User:Lauren.urbina/sandbox

Home education or homeschooling, in Australia is much the same as elsewhere. You may wonder why families choose to homeschool. Well, a few reasons reasons as to why is because; it's more of a lifestyle choice, people may choose to home educate so that they can travel and spend quality time with their kids. Children may even learn differently if they are placed in a general crowd surrounded by other kids. They can get bored or can struggle at school, where the teachers are unable to cater for the individuality of each child.

Homeschooling requires government registration, with different requirements from state to state. Some home educators prefer to be regulated, but others question whether the government has any legitimate authority to over-see the choices parents make to raise and educate their children. Curricular help is offered by the Australian Government.

Many organizations exist to help parents and teachers with home education. The HEA (Home Education Association),one of the biggest support organizations, has grown through local support networks. The HEA does not produce educational material, but offers support to families choosing to homeschool.

Another factor that can tie into the lifestyle choice of families is their religion. According to The Sunday Telegraph, the number of students being homeschooled has nearly doubled since 2014 with approximately 4.479 students partaking in home school education. This included reasons for those being, religious disagreements between individuals or just thinking it was better and safer for these kids to be at home. Dan Marshall, professor of education at Penn State states, "Religious beliefs and values are often cited as the most compelling reasons for home-schooling". Reasons to homeschool due to religion could benefit their child's education or it could not. Families choose to homeschool because "They are hoping more time with their kids will help give them the foundation they need to keep their faith in God as an adult"  On the other hand, "Some want their children to have more one-on-one attention in their school environment. Some found their children thrive in a homeschool environment, when they were either struggling or not being challenged enough in a public school setting"  On December 7th 2017, Australia legalized same sex marriage which had positive and negative outcomes for families of a specific religion. Few worried that their child, or children, would suffer harassment and bullying from other students, these parents therefore preferred that their child be "safer" and have them homeschooled since there may be situations where one could not afford private school.


 * 1) ^ http://www.hea.edu.au/ "Home Education Association"
 * 2) ^ [ https://myaccount.news.com.au/sites/dailytelegraph/subscribe.html?sourceCode=DTWEB_WRE170_a&mode=premium&dest=https://www.dailytelegraph.com.au/news/nsw/homeschooling-rise-of-50-per-mirrors-rise-in-religious-bullying/news-story/aee60403203dfdd72833d0919c54d3b0?memtype=anonymous "Religious Bullying Triggers Rise in Homeschooling"
 * 3) ^ https://news.psu.edu/story/141246/2005/10/17/research/probing-question-why-do-some-people-choose-homeschool-their-kids "Why do some people choose to homeschool their kids?
 * 4) ^ https://www.ulc.org/ulc-blog/connection-religion-homeschooling "Connection Between Religion and Homeschooling"
 * 5) ^ https://www.ulc.org/ulc-blog/connection-religion-homeschooling "Connection Between Religion and Homeschooling"
 * 6) ^ [Joshua Berlinger https://www.cnn.com/2017/12/07/asia/australia-same-sex-marriage-intl/index.html "Australia legalizes same-sex marriage"