HomeLearn

Are you thinking of stepping "out of the box" for education next year? Check out Homelearn

HomeLearn Homeschooling Program Australian Homeschooling program

The last Unit for the year has the Science theme of Chemical Reactions. With this Unit we try as much as possible to include experiments that can be done at home with simple materials that are normally available. As a lot of cooking involves chemical reactions, many courses use "edible experiments" to show the principles of science, applied in a way that results can be enjoyed and shared to finish off the year. Who says chemistry is boring??😀

Unit 10 - Adaptation - starts Term 4
This section and concept in the Science curriculum tends to be controversial to many parents choosing to home educate because of the way it is generally presented in educational materials. In this area of science education, in almost all schools, the presentation tends to lack distinction between what is evidence and what is interpretation due to the theory and/or belief system being used. We at HomeLearn believe it is educationally inappropriate to present material at junior grade levels which does not have this distinction or which presents theories that students at these levels could not be expected to examine critically. Our approach will therefore be to concentrate on the basic principles of how living things "fit" with their environment and to specifically NOT cover alternate theories and/or belief systems as to "how" this might have occurred ... ie "real" Science.

HomeLearn Homeschooling Program Australian Homeschooling program

Unit 8, the second for Term 3, is now underway. The common Science theme is Living Things ... with a subtitle of Form and Function. This is about types of living things ... their classification (generally based on form or appearance) and how they work (body systems etc). An obvious cross-age group activity for this Unit is a visit to the Zoo, and a 'Zoo Excursion' worksheet is provided for (and at) each course level.

Unit 7 - Ecosystems ... the start of Term 3, and a great opportunity for group excursions to the "bush". The HomeLearn program is organised so that all age groups are doing the same core them at the same time ... designed that way so that mixed-aged family groups can do activities like this together.

Unit 6 has just opened for 2025, with the common Science theme of Forces & Motion ... which is a topic that almost always features some experiments that are easy to do at home using common household equipment. (We do understand that few parents have a fully equipped Science laboratory at home !)

HomeLearn Homeschooling Program Australian Homeschooling program

Unit 5 starts on HomeLearn today for Queensland clients and next week for other states.
The common Science theme is Energy, with most courses including practical experiments students can do at home with simple equipment. One feature of the HomeLearn curriculum is the concept of "concentric curriculum" ... coming back around to the similar concepts each year but in a different way and different aspect (which is different to the Australian Curriculum approach of "random" choices in each year level)
For most courses the Society theme is Careers & Work ... an area of the Society & Environment curriculum that really "fell through the cracks" in the Australian Curriculum.

Unit 4 ... the start of Term 2 ... has just opened on the HomeLearn secure website (... running Moodle software, the same used by many universities around the world).
The common Science theme for this Unit is Astronomy.
As the HomeLearn program is designed to have the same theme across-the-board for all age groups, this is a great opportunity to get the family or group out and do some stargazing as an excursion / real life adventure!

HomeLearn Homeschooling Program Australian Homeschooling program

We are now into Unit 3 ... the third and last for Term 1. This link is a previous post about this Unit. Content and links have been updated since then, but the theme is very much the same.

Unit 3 had the common Science theme of "Earth Forces" .... with a suggestion for WA clients to visit Meckering - the site of the biggest earthquake in Australia!

Sorry, the homelearn website went through a major move and restructure, so this page got left alone for quite a while. The program is definitely still running ... and about to be included in a new e-magazine for homeschoolers. Watch this space!

Unit 10 ... the start of Term 4 ... has the common Science theme: Living Things (Adaptation) across all levels of the HomeLearn home schooling program.

This topic of adaptation (how living things ‘fit’ with the environment) tends to be controversial to many parents choosing to home educate because of the way it is generally presented in educational materials. In this area of science education the presentation tends to lack distinction between what is evidence and what is interpretation due to the theory and/or belief system being used. We at HomeLearn believe it is inappropriate to present material at junior grade levels which does not have this distinction or which presents theories that students at these levels could not be expected to examine critically. Our approach is to concentrate on the basic principles of how living things "fit" with their environment and to specifically not cover alternate theories and/or belief systems as to "how" this might have occurred.

If this sounds like the right approach to education to you, please check out HomeLearn at https://homelearn.com.au

HomeLearn A home based education program that covers the 'core' with room to 'explore'!