The programme

When the moderator visits, one of the things that the moderator evaluates is your educational programme.

I have covered the requirements for a visit, that is, that you the home educator arrange for the visit, giving three weeks notice, at a time and place that suit you.

The mandatory section of the Curriculum Framework is to be adhered to by home educators (in Western Australia) and this includes the thirteen overarching and eight learning areas.

Some district offices have a reporting system where they ask for only the eight learning areas to be reported on. Following are two samples of such reporting.

The top document is asking that the home educator implement the Curriculum Framework (WA), and the lower three pages are a mixture of the Australian Curriculum, which has not been mandated as yet, and the Curriculum Framework. The Australian Curriculum at this stage only has five learning areas which are: English, Mathematics, Geography, History, and Science. The lower report is requesting that nine areas be reported on.

The requests of the moderator/s in each of these two documents (the top one references the non mandatory elements) have not been referenced; I would ask that references be provided so that I know where to find the information that I am supposed to be reporting on. The Australian Curriculum is a 665 page document, so referencing is a must - I would have thought. Under the heading of Enlgish Language (on the second document) there is a dot point stating Sound/Letters. This requirement cuts out after year 1 and year 2, so this should be recognised within this document, otherwise a home educator - who is yet to be familiar with the Australian Curriculum could be reporting - needlessly - on this aspect when their child is in say year 6.

The Curriculums can look daunting. They are big volumes of information yet don't be daunted by them, they are not as difficult as they seem. I found it easiest - I only had an education to year 10 when I home educated my three children - to plan a programme by having several 'projects'. These projects were based around things that my children were particularly interested in. So there might be a predominantly 'science and technology' project, several predominantly 'history' projects, a predominantly 'arts' project etc. I was mostly a natural learning home schooler (I will write a blog one day on why I prefer the term 'school' as apposed to 'education'), but I did nick Charlotte Mason's idea of - instead of teaching science you teach a scientist and the science with that scientist and music with a musician, art with the artist etc. So I would read to my children several books at a time - I read to them until they were in their mid-teens and went to their various areas of study. I could be reading a biography of Galileo, and Beethoven, and Monet, and The Diary of Anne Frank, each week. We would do science experiments of Galileo's as we read about them. 

If you take the time to watch this Youtube clip, this is basically, what we learned about Galileo. You can see that we had history outcomes, mathematical outcomes, science outcomes, even art outcomes as we were using plasticine on strings hanging from the door frames. We went on to have a sundial, looked at calendars, why the months are named the names they are, the phases of the moon - that is fascinating - space as a vaccuum, the kids built a basic wooden clock, we learned lots about the Catholic Church and its teachings (we are not Catholic), Italy, the Leaning Tower of Piza etc. etc. etc.

We just got on with enjoying learning and not worrying too much about programming. I then looked at the Curriculum Framework and worked out the 'outcomes' that were achieved and then I Post Planned.

So I would now take the overarching learning statement and go through that.

Overarching Statement Learning outcomes	Outcomes. (this is very basic, but you get the idea, I would probably have put a lot more as I would have had more time to think about all of the activities)
1.      Students use language to understand, develop and communicate ideas and information and to interact with others.	The children used language to explain Galileo's pendulum swings. They performed internet searches to find websites that explained different areas of research. They used the library to find books on different areas of research. They collected stamps and wrote up a stamp exhibition on Galileo and his life. They researched the Catholic Church and Catholicism.
2.      Students select, integrate and apply numerical and spatial concepts and techniques.	The children measured the time of the swings and trajectories of their pendulum experiement. They used calendars, sundials, measuring shadows etc. etc.
3.      Students recognize when and what information is needed, locate and obtain it form a range of sources and evaluate, use and share it with others.	Went to the library and searched websites collecting information on Galileo. They bought string, plasticine for their experiments. Went to stamp clubs, stamp exhibitions, websites, ebay to search for ephemira to put together stamp exhibitions on Galileo.
4.      Students select, use and adapt technologies.	Plasticine and string to make pendulums. Glues and papers for stamp exhibitions. Clocks for timing pendulums. Computers to search internet.
5.      Students describe and reason about patterns, structures and relationships in order to understand, interpret, justify and make patterns.	Patterns of time in pendulum swings, phases of the moon, rotation of earth,
6.      Students visualize consequences, think laterally, recognize opportunity and potential and are prepared to test options.	Children wrote up hypotheses and tested them out with their experiments. Visualise stamp exhibitions, search stamp catalogues, buy stamps and other ephemera on ebay. Sometimes reselling and making a profit.
7.      Students understand and appreciate the physical, biological and technological world and have the knowledge and skills and values to make decisions in relation to it.	Learned about phases of the moon, time, clocks, etc.
8.      Student’s understand their cultural, geographic and historical contexts and have the knowledge, skills and values for necessary participation in life in Australia.	Learned about the Catholic Church and why their great grandmother threatened to cut any of her ancestors out of her will if they married a Catholic. (Methodists). How we don't hold to that value. The power of the church in Galileo's day. The thinking of the Church. How science threatened the church.
9.      Students interact with people and cultures other than their own and are equipped to contribute to the global community.	Interacted with elderly people at stamp club.
10.   Students participate in creative activity of their own and understand and engage with the artistic, cultural and intellectual work of others.	Stamp exhibitions. Making pendulums. Making sun dial. Could see the politics in stamps.
11.   Students value and implement practices that promote personal growth and well being.	They enjoyed their research, found it personally satisfying to explain to others the phases of the moon. Enjoyed applying the information learned to other areas of life. Calendars, clocks, time put into historical context and so an enjoyment of knowing why some things are the way they are.
12.   Students are self motivated and confident in their approach to learning and are able to work individually and collaboratively.	The children worked some of the things they learned into a 'play' that they wrote and performed with their schooled freinds over the summer holidays.
13.   Students recognize that everyone has the right to feel valued and safe, and, in this regard, understand their rights and obligations and behave responsibly.	Participating with their schooled freinds they show a degree of understanding and include them in their lives. They don't see themselves as 'better' or 'worse'. They are polite and kind to the elderly people at stamp club.

I really like the overarching statement - in preference to the eight learning areas, which are covered in this statement in any case - because it is more holistic. The Curriculum Framework states on page 28:

Different learning areas contribute to the overarching learning outcomes in different ways. Each establishes outcomes specific to that area and shows how these link to the overarching learning outcomes. Schools will use the Learning Area Statements as guides to the construction of a comprehensive, broad and balanced curriculum, rather than using them to divide up the curriculum, create artificial boundaries or fragment the curriculum.

This reporting style (the one I have used as opposed to the ones above) doesn't divide up the curriculum, create artificial boundaries, and fragment the curriculum into the eight learning areas. 

So to sum up: The way that I found easiest for the home school (not to be confused with school at home) is to have a number of projects on the go, let those projects take you anywhere the children want them to go, and then post plan using the overarching learning outcomes statement. Therefore, if you think that this method would suit you also and you are handed a form such as the ones above, then state and ask for the more holistic overarching statement outcomes to be the method of reporting. That is the mandated area to be reported on.