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Approximately 2 hours of videos per day. Taught by an experienced teacher with over 10 years experience in the classroom.
Students pause videos to do hands-on exercises and activities like painting, maths, sculpture, writing, reading and more.
Students learn without the social pressures of school, peacefully and at their own pace.
Since 2018 New Zealand parents have chosen to use Functional Education to deliver a positive education to their children, and the results are fantastic!
"I just wanted to email you and tell you how much we are enjoying functional education! My daughter is so keen to get into her school work each day she has been doing classes on the weekend. It really is working very well for us, thank you so much!"
The Functional Education platform is for learning. Your child will watch their teacher deliver a lesson, filmed in a special classroom studio, and pause the video to do activities like spelling, writing, draw, craft & maths. Each days lessons will build on the previous day, and having the same teacher for every video provides a natural rhythm for your child. They'll enjoy getting to know their teacher over weeks and months.
Fran loves to help families transition into this new way of learning at home. There is an online support group available for parents, where you can chat directly with Francean and other parents using the Functional Education platform.
Your child will learn from a qualified teacher via pre-recorded videos, pausing to do hands on activities throughout their lessons. You may like to sit with your child at first, but they will soon be able to learn independently for 2-3 hours per day.
There are more than 2000 schools worldwide operating in over 200 countries. These systems are proven to work. They provide a well-researched, well documented educational curriculum suitable for a wide range of learners.
Graduates of these learning systems are held in high regard globally for their creativity, academic rigour and their personable approach to working in team environments.
Functional Education takes the best from the Waldorf and Montessori systems and combines it with the latest in inquiry based modern learning producing an outstanding curriculum without the politics of a traditional schooling environment.
There are discounts for larger families, or parents wanting to subscribe to single subjects only.
Highly recommend functional Education, Fran is fabulous and the curriculum is highly engaging, well balanced and hands on. The support is fast and through - thanks Functional education for such a great resource!
I found the program to be well done and Fran who leads the classes is very engaging. Most of the materials needed can be found around the house and it isn’t very time consuming but a lot is covered. I found the price to be affordable and would definitely recommend this to those seeking an alternative way to educate their child.
No probelms giving Miss Fran and the Functional Education program a 5 out of 5 stars. We've been homeschooling for a few years and I can tell you we've tried many other curriculums out there as well as make our own. The dedication that Miss Fran puts into her teaching and scaffolding is impressive. Our daughter is engaged, excited and can't wait to show us or tell us what she's learned. The program is set up in a way that is simple to use, navigate and understand. Also, the response times to enquiries or issues are addressed almost immediately with a swift answer or resolution. I tell everyone I know about Functional Education to help spread the word. Not enough people know about this amazing program and how it's an absolute game changer. Thank you Miss Fran for your amazing work!!
My 10 year old daughter and I are new to the homeschooling world this year and are still finding our way around. Been apart of Functional Education has been so wonderful. Fran and Evan have made our homeschooling journey so far a wonderful positive experience, their help and support has been amazing ☺️
Thankyou Fran and Functional education...it's been Amazing Thankyou Kowhai has really enjoy it.. engaged and enjoyed on the online calls...
We absolutely love functional education, Fran is amazing!! My 6 year old son is so engaged and focused. We also really like that the classes have a strong Waldorf focus. I can tell that Fran has put a lot of thought and effort into all the classes, we now say "blessing with your fruit snack" all the time. Thank you Fran, I don't think we could have progressed so far with out you.
Thank you Fran for creating such an engaging homeschool program! Entering the home school space can be daunting, however the support we received throughout the last year has been incredible, from the extensive MOE exception process to planning our days and having the lessons all laid out - we couldn’t ask for more. Our 11 year old has thoroughly enjoyed his past 12 months - it has been great to witness him enjoy learning! We are so grateful- thank you!
Functional Education is amazing. Fran was totally born for this. We have been homeschooling for a few years and my daughter is engaged, and excited to log on to see what she is going to learn each day. For me as a parent it makes homeschooling a breeze, it is just so simple. My daughter manages her own pace and speed. Functional education is simply the best! We feel that our daughter is getting the very best education available!
Such a great platform to engage and our children participated off their chairs. Interactive and a well-rounded approach to home education. A wonderful experience thank you.
My children (11 and 8) have really enjoyed using Functional Education for their home based learning curriculum. We love the range of subjects and the different methods used for learning that engage head, heart and hands. Fran is a great teacher, really makes learning fun, and quickly responds to emails if you/your children need assistance. The website itself is easy to navigate and includes an online parents/learners community for you to share experiences/projects or ask questions in. I would recommend this curriculum, with confidence, to those thinking about signing up. Wether you are just starting your home education journey or have been doing it for a while and want to try something new. In my opinion it is very fairly priced for all that you’re getting.
Can’t recommend Functional Education enough. Having three boys who were excited each day to get their work started with Teacher Fran was really incredible to witness. Especially after years of reluctance going to public school. It’s an incredibly easy program to navigate and adjust to each child’s needs. I also found Fran’s enthusiasm for teaching really came through each lesson and the kids really responded to her genuine warmth and lovely personality even though it’s all pre-recorded lessons. I applaud her ability to have that genuineness come through the screen. Highly recommend Functional Education for anyone and everyone going the homeschool route.
The support I got from Functional Education during the MOE exemption process was excellent they provided all the necessary documentation to show my children will be taught ‘as well as’ and ‘as often as’ any school. I love that I can SEE what my children are being taught, I love that Fran is fun, friendly, relatable, knowledgeable, experienced and qualified to teach. I love that all of the daily/monthly lessons/modules are very well planned out, I love the progression of the learning steps and how my children and I can track their progress, I think it’s great they can pause and replay lessons until they pick up what’s being taught, I love that this service has made my life easier when it comes to homeschooling my children and I know they are getting an excellent education as good as any school offers if not better! My daughter said to me Mum Functional Education is COOL so that sums it up for us. We recommend you do the free trial then you can experience what COOL homeschooling looks like.
Functional education really gave us the confidence to go ahead and home school our kids. Great job Francean.
This was a great program for us when we were homeschooling. Fran is an engaging teacher and my 8 year old loved working through the classes. He especially loved the brain gym sessions, the creative projects and learning to have beautiful handwriting.
Both my school age children age 6 and 12 are absolutely loving Functional Education. It is much more tactile and I find my boys are much more engaged in their own learning. .Both children have conditions that make it more difficult to participate well in the public school setting. I cannot recommend enough.
Functional Education is a fantastic resource for home schooling our two daughters. The modules are very well put together, girls enjoy the variety of the lessons and Francean's a fantastic teacher. World Class!
Fran program is amazing and keeps our young one captivated. She especially loves story time and craft. Frans techniques have assisted us with establishing great pencil grip, quick arithmetic comprehension as well as giving her a desire to learn. If you are looking at Home Schooling don't walk past this give it a go and see how much the children enjoy it. whakawhetai koe Fran you are amazing and we love every minute of class
Our son attended Waldorf kindy & grade 1. This year we decided to homeschool Ayden, I was a bit overwhelmed with which curriculum as im still learning too Functional education sounded perfect for our family. After months of researching I was drawn to functional education, we signed up for the trial Ayden enjoyed all lessons looking forward to the following day. He loves his lessons and so do I, is a joyful experience. Ayden likes learning with Francine listening to each word, her calm tone & easily understandable guided lesson cover all Aydens learning needs. He will pause go at his own pace extending his music lessons till Aydens is ready to move on. We also have our our daily rhythm & verses learning threw play activities and nature adventures add to his learning journey. Very happy with this curriculum thankyou ☺
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We love answering your questions! Here are a few answers to the common queries we receive.
If you can't find the answer you're looking for here, please contact support.
Please watch our getting started video which covers a lot of the questions you may have.
Home schooling applications are different in each country and region. Before you apply to have a homeschool exemption we suggest you follow these steps:
If you are in New Zealand, and need further help with your exemption, Cynthia Hancox has various resources on her website that can help, as well as an application writing service. Cynthia and her team have processed many exemptions for families planning to use Functional Education.
Below is a playlist of videos that cover the learning steps for each class, in reading, writing and maths. You may find this useful when applying for an exemption. There is also a short description of what we cover in each course on the course overview page.
Use the playlist button (top right of this youtube player) to skip between classes and subjects)
We have numbered our classes as follows:
Class 1 - first year of schooling (could be any age between 5-7 depending on when you choose to start your child at school)
Class 2 - second year of schooling
Class 3 - third year etc
Class 6 and Class 7 are the 'Intermediate' years
This question is on the MoE application form in New Zealand.
Functional Education delivers lessons that align with the standard NZ curriculum. They are designed to sequentially follow the natural learning progress for each year level. There are planning sheets provided for each topic covered and these sheets contain learning goals and outcomes so that parents can clearly see what the child is aiming to achieve. The senior classes from Class 4-7 have weekly spelling tests. Each topic is designed to have a project/presentation at its conclusion. Some children will present to their families, others will access our platform and share their projects with 'classmates' and receive/give peer feedback as part of this process.
School workbooks are kept as a record of the child's learning throughout the year, along with handcrafts, art and photographs.
Our videos are all prerecorded. You can choose to watch them at any time of day, any day of the week that suits your schedule.
Its easy to cancel your subscription at any time.
When you are logged in, just click on your name at the top right corner of the dashboard, then 'My Account' then go to Billing, and click 'Cancel Current Plan' and follow the prompts.
Your educational choices are your own. We provide a series of videos that you are welcome to access. If a topic doesn't interest you, you can move on to the next. If a topic totally engages you, then feel free to stay with it as long as you like and move on when you are ready.
If you are based in a rural area or living/working/schooling all together trying to access the same internet connection it can cause strain on the speed of the videos. You are in control and able to change the size of the video data to help speed it up. When you open a video, on the right hand side of the screen at the bottom there is a settings icon that looks like a wheel. Click on that and lower the quality of the video a few levels and it should help. We have IT people available to talk you through this if you require assistance.
You are in control of your subscription. You only pay for what you use. Subscriptions are renewed on a monthly or weekly basis. If you are planning on going away, login to your account and cancel your subscription. This stops the billing process. When you return, re-enrol with the same email address and carry on where you left off.
You will find an equipment list at the start of each weeks lessons.
As well as a device connected to the internet (laptop, smart TV, mobile phone, tablet etc.) your child will need some items each week. These are usually things found around the home like: books to write in, coloured pencils, play dough, dice, playing cards etc.
No. Functional Education teaches children gratitude, to care for their environment, to respect others, and live in awe of the world around them. It's suitable for children from all backgrounds and cultures.
You can start your child anytime.
It is important that your child interacts with other kids a similar age. Sports groups, drama classes, school holiday programs, art and craft groups, reading clubs, play dates, and even homeschool social groups are fantastic ways to allow your child to grow positive social skills. Over 3,000 families homeschool in New Zealand, so there's probably a local homeschool group near you. It is not a case of hiding children from the ‘real world’ and wrapping them up in cotton wool so that they never experience the negative situations in life. It is more a case of opening the world up to your children, allowing them to discover and interact with the world in a positive way. Educating your children at home means they become independent big picture thinkers, confident and self-motivated to learn and with a thirst to immerse themselves in the world amongst all ages, cultures and backgrounds and to see the world with observant eyes, not biased judgements limited to standardised opinions.
If you are homeschooling more than one child, you can enrol using a family pass. Use the link on the enrolment page
A family pass allows a single login to see all content across all courses. We don't offer different logins under one payment plan.
Up to 5 members of the family can use the same login details to access content, and this can happen simultaneously.
While this is not strictly possible, there is a work-around that you are welcome to use:
A family pass gives you access to every year level, so your dashboard may look a bit overwhelming to start with.
The easiest way to sort the modules is by using the search box. For example, type in 'Class 2' and press enter to see all the class 2 content.
Then start at the lowest module number.
A family pass gives you access to every year level, so your dashboard may look a bit overwhelming to start with.
The easiest way to sort the modules is by using the search box. For example, type in 'Class 2' and press enter to see all the class 2 content.
If you're currently doing a trial, you may find it hard to signup to the paid course.
The solution is to either:
If you cancel your trial, and signup with the same email address, our plaform will remember which modules you have completed and you'll be able to continue where you left off.
To view all the relevant laws and requirements for homeschooling in New Zealand. You can read the entire Education and Training Act 2020 here
Our friend Cynthia Hancox has written a fantastic summary of the act here: http://www.cynthiahancox.com/information/relevant-laws-education-and-training-act-2020
Please try signing in here: https://functionaleducation.thinkific.com/users/sign_in
If you don't know the password, or haven't set one yet, use the forgot password button.
If you still need support, please email support@functionaleducation.com
You will need to cancel your current plan, then when your access runs out (at the end of your billing cycle), you can re-enrol using the weekly link. Here's how:
Holidays are now a lot easier with weekly billing. Simply cancel your plan during the last week of school. Enjoy your holiday, then re-enrol when you want to start learning again.
If you are on a monthly plan, be aware that you are paying in advance for a whole month, so if your payment went out on the 2nd of Feb, you should have access until the 2nd of March. If you want to take a holiday during that time, there is no point in cancelling your plan as you have already paid for those weeks in advance.
If you can't find the answer to your question in the FAQ's please contact us below.
Functional education is not an on-line repository of videos, and loosely associated video games for children to play. We don’t use cartoons or computer games disguised as learning activities. All videos include a real teacher, in a real classroom environment.
Meet the teacherA peaceful, online environment. Your children can study safely at home. None of our content contains advertisements.
Watch a DemoStudent's usually don't need much help once they're familiar with the platform, but they'll love it when parents or grand parents are interested in what they're learning.
Checkout the curriculum$10 / Week
Just need help with Maths? Subscribe to the Maths Only course to watch just part of the full curriculum.
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$29 / Week
Students learn the entire curriculum through up to 2 hours of video per day, plus hands on activities.
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$40 / Month
Just need help with Maths? Subscribe to the Maths Only course to watch just part of the full curriculum.
Enrol Now
$116 / Month
Students learn the entire curriculum through up to 2 hours of video per day, plus hands on activities.
Enrol Now
All Pricing is in New Zealand Dollars (NZD) View Conversions