From a good friend in Australia, who is a mother of eight - and has been through this issue as a child and a mother:

Off the top of my head:
* Victoria is the only state where H/S is permitted without any requirement to seek permission or declare it. i.e. Freedom to H/S as one pleases.

* Western Australia allows it, provided each child is registered (small annual fee) but the State monitors the curriculum and progress etc of each child.  The State can also refuse to approve registration, then one is forced to enroll children in approved school within short time-frame.  Many H/S ers don't register and therefore can teach their own curricula (and are breaking the law but often get away with it).  Some have been "caught out."
have been fined, forced to register and conform to State-approved curriculum.

* South Australia has slightly tighter H/S laws than WA.
* Queensland and New South Wales are similar to WA.
* Not sure of Tasmanian nor Northern Territory laws, other than they don't have total freedom as has Vic.

I'll do a Google Australia search and see if I can send you some links with more info.

Thanks for the postings. I was always under the impression Australia was more open to religious freedom from the state. I guess that flies in the face of that.

If they can control the curriculum - and they can and do - it is only legal if you do their version.

If they can control the curriculum - and they can and do - it is only legal if you do their version.

I can't see you getting much support anywhere for allowing home schoolers to go off on their own tangent.

...the State monitors the curriculum and progress etc of each child.

So it should.

The State can also refuse to approve registration, then one is forced to enroll children in approved school within short time-frame.

And so it should if the parent has not prepared propperly as is not equipped to educate the child in a satifactory way. I don't know anyone who has been refused the right to homeschool because they prepared propperly.

Many H/S ers don't register and therefore can teach their own curricula (and are breaking the law but often get away with it).  Some have been "caught out."
have been fined, forced to register and conform to State-approved curriculum...

Glad to hear it. Who knows what they were being taught. Wicca? Or even worse, sede vacantism?

Looks like we are still waiting for proof that home schooling is, as you say "illegal in most of the country." All you have done is prove that it is in fact perfectly legal in the entire country and bemoan the fact that people can't go off on any old tangent they like.