Whangarei Home Educators’ Support Group Annual Symposium
22 August 2009
Workshop Schedule and Outlines
Venue: St Andrews’ Uniting Church, Cnr Bank and Hunt Streets
Time: 10 am – 4.30 pm
09 43…
glamms@igrin.co.nz Please let us know you are coming as this will greatly help our planning.
This year’s symposium will be a gentle affair providing time to share the love, companionship and experience of our local home educating community. click here for more info
10 am: Arrival, morning tea and name badge making
10.30 – 12 pm: Session 1: choose from –
Starting Out in Home Education – Sharyne Jaunay
In for the Long Haul – Janine Williams
Discussion Group
12 – 1.30 pm: Lunch
1.30 – 3 pm: Session 2: choose from –
Letting Go – Martin Herbertson
Unit Studies – Rose Tattersall
Discussion Group
3.30 – 5 pm: Session 3: choose from –
Unschooling – Learning in Freedom – Kerrin Taylor
The Project Approach – Shelley Williamson
Loving Literature – Sharyne Jaunay
5 pm: Goodbyes and clean up
(Please help with this as much as you are able!)
Starting out in Home Education: nuts and bolts of how to get started as well as keeping going … the workshop will include exemption applications, ERO reviews, choosing curriculum and, hopefully, answering your questions.
Sharyne is a passionate and experienced home educator who draws on a wealth of experience – 10 children and nearly 20 years of home educating.
The Long Haul: Surround yourself with Friends: how to make it through with home schooling when you’re in for the long haul. Some ideas on how to make home schooling life easier (and hopefully more fun) and to help you get to the other end without burning out.
Janine has five children between the ages of 8 and 19, all of whom are still at home, and she has been home schooling for 14 years.
Letting Go: This workshop will help you recognise the fears and habits that the world drums into us and help you find the courage to let go of them. It will cover the evolution of an unschooling family and, in particular, the deschooling of the parent.
Martin has worked as an ecologist and freelance writer and, for 8 years, as a high school teacher. Four years ago he left teaching to educate Felicity and Jack at home and, in that time, they have gone from a structured regime to one where the children are allowed to develop their own interests.
Unit Studies: How to plan an organise a unit allowing for your children’s personal strengths and interests. Opportunity will be given to create a framework for your own unit study.
Rose is the mother of 8 children and has been home schooling for 14 years. She has a passion for providing an environment that encourages children to enjoy their learning.
Unschooling – Learning in Freedom: we all learn best when we are following our interests. This means children too! As home educators, we are in the ideal situation to support our childrens’ learning as they discover the world in their own way.
Kerrin has 7 children and has unschooled 5 of them over the last 9 years. She has survived a successful ERO review while unschooling. She is keenly interested in the process of learning and regularly undertakes new learning experiences herself.
The Project Approach: Learning should be an adventure! Homeschooling is full of trying methods out to see what works best for each child. This workshop will allow you to explore a creative approach that helps our younger investigators to form their own questions and find their own answers.
Shelley has 3 children aged 3, 6 and 8. She knows that her children are their happiest when making their own discoveries to make sense of their world.
Loving Literature: finding the good books to read and learning to love literature. Sharyne will guide you gently through her pick of the best reading material.
Discussion Groups: These sessions will be gently facilitated, without set agenda, allowing us the opportunity to spend time with others raising questions, sharing concerns and successes so enabling us to learn from the wisdom that is in our group and strengthen our connections with one another. Please bring anything you would like to share or discuss.