Learning Plan and Report for Homeschooling in Queensland

Hello, I know, I know, I’ve been very quiet for the last couple of weeks. It’s time of year again. I hate it, it’s time-consuming and tedious and fairly pointless. This is where a lot of you will just close the page, that’s OK, I understand, see you next time. I’ve been writing a homeschool report for Queensland HEU and putting together next year’s learning plan or curriculum, again to keep the Queensland homeschool authorities happy. Tedious, but it has to be done. Want to see what’s involved and how we maintain homeschool registration in Queensland? 

Writing a Homeschool Report / Application for Queensland HEU

It is a massive pain in the rear but it has to be done every year.

This is what we have to do:

1. Write a report for the year on each subject.

2. Submit a learning plan or curriculum for the coming year ( I write my own)

3. Submit 6 work samples, 2 each in English, maths and one other subject. Marked, annotated, demonstrating progress and what a great teacher I am.

We are lucky in Queensland, some states have home visits and make you keep daily and termly records and all sorts, I just have to hand in a big wodge of paper once a year.

I’m nearly finished, I’ve done the reports, I use my other site, Homeschool Group Hug to publish homeschool reports, it helps new homeschoolers out and gives people ideas. I know I was totally lost when I first started and needed all the help I could get. I’m not saying I’m an expert, but if I can help I will.

I’ve just put my learning plan for next year together. It’s made me realise how totally freaking awesome travel is for little sponges, and that is what they are, they’re incredible.

So here it is, my learning plan for next year, very rough and ready, much shorter than usual, but look how much stuff comes up just through the act of travelling.

I have a feeling we may be rejected, if we aren’t resident at our permanent address we, technically, have to register with a school of distance education to remain authorised in Australia.

I’ve done my bit, let’s see what they say. This is for my son in year 4-5 in Queensland Australia. These days we homeschool under the UK system and are following British regulations, we are no longer registered in Queensland, but back then, this is just one of many learning plans and reports I had to submit.

This was the year we moved towards worldschooling, road schooling or education through adventure as I prefer to call it.

Learning Plan and Goals for Homeschool Registration in Queensland Australia

We have the opportunity to travel extensively in the next 12 months, in Asia and Europe. We don’t know exactly when or for how long, we will be in and out of Australia. I’m not going to submit a very detailed learning plan as our travel plans are subject to change.

We are travelling with the children’s education in mind; it is the driving force behind this.

I now have full confidence in myself as a home educator and in my son’s abilities. I think travel will be an excellent opportunity for him to acquire knowledge and personal skills.

We will still be resident at our current address.

Maths

We will move onto year 5 work, using a selection of Australian curriculum work books and Study Ladder. I haven’t looked for them yet,  I can’t name any in particular.

My son is well ahead with maths so I won’t be pushing him too hard.

Maths will come up in daily life, from timetables and calculating waiting times, to currency exchange and bartering. I may even put my son in charge of our daily budget for a few days to give him an idea of the cost of living.

English

Reading will continue to be a big focus.

I tend to manouvre my son towards children’s classics, he prefers children’s horror books and fantasy, we will find balance. There is value in any book, so long as he continues to ask what words mean, I know he’s learning and improving.

I will read quality books aloud to the boys.

His reading and comprehension are excellent. We will continue with the black level (year 7) comprehensions on Study Ladder.

I will get him writing, in diaries, emails, postcards. I may even get him blogging ( I am a blogger).

He will have quality audio books to listen to as we travel.

His punctuation and understanding of grammar are really good, I feel  he has no need of formal lessons in this area at the moment, just gentle correction in any written work he undertakes. His spelling will continue to improve naturally, we have seen this in action already. He will continue to practice his cursive, he finds cursive easier than printing.

Science

My plan is to study cell structure and function in greater depth this year; we have already started plant and animal cells and their differences. We will progress to microbiology, prokaryotes, pathogens, viruses, bacteria, algae, fungi etc. We will also look at the development of vaccines and sterile procedures, looking at the work of Pasteur, Jenner and Fleming in particular. I have a book that covers all of this, so I only need to take one with me. It will tie in nicely with travel vaccinations and taking care to avoid disease. We have already started learning about the immune system.

I would also like us to learn about oceans in more depth, subsurface land features, surface and subsurface currents, marine life zones and food chains. Again, I have one book that covers oceans. ( Horrible Geographies)

I realise that we are years ahead with all this, but it’s going well, he’s interested and he understands.

We’ve exhausted Study Ladder for science. We still have Brain Pop if we feel the need.

He will learn from the science all around him, his observations and my explanations.

We have done a lot of practical science and experimentation in the last 12 months knowing that we won’t be able to do much for a while. We will continue whenever we are at home.

We will seek out science museums  for hands on, organised experiences.

Music and Arts

He will be learning about the music and arts of the world and, I hope, writing about them in his diaries. We are very proactive in seeking out cultural performance experiences for the children.

He is taking his guitar and recorder with him.

I will continue to explore the history of music with him.

If we can find art and craft classes, we will take them.

Technology and IT

He will continue to use computers to find his own information on the internet.

Minecraft, Crash and his computer programming will travel with us. He will make You Tube videos and publish them, he will take photos and edit them. He may even get involved in the technical aspects of blogging if he would like me to set up  his own site. He will learn more about HTML and if he blogs, he will use it.

We will continue to buy him kits to make and create, maybe he will sew, maybe he will find some craft or creative outlet he loves. We don’t know.

Geography/History Social Studies

He will be travelling. That is enough.

He will have plenty of opportunities to study maps and practice using coordinates and degrees, including navigating from ordnance survey type maps on treks.

He will grasp time zones and climate zones. He will see the highest mountain range in the world, observing how climate changes as we ascend. He will contrast this with visiting deserts.

We will be very well placed to learn about the spice trade, European exploration and colonialism.

The Vietnam War, India and partition and the Cambodian tragedy will be big topics.

He will learn to understand and respect the cultures and religions of each country we visit.

I will take a few books and audio books with us, on history and geography, relevant to the countries we will be visiting. We will trade them in as we travel (a system of book exchanges exists round the world). ( Lonely Planets!)

He will learn languages in each new country.

We hope to take classes in arts and cookery in a few countries.

Health and PE

He will be trekking in the Himalayas, skiing in Japan, snorkelling and swimming wherever we can. We would like to find him lessons in martial arts, he is fascinated by these. We will ride elephants, horses, donkeys and camels.  He will be learning to stay happy, safe and healthy on the road and to make friends and play games wherever we go, with language and without.

So, there you go, it is done. Let’s see if they approve us.

This is An Approved Queensland Homeschooling Application / Plan

UPDATE : They did, this homeschooling or maybe worldschooling curriculum or learning plan was approved by the authorities. Shortly after we had to de-register as homeschoolers in Australia as it became clear we wern’t going back. The boys switched to their UK passports and started learning according to the UK’s homeschooling guidelines. This was many years ago now, they are teens now and it’s all worked out beautifully.

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