that would go to waste

Greetings, wild rose! It's cool to know another ACE kid is on Narniweb. Do you ever go to the student conventions?

I had to laugh,Shadowlander, when I read about your playing chess for PE. That's hysterical! Sounds just like something I'd do (if we had PE requirements). Eventually I'd probably try to break up the monotony of chess with a little Aquinas here and a little Augustine there, maybe some Spurgeon on days when I'm too tired for really strenuous activity...

I taught at a private school last year. Our curriculum was ACE.

starkat, that's so cool! I had no idea there were others of my breed on Narniaweb. A couple of quick questions, purely out of curiosity (they will not be used against you or the school, etc. etc) :
Did the school have a dress code? If so, please describe it.
Was it a church-school, or unafilliated with a denomination?
What was the average age of the students, and how did they respond to the curriculum?
Did the school participate in student conventions?
Also, did they have any kind of homeschool progams? Some ACE schools distribute material to homeschoolers, and keep test records and that sort of thing.

I hope you're not weirded-out by this machine gun questioning... I'm just interested to see what it's like other places.

My whole family of seven kids are all homeschooled!

I was wondering does anyone else here know HTML?
I do and I think it's really fun. (its better than it sounds, really!)

Just to let everyone know nearly all schools public and private have school uniforms in australia execpt the public ones are way better and casual and not ugly frilly long skirts.

starkat, that's so cool! I had no idea there were others of my breed on Narniaweb. A couple of quick questions, purely out of curiosity (they will not be used against you or the school, etc. etc) :
Did the school have a dress code? If so, please describe it.
Was it a church-school, or unafilliated with a denomination?
What was the average age of the students, and how did they respond to the curriculum?
Did the school participate in student conventions?
Also, did they have any kind of homeschool progams? Some ACE schools distribute material to homeschoolers, and keep test records and that sort of thing.

I hope you're not weirded-out by this machine gun questioning... I'm just interested to see what it's like other places.

Yup to the dress code. A navy blue polo shirt and a khaki skirt for the girls. A navy blue polo and khaki pants for the guys. Shoes had to be all one color so regular tennis shoes were out of the question, but a couple of guys had some all black tennis shoes that were allowed.

Church School. I attend a United Pentecostal Church. We had chapel once every other week, but other than that we didn't preach at our students. We just did our best to be an example to our students.

We were quite large because unlike a lot of private schools, we went K - 12. Elementary was the largest group followed by high school and then jr. high. As to the responding to the curriculum... I can only speak for the jr. highers 'cause that was what I was supervising, but they rarely had to repace.

We had a couple of students who went through us to get their ACE curriculum. Some that lived too far out or family work schedules were too complicated. We had one part homeschool part in school student because of both of those reasons.

We didn't participate in student conventions, but I think they did in the earlier days of the school. Unfortunately, my pastor chose to close the school over the summer, but I know there was talk of trying to do that again in the near future.

No worries. I don't mind about the shotgun questioning.

ILF, I kind of wish public schools here had a stricter dress code. I know some of them do. But the ones where I live don't.

The private ones kind of look old fashioned and something i would hate wearing(dresses and ankle length skirts).

I think they bought it in so no one could tease people about what they wear and stuff and if they didn't buy disigner clothing.

Thanks, starkat. That sounds pretty similar to the school we get our material from. You alluded to one thing I really, really like about ACE--you cannot be held back more than one unit at a time. There's no failing a course or a class. Furthermore, if you do all the exercises according to the instructions it's highly unlikely that you will fail the test.

About dress codes--I've never attended a public school, but from what I've heard from friends and others makers me think that public schools could stand to have stricter rules about attire...
But I'm only a homeschooler. I will not pass judgment.