[Pam Learnihan]

Hi
I came across a subject on home schooling in NZ but I cant find it again. THe person wanted some info and we home educate our children here in the UK, we will be carrying on when we arrive in January. Well you can find various web sites also there is a e-support group on the net called hefnet. If anyone does want to home educate you have to get a Exemption Certificate which you have to apply for from the MOE(ministry of education) as we are doing its best to get this before you go to NZ otherwise your child will need to be in school.
I hope this makes a bit of sense :roll:

Pam

[veronica]

the author was Shagen title new zealand home schooling and posted on 12th oct. I homeschooled in the UK too a long time ago so still have an interest in it. thanks for that info.

[shagen]

Thanks Pam and Veronica,

I did a search on the internet but was not able to find much about NZ home Schooling although I found quite a bit about UK home schooling. If you have any websites that you have visited and found useful, please let us know.

Thanks,

[jhsay]

Here are some sites you can check...

http://www.home.school.nz
http://www.midnightbeach.com/hs/NewZealand.html

[Diny]

Just being nosey here - what made you decide to follow the 'home schooling' path? I have often thought about it but a couple of things concern me, not so much the acadmic side of things, rather the social side. I think it is very important for children to learn how to interact with others of the same age.

I would be concerned that my children would finish their education with a string of exam results but absolutely no life skills or the slightest idea of reality. Your comments would be much appreciated.

Diny

[shagen]

Hi Diny,

Like youself I think the social side of things are going to be affected by a child going through home schooling. My wife home schooled my son while they were staying with me in Indonesia. I found that he developed much faster than he would have if he had gone to a regular school/kindergarten.

I may be wrong but I think the reason for this is that he gets to choose when he wanted to concentrate on reading and doing his writing and the timing suited his moods. Therefore, he didn't have to struggle with studies when he has a bad day. Mind you he was 4 years old then. We were doing this close to 2 years, mainly trying to bring him up to par with the Malaysian schooling system which he would go to when he was 6.

Now at the age of 6, he can read and write very well. But the downside of this is that he is a very shy person, will not stand up and speak in public, does not mix very well with people he does not know and sometimes feel quite insecure.

His sister who is a year younger, however, went straight into a normal kindergarten becasue my wife and kids went back to Malaysia when my son was about to enter formal schooling. She on the other hand is a very friendly person, speaks in public every opportunity she gets, easily make friends with total strangers and is very sure of herself. But she lacks the intellect my son has.

Not sure if it is just them or the way they were taught!

The reason why I was enquiring about home schooling in NZ was because we will be going to NZ much later after the school term has started. We just wanted to prepare our son with the NZ syllabus now so that he does not feel left behind shoudl he start mid term.

Cheers,

[Diny]

Shagen

Thanks for that wonderful reply. You have given a view from both sides of the fence - very informative.

I have found out this morning that the school we plan to send our boys to in NZ (they are aged 7 and 8) - has 400 pupils and class sizes of 28 - 30. We are abit taken aback by this, it is a rural school but sooooo big. They are in a village school at the moment here in the UK which has just over 60 pupils and class sizes of approx 15 - 17.

Just don't know what to do on this one. This evening hubby and I plan to search the web for other schools in the Manawatu to see how much info we can find. I'm sure the school is very good, but 400 pupils and 30 in a class ........ not too happy with that.

All the best and once again thanks.

Diny

[jhsay]

I have found out this morning that the school we plan to send our boys to in NZ (they are aged 7 and 8) - has 400 pupils and class sizes of 28 - 30. We are abit taken aback by this, it is a rural school but sooooo big. They are in a village school at the moment here in the UK which has just over 60 pupils and class sizes of approx 15 - 17


This will knock you off your seat. In the Philippines, classroom size for public school is 50 to 60. For private schools, it's 40 to 50. I am quite fortunate that I went to a small school. There were only 28 of us in our class. You wont find that here anymore.

[Diny]

Good Lord - now that is alot of kids in one class.

Diny

[jhsay]

It surely is a tough task to handle. Good thing that teachers here are loaded with lots of patience.

[jesselyn]

sis teaches in a public school - she said she has 60-75 students.

my nephew is lucky too bec his school (located inside our subdivision and very near our house) has 17 kids only. and justin, a prep, has 3 classmates.

[jhsay]

Patience (esp. to children and elders) is innate to Filipinos. That's why we have lots of good nurses, teachers and caregivers.

My mom is a pre-school teacher. She handles 15to20 spirited li'l ones in a class everyday. How I wish I have her patience.

I believe Israel has the lowest number of students per classroom. This is followed by UK.

[jesselyn]

wow! hands up for your mom! :clap where does she work?
justin studies in Golden Values - Cainta.

[shagen]

Oh my God! :eek

I thought the Malaysian public school was bad enough with 40 - 45 students per class!

Diny, you will probably freak out if you moved to Malaysia or the Philipines! Did you managed to find the right school for your 2 kids?

Cheers,

[Carol]

HI Diny.
Which school are you looking at?
I may know a teacher who works in the area you are going to - might be able to get some "inside" info for you.

Also...
Any particular reason why you are moving there?


Carol

[Pam Learnihan]

Hi all,

We have also found that our boys are developing very well socially, out of school as they mix with children of all ages! They also seem to have alot more enthusiasm to learn about the world around them. Afterall the whole world is a classroom, but they are not stuck in one. No but seriously you need alot of patience and commitment. If however they wanted to go back we wouldn't stop them, but as yet they are saying NO WAY!!!

Pam :P

[Diny]

OK - let's take this one step further. If we were to take the route of home schooling (a million miles off making any decisions may I add) - I have 2 BIG questions to ask.

1. How do I go about knowing what to teach. I'm no 'thickie' but neither am I a trained teacher.

2. What happens when it comes to getting formal, recognised qualifications. I understand that alot of children are home schooled until they reach senior school age, but what if they are home schooled right the way through. How do we go about getting them registered for exams? Is there any information available regarding what they should be learning?

Any info would be much appreciated.

Diny

[Carol]

just found this snippet Diny.....
http://www.edusearch.co.nz/content/nzschoolsystem_schools.php?topic=NZ%20school%20sys tem%20-%20Home%20schooling

Still looking .....


I find it all quite interesting (as an active school teacher) why people want to home school.

From a personal perspective....I wouldnt want to home school my own children even as a teacher. They need the social interaction far too much.

I HAVE however moved house to get my kids in the school (s) that best fits their needs.

There is no doubt in my mind that the school is the key.
And you have to choose very carefully.


Carol

[Diny]

I agree Carol.

I also believe that my children would benefit from the social side of things. They are both bright boys but tend to melt into the background in large groups. The younger of the 2 is VERY bright on a one to one basis but tends to 'give up' in a large class. They're at a small school at the moment with small class sizes. As I stated earlier, I have found out that the shool we had earmarked for them has over 400 pupils and class sizes of 30.

I know that it will all work in the long run, but while I'm stewing in my own anxiety waiting for our house to sell, I've got plenty of time to think over the situation.

Obviously I need far more information and we need to look into the matter in great length.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Diny

[Pam Learnihan]

Diny has asked two very good questions, but this forum doesn’t allow for sufficient answers.

Best advice I can offer is to read one of the following books written by people who have actually home educated their children;

Gareth Lewis – One to one
John Taylor Gatto – Dumbing us down
John Holt – Learning all the time

Tread carefully though, you and your children are in serious danger of becoming enlightened individuals rather than cogs in an increasingly creaky old machine.

Pam

[Diny]

Thanks or those book refs Pat.

How old are your children?

Diny

[Carol]

Diny has asked two very good questions, but this forum doesn’t allow for sufficient answers.

Best advice I can offer is to read one of the following books written by people who have actually home educated their children;

Gareth Lewis – One to one
John Taylor Gatto – Dumbing us down
John Holt – Learning all the time

Tread carefully though, you and your children are in serious danger of becoming enlightened individuals rather than cogs in an increasingly creaky old machine.

Pam

I have to disagree with this Pam. Sorry!

With the amount of training we have covered this year alone in literacy numeracy and ICT - there is no way our school - or the system we are working for - could be described as a creaky old machine.
What I CAN say - with absolute certainty - is that if I was home schooling my kids I couldnt possibly keep up to date with all the developments and research that the teachers at our school have been exposed to this year.
Any school worth it's salt will keep up to date and fresh with new initiatives.

I have learnt more about teaching and learning since coming to NZ than I ever learnt in the UK.
Our school is not unusual.....and my kids LOVE going there.

Diny - a point in the favour of large schools.
We only have 175 kids at our school.
I do love the smallness of it - the "whole school" events that we have on a regular basis, the "buddy systems" in place for the older kids to watch over the younger ones. etc etc.

But one thing my son HAS missed out on is the choice of friends he has has over the last 6 years. He has never had a "best mate" as such - purely because he has gone through school with a small number of kids - none of whom have been "the one"
In a large school he would have had much more exposure to a variety of buddies to link up with.

Also in sporting events, a small school HAS to compete in local school competitions with the best of a very small bunch. Hence they are often nowhere near the best and feel a regular "losing factor"

They are the only two downs I can think of though......

School is cool as far as we are concerned!
:nice1

[Wiggles]

HI All

Here in the UK my son goes to a 'smallish' school. There are only 245 kids BUT each year has 35 children in each class! In my son's class there are 28 boys :eek Thank God I'm not the teacher! Sorry, my point is that he is getting an extremely good education and their school last year came in the top 100 schools in the country in the Year 6 science and maths results.

Big class sizes does not always mean that the quality of teaching will take a nose-dive. Diny, perhaps ask them about their exam results and compare them to the average in the country.

Education is important to us too, and we will be looking at areas to live in Christchurch which have good 'decile rating' schools.

Wiggles

[Diny]

Carol & Wiggles

Thanks for that input. Last night hubby and I discussed this and he is very much in favour of the boys going to school.

I can see the fors and againsts but taking everything into account and knowing my boys, I think hubby is right (not that I'd tell him that of course).

I was just knocked sideways by the amount of kids at Ashhurst school, at the moment they are in a school with 64 pupils and small class sizes .... a big difference you'll agree.

However, have discovered another school in the area of Ashhurst (much smaller) - so will get in touch with them to find out what they are all about.

Thanks everyone for your help.

Diny

[Tara Sage]

Hi All and Pam who I know very well (hello Hun ;) )

I have discussed home education with Pam on the odd occasion and I totally see where she is coming from.

However I could never do It I wouldn't have the patience I love the feeling of dropping our son off to school too much :laugh :laugh especially after a holiday break!

The schools here are fantastic and allow kids to be kids, our son's enthusiasm to learn about new things has definately come back since we arrived in July. Where as his last year in UK was a nightmare he really wasn't enjoying it and we felt that they were pushing too hard for a wee one.

[A & M]

Tara,

That's really encouraging - if andy gets a job and we stay for a while, then our 2 children will be in school. I'd really like them to feel a bit more relaxed than they obviously are at the moment. They will be having a break from school for a couple of months while we travel around so that could be an interesting experience for us all!

Just noticed you are in Rangiora - Andy has just sent off for an application form for a job at the High School there. Do you know anything about it?

Thanks, Mandy

[Tara Sage]

No sorry Mandy our son is only 7 but having a great time at school