Save time and simplify your homeschooling life...
Learn from experienced homeschoolers how to write your own curriculum. It really is that easy!

Registering: The Interview

excerpt from Getting Started with Homeschooling, Practical Considerations
© Beverley Paine, 1997

There is considerable contention about the role of interviews in the registration process, with many home educators feeling it is an invasion of privacy, and unnecessary in the determination of the quality of the home learning program. Many authorities will push for an interview in your home, but you can negotiate a neutral place, or concede but have a witness present. This should present no problems to the interviewing officer, and will bolster your confidence. If possible arrange to have an experienced home educator.

It is not essential for the educational officers to have access to your children during the interview, but once again this will generally be sought. Children are not required to answer questions or be interviewed, but there may be pressure on them to do so if they are present. You may need to prepare the children if they consent to being interviewed. Remember, it is your educational program that is being assessed for the purposes of approval to home educate, not your children's abilities or knowledge. You may need to be firm on this issue.

‘Testing’ of the children is unnecessary and usually unwarranted and can be very stressful for the children. Be wary of ‘innocent’ tests, questions designed to gauge your children’s educational standard or level. This is not the role of the interviewing officer - they are simply there to assess the educational suitability of the prepared program. By providing access to records of your children’s previous learning programs you can offer enough information for the interviewer to assess the educational attainments of your children. This is a process well accepted in schools.

Many children are quite happy to talk to the interviewing officers, and often bring scrap books or work books, pets and projects to ‘show off’. This friendliness and openness is always impressive. It is not uncommon for the children to completely take over the interview process. During one interview a young home schooling girl confidently placed her pet chicken on the lap of one unsuspecting interviewer and kept him captivated for well over one hour, and in another a twelve year old proceeded to video the entire interview for a media project!

There are some advantages to having the interview process in your own home. Firstly, this is the place you feel most comfortable. You can arrange your home for the interview to your vantage, preparing the environment to highlight aspects you feel would benefit your case. Secondly, your children are most comfortable here, and have rooms of their own they can play in, or gardens, and can keep themselves happily occupied while the interview progresses. Another important advantage is having everything handy, in case you wish to add something to your application at the last minute. Remember, the interviewer will most comfortable in a classroom or office. The home is a superior learning environment and can be easily demonstrated as such.

The interview is a good opportunity to explore the resources the educational authority has to offer, and to discuss, face to face, any queries you may have. Think of them as a service, not a policing body. Government bureaucrats are servants of the population.

Usually the timing and place of the interview is negotiated after the first contact with the authorities has occurred. It is a good idea to obtain a written outline of the purpose and the format of the visit to enable you to adequately prepare for it.

It is important to feel confident and not to be intimidated during the interview. In many instances the interviews are carried out by only one person, although in some cases a second person attends to advise on the educational content of the program if the interviewing officer is unfamiliar with the developmental stage of your children. The officers attending feel it is their duty to assess your proposed educational program and take this role very seriously. If you have a problem with the purpose and format of the visit it may be more suitable to work this out on the phone or in writing, before the actual interview.

Prepare for the interview by being clear about what you are doing and why it is important to you. Stay focussed on the educational program of your children. Some authorities see their role as extending beyond the education of children and into the area of child welfare, but this can be controlled by you if you are clear about your purposes of the visit, and assert these where necessary. Recording your proposed educational program before the interview, in a concise and easily readable manner, allows you to refer to it quickly to refresh your memory and keep you, and the interviewing officers on track. You are also able to use it as a guide during the interview.

The key to a successful interview is to stay in control of the process, be firm and assertive, and to have a clear understanding of why you have initiated this process. Although the actual learning program is the main area of concern for the officers interviewing you, they will also give consideration to the general learning environment and overall attitudes to learning in the home. For more information to help you prepare and feel comfortable about this aspect of the interview, read Part 4 ‘Preparing The Learning Space’.

More information can be found at:

• How Do We Start?
• Is it Legal?
• How To Obtain Approval

next page

Browse Our Curriculum Index

CURRICULUM INDEX

More questions?
JOIN a FORUM

Time to spare?
Browse our extensive

ARTICLE LIBRARY

Looking for Resources?
Home Education Directory

Join the HEA in 2008 and receive 2 FREE Booklets!
until sold out

A percentage of sales
goes to Trees For Life

Aussie HS Campers

Thank you for your generous
donation to Homeschool Australia.

Thank you for visiting!

Text & Images on this site Copyright © 1999-2008
Beverley Paine.
All rights reserved