What Is Happening Australia Wide? 

There were no recent figures available concerning the number of children homeschooled across Australia, so I had do my own research. I looked up annual reports, rang all the registering bodies in each state and sent emails.   Finally, the data was complete for each state and territory and is presented in the table below:

Number of Registered Home School Students By State

*Based on 20% of school aged children in General Australian population

As of December 2011, the number of students registered for home schooling in Australia was 10,121.   While this only represents the number of registered home schoolers, it will be useful to track these numbers at the end of each year to see if homeschooling as a movement is growing overall.

I recently downloaded  Memorise His Word and it is great. 

Learning scripture is so easy using this method.  You can also trial it for free for 30 days.

It uses the old Sunday School method where it erases 20% of the verses at a time.   You can then go to recite mode, where you get a blank screen and press the space bar and one word appears at a time for you to check, as you quote the verse.

There are about 150 verses that are already there, for you to choose from and you can select which version you prefer (KJV, NKJV, ESV, NIV, and others).

You can also download your own verses very easily using a cut and paste process from Biblegateway.

You can get your children to learn all the PACE memory verses using this method in KJV or NKJV if you prefer and you can have different verses for each member of the family.

This is a great way to learn whole chapters or the Scripture passages that we send out each month.

The best thing is the review system where you control when the verse will come up for you to revise it.  It could be every day for 5 days while you are learning it and then every 10 days once you have it under control.  You decide.

If you purchase the product it costs $20 for the home edition (PC only) or $15 for the online version which works fine with a Mac. I think that is very good value.

If you purchase the product you can import verses from anyone else.

I have about 120 passages I am working on at the moment. You could import mine if you are interested. All you need to do is to quote my username stuartchapman.  (Not available on the trial version)

Let us know what you think…

In Saturday’s Australian newspaper I saw a quote from our Prime Minister, Ms Gillard (p4 under minor heading “Troy Bramston decodes key lines in Gillard’s speech”  (Protected by paywall)

“I saw them in the faces of the education-hungry young women I met at Uniting Care Ambarvale in May. Young mums getting help with childcare, with skills, help finding a job, leaving a life of exclusion behind.”

If this is true, it is more a sad reflection on society, that it excludes mothers, rather than the condition of stay-at-home mums themselves.

OK Mums. Do you feel excluded by being at home; do you need help finding a job?

I would argue that mums whom homeschool have one of the best jobs in the world: Training up a child in the way he should go.

What do you think?

In my grandparents generation most people were working full time jobs by the time they were 14.

(Admittedly, both of my grandfathers were born in 1873, which would make them 138 years old if they were still alive.)

Nowadays, when most people when they talk about their children getting a good job, they are thinking of post tertiary study, which could be anywhere from 21 to 38!   As someone has said we live in an age of the world’s wrinkliest teenagers.

I would encourage you, to help your children to get some part time work at a much earlier age.  I specifically chose to run a junk mail business, with 30 deliverers for one year, so that my children could have some experience in running a business.

As my brother, who is a small business coach says, “It doesn’t matter what those first jobs are, just get some work, any work will do.”

They can start by doing jobs and chores for you at home.

Next, they might approach the neighbours to do baby sitting or gardening jobs.   By the time they are thirteen they are often ready to get unpaid work experience or voluntary work.   By the time they are fourteen or fifteen they should have a part time job even if it is delivering junk mail.

Being in paid employment teaches them much about responsibility, presentation, reliability, courtesy and respect for authority.

The workplace has its dangers too, as your child may come under the authority of those who do not share the same values and beliefs as you do, so you must be actively involved and you must know if your child is likely to be easily led or not.

Nevertheless, I believe it is a wise parent who supports their children in this area.

One of the benefits of doing this is that we charge our children board, once they start earning money, but I will talk about that later.

We would like to hear of how this has worked in your family.   Over to you…

It is not often I recommend DVD’s but there are a set of three Christian movies, Flywheel, Facing the Giants and Fireproof  that in my opinion are some of the best Christian movies around.

They were produced by Sherwood Pictures which was started as a media ministry by a church congregation in Albany, Georgia USA.

Their first effort, Flywheel is about a used car salesman who faces issues of integrity and financial ruin.

The next, Facing the Giants is about an American football college team at a Christian school.

Finally, Fireproof, which was the number one independent film in 2008, is about a marriage that is on the point of breakdown.

The quality of production and acting improves with each feature, but it is the great scripts and storylines that get you involved.   I must admit that I shed a few tears when I watched each of them.

You can buy them as a triple pack from Koorong for $40

I would rate the first two (G) and Fireproof (PG-M)   as it deals with issues such as sexual temptation.

If I had to choose a favourite it would to be Flywheel.   It is very believable and it shows the power of prayer.   All of them are excellent and are great viewing.

If you are quick you may be able to see their next production in the theatre, Courageous: Honour Begins at Home which is showing in cinemas now.

If you have watched them, tell us what you think…