WHY PARENTS ARE OPTING OUT
Rise in number of Toowoomba children home-schooled
JULIE Lawson won’t be dropping her children off at school when classes resume in two weeks. Instead, she’ll be teaching them from home.
The Toowoomba mother-of-seven is part of a growing trend across the Darling Downs, as parents opt out of traditional schooling to embrace home education.
Local experts and authorities put the number of homeschooled families in the region above 550. According to the Department of Education and Training, 2580 students were homeschooled in Queensland as of August 2017, up 45 per cent from 2015.
The growing trend is not a surprise to Mrs Lawson, who first began her journey two years ago when her eldest son was in Year Five.
“I’d never heard of home-schooling until I’d finished school,” she said.
“I thought it was a bit weird initially, but now there’s a huge network that I can be part of.
“Once I joined a group, I got to know people and it just opened up a really big community.”
She said parents were growing disillusioned by the current education system, and that homeschooling was seen not as a fringe movement but a genuine option for their children.
“We felt like we’re missing out on time with the children and there was this rush to get them off to school,” Mrs Lawson said.
“I was disillusioned – we realised we weren’t enjoying our children and I want to enjoy my kids.”
Mrs Lawson said the shift produced positive results for her children, not just with their academic prowess but their sociability.
Rachael Clark, a Toowoomba representative for Unschooling Down Under, said parents who pursued home education generally fell into three categories.
“Some parents have decided that they don’t want to send their kids to school.
“Others found that the system failed their children (and) there are the also the religious groups who do it based on their beliefs.”
She said home education offered a flexibility that students can’t normally find in public schools, helping them to focus their studies into developing careers.
“One of the big stigmas is socialisation – there’s a view we lock them in the cupboard (but) we have meet-ups every week as well as play dates and birthday parties,” Mrs Clark said.
“We have some accessing university or TAFE a lot earlier than their peers,” she added.
Mrs Clark will hold an information session about homeschooling at the Toowoomba Library on January 14 from 10am.
❝A big stigma is about socialising – there’s a view we lock them in the cupboard. — Rachael Clark