It's been a while since my last post and I have missed out on some fantastic posts by the looks of things. Thank you to all of you who contributed over these past months. I enjoyed catching up.
The reason for my absence is I procured a job as a governess (or home tutor) on a 50000 acres (20234 hectares) cattle station in Central Queensland teaching one 6 year old boy. So I dressed the part and ventured to the outback.
Becoming a Govie
After 20+ years of home tutoring my own children I thought it would be nice to do something different, and at the same time make a positive impact on someone else's educational journey. So I'm hoping to share my experience with you. Teaching children in a city is one thing, teaching them on a small farm another, however teaching children who live in isolation and hundreds of kilometres away from anyone else is a whole new adventure.
Their nearest playmates are over 410 kilometre round-trip away so forget joining football or any other sport as the distance to get there is a preposterously complicated task. Sadly birthday parties are often held online but should you manage to catch up with their distant playmates the misery of saying goodbye is often harder than the initial getting there. It's like the kids are being torn apart by barbed wire and bleeding to death as the tedious drive home kicks off.
As distressing as this may sound, the long lasting memories of happy faces are worth the hundreds of kilometres of traversing the seriously rutted roads. Avoiding bulldust holes, risk of hitting wandering cattle, and dodging trucks (called roadtrains in Australia) just over 53 metres in length which are often fully loaded with cattle heading for the abattoir in Rockhampton.
Australia's beef industry apparently equates to roughly 4% of the global beef production with 70% export and 30% consumed by us Aussies. It is no wonder that these cattle trucks just keep on coming because Australia is in the top three largest producers of beef in the world. It's a 10+ billion dollar industry and in order to support this industry we need men, women and children on the land to make this happen.
Obviously there is a substantial support industry surrounding cattle stations (or any station producing food) with education being one of them. Most station owners pay home tutors, or governesses to help with the education of their children. Often these governesses (or 'Govies' as we call them here) are young girls around 18-20 years old who are looking for an opportunity to experience station life, or outback living.
However, this Govie was a little older and that's what the station parents wanted; a mature nurturing person who loves children and tries to bring the best out of each child... and so my journey took me to this wonderful place for a few months with the sole purpose to raise this 6 year old boy from an educational level of illiterate... to literate. And that's what I do best! Teaching children to read and write... and I love it.
Grasping the Concept
Upon arrival at the cattle station I found a boring excuse for a schoolroom which was initially decked out with nothing more than a child's table, chair, laptop, and some random posters stuck on the walls. I quickly changed that on day two! Many children need visuals to help them learn, especially if they are visual learners. This boy was no exception!
It's absolutely phenomenonal to hear a child read their first sentence as they comprehend what reading is all about. To see a child keen to want to learn more. To truly grasp the concept of reading which was achieved in a tiny transportable building perched on a patch of red outback soil. The joy is indescribable and achievements, no matter how small or great should be celebrated together in my opinion because the achievement is credited to both the tutor and the student.
As home educators we can all relate to the struggle of entertaining our kids while we try to achieve some educational outcome on a daily basis. Grasping the concept of reading is one issue but the concept of socialising is entirely different.
Social Life in the Outback
It's an uphill battle for many of us as socialisation with the right crowd plays an important role. For most of us that is the main reason for commencing homeschooling I believe. But just imagine a 6 year old boy on a remote cattle station with only 12 adults as his role-model, 7000 head of cattle, 24 cattle dogs, only 2 women... his mum and myself, and where death is a common occurrence and stares you in the face whether you like it or not.
Now imagine 10 blokes who are all trigger happy and keen to shoot some wild dogs, pigs, or feral cats. Ten different aged blokes, each one being master of a gun or two. Imagine 50.000 acres of red dirt, scrub, trees, hills, dams, rocky outcrops, seasonal creeks and a stark blue sky and a sun beating down relentlessly upon man and beast. Cattle by the thousands kicking up dust while the ringers on horseback gently push the cattle towards the yards.
Ringers are male or female stock workers who can be on horseback, motorcycles, buggies, utes, or in helicopters and work on Australian cattle stations.
The truth is that it's gruelling living in Australia's remote outback where conditions are harsh anytime of the year and social life is with those living in quarters next to you. There is no coffee shop around the corner, the nearest supermarket is a 6 hour drive and neighbourly chats only happen on the two-way radio. Outback communication is limited and the Royal Flying Doctors are there 24/7 to assist and guide us through injuries and illnesses.
Gun Project
If it's not searingly hot, it's bitterly cold being a desert climate. This makes tutoring a little tricky as you're confined to a 2.4 X 4 metre room for extended periods if it's raining, or if it's to hot to venture past the air-conditioning. Ingenuity is needed under these circumstances.
Because guns are part of this child's daily life, I scoured online for an art project that included guns. Both the child and I were tickled pink with the outcome. A two-tone origami gun was the end result. I must admit I cheated a little on this project as I used the hot glue gun. It states no glue needed but we definitely needed a few dobs of glue to keep its shape and to stop it from falling apart. Nothing worse than disappointing a 6 year-old after all that effort he put into it! I will pop the link to this project at the end of the post.
Opportunities
Many cattle stations employ Govies or home tutors and provide free accommodation as was the case with us. While I had the fun job of teaching this delightful young man, hubby was kept busy with the homestead gardens. He also did many mechanical repairs, basic plumbing, maintenance of some buildings, and helping with the muster. Mustering means gathering the cattle in the yards for branding, pregnancy testing, general health check, vaccine treatment, or getting them ready for market sale.
While govie work is not for everyone it certainly is an experience of home tutoring under completely different circumstances. Besides the free accommodation, free meat (home kill) and free fuel, you have an amazing experience that you would not get doing homeschooling in the city. This opportunity was a welcome change to what I've previously known.
Here... teacher and student could put practical skills to work in order to learn maths for example. Although this kid was only six and quite illiterate he understood the importance of water for all living things. He taught me flow-rates of the water troughs for the cattle, explained float valves, and how quickly a dam could drain if a faulty float valve wasn't fixed immediately and that the water would be wasted around the trough creating a muddy mess.
So we fixed float valves together, checked water troughs and cleaned them out. A few months of dirt and mud soon builds up and the drinking water quality for the cattle goes downhill rapidly.
My little astute learner showed me a trough which had been out of action for over 2 weeks now. Because of the muster no one had been able to get to the job and so cattle simply had to walk an extra 5 kilometres to the next water trough.
When we were not busy checking troughs, bores or windmills, we got stuck into some serious art work. We played with cardboard boxes and decorated these. In order to combine some maths with this project I wrote the 10 timetable on the box first. While enjoying the art side of things the little fellow actually managed to memorize the 10 timetable.
And while we were making a mess with paints I incorporated the 1's timetable with some colourful hand prints. Obviously this was the easiest maths he'd ever encountered and thought he was the smartest kid on the block. Which he was considering he was the only kid in school! Isn't it great how small achievements build such great confidence?
One thing he didn't know was how the windmill really worked, so we got onto one of the station hands and he did a wonderful job of explaining the finer details of our beauty windmill. I guess that's the bonus of having skilled workers on-site who have that kind of knowledge.
As homeschoolers we can see educational value in everything because no matter what we do... we are learning! We all live in a different environment; be it in cities, rural areas, on or near waterways, near the ocean, in the bush, or in the outback. Embrace your environment and seize every opportunity to teach something new.
Be a Winner
Kids brains are like a huge sponge... make sure you encourage them to soak up good, wholesome ideas and values. Limited Wi-Fi has its benefits and kids who undertake homeschooling remotely are not really disadvantaged in my opinion. The traps or pitfalls of shopping centres, cinemas, glossy advertising and peer pressures are limited, therefore minimising the stresses, frustrations, and challenges of parenting.
Living in the outback of Australia does come with a few bonuses such as country shows where adults and children can demonstrate their skills. My little guy was no exception and decided on a poem which was competing against other outback kids and School of the Air. He received a green merit award ribbon which is impressive as 10 weeks earlier he didn't know his alphabet letters, sounds or blends.
It's absolutely thrilling to witness a child achieve their potential in such a short time. It can only get better from now on because I know he is a winner! Just like your children are winners because you have chosen to teach them all you can and beyond with the help of others.
Beauty Surrounds Us
No matter where we live there is an element of the WOW factor present. Architecture or natural landscape, it can be used to teach our children. Those who live in cities or towns can utilise architectural designs to teach maths for example. Those in rural areas or in my case the outback... I utilised the natural landscape. There is light, shadows, shapes, different surfaces, heights, depths and so much more.
Guess how high a mountain is first and then look up the facts. How close was the estimate? Can you deduct the difference or do we add to it. Distances are also a great way to teach maths. How far is it to the foot of the mountain? Do we work in kilometres or miles! How long would it take to drive there? Walk or on horseback? By combining practical skills with paper based skills you can be confident of a fun day out with nothing short of a happy kid who has achieved another educational experience.
School of the Air
After 3 months of intense teaching this kid was up to scratch with his ABC's and he read his first story books independently. There are options for students living remote in Australia. Parents can fully homeschool or they can choose School of the Air which entails going online and connecting with distance education teachers.
After my passionate endeavours were achieved, the parents decided that School of the Air could be incorporated with my program. Unfortunately it's not that simple as their schedule is time-based, restricted to the child being online at odd times and not leaving enough time between lessons to actually get out and do something else.
School of the Air is great for some but for me it meant being stuck in a tiny transportable box staring at four walls and longingly looking at distant mountains. As the cattle truck stood empty and silent with the smell of cattle still lingering in the warm air, I decided that my time here was coming to an end.
The team of teachers tested my little trooper on his academic skills and placed a big fat B+ behind his name. I was very proud of that because as I mentioned earlier, it's not only the student's achievement it's the tutor's too. His teacher told his mum that the little guy was doing great and it wouldn't hurt to slow down. So mum understood that as... "if it's to difficult you don't have to do it."
How do we gauge when learning becomes to difficult? How do we tell our little sponge-brain that today we're not learning anything but instead we're going to go online and stare at a blurry picture of a stranger who is trying to read a storybook while the sound cuts in and out.
And that my friends is the difference between homeschooling or not! With homeschooling there is no limit to learning, there is no limit to achievements, no limit to exploring your back yard, which in our case was 50.000 acres. The joy of climbing into a dozer, a semi-rusty but fully functioning steel contraption and hearing a six year old explain what each lever does... it's simply WOW! Now that's learning!
Goodbye
Several weeks after guiding my little friend into School of the Air his demeanour sadly changed. He didn't like coming to class anymore and caused great grief for his parents. My heart was broken because this super smart kid now didn't even want to read, write, or step into his once happy place.
His achievements will linger in my memory for a long time to come and I hope to be around in ten years time to see the end results of his educational journey. We had fun while it lasted, we enjoyed the big open spaces of our 50.000 acre playground. We encountered wild dogs, dingoes, goannas, wild pigs, snakes, flocks of galahs and cockatoos besides many other beautiful birds and insects.
He mastered his alphabet, letter sounds and blends. He memorised, recognised the pattern and understood the concept of the 2, 5, 10, and 1 timetables. He displayed great aptitude and inner strength, innovation and dedication to whatever he tackled. He read his first book to me... proud as can be with the Wonky Donkey being his favourite.
So it's farewell to this adventure and onto another one. I thoroughly enjoyed teaching in a completely different environment and under completely different circumstances. Homeschooling is great, it gives you flexibility, freedom, choice, opportunity, benefits, and so much more in-depth learning. Step outside the box and choose your path rather than being dictated to what, when, how your children should learn.
Goodbye cozy little unit that was our place to call home for 4 months.
Goodbye lofty mountains rising out of the dusty plain. Goodbye machinery, I will try to remember every lever and its function. Goodbye little man... I will miss you ❤️
Photos and written work is my own unless specified otherwise.
©️ingridontheroad
Other Links and/or Credits
Wonky Donkey song by Craig Smith
Origami gun by Ashraful Crafts
