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Travelling Beautiful Australia

20:10

How to Get Into University as an Aussie Homeschooler

06:28

The world of university, seemingly ruled by scores, tests and A+ grades, can be confusing, if not daunting, for any homeschooler. As an Australian, however, it can be much more stressful, due to the lack of information on the subject. This post will share what I, as an Aussie homeschool graduate, have learnt through my research and personal experience. (Note to US readers - Please be aware that this is based on the Australian system of education and so some of the year levels and testing systems may be different than you are used to.)

Pathways

There are three main pathways that are used to gain entry into university in Australia.

ATAR

This is the score that you get at a traditional school when you have finished your year twelve subjects. As homeschoolers do not attend a tradition school, this is a difficult pathway for them.

STAT Test

The STAT test is a test that students can take to prove that they are academically able to study at university. Most university admissions centres facilitate these tests at set times of the year, generally before the start of each admissions cycle. These tests can be helpful for homeschoolers because they enable you to obtain formal recognition of your academic skill in the absence of an ATAR score. However, STAT tests do come at a fee and, depending on how your homeschooling has been set up, can require months of study and preparation to familiarise yourself with the unique testing style of the STAT test.

Tafe

This is the model that I am the most familiar with, as it was the pathway that I used to gain entry into the university course that I am currently studying. I think perhaps the best way to explain this pathway would be to share my personal experience. As a child, I enjoyed study and had made a point to challenge myself with how much ‘schooling’ I could complete each day. As I reached my early teens and became more independent in my studies, I continued this and, eventually, ended up completing my coursework, up until year ten level, by the time I turned 15. At the time I was interested in studying nursing and so my parents and I did a lot of research into the various pathways that I could use to gain entry into university. In the end, I could either continue studying general topics as a homeschooler for another two years and then go and sit a STAT test, or I could study a certificate IV at Tafe to meet the entry requirements. The particular certificate IV that I was looking at studying was only one semester as well, so I would be able to start studying nursing at university much sooner. Fairly quickly, we decided that studying through Tafe would be the better option for me. Another thing that attracted us was that the certificate that I wanted to study was offered externally, so I could study from home, which I was already used to because of homeschooling, and the Education Department was happy for us to use the Tafe studies to meet their study requirements. I went ahead and completed the certificate and managed to complete the coursework in good time. As it happened, God shut the door for me to go on and study nursing at that time and I went on to study two more Tafe courses externally, one in business and another in tourism. After a gap of a couple of years, in which God taught me many lessons and enabled me to try many different things, God led me to investigate the area of midwifery. This was something that I had been interested in for quite some time, but I wasn’t sure whether it would ever be something that I pursued formally. Anyway, as both my parents and I considered and prayed about it, God led us to explore universities that offer a bachelor of midwifery externally, of which there are two in Australia. I applied to both, using my original certificate IV to meet the admission requirements. I was accepted by my first preference, and now my days are filled with textbooks, assignments, stethoscopes and the occasional blog post.

So that’s my experience. Now for a few Q&A’s

What if my Tafe won’t let my study a certificate IV straight away?

Different Tafes act differently on this one, some will let you and some won’t. You might need to study one or two lower certificates before they will let you study a certificate IV. This may take you more time, but if you pick your courses well, you can learn some valuable skills in the process. It probably wouldn’t take you as long as completing years 11 and 12 would anyway. Or, perhaps you could try studying at a different Tafe.

What courses can you study externally?

There are many areas that you can study externally through Tafe including finance, business, youth work, aged care, education support, nursing preparation, hospitality, general education, local government, management, small business, retail and tourism for a start. You can even study for a builder’s registration externally.

What if my Tafe is not friendly to homeschoolers?

This does happen. Tafes can be funny about accepting homeschooled students, especially into a certificate III or IV. From my experience, one of their biggest concerns is whether the homeschoolers are academically ready to study at a Tafe level. One method that generally fixes this problem is to bring in a selection of the student’s best work, such as essays, reports, maths awards and other projects, and show these to the lecturer who is running the course you with to study. Often this will be enough to show the lecturer that the student is serious and hardworking. Depending on the course, you may even be able to get recognition of prior learning (RPL) for some of those projects. If the lecturer is still not convinced, you may need to start at a lower level certificate. Either way, at least you will be heading in the right direction.

Written by Sabrina

www.godzgear.blogspot.com.au

DIY

Healthy Dog Food on a Budget

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This post was graciously written by our lovely mother, who has been feeding our dogs yummy, homemade dog food for many years. Hope you enjoy it.

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Having a dog around the house can be a wonderful asset. It will teach you and your children a LOT about animals and can serve as an effective security measure. It doesn't have to be expensive! You can feed your dog nutritious food that doesn't cost much to produce, and it will save you dollars on vet bills and medication, because you will have a healthy and happy dog!

Our Story

We have had Rottweiler dogs in our family for many years. We chose this breed because their temperament is great for our family. Although calm,trainable, courageous, loyal, protective, highly intelligent, docile etc.,they are powerful, massive dogs that need to be fed well.

Years ago, when we did not know better, we fed our dogs anything from tin food to dry biscuits, keeping in mind our budget. Our dogs were mostly healthy when they were young, but did not maintain their health as they aged.

One day one of our dogs started yelping every time he sat down or tried to get up. He was in a lot of pain and seemed to have pain in the joints like arthritis. At the time we lived in remote Australia and thought that we might have to put the dog down to let it out of its misery. It was like, all of a sudden, the dog became very old. We had heard that rolled oats, the food of race horses, was a great nutritious food for dogs, so we had a try. We would soak the oats all by themselves with some hot water, let them soften, and then feed it to our dog with some table scraps for flavour. The difference in our dog was almost overnight. He stopped his yelping within a week and never looked back after that. It was like he became a young dog again, with heaps of energy, a glossy coat and he put on lots of muscle.

A Bonus

Not only had we stumbled across a super food for our dogs but we had found a most affordable dog food to produce. Rolled oats can be bought in your supermarket or stock feed for a minimal price and making it is easy!Why don’t you try it? Just soak some rolled oats overnight in cold water or warm water with some table scraps. It will be ready to serve in themorning. If you forget then just add hot water and wait about 10 minutes. You can also cook it up like porridge. Your dogs will be the judge but I think they will love it.

Add to the Recipe

Don’t throw out your off milk or dairy products. Dogs love it and it is good for their digestive system. Just add it to the porridge. You can also add vegetable oil and eggs for their coats, fresh garlic for worms and general health, salt etc. Boil up bones to make broth and add the rolled oats. The possibilities are endless and you won’t waste any food in your house!

Evelyn Hair

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Anita

www.godzgear.com.au

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