During the past two years Maitland has experienced an increase in parents turning to home schooling as an

alternative and viable option for their children’s education.

“While it’s hard to say how many home schoolers there are in the area, it’s safe to say that home education is on the rise,” Hunter Home Education Network member Kerry Ptolemy said.

“There’s a group of about seven to eight Maitland families who meet once a fortnight and that’s more than I would of expected.”

Ms Ptolemy, of Bolwarra, chose to home school her son Billy, 6, straight out of preschool.

“Billy works at different rates from the norm and I found it was a hard thing to find a school that would cater for that,” Ms Ptolemy said.

“So rather than compromising on a school, we decided to take on the responsibility ourselves so Billy can work at his own pace, develop his own interests and maintain his

individuality.”

But the decision for Ms Ptolemy to her educate her young son at home wasn’t an easy one.

“Asking a parent why they have decided to home school their child is the $64 million question. You always try to do the best for your kids and these sorts of decisions are tough.”

In 2007-08, there were 1703 students in home education in NSW, the highest number registered with NSW Board of Studies since 1999-2000.

A total of 1417 students were home schooled across the State in 2005-06 and 1635 were educated at home during the 2006-07 financial year.

Home education is legal throughout Australia and regulations vary between States.

In NSW, home schoolers are required to teach courses based on the NSW school curriculum.

Bernie Meyers, of Martins Creek, has been home schooling her daughter Chantelle, now 12, for the past eight years and believes her family has

finally found its niche in the education stakes.

“We never really planned on home schooling for our daughter, but once we started that was it ... we found out where we belonged because we connected with the other home schoolers we had met,” Ms Meyers said.

“You often hear about children being home schooled because they are gifted, they have learning difficulties or they are being bullied, but that’s not always the case. Home schooling has been a wonderful experience for us.”

Ms Meyers attributes the rise in home schooling to the freedom parents can have while educating their children.

“We’ve just loved the freedom of what you can learn and the richness of what you can learn,” she said.

“For us, home schooling has never been seen as a last resort and I would be devastated if it became illegal in this country. I can’t stop my daughter learning, or wanting to learn, and that’s lovely.”

w A home school conference will

be held at the Rutherford Community Centre on September 28. Phone Bernie Meyers on 4938 8142.