Number of Gold Coast kids homeschooling more than doubles in four years, 40 per cent in hinterland

The number of Gold Coast kids homeschooling has dramatically changed since the COVID-19 pandemic. SEE WHICH SUBURB HAS THE MOST

THE number of children homeschooling on the Gold Coast has more than doubled in four years — and 40 per cent of them are in northern and hinterland suburbs.

Education Queensland data shows 508 kids were taught at home last year, up from the 217 in 2016. During the pandemic alone, it rose 30 per cent.

The biggest suburbs for home teachers included the postcode of 4209 (Coomera, Upper Coomera, Pimpama and Willow Vale) with 92 enrolled students followed by 4211 (including Pacific Pines, Nerang, Advancetown, Carrara, Beechmont, Gaven, Highland Park and Gilston)

with 71, and 4213 (including Mudgeeraba, Springbrook, Worongary and Talli) with 44.

In 2016 there were two postcodes with more than 20 children registered as homeschooled. In 2020 there were 10. The data also shows more boys than girls are homeschooled.

Across the state there was a 26 per cent increase in registered homeschoolers, from 3411 in 2019 to 4297 in 2020. The 2019 homeschooling figure for the Gold Coast reported by the Bulletin last year was 381, increasing to 392 with adjusted figures.

Megan Young says inquiries and business at her homeschool support firm Flourish Education has doubled since COVID.

Jamie Hartley and Tegan Hartley, of Pimpama, homeschool their children by taking them outdoors and learning through real life experiences. (l-r) Sahara, 5, Jayden, 10, Zahariah, 7, Jameson, 2 and Indigo, 7. Picture: Jerad Williams

“It’s gone nuts this past year,” she said. “Since COVID people have realised that homeschooling is a legal option and families have realised how well it worked for their kids, with some thriving on the independence of it and not being in a big group setting.”

Ms Young works with a lot of families who have children with anxiety, autism and dyslexia who had adjusted well to learning at home during COVID. She said many parents did not want to disrupt their routine further by sending them back to the classroom.

“Bullying has also been a big motivation for kids leaving the school system, particularly when the school hasn’t responded well enough and children have found it really difficult to go back and face their bullies,” she said.

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She said most homeschool families were self-employed, had flexible employment arrangements or were families with only one working parent.

“Homeschooling parents have the flexibility to explore a child’s passions and interests during school hours, not just rushing to extra curriculum activities in the evening and weekends, eating into family time,” she said.

“Parents are also setting up co-ops where they share their skills in certain areas, with lots more Gold Coast businesses opening during school hours because the homeschoolers market is growing.”

Ms Young said the biggest misconception was that homeschooled children had a lack of social skills or interactions, but this was far from the truth.

“It’s just about finding activities and groups that you can interact with, you can pick and choose. I think that’s a big motivation for some homeschool families, knowing who their children are interacting with and being able to support them when they do have troubles.

“Parents are also able to focus more on their child’s health and wellbeing first, not their academic needs first, something that’s not possible when working in big classrooms.”

GOLD COAST MUM DEBUNKS HOMESCHOOL MYTHS

MOTHER-of-five Tegan Hartley says being locked in a storeroom for talking too much and being called “thick” by a teacher are incidents from her school years she’ll never forget.

“A teacher asked me a question that I didn’t understand and when I said so, he asked me if I was thick and the whole class laughed at me,” she said.

“As a kid that literally scarred me and I’d hate something like that to happen to one of my kids, and that’s part of the reason why I homeschool them.”

Mrs Hartley, of Pimpama, is one of a growing number of Gold Coast parents choosing to pull their children from traditional classroom settings and teach them herself. With a 10-year-old who has autism, twin girls aged seven, a five-year-old and three-year-old toddler, she has her hands full, but says she wouldn’t have it any other way.

She took her oldest out of school in 2018 when he was hit in the face by three of his peers.

“Jayden is autistic and was picked on at school and didn’t realise who was mean and who was not. He won’t go back to school now, and even when he was at school he couldn’t read.”

She taught Jayden to read using Dr Seuss books and now he reads and writes fluently. Her twin daughters will learn to read once they are eight, until then they are learning through play, something she says is commonplace overseas in countries such as Japan.

“The only reason the Australian system teaches them to read so early is because they can’t effectively teach a classroom of 26 kids until they can all read,” she said.

Jameson, 2, Zakariah, 7, Indigo, 7, Sahara, 5, and Jayden, 10 . Picture: Jerad Williams

The 27-year-old said contrary to what society believed, her children were well socialised and did not just sit at home all day being taught at the dinner table.

“The stigma that kids learn in the house bugs me because we do 90 per cent of our learning outside in parks, at creeks, the beach. I teach them water safety, where water comes from and other essential life skills.

“My kids are also very social and met up with lots of others at the places we visit, as well as interacting with adults, which I think is also important.”

Mrs Hartley said homeschooling also meant her children weren’t made to feel worthless if they didn’t have the latest iPhone or a PlayStation console — something kids as young as nine often boast about at school.

“I’m hoping they’ll have less mental health issues and higher self-esteem because they aren’t exposed to kids who are asking them ‘are you rich, are you poor’. I don’t want school crushing them.”