FAQ's

FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions

What do I need to do to home school my children? Do I need to use a curriculum? What about socialisation? Do my children need school Cert or U.E. to get into university?

For any other questions please email us.

Why homeschool?

There are many reasons people choose to homeschool.

• All children are unique and the school system does not cater enough for that.

• Parents aren’t happy sending their young children school at the age of 5 years old and they enjoy being with their children and spending time with them.

• Children aren’t developmentally ready for the academic level the school is requires and the child is at risk of falling behind if they go to school or stay in school.

• Parents find their family’s values important and do not want others implementing their world view on their children to the extent that happens in school.

• Parents know their child and how he or she learns, best. Plus the ratio of teacher to child is so much lower than in a school setting.

There are a myriad reasons to homeschool, and many homeschooling families find that they can meet the needs of their children best.

What About Socialisation?

This is probably the most asked question to a homeschooling parent.

This question isn’t about whether homeschooled children are kept at home and never spends time out into the world. The question of socialisation is really asking: “How will your child fit into society if he doesn’t go to school?”

The wonderful thing about homeschooling is that our children ARE out in the real world. They go to the grocery store, the doctor’s office, the library, the bookstore, etc.; they meet people of all ages and learn to interact with them.

On your exemption you will also be asked what you will do for socialisation? Your child/ren will become involved with sports, music, clubs, support groups activities, family and a whole host of other community activities exposing them to a wider age range of people than what they would normally get at school and the interaction that they obtain with older people generally makes them bold enough to ask questions.

What do I need to do to Home School my Children?

By Law you are required to have your child/ren in a registered school. To remove them from a school you need to apply to the Ministry of Education for an exemption. To do this ring them on 0800 800 675 (this is for the Auckland and Northland regions) and ask to speak to Adrian Bull or Gary Manuel, who deal with exemptions and home education. You will receive an application from them promptly. Most people home school on the grounds that their child "will be taught at least as regularly and well as in a registered school" which complies with Section 21 of the Education Act 1989.

If the child is yet to turn 6, the parent really needs to get onto the Cert. of Exemption (C. of E.) allowing plenty of time to go over the exemption thoroughly.

If the child lives more than 3km walking distance from the nearest registered school, and this is apparently taken to mean the nearest bus stop, the child is not required to attend school until turning 7.

A 15yr old can be exempted from further attendance if they have:

"Educational problems", behavioural problems or most are agreed further school attendance would be a waste of time. Apply to the MoE in same way, although with a different form, as for normal C. of E.

Do I need to use a curriculum?

The short answer to this is no.

The applicant is not required to follow these subjects unless s/he wants to. And whatever the applicant writes in the application is not then fixed in stone: both the MoE and the ERO expect the applicant to change from what they originally wrote, so be relaxed about that. However, should the ERO come to visit, the HE should then be able to clearly explain whatever the new approach (different from what they originally wrote in the C. of E. application) is.

Applications are often returned with a request for more information here or there. No problem. Just provide the extra information.

Prospective HEs need to know what they are doing and be able to clearly explain this in the C. of E. application. Still, according to the MoE's own definitions of the key words, regular and well, it is the applicant's "curriculum vision" not, repeat, not the MoE's curriculum vision which the applicant needs to explain and which the MoE will assess.

MoE Ministry of Education; ERO Education Review Officer; C. of E cert. of Exemption.

However, we find that many homeschooling families do use a curriculum or a selection of curricula. As this is personal, we will add links below to give an idea of some of the curricula that are out there. Recently, there are more online curricula for homeschool children becoming available, so this will be a growing list.

Do My Children Need School Cert. or U.E. to get into University?

The short answer is no.

There is basically 3 ways to gain entry to university.

1) The school route, SC, Bursary, etc.

2) Wait until you turn 20 when anyone who can pay the fees gets in.

3) Provisional enrolment, which is a discretionary call by the admissions officer.

This third option is the most popular with home educators. Make an appointment to see the admissions officer of the desired university, take along a portfolio of whatever you’ve got (certificates of music exams, sports accomplishments, examples of essays written, work references, character references, outlines of what’s been studied, fancy looking certificates from you, his/her Mum/Dad, attesting a satisfactory level of attainment in whatever subject.... whatever), know which area you want to study, and market your academic qualities and keenness to study at this particular institution to this admissions officer.

You don't need to follow the state curriculum. Neither do you need School Cert, 6th Form Cert or Bursary. If your teens have an idea what and where they want to study, get them to start making enquiries with the institution, especially the admissions officer and with the professors of the subject they hope to major in. Let them all know you will be showing up in x number of years wanting to enroll and you will not have any of those qualifications nor the NCEA which is just coming on line replacing those three. Ask them to suggest appropriate areas of study for you to prepare yourself.

Universities have a "Provisional Enrolment" scheme whereby one who is under 20 can enroll if the admissions officer is satisfied (usually after an interview) that you are able to do the work. Let's face it; they are also happy to see your enrolment dollars. If you pass MOST (not all) of your first year's classes, the rest of your tertiary level career is wide open.

Or wait until age 20: don't need any entrance qualifications then, just the enrolment fees.

Now there are some university courses that are very restrictive as to whom they let in: optometry, medicine, law, etc. One can therefore decide to "finish off" by doing a year or two at a high school to get the high-scoring A Bursary these courses usually require.

Or one can enroll at a polytech for certain courses that have no prerequisites at all. Once completing such a course, it can then usually be used as a university entrance qualification, but always check it through before investing the time and money.

The other thing to consider is that the intervening years between finishing off the formal schooling and starting university is a good time for teenagers to gain work experience and save towards the cost of the higher education and fully develop their character as well as gaining work references along the way. (Craig Smith editor of Keystone and TEACH Bulletin).