How to Decide Which Homeschooling Path Fits Your Family: Comparisons of Our ‘Two-Path’ Experience

Before you dive into the freedom of homeschooling, there’s a vital first step that many families overlook until it’s too late: mastering the ‘laws of the land.’ Missing a single detail in your local regulations can be the difference between a legally protected journey and a difficult uphill battle.

Our story takes place in the beautiful landscapes of New Zealand, where the Ministry of Education offers specific pathways for learning outside the traditional classroom, but every corner of the world has its own set of rules—a legal map you must follow to ensure your children’s journey is recognised and supported. 

While our experiences are rooted in Kiwi soil, if you are reading this from elsewhere, your first ‘mission’ is to discover the regulations in your own corner of the world. In some places, it’s as simple as a notification; in others, like ours, it involves a formal application process.

Once the paperwork is signed and the legal path is clear, the real adventure begins. For us, that adventure has split into two very different, but equally rewarding, paths…

When sharing our homeschooling journey, I often describe it as a natural evolution of our family’s commitment to ‘life-long learning’. Our two children both complete their schooling at home, but in two different formats.

Our eldest is now in her ninth year with the New Zealand National ‘Distance’ Learning Correspondence School (Te Kura), and witnessing her growth through the correspondence system gave us a front-row seat to the mechanics of learning outside a traditional classroom. This long-term, hands-on experience built our confidence to take a more bespoke path with our youngest. By securing a home education exemption, we’ve been able to lean into an inquiry-based approach that turns our daily life into a living classroom. From the science of our off-grid systems to the economics of our market garden and the biology of the homestead, his learning is deeply rooted in the land surrounding us.

Two Models of Learning: How They Differ on Our Homestead

1. Te Kura (The Correspondence School)

• The Framework: Te Kura is a state school, which follows the National Curriculum. Te Kura provides the coursework, sets the pace, and handles the formal assessments. We’ve been fortunate to still be able to incorporate our homestead projects into some of Te Kura’s learning modules.
• The Parent Role: We act as the Learning Supervisor. Our role is to provide the environment and support, but the professional teachers at Te Kura oversee her academic progress. 
• Consistency: With nine years of experience here, we’ve mastered the rhythm of a routine at home, returning work and maintaining that useful link between home and the state system. 

2. Home Education (The Exemption)

• The Freedom: With an exemption certificate, we have moved from ‘supervisor’ to ‘schooling designer.’ There is no pre-set curriculum; instead, we curate his education based on interest and environment. We can combine traditional learning resources with guidance of the national curriculum as and when needed.  
• Inquiry-Based Learning: This is where our homestead shines. Instead of a textbook, a broken solar inverter or a new technology in the market garden becomes a multi-day research project involving physics, math, and problem-solving.
• Legal Responsibility: We are legally responsible for ensuring he is taught ‘as regularly and as well’ as a student in school, documented through our own records rather than Te Kura’s online portal.

Practical First Steps for New Homeschoolers

If you are considering making the switch, here is a checklist to set the groundwork before you begin:

Navigating the Exemption Application

To wrap up the administrative side of things, it’s worth noting that the exemption application itself is a significant undertaking. Unlike a standard school enrolment, this is a formal proposal to the Ministry of Education where you must demonstrate exactly how you will provide a broad and balanced education.

Writing an exemption is a process of articulating your educational vision. For our youngest, this meant detailing how our off-grid homestead and market garden business would serve as a functional curriculum. You’ll need to cover:

• The ‘As Regularly and As Well’ Requirement: Proving that your child will receive an education at least equivalent to what they would get in a traditional classroom.
• Learning Areas: Explaining how you will cover core subjects like English, Maths and Science, even if you’re using an inquiry-based approach.
• Resources and Planning: Outlining the tools you’ll use—from our solar power systems for science to our market garden for business and biology.
• Progress Tracking: How you intend to measure their development without the standard testing provided by schools like Te Kura.

I’ll be sharing our exemption application that I completed for our youngest child over my next few blogs to help guide you where to even begin! 

The process starts here—so don’t stare at a blank page. Follow along as I break down my exact application process step-by-step…

NZ Homeschooling Exemption Application – A Guide for the 5 Essential Questions