HomeschoolingBy Nicola Jackson and Ilka Fedor

The Nuts and Bolts of Home-schooling in New Zealand•What is it? The education at home rather

than in a school setting•Home educators primarily are parents

(unregulated)1

•Sometimes “combined” schooling2

•Varied debates:▫http

://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWWL5CNldA0&feature=related

•The internet benefits homeschooling3

•UN Convention

Home-schooling in New Zealand•Students must have an “Exemption

Certificate” from the Ministry of Education1

•Home educators do NOT have to follow the NZ Curriculum in their lessons2

•Home educators do not have to be qualified teachers3

•The MOE stipulates that home schooled children must “be taught as regularly and as well as in a registered school”4

•ERO once monitored home-schooling in NZ5

The Origins and Trends of Home-schooling•1970s: educating school aged children deemed

the law•1972: Amish parents exempted from schooling1

•1980s: Christian conservatives “seize” homeschooling2

•1990s: Expansion of the internet leads to a growth spurt in homeschooling

•1993: Homeschooling recognised as legal in USA

•TODAY: homeschooling grows, with secular homeschooling becoming more prominent3

Reasons Parents Choose Home-schooling•Parental concerns about conventional

school setting ▫Violence, bullying, no individual attention

•Religion▫Decisions to home-school are sometimes

based on religious reasons1

•No access to proper schools (i.e. – if the family is traveling for an extended period of time)

Links with Classroom Practice

•Acknowledgement of the general state and trends of education worldwide and in NZ

•Homeschooling proves the benefits of individualised teaching and parental involvement

•Extra-curricular activities have an important role in education1

•Combined schooling – part time homeschooled, part-time conventional2

The Homeschooling Debate

Benefits of Home-schooling and Reasons for Choosing it:

• Individualised lessons, higher standard of education1

•More attention given to student than in a conventional classroom

•Students can freely develop an academic strength

•Better option for families living far from a school or in a poorer socio-economic area1

The Homeschooling Debate

Benefits of Home-schooling and Reasons for Choosing it:

•Greater exposure to extracurricular activities1 Learner-driven pace and structure2

•Richer relationships with family•Time to follow the interests of the learner•Removal from school-related peer

pressure and bullying3

The Home-schooling Debate

Criticisms of home-schooling:

•Lack of daily, large group social contact•Homeschooled children are not required

to follow the national curriculum1

•Concerns about the quality of the teaching

•Home-schooling threatens the timing of what society is based on2

Final Thoughts…

“As educators and community members, we need to respect parents’ choices because this is

the essence of a democratic educational system. Instead of constantly comparing and contrasting public schools and home-schools,

we should look at how each can learn from one another and then use this information to improve the learning experiences of all

children, no matter what form of education takes place.”

(Rowmanowski, p. 129)

References and Further ResourcesReferences:• Clements, Andrea. Homeschooling: A Research-Based How-To Manual.

The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Oxford, U.K.• James, Antoinette. Home Educating in New Zealand: Choosing to Teach

Your Children At Home. Zenith Publishing, New Plymouth, New Zealand• NZ Ministry of Education (www.minedu.govt.nz)• Romanowski, Michael. Revisiting the Common Myths about

Homeschooling. The Clearing House, January/February 2006, Vol. 79, No. 3.

• Stevens, Mitchell. Kingdom of Children: Culture and Controversy in the Homeschooling Movement. Princeton University Press, New Jersey

Further Resources:• http://www.home.school.nz/• http://www.homeschoolingnz.org/homepage.html