Bullied kids get home school

[Ayla]

http://www.news.com.au/dailytelegraph/story/0,22049,24235298-5006009,00.html



Bullied kids get home school
Article from: The Daily Telegraph
By Brooke Newstead

August 25, 2008 12:00am

PARENTS of children bullied at school are teaching their children at home in an effort to protect them.

There has been a spike in the number of children in NSW being home schooled, with bullying identified as the driving force.

Board of Education figures show that, in 2006, 1417 children from 837 families were registered as home schooled students.

This figure jumped in 2007 to 1635 registered students from 1001 families.

Home Education Association vice president Cathy Chisari said the most recent 2007 figures were not indicative of just how many children were being home schooled in the state, with a further 14 per cent increase in registrations since the 2007 figures were published.

Ms Chisari said the bullying epidemic was a driving force behind the increase - particularly among female teenage students.

"We're getting more phonecalls than ever before from people who are saying my child is being traumatised day in and day out," Ms Chisari said.

"We're getting lots of calls from parents of quite a few teenage girls - quite a lot of them are struggling.

"I think this could be because there's a lot more scope for bullying these days."

Ms Chisari home schools her son Liam, 12, as well as her daughter Gabrielle, 8.

The switch from mainstream to home schooling was made when Liam was the victim of schoolyard bullying at the age of six.

For Central Coast mother Viviene Fox, who teaches four of her five children from home, the decision to home school her children was made after she saw the trauma experienced by one of her previous students.

Ms Fox, a former mainstream school teacher, said she had tutored a primary school boy who suffered incredibly at the hands of bullies.

"The school ended up saying (to his parents) he should learn tae kwon do, which he did," Ms Fox said.

"That was crazy. I couldn't see that any other teacher would have the love for my children that I did."

Have you considered home schooling? Tell us dailytelegraph.com.au

[~*heket*~]

I read this article because someone left their newspaper at the bus stop :lol I must say I found in interesting.

[Janet]

It's one reason among many that I won't send my children to be cared for by strangers in a place I can't see.

[Ayla]

An earlier article.

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24010368-2,00.html


Bullying means rise in home learning
Ryan Heffernan
July 13, 2008 12:00am
Article from: The Sunday Mail (Qld)

PARENTS of both bullying victims and expelled bullies are turning to home schooling in a bid to salvage an education for their children.

There are now an estimated 22,000 students learning from home in Queensland, double the number counted by a government working group in 2002.

The bullying epidemic in the state's schools is behind the increase, according to the Home Education Association.

Association spokeswoman Colleen Strange said it had become the last resort for both the bullied and their bullies.

"It's disturbing. I even have teenagers contacting me saying, 'Please talk to my mother and tell her what she has to do because I can't spend another minute in that school'," Ms Strange said.

"I even have people who have been excluded from school for bullying contacting me. They have no choice, they have to be educated somewhere."

Home education is a "lawful alternative" for students of a compulsory school age, but Education Queensland sets out strict guidelines. Those wishing to go to university have to sit a special tertiary admissions test.

Last week's Sunday Mail investigation into bullying in Queensland schools sparked a huge response from readers.

One Brisbane mother was driven to release details of a diary she kept of the daily trauma suffered by her disabled son at the hands of classmates.

She was one of hundreds of readers who contacted The Sunday Mail following our report, which found up to one in six Queensland schoolchildren were victims of schoolyard abuse and 70 students, some as young as five, were suspended every day for assault.

The mother said her 14-year-old -- who has autistic spectrum disorder, which affects his social and communication skills -- had been subjected to a decade of physical and mental attacks, which left him reclusive and on anti-depressant drugs.

"It started from Day One, they didn't give him a chance, they didn't give him a go," the mother said

"His disorder means he can't socialise properly, anyway, and now almost every single day he comes home crying. He has no self-esteem.

"He says, 'Mum I can't take it any more, I just can't do it any more'. And that is heartbreaking, really heartbreaking."

For the past 18 months the mother -- whose identity has been withheld to protect her son -- has kept a diary of every incident involving her son. She said "there is not one single day where something hasn't happened".

The abuse began with name-calling and escalated to him being grabbed around the throat and choked, beaten with a mallet in manual arts, punched in the genitals and hit with a rock.

The mother said she had pleaded with school authorities and even confronted her son's bullies, and now had no choice but to join thousands of other Queensland families who were rejecting mainstream education in favour of home schooling.

"If he stays where he is it will be devastating," she said.

Parents and children who contacted The Sunday Mail said they felt powerless to deal with the situation.

"I now believe that the only way to stop the bullying is for my son to stand up to them, but the problem is that he doesn't know how to be physically violent. Oh, and by the way, he is only nine years old," one email revealed.

Another parent said her daughter had attempted suicide: "Four years onwards, many counselling sessions later, two suicide attempts, my daughter is barely living. She was a bright, caring, talented musician. This is sadly the cost to families left to deal with the effect of senseless degrading of a human being."