Home schooling was a necessity in 2020 regardless of parents' educational teaching qualifications. But a report in The Canberra Times 33 years ago said people were oblivious to it.
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Peter and Simon (not their real names) were two Canberra kids who didn't go to school and nobody in the ACT Schools Authority knew.
Peter, the older of the two, was one the more senior of a growing number of children who stayed at home all day, homeschooled by their parents.
Peter's mother, Heather (not her real name), said she knew of about 25 families who kept their children at home to do lessons. At the time, the ACT Schools Authority didn't have approved homeschoolers on on their files.
Heather knew of a Canberra school principal and teachers whose children were homeschooled.
The growing movement of discontented parents and their children had remained undercover because of fear retribution from the government. They were desperate to keep their children out of conventional school.
Heather said it was not a preference for her, but a conviction. The idea of her children going to a school was "an absolutely unmitigated disaster".
" I am giving my children more opportunites and a happier lifestyle", she said.