Lapbooking can be a fun, effective way to record learning on a topic. As an example, I'm sharing a lapbook and unit study my family and I did one year. 

The idea arose because St Patrick's Day was approaching - normally something I didn't pay any attention to, but I had recently read information about his important contribution to history, and thought "Hey, he'd be worth learning about!" Plus, I have an Irish great-grandfather, so my children have some Irish heritage, and this meant a perfect opportunity to teach them about Ireland, some family history, and St Patrick, and with St Patrick's Day coming up, this gave us a timeframe - some learning activities over 3 or so weeks, culminating in a celebration on St Patrick's Day. Because this was all rather spur of the moment, I brainstormed a quick list of ideas and activities, and then we just rolled with it. My kids each completed their own lapbook. The pictures are from one I did at the same time for myself, as a keepsake, and so I could share it with others too. This unit was so much fun!

A lapbook is simply one or more manilla or coloured file folders stuck together to hold the "outputs" from a topic study, and form the record of learning. When folded shut, it fits on one's lap, hence the name. The simplest lapbook is one file folder, opened flat, then each side is folded to the middle to make "shutters". This lapbook was made from two folders, with one side of a shutter on each one glued together. It's also possible to add extra flaps by taping an extra piece of card to the centre top of an open lapbook, so it folds up/down, and extra items can be mounted on it. I didn't need to do that for this lapbook project. By putting two folders together, that gave us the following parts to mount work on: front, back, 2 wide middles, and 6 sides of flaps. 

The main elements of our unit study were:

• Learning about our family tree and Irish history
• Learning about some symbols of Ireland
• Learning about the life of St Patrick
• Learning about the country of Ireland
• Planning a celebration, and doing arts/crafts etc
• Having fun!

Here's an outline of the activities we did, not necessarily in chronological order. 

Country of Ireland
We used the library and internet to learn about both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. I printed off some resources to use to record key facts - these were taken from a Country Study lapbook kit from Knowledge Box Central. We learned about the flags, languages, climate, currency, land areas, populations, religions, capitals etc. By doing this for both parts of Ireland then mounting them how we did in the lapbook, it makes it easy to compare them. We added a world map for location, as well as a map of Ireland, and information on neighbouring countries. 

Fun activities and celebration
We also did lots of other activities throughout the study, and had a final celebration dinner. These included:

• Visiting the op-shop, where the kids picked out green clothes to dress up in for our dinner. A couple of the kids from next door (also homeschoolers) joined us for this. 
• Made napkins by cutting up a tablecloth from the op shop, hemming it, then cross-stitching shamrocks on a corner. We made paper napkin rings with a shamrock design. 
• We hung "Happy St Patrick's Day" banner and shamrocks on the wall. 
• On the day of our celebration, we see the table with a tablecloth with green in it, our napkins and other decorations. We coloured some lemonade green to drink, and the kids (including neighbours) played games and had lime popsicles. We watched the St Patrick movie together, and had a "traditional" dinner of corned beef, carrots, cabbage, mashed potatoes and horseradish cream. Desert was lime jelly and icecream, and our drinks green lemonade and lime juice. We typed up the menu to add to our lapbook, along with lots of photos of the kids and what we did. 
• We also cut out stamps from potatoes, in the shapes of shamrocks and crosses, and the kids used these stamps with green paint to make decorative covers for their lapbooks. 
• We used scissors that cut wavy patterns to cut out borders for the lapbook, and made title sections using two layers of wavy-cut paper - green behind and white on top with the titles added. 
• The front and back covers of the lapbooks were a great place to add lots of photos, and we also memorised and wrote out an Irish blessing to put on the back cover.

Old Irish Blessing
May the road rise to meet you
May the wind be always at your back
May the sun shine warm upon your face
The rains fall soft upon your fields
And until we meet again
May God hold you in the palm of His hand!

I finished off my lapbook by covering it front and back with clear adhesive covers, to protect it, as this study was special and so much fun, and I want to keep my own copy as a keepsake. 

In December last year, I posted THIS article about the big spike in homeschooling exemption application numbers, which continued through until March this year (I added Feb updates to that article). This post is to provide some further data about numbers of applications since, from what is currently available. 

The next official statistics (to end of June 2022) won't be released on Education Counts until later this year - likely December - so any data in the meantime comes from OIA request results that have been shared, often by journalists who have been following this situation with interest. 

May 2022: The chart below was provided by a BOP reporter, who received it from the MoE as part of an information release.
In the complete document, they said that in 2021, they had received 3,833 applications, of which 3,440 had been approved (that year - some were not yet processed), and in 2022 from 1/2-30/4 they had received 2,328 applications, of which 1,500 had been approved so far when the data was extracted on 5th May 2022. 

June 2022: An article was published under the headline "Homeschool requests dip now COVID, mask rules have relaxed."
It essentially quotes the same data above, finishing with: "Nationally there were 781 applications in January, 744 in February, 548 in March and 255 in April." 

While this is a dip from those big numbers in Oct-Feb, that still places applications at about "twice normal" compared to previous years, a trend that doesn't look likely to end any time soon. 

Since the above, there have not been further articles so far with useful data in them - the focus in the media has turned to the huge absenteeism situation etc. Should more come in, I will add them to this post as updates.

Anecdotally, though, comments from Ministry staff indicate that application numbers, while more settled, are still consistently above previous norms. One region, which would normally average about 70 applications per month, told me recently they'd received 70 applications in the previous fortnight, which is consistent with the "twice average" indicators. I don't know for certain all regions are still seeing higher then normal numbers, but it seems likely, though there will be small dips and surges. 

It's important to understand that a high school qualification is a means to an end, not an end in itself. Once a student has finished school, and gone out into the world, gaining other meaningful experience or qualifications, what they did in high school becomes of little relevance. The point of a high school qualification, other than to validate their education, is to unlock doors - to university, other tertiary studies, apprenticeships, and/or employment.

But, it is not necessarily essential to have high school qualifications to access those things. There are other options, which I will explore in future articles. For now, let's acknowledge that gaining high school qualifications, because they provide recognisable evidence of learning, is generally the easiest way to gain access to the above, where such qualifications are usually needed. 

If your child is NOT likely to want or need to enter tertiary education, then they may not need a qualification at all. It may be that a more general programme of learning and life skills will suit them better. However, until you know this for sure, it is usually wiser and better to assume they will want to gain qualifications, and set them up with the skills and knowledge and options they need to do so. 

While there are a number of recognised options for University Entrance (U.E)*, five of them are readily accessible to home educators in one way or another. These are:

• NCEA (National Certificate of Educational Achievement) - the state school qualification. I'll discuss this in more depth shortly. 
• Cambridge Exams - these are external exams which can be sat by home educators as a Private Candidate. Specific coursework (using suitable text/workbooks from an available selection) needs to be completed to prepare for the exams. IGCSE exams are typically sat at year 11, and A levels at Years 12/13. An A level with a certain number of points meets the U.E requirements of NZ universities. There are options to study Cambridge via an international distance provider, independently (a tutor strongly recommended for A levels), or via registering with a NZ private distance school (there are currently 2 offering Cambridge - Crimson Global, and 3H international - both quite costly, and voiding an exemption). 
• CENZ (Christian Education NZ) Level 3 Certificate - this is available through Homeschooling NZ (and some NZ Christian schools), and is an excellent programme of learning which combines meeting specific requirements with individual choices from various curriculum options and elective courses (including ACE, Abeka, Apologia, Lifepac, Saxon, Math U See and much, much more). Work from Years 9-13 all counts towards the certificate requirements, though there are adjustments for late starters and those with high diagnostic test scores. 
• ACE (Accelerated Christian Education) Level 3 Certificate - similar to the CENZ Certificate, except that it is based strongly on the ACE curriculum - at least 75% of all credit work must be ACE. This is available through Accelerate, the distance learning arm of SCEE in Australia; it is also offered by some NZ Christian schools, including a distance programme option from Amana. 
• GED/SAT tests - these are American tests which are accessible in NZ, and the combined suitable scores from these are recognised by the Universities for U.E. These tests are usually sat in Year 13 - prior to that, a student does a general programme of learning of your choice, and then prior to sitting the exams does 6-12 months of specific preparation work. See Lime Feather Learning for more info (formerly Learning Set Free). 

* Any qualification recognised for university entrance is generally also recognisable by other tertiary providers or potential employers - and/or you can use a transcript with details of what has been studied from either of these to present to a potential employer or course provider. 

Note: throughout this article where I mention the option of distance learning from a NZ registered private school, should you choose this option, you will NOT need a homeschooling exemption (and if you have one it will be voided, the same as enrolling in any registered NZ school). I'm including these options for those who might want to consider them, or who are considering homeschooling/home learning for their teen but not yet got an exemption. The one overseas distance provider I mention DOES require an exemption, as they are not a NZ registered school. Enrolling in Te Kura as a fee paying student DOES require an exemption, even though it's a registered NZ school. 

As NCEA is the standard NZ school system qualification, a lot of families assume this is what their child should or needs to do, or they simply want to carry on with it if their child has transitioned to homeschooling during their high school years. While fully understanding NCEA is a topic too big for this article (and it is important to really get your head around it if you choose that route), here I will attempt to give a very, very brief summary, and, more importantly, explain  how it is accessed by home educators, as this is not entirely straightforward. 

​Please note: the NCEA system is in a state of transition. New requirements will be in place from 2024 (for Level 1), and so this overview will outline the current (I'll call it "old") system and the new - which applies to your child, will depend on in which year they will be completing each level. Any student starting Level 1 from 2024 onwards will be under the new system. Any student who started sooner, and/or is doing Level 2 in/before 2024 and Level 3 in/before 2025, will be under the old system (it's not as totally cut-and-dried as that, but I'm keeping it simple). 

Under both systems, NCEA has 3 levels. To gain University Entrance, students must achieve NCEA Level 3, with a certain number of credits in relevant subject, and also complete required literacy/numeracy standards. 

When student complete units of work to a suitable standard, they are awarded a given number of credits. Each unit of work may have varying numbers of credit attached, though they are typically 3-4 each. A full year's work in one subject is typically worth around 20 credits, though students don't have to complete all available work of any given subject to gather enough credits to pass a level. 

Old (present) system:

• Level 1: achieve 80 credits at any level (1,2 or 3), including 10 literacy and 10 numeracy credits from approved standards. Gaining Level 1 is optional - it is not required in order to do Level 2.
• Level 2: 60 credits at Level 2 or above + 20 credits from any level (these are also known as "carry over credits" as they may be credits already achieved at Level 1). Level 1 literacy and numeracy requirements must also be met (may have been done prior) - so these often comprise the 20 extra credits. 
• Level 3: 60 credits at Level 3 or above, plus 20 credits from Level 2 or above (again, "carry over credits"). Level 1 literacy and numeracy requirements must also have been met. 
• Current U.E requirements with NCEA: the student must achieve ALL of the following:

​            1) Gain 14 credits in EACH of 3 approved subjects
             2) Literacy - 10 credits at Level 2 or above, including 5 credits in reading and 5 credits in writing
             3) Numeracy - 10 credits at Level 1 or above, made up of specified achievement standards or
                   a package of 3 specific numeracy unit standards. 

New system:

• Level 1 (from 2024): 60 credits at Level 1 + new lit/num co-requisite* (this level is optional)
• Level 2 (from 2025): 60 credits at Level 2 + new lit/num co-requisite*
• Level 3 (from 2026): 60 credits at Level 3 + new lit/num co-requisite*

​* See more details below. 

Key changes/points:

• Credits can no longer be "carried over"
• Each level is a 60 credit qualification
• The new literacy/numeracy co-requisite must be completed before any level of NCEA may be awarded (more below)
• All NCEA subjects are being re-built with 4 achievement standards – 2 internally assessed, 2 externally assessed – worth 20 credits total. 
• Learners can use unit standards as well as achievement standards to reach the credit requirement for each level of NCEA. They will also be able to use any skills standards set by Workforce Development Councils. The only unit standards they cannot use for the 60 credit requirement are the compulsory Literacy and Numeracy standards.
• Any changes to U.E requirements under the new system have not yet been made clear (and likely won't be in place until 2026 when the first of the new cohort reach Level 3). 

New Literacy/Numeracy Co-Requisite
One of the most significant changes to NCEA is the new lit/num co-requisite. This needs to be completed only once, and can be done in any year from Year 9 upwards, but until it is completed, no level of NCEA will be awarded. The co-requisite is completed by sitting an external test, known as the CAA (Common Assessment Activity), which is done online, and offered, at this stage, 2x per year. This is currently being piloted, so there may be changes. There will be both Te Reo and English alternatives available.

The CAA is organised in schools. It is not yet known how home educators will be able to access the CAAs; I have a follow up conversation scheduled with the NCEA Change Team in about August when they hope to know more, after they figure out how Te Kura students will be able to do the CAAs. 

In order to achieve NCEA, a student must not only complete required work, but also have that work assessed by an approved entity, and have the gained credits added to the NZQA framework by an approved entity. Someone with the ability to do this is said to have "consent to assess" (the work) and "consent to access" (the framework). Such consent is only granted to approved secondary schools, tertiary providers, and alternative education providers. Home educators cannot do this for themselves, as they cannot/will not be granted consent. 

The only ways for a home educated student to gain NCEA therefore are:

• Study NCEA via Te Kura, the correspondence school. This is free to enroll in for students ages 16-19. Younger students with homeschooling exemptions may enroll in any number of courses on a fee-paying basis - about $1800 per subject per year (or a pro-rata amount if they turn 16 during the year of study). 
• Enroll in a private distance school which offers NCEA (would no longer be officially home educated as do not need an exemption, though would be learning at home). Currently the only one doing so is Mt Hobson Academy Connect
• Find a secondary school willing to act as a "Link School" - this can be either for external exams only (so you would prepare your student at home with suitable course work, and they would gain credits only for the external exams), or also for internal assessment, where you would submit work to the teachers and they would assess it for internal credit. While it is usually not too difficult to find a school who will allow home educated students to sit external exams at their school (they do this for Te Kura students also), it is very rare for them to agree to act as a link school for internal assessment. After all, they receive no funding for the student, and already have full workloads caring for their enrolled students. Officially it is possible, but no school is required to agree, and few will. This doesn't mean you shouldn't try though. You would need to talk go the Principal's Nominee at the school, show them THIS section of the NZQA website, and download and take them the form that is there to fill in. 
• Cobble together or gain NCEA credits through a combo of external exams, courses from alternative providers, distance courses, foundation studies courses etc. This is a little harder than it used to be, as the Open Polytechnic will no longer enroll any student under 16, and will not enroll home educated students over 16 for their Foundation Studies courses. Other course providers may do so, though many have become a bit more tricky than in the past. (Contact me if you have issues and want some support.) Foundation Studies or bridging course are aimed at school leavers without NCEA qualifications, to give them the credits they need to go onto other courses. Variations of them are offered by a number of providers. Youth  Guarantees courses are aimed at students age 16-19 without NCEA 1 or 2 - these vary in content and how they are provided, and are available from a wide range of alternative education providers. Typically you would look for one that focuses on an area of interest - eg a pre-trade course in building for your budding carpenter, which would be designed to meet credit requirements including literacy and numeracy so that the student can successfully go on to an apprenticeship and/or related Level 3 and above study. 

If your child is younger, or not yet able to access high school qualifications, it's wise to think ahead to what they will need to have learned in order to be successful when the time comes. This should not be limited to academics - think about teaching skills and attributes like self-management, goal setting, diligence, general study skills and so on. In terms of academic preparation, here are some general pointers with the above qualification pathways in mind:

• If you intend for your child to do either the CENZ or ACE Certificates, you can enroll with their respective providers from preschool upwards, and follow the various programme options they will set out for you. Or you can select any suitable, reasonably rigorous curriculum to teach your children independently until you're ready to enroll. I would recommend that by the time they are intermediate age, you do enroll and complete the parent training and diagnostic testing, so that if your children have any gaps in their learning, you have time to work through required catch up work before they start the high school programme. Note that you MUST be enrolled and have completed parent training before your student begins any credit-level work. It is also important that you learn to use proper procedures in administering work early on, and that your children learn the requirements too, so that you don't all have to unlearn a bunch of bad habits in order to meet the strict credit requirements. HSNZ have generously made available a copy of their parent training basics which you can download HERE for parents of younger children who don't want to enroll yet - I recommend you read and apply it if you are using ACE in particular independently, or as much as applicable, any other equivalent programme for earlier learning. If you are going to use ACE, then your children need to complete diagnostic testing, and you should have someone suitably experienced help you determine their initial programme of learning (you're welcome to contact me about this). Other curriculum may include their own placement tests which should be used.
• If you are heading towards Cambridge Exams, there are also course materials available for all ages and levels, which could be used with younger students. Or again, any suitable rigorous course of study in the early years will lay the necessary foundations. Study by distance with one of the providers linked above is also an option. 
• If your student will do GED/SAT, then you can choose whatever you like during their younger years, building general literacy/numeracy and general knowledge, until they begin the specific prep courses for the exams.
• If your student will do NCEA, then a suitable broad programme of learning in primary school will suffice. You can check out the NZ curriculum documents HERE for an idea of what is typically taught in schools. If your student is high school age, then doing work using a combination of Education Perfect online platform, and resources such as Nulake Math, Sigma English and some ESA Learning Workbooks or resources from Eton Press should lay a reasonable foundation. Remember that if you are preparing them to sit external NCEA exams, you will need to know what standards are included in the exams, which you want them to sit, and provide specific applicable learning to prepare for those standards. These standards are the number codes you will see on NCEA workbooks.+

For a wide range of curriculum resource options for all ages, see my Planning Your Programme manual.

This has been a fairly brief look at a big topic. To summarise some main points:

• Not every student needs a formal high school qualification, but until you're sure of this, ideally prepare them to be able to gain one. Qualifications can be the simplest way to open doors to tertiary study and some employment. 
• There are five main high school qualification options (outlined above) which are reasonably accessible to home educators. Investigate the options and have a reasonable idea where you're headed as early as practicable, so you have something to aim for. You can always change course later. 
• In the primary years, either choose a programme of learning that is targeted to the qualifications you will later aim for, or ensure a broad, decent learning experience so that your student has a good foundation from which to launch. During the primary years, though, don't get TOO overfocussed on academics - these are the years to allow plenty of room for play, fun, and hands-on learning, and to take the time to pursue interesting projects and deep-dives into things of interest. Incorporate general aptitudes and character - these are at least as important as academics in preparing your student for future success. 
• In the secondary years, your student will usually have a more academic focus, working to lay necessary foundations for success at Levels 1, 2 & 3, or equivalent. 

Getting your head around high school qualifications and how they work is a big learning curve, akin to learning a whole new foreign language (and each qualification has it's own language!). Don't be overwhelmed - take it one step at a time, read up, ask questions, talk to others who have been there before you, and hang in there. Until one of your kids is actually DOING one of the above, only so much will stick - it will make more and more sense when it's put into action. 

Every family who is home educating exempt students is sent a declaration twice a year (in about March and Oct), covering the periods Jan-June and July-Dec, to sign and return, along with forms in which they state whether they wish to receive the supervision allowance. But what about those families who gained an exemption during a 6 month period?

Previously, it worked like this:
If an exemption start date was before the print-run date of all the declarations, the new student's declaration would be included in the normal mail out If it was gained after the print run, then either the period of time from start date to end of period would be included in the subsequent declaration, or Resourcing might send out a late declaration for the part period. 

However, recently they changed this. Now, in theory, it's supposed to work like this:
When a regional office grants an exemption, they are supposed to send out part-period declaration forms to the family for the period from the start date of the exemption to the end of the cycle. Subsequent full-cycle declarations will be sent by Resourcing. 

But, the wheels seem to have seriously fallen off this process over the last 6-12 months! Some regional offices have sent out some declarations, but lots and lots seem not to have been sent. I'm not entirely sure regional staff even know they're supposed to have been doing this! That said, with the huge increase in applications since Sept last year, most regional offices have been seriously struggling to keep up with applications alone, and so many things have "fallen through the cracks."

So, what if a part period declaration was not sent out? Will those dates just be added to the next one?
No, they will not. If you are missing a part-period declaration, you need to contact your regional office, or more efficiently, Resourcing division directly. Their email is Resourcing@education.govt.nz. Quote your family reference number, and ask for the missed declaration. They will email it to you, for you to sign and return. Once completed, any supervision allowance payment will be loaded on the system and paid out in their next available payment run cycle (they do these approximately fortnightly-monthly depending on what payments they are making, but the schedule needs to be full before they do a run so sometimes it's longer). 

If you don't follow up and ask for this, it will remain outstanding for that part period, and you'll still need to ask for it next time around. So may as well just get it done. 

This is also the process to follow any time you happen to have not received a declaration. Also, don't forget to keep the Ministry up to date with your mailing address, as they send the regular declarations out by post. 

​Once you sign and return the declaration, you are eligible for the supervision allowance payment. The annual amounts are as follows - they are paid in two installments in about June and late November:

• first child $743.00
• second child $632.00
• third child $521.00
• subsequent children $372.00

The 6 monthly declarations are the main way that the Ministry follows up to ensure you're still home educating "as regularly and well." It is a simple form with just a couple of questions and tick boxes. Legally, they can't require you to submit these, so the allowance is the "carrot" for you to do so - if you don't return the declaration you can't get the allowance.

​However, if you don't return it, then they will follow up in other ways to ensure "as regularly and well." This will begin with a reminder. If you still don't send in the form, they may follow up with a phone call/email/letter asking for an update on your homeschooling programme. This can potentially lead to an ERO review, and if that is not satisfactory, the exemptions can be revoked. I don't say that to scare you - just to let you know that it's easier to simply sign and return the declarations. Don't consider them "optional" or "only if I want the allowance." You can read more about how homeschooling programmes are monitored HERE. 

In August 2020 I engaged in dialogue with the Ministry of Education regarding their recent arbitrary decision that children over 6 (including exempt students) could not be present at Playcentres (and other ECEs) while their siblings were attending. I challenged them as to the legal basis of this decision. 

As the Ministry response was not satisfactory, I filed a complaint in November 2020 with the Ombudsman. The Ombudsman. The Ombudsman's chief role is to investigate complaints about government agencies, to ensure that actions, decisions and processes are appropriate and fair. 

You can read about previous correspondence etc in via the posts in THIS thread. 

The Ombudman's investigation took some time, in part due to the complex nature of the case and that were were challenging the Ministry's decision on legal grounds. 

Today I received a letter advising the outcome. The Ombudsman found that "....the Ministry acted unreasonably in seeking to issue and impose a rule for which there appears to be no lawful basis." In other words, the "rule" to exclude siblings from being present was not based in law. 

On the other than, there are health and safety and other such considerations which still need to be taken into account - work is being done on that. 

You can read the decision and related expectations in full HERE. Main points:

• The Ministry has accepted that the rule published on its website does not reflect the regulations
• The Ministry has agreed to change the information on their website once there has been engagement across the [ECE] sector. 
• The Ministry has noted various other obligations that will still need to be met in the ECE setting when other people, including other children not enrolled in the service, are present. They intend to clarify this in revising the website messaging. They have undertaken "to work with the sector so it understands and administers the policy fairly and without excluding children who can safely be present."
• The Ombudsman has concluded his investigation but will be keeping an eye on the Ministry's attention to this matter, as he believes it warrants "priority action given the likelihood that there are families currently deterred or prevented from attending Playcentres and other learning centres on account of the information currently on the Ministry's website."

The Ombudsman's concluding note to me was "I trust that you will consider that your persistence in this matter has achieved a worthwhile outcome." Indeed! Thank you to the parents who bought this matter to my attention and provided information, and to the other parent who also lodged a complaint directly with the Ombudsman. 

It may take a little time for this ruling to flow down into updates to the MoE's website and for centres to be fully informed, but the bottom line is that there is now no barrier to families attending Playcentre with their young children while accompanied by their exempt students, so long as the health and safety and other regulatory considerations are met. 

Most of you may have seen THIS news article this week, in which two Northland principals made statements about the need for greater review of homeschooling families. This article may distress some folk, or generate more rumors about what is going to happen. There will also no doubt be a lot of strong feelings about the "cheek" of principals pointing fingers at homeschoolers when it's been clearly demonstrated that the school system is failing miserably in providing children with effective teaching and learning. Claims that kids returning to school are behind are lacking in credibility or substance - every week I work with families taking their kids out of school who are demonstrably way behind where they should be, and it's at home that they make much more progress than they were making in school.

I could write lots of articles with numerous examples of real families and how the school system has let them down, and how much better they've done at home. I could also give lots of example of kids who have been homeschooled for many years and then entered the school system where they've been incredibly successful. There's little point, though, in playing games of tit for tat. If you do want to read some homeschool success stories, though, start HERE.

​And if you want to know more about how home education programmes are currently monitored, see HERE

In regards to the news article, I want you to know the following:

• This article was not a surprise to us. NCHENZ and I were aware it was in the works the week prior, and the gist of it, though not the exact content. And it was also inevitable that something like this would come up with the recent growth in home education, which has taken most of the state sector by surprise.
• All they're really calling for in the article is a return of routine ERO reviews. You can read more about the history of those reviews HERE 

Does this article mean that the govt will immediately bring back ERO reviews? No. There is a process to that. It would require a policy amendment, and the assignment of a good chunk of money - usually that would be something that they would consider in the Budget rounds, not on the spur of the moment. Remember, they stopped doing ERO reviews because they could not justify the expenditure when so few families were found to not be doing an excellent job. 

Would a return to regular ERO reviews be a bad thing? Not necessarily. Some kind of accountability is, generally speaking, a good thing - all of us tend to lift our game when we know we're accountable to someone. For example, a few years ago I decided to set a personal goal to grow 1000kg of produce in my back yard within 12 months. I set up a blog in which to share progress reports and photos and updates because I know myself well enough to know that when I tell people about what I'm trying to achieve, I will do better at making a consistent effort towards it. While nothing bad was going to happen to me if I did not reach my goal, just having that outside "scrutiny" helped motivate me to keep going when it got tough. 

However, there are a few things wrong with ERO reviews as they stand in terms of their usefulness in improving outcomes for our children, which is, after all, the main point:

• The way reviews are currently structured is that they result in a report that you are or are not "teaching your child at least as regularly and well as..". That report goes to the Ministry, who, in theory, can, if the outcome was "are not", summarily revoke your exemption. Not that they always do - there is space to discuss how you will improve things and be allowed to keep going. However, the mere fact that this can happen, makes the whole process very intimidating, which does not bring out the best in anyone, and may result folk being unable to present themselves as well or accurately as they would under other circumstances. 
• ERO's reviews of schools have a different focus - they are deliberately intended these days to help schools find areas where they need to improve, and then giving them space and support to do so. The wording on the website is: "Reviews of schools are focused on continuous improvement through strengthening the capability of schools in identifying priority areas for improvement, including the effectiveness of engagement with whānau, Iwi and the wider communities." Schools are not under threat that one bad review will close the school. This means that schools and home educators are not being reviewed on an equal basis. 
• Currently, reviews of home educators only happen on a complaints basis - so they're going in because there is, theoretically, a problem. This naturally adds tension and a degree of bias to the review. 
• Because so few reviews happen each year, most reviewers are very unfamiliar with home education as a whole, though the ones I've spoken to are supportive in general. Years ago when reviews were first routine, it took quite some time until the few reviewers who focused on home education reviews became familiar with home education in all it's shapes and sizes - they ultimately became some our biggest advocates. We lost that when we lost routine reviews. 
• The questions that ERO use to guide their review are, in some degree, not as useful as they could be, as many of them are not written in terms that are meaningful in the home education context, or even make a lot of sense to homeschooling parents who don't speak "teacher-ese."

What about other possible forms of accountability or review? Traditionally most home educators have strongly desired to maintain independence from any form of "interference" by government departments. Even having to write an exemption application in the first place in order to teach your own children may seem an unnecessary imposition to some. This article is not the place to debate in full these points of view, but know this: I agree that good parents should be able to make their own choices when it comes to their children's education and wellbeing, and not be interfered with. I (and NCHENZ) have long been in a place of advocating to maintain our freedoms as much as possible. However, two things must be acknowledged: sadly not all parents are good parents, and even the good ones can flounder a bit and would benefit from some support, ideas or guidance from time to time. Ignoring these facts does not lead to the best outcomes for members of our community. 

That said, there may be other ways we can help ourselves and each other, that will benefit our children, and not be too burdensome or stressful for busy parents who need to focus on the day to day teaching and guiding of their children. And, maybe, there would also be something in this space that would provide additional assurance to the Ministry that the children are doing ok. 

One of the downsides, it must be understood, of the Ministry having little or no information on the on-going programmes and progress of our children is that it increases concern and pressure at the front end, which is directly responsible (in large part) for the increasingly demanding expectations of staff members who are processing exemption applications. 

So yes, I think we can find other ways to hold ourselves accountable in a way that actually benefits our families, while also helping to calm government sector concerns. 

Work that is being done:
These matters are being worked on on a number of fronts behind the scenes, including by the NCHENZ executive and other key people within the home education sector. It's all still in the discussion and brainstorming stage.

• There is planning being done to have a meeting with key staff to give them an opportunity to express their concerns, so we can listen, and consider those when making suggestions down the track.
• There is work being done on making suggestions for improvements to ERO's review questions, and also considering how some similar questions could help families consider their own progress and next steps periodically.
• There is work being done on considering what data we may be able to share with ERO in respect of the survey they're currently conducting, which may better inform them.
• And there is brainstorming being done, for experienced home educators coming up with ideas which could then be put to the wider home education community around how they might self-review for their own benefit and also provide some appropriate degree of accountability that would help ensure better outcomes for all students, while also relieving concerns.

​Always kept in mind in all of these things is not adding unreasonable burdens to busy families and protecting our privacy and freedom to make individual choices about our children's education. 

Bottom line:
Please don't be distressed by articles like this. And don't engage in speculative rumours about what might happen, and what the Ministry thinks and so on. Do take a moment to ask yourself "How do I personally monitor my own children's progress and achievements? Is there anything I could do better? Would I like any further resources and ideas to help with that?" Whatever your answers to yourself, write them down. This will help you act on them, and will also be helpful when we get to the stage of calling for ideas from the wider home education community. 
​
Know that national representatives of the home education sector and those who work closely with families are working together to find answers, temper concerns, and come up with workable outcomes and ways forward that will be beneficial to families and impose as little as reasonably possible on time and freedoms. We are all volunteers in this space though. We cannot promise to make certain things happen - but we can say we are doing our level best to work for the benefit of the wider home education community. 

The following is excerpted from a write up I did for today's NCHENZ newsletter. If you are a home educator and not yet a member of NCHENZ, I encourage you to join (it's free). 

Background: 
The number of families who are home educating their children has risen significantly since the pandemic began. The number of exempt students as of 1st July 2018 was 6,298; in 2019 it was 6,573, in 2020 it was 7,192 and in 2021 it was 7,749 as of 1st July. By 31st October 2021, the Ministry was reporting that there were 8,253 exempt students, and while I don’t have the current number officially, references have been made to it now sitting around 11,000.

NCHENZ recently completed their annual survey of home educators. Of the 507 families who completed the survey (a statistically significant number), a significant majority indicated they intend to homeschooling until their children finish school, while the number who planned this as only a short term solution was very small. Naturally, some families are as yet undecided, but regardless, I think it is evident that homeschoolers will continue to make up a larger portion of the population than ever before.

ERO conducting a survey
Along with these increases, there is increased interest from various sectors, which is unsurprising. ERO have recently begun conducting a voluntary survey – they are aiming this at a “random selection of parents” who have gained exemptions in the last 3 years. ERO says that “The big picture background is interest in the rising number of requests for exemptions” and “Our interest is in finding out parents’ views on how their home school programmes are going.” (All quotes are directly from ERO's email to me, mentoined below)
​
Their method is to send an email inviting parents to participate and outlining the four areas of questions, then following this up with a phone call to explain more about how this works, and to conduct the survey over the phone. The questions included in the email are:

• Rationale/Motivation -We are interested in what led you to make an  application for home schooling.
• Learning Progress - How is it going? Has the home school programme you set up for [y]our children led to the learning progress you were looking for?
• Support - What support have you been able to access for your home school programme? How useful is the support?
• Duration - Do you have any idea how long you will want your children to continue to be home schooled?
• General question - Overall, what have been the pluses in home schooling? Any minuses?

When I was informed of this survey, I had immediate reservations, and asked ERO for more information, particularly around how the information provided will be used, and how parents’ privacy will be protected. They responded:
“In short, all information from parents will be received in confidence, no names will be used in the summary report and the process for collating parents’ answers to the questions will be anonymous. The information received will only be used for research and statistical purposes.…..Once we have talked with those parents who wish to join in the survey, we will prepare a summary report for ERO’s Chief Executive. We hope to have a summary report ready early in term two. That report will be shared with the Ministry of Education and the parents who participate in the survey in the first instance. The Chief Executive may wish to make some of the summary findings public.”

So, should home educators participate in this survey? Ultimately that is a decision for each of you to make for yourselves. I do understand that the Ministry and ERO will have questions in their minds about the rise in home educating families – such as how many are likely to continue home educating in the longer term (which affects the advise they give to schools, decisions around school funding etc), or wondering whether the kids to whom they have given exemptions are in fact doing ok. And therein lies the rub.

Under the law, all parents have the right to apply for an exemption. The exemption application process requires parents to satisfy the Ministry that the child “will be taught at least as regularly and well as” they would be in school; the exemption is only granted once the Ministry is thus satisfied. After it is granted, the only follow up (due, it must be noted, to previous government decisions based on cost) is the 6 monthly declaration, other than in the few instances where a complaints process leads to an ERO review, for which there is funding to review up to 35 students per year (but numbers more typically sit around 10 reviews conducted).

At this current time there is no other way for Ministry staff to “check up on families” or their children’s progress. And ERO has only had the power to enquire into these things when asked to do a review by the Ministry.

So, what are they thinking? Are they merely curious about the state of things for families who have made the change? Are they trying to figure out to what to do with schools affected by the loss of students? Are they looking for areas where they might actually offer further support or resourcing (that would be nice, but the track record suggests this is unlikely), or are they seeking evidence that could be used to justify greater interference in the lives of home educating families? We do not know at this juncture. I have more questions for ERO, and will add updates of answers received in due course.

Another reservation is that these questions are being asked over the phone, which can lead to unguarded, uneditable answers begin given. If they were being answered by email, folk could think about what they really wanted to say, and make changes before hitting send.

And finally, could this set a precedent? “Give them an inch and they take a mile” is a saying often applied to government departments. Now don’t misunderstand me; as a representative of NCHENZ, I have regular contact with key people at ERO and the Ministry, and have high regard for those currently holding the respective roles. I don’t think they have any underhanded motivations. But I know from long experience that specific staff come and go, but actions and outcomes remain, and one thing can be interpreted differently by someone else and lead to something else and so on and so forth. In my role as Government Liaison for NCHENZ, I have to take the long view. If ERO successfully runs a survey now, will they decide to run them regularly? Would this be a good thing, or not? If the survey suggests that families are struggling, what action might they take? Would it be beneficial to the community as a whole, or not, as well as to individual families? Could this voluntary survey morph into something compulsory down the track?

Again, do not misunderstand me – I am all for being able to give feedback to the MoE/ERO about issues such as lack of support in schools leading to the choice to home educate, and opportunities that could lead to better resourcing options etc. The question is, is this the right way for these things to happen? And is there a downside?

Do I have all the answers to the above questions? No, I don’t. Which is why we circle back to, it’s up to each family whether they want to take part in this survey. If you choose to do so, proceed with at least some caution.

The NCHENZ survey collected a lot of useful data, including that related to a number of ERO’s questions. If NCHENZ were to provide ERO with a selection of such data, families personal information would be completely protected. If ERO or Ministry were to seek information about home educators through a representative body such as NCHENZ, that degree of separation would provide a greater layer of privacy and protection, while still furnishing useful information. 

Update 25th March:
ERO have responded to two further questions I sent them:

• What sample size are you aiming for?

 We are hoping to engage with approximately 80 families from the random list of 100 forwarded by the Ministry

• Who originally requested this survey?

  The survey is an ERO initiative. 

The Ministry of Education is conducting a review and would like input from families who have children with learning support needs, and would value input from home educators. The stated purpose of the review is:

You can read more about the review here: ​https://www.education.govt.nz/our-work/changes-in-education/highest-needs-review/ 

You can have your say by making a submission using the online portal HERE, or by emailing highestneeds.review@education.govt.nz 

Submissions close 31st March 2022.

A comment passed on to me by a home educator who talked with Manager of the Highest Needs Review: "She agrees that it is important to give homeschool families a voice in the highest need review that the MoE are currently doing. She wants parents to know that they can send their thoughts and feedback in (regardless of the fact that their children are not attending mainstream schools)."

In November 2020, I lodged a complaint with the Ombudsman about the Ministry ruling that home educated students could not be present on Playcentre grounds with their families, effectively meaning families with preschool aged children could not longer utilise Playcentre. You can read the details and correspondence in THIS thread. 

Today, 28th Feb 2022, I have received a letter from the Chief Ombudsman to say that he has decided to investigate the complaint and has now begun making enquiries with the Ministry's Chief Executive. 

In the latter half of last year, I was asked for some additional information by the Ombudsman's Senior Investigator, which I supplied. I gather from this letter that they have now concluded the situation warrants a formal investigation and ruling. I have not been given any indication how long this is likely to take, other than "We will write to you again shortly." 

Updates when they are available. 

The Ministry of Education normally receives about 200 applications per month for exemptions. Since September 2021, they have been receiving around 800 applications per month. That four-fold increase is resulting in applications often taking longer than the usual 4-6 weeks to process, though that does vary from region to region.

Meanwhile parents who have chosen to home educate may be in various stages - application submitted some time ago and awaiting the outcome, application only recently submitted, or application not submitted yet. Those who submitted applications well before Christmas may understandably feel that it's not fair if they are expected to send their kids to school for the beginning of this term when they did their part in a timely manner, and it's the Ministry who are taking a long time. Parents who more recently submitted applications, or have not done so yet, can of course not have reasonably expected to have exemptions before the school term started, in most cases. 

Regardless of the timing, there are a wide range of reasons why parents may not want to send their kids to school right now, including:

• They are all set up and ready to start homeschooling; want to get on with it, not disrupt the children's learning by putting them into school and then pull them back out again within a few days/week. 
• Reluctance to expose their children to possible COVID in the school setting, with the country at Red, and Omicron starting to move through the country. In some cases, this may be because of medically vulnerable family members. 
• Concern over vaccine mandates or mask mandates.
• All the other many reasons why parents want to choose homeschooling in the first place, and may not see any benefit or sense in sending the kids back to school while awaiting the exemption.

The surge in homeschooling applications has been attracting a lot of media attention recently. Schools have also in some cases not been sure how to handle things as the term begins. The Ministry of Education puts out a regular bulletin to school leaders on COVID-related matters. This week's bulletin, on 1st Feb, included the following section regarding home education applications:

​"Applications for home education

Since September there has been a significant increase in enquiries from parents about home education.
Information about home education and the application process is on our website for parents and whānau.
 
Here are some key messages about home education you can use if parents and whānau inquire.

• Home education is not a short-term solution. To home educate well, parents need to thoroughly research and plan their approach.
• If parents are concerned about their children attending school during the pandemic, they should first talk with their children’s teachers and principal about alternative learning options that the school may be able to support.
• Parents must apply for an exemption to home educate their children and they must demonstrate in their application that they can teach their children as regularly and as well as in a registered school.
• Applications are reviewed and assessed by our Ministry regional staff and exemptions are approved/declined at the regional level.
• We are currently assessing a large number of home education applications and decisions are taking longer than usual – on average more than six weeks. While families wait for their application to be assessed, legally all children aged over six years must be enrolled at and attending school (children can enrol at age five and then they must attend)."

I've seen already several schools tell families they have had "advice from the Ministry that students must remain enrolled in/attending school until they receive their exemptions" and so insist that the students go to school. While it is true that the law requires students 6-15 to be enrolled/attend until/unless exempt, this has always been the case. The Ministry's statement above is simply repeating the facts. It's not new or a harder line. 

What is missing from this statement is the fact that 5 year olds can be removed from school without an exemption. For more on that see HERE

Because the law only states, in effect, two things around this subject, it does not leave specific space for transition. Those two things are:

• ​All students aged 6-15 must be enrolled in and attend school
• Parents can apply for and be granted an exemption from the above for their student

The law, does, however, include some specific statements around reasons why a school/principal/the Secretary might excuse a student from attending. These include:

• Attending suitable alternative tuition
• A transition plan to ease a student into full time attendance due to age, medical or psychological needs
• The student lives significant walking distance from the school (varies by age)
• Short term "justified absence"  or "because it is sensible to do so" - however these are limited to 5 & 7 days respectively. 

For more info on these, see the relevant sections of THIS article. 

Though it is not specifically stated in law, a medical practitioner can also, when appropriate, write a medical certificate excusing a student from attendance for a period of time, which the school must accept.  

So where does commonsense come in? Are there some circumstances in which it might be sensible not to send kids to school while waiting on the exemption certificate? Most people would likely say yes, there are. And they may well be right. However, the law, as we've seen, does not explicitly allow for those things; it comes down to people using commonsense, hopefully in agreement with one another where more than one party is involved. Here are some examples that might be appropriate:

• A parent has submitted exemption applications more than 6 weeks ago, but the Ministry has not yet finished processing them. This family was anticipating being approved and beginning homeschooling from the beginning of Term 1. They've got all the books and everything set up ready to go. If they send their kids back to school, then it may only be literally days, or a couple more weeks, before they are approved, and would be taken back out of school. Sending them seems disruptive both to the student and to the school (as well as unnecessarily expensive if new school uniforms/stationery/fees are needed). Perhaps the family can discuss this with the school, and the school may be supportive of this, either marking this as acceptable alternative tuition as discussed in my truancy article linked above, or marking them as unjustified absence, but with no intention to refer the family to attendance services as long as the exemptions come through in the near future.
• A family has a medically vulnerable person and has genuine concerns about COVID, not wanting to send their kids to school until things settle down. According to the Ministry bulletin quoted above, schools may be able to provide alternative learning options for them. This could be instead of transitioning to homeschooling, or while transitioning to homeschooling if they plan to keep them at home in the longer term. 
• A family has not yet submitted exemption applications; they recognise that it will take some time before they have the exemptions, and decide to send their children to school until they are received. This is sensible and appropriate unless there are reasons they cannot or should not be at school, such as health and safety reasons, mental well being issues etc, in which case they should likely talk to their doctor about a medical certificate in the meantime.
• A family has submitted applications recently; it may be a while until they receive the exemptions, but they believe they have genuine reasons for not sending the children to school in the meantime. Depending on the circumstances, they may be able to discuss this with the school, or a medical professional and come to some agreement. 
• A family strongly feels that, though they need to wait upon the exemptions, that their duty of care to their children's wellbeing and best interests means that they are not able to send them to school in the interim. Despite the school being unsupportive of this, they make this choice, knowing that they may be followed up by attendance services, and could potentially face prosecution, though this usually only occurs in extreme or long-running situations. (For more on how that works, see HERE). This family would, if they have not already, get their exemption applications completed and submitted asap. Attendance Services, if they become involved, may apply commonsense by seeing that the family is genuinely working on/awaiting the application process, and has made this decision based upon what they believe is best for their children, and therefore taking no further action other than ensuring the exemption was approved in due course, so they can close their file. 

These are just some examples of how commonsense may be applied. They are all genuine examples that have occurred in one form or another, but this does not guarantee they will work out that way for any given family. 

The bottom line is, every family should do their best to remain within the letter of the law if at all possible. However, sometimes circumstances result in a wee bit of colouring outside of the lines during a transition phase. If that occurs, it should be kept to the shortest time possible, and reasonable communication should be maintained with others involved, such as the school, Attendance Services or whomever. It is very unlikely that the Ministry will be rushing to prosecute anyone who is genuinely transitioning from school to home education. However, if families take their kids out of school for long periods without gaining an exemption, that would be a completely different situation. 

A lot of conflicting advice is floating around about this. Families are asking "Do I have to send my kids to school at Red level?" The government's position on this has been clear: schools are open and students should attend at red level. This is in fact simply the law; the law requires students who are enrolled to attend whenever the school is open. So, except where there are health orders that require a school to close, or require students to not attend (eg due to close contact situations), then the standard laws are operating and all students are legally require to attend. 
However, as noted in the Ministry's bulletin to school leaders quoted above, schools may be able to offer alternative learning options if parents are concerned about their children attending during the pandemic.