Educating your children at home, as opposed to sending your children out to a school each day, can in either situation be the best thing that ever happened to them or the worst. There are some key aspects that need to be considered before you decide to homeschool your children if you are wanting it to be a successful endeavour.
Although there appears to be a large number of things to consider, they are all valuable questions to ask yourself before you embark upon homeschooling. Having an environment around your children that is conducive to quality learning makes all the difference. It is important to create that environment by having healthy habits of regular learning, a nice space in which to learn, with the tools required to complete the task. Having some quiet space for concentrated work mixed in with time to be outdoors and moving around and having supportive adults around who will encourage the learning are all needed for a successful education.
No-one is perfect and we can’t all be expected to be qualified teachers with a household that runs on a strict schedule. There will be a lot of growth along the way for you and your children, and it is expected and encouraged to learn from the situations that challenge you the most. The key is in the willingness to try and in the figuring out of how to obtain the skill you need to progress. Just having a plan of where you are heading and some ideas of where you could get advice or help along the way is actually enough to get started.
Homeschooling works for a large number of families. They have great successes and really enjoy the process. Some educate at home for only a few years, others for the entire journey of their children’s education. It is a very flexible and very forgiving system.
Believe in yourself that you can do it. Put plans in place so that you can have success and be willing to take advice and learn new things along the way, because the one thing that I can promise you is this – it isn’t just your children who are learning, you too will learn just as much.
Up to 2 hours of lessons a day, plus hands on activities means you can easily give your child a quality education at home.
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Please watch our getting started video which covers a lot of the questions you may have.
The Parent Dashboard is where parents manage their Functional Education account. You can manage your plan and billing, update payment details, add or remove students, change a student’s class, view invoices, and check learning access and progress.
Students use a separate Learning Hub login to access their lessons.
New to Functional Education? Create your parent account here.
Already have an existing Functional Education account? Connect it here.
Parents can sign in to the Family Dashboard here to manage their plan, billing, students and progress.
New to Functional Education? Create your parent account here.
Already have an existing Functional Education account? Connect it here.
Start your 7-day free trial here. Create your parent account, choose a course and plan size, then add your student or students. No credit card is required to start the trial. Here is a video explaining how to get started.
Classes are numbered by the equivalent year of schooling: Class 1 is the first year, Class 2 is the second year, and so on. Choose the level that best matches your child’s current learning needs rather than relying only on their age.
If the class is too easy or too hard, you can easily change it from the Family Dashboard.
A Family Pass supports up to five students from the same family. Parents manage all students, billing and progress from one Family Dashboard account.
Each student has separate Learning Hub access and progress. Students do not share the parent’s dashboard login.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Create your parent account here.
If you have a Family Pass, sign in to the Family Dashboard and select Add student in the Your students section. Enter the student’s details and follow the prompts. Each student needs their own email address so their learning access and progress stay separate.
If you are not currently on a Family Pass, use Change plan on your dashboard to choose a plan that supports additional students.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Create your parent account here.
Sign in to the Family Dashboard. Your trial summary will show when the trial ends and which plan you selected. Choose Start plan, review the billing details, and add your payment method through Stripe Checkout.
If you are currently on a free trial, sign in to the Family Dashboard when you are ready to continue. Your trial summary will show the plan you selected; choose Start plan to continue with that plan, or Change plan to review other options before adding your payment method.
If you do not continue, your 7-day trial ends automatically and you will not be charged.
Your 7-day free trial ends automatically unless you choose Start plan in the Family Dashboard and add a payment method. If you do not continue, you will not be charged.
Check your spam or junk folder first, then make sure you entered the correct email address. You can request a new verification code from the Family Dashboard sign-in screen.
If the code still does not arrive, contact support@functionaleducation.com and tell us the email address you used to register.
Sign in to the Family Dashboard. On your Current plan card, select Change plan, choose Weekly, review the billing summary, and confirm the change.
You do not need to cancel or wait for your current billing period to end.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
Holidays are easier with the Family Dashboard. Sign in to the Family Dashboard and select Pause or cancel on your Current plan card.
Choose whether to pause for a number of weeks or until a specific restart date. No charges are made while your plan is paused, and billing will restart on the date you choose. Your students can continue learning until the access end date shown in the dashboard.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
If you need help with your account, billing or student access, email support@functionaleducation.com.
For account and billing questions, please include the parent email address associated with your Family Dashboard. For student-learning issues, include the student’s name and learning login email.
You can start your child anytime.
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.
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 curriculum overview page.
Use the playlist button (top right of this youtube player) to skip between classes and subjects)
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.
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
Fran’s teaching style is warm, calm, and consistent. Many parents tell us that children who flatly refused to participate in school activities are willing to try Functional Education — often because the classroom pressure is gone, the sensory environment is controlled, and the same familiar teacher shows up every day. The 7-day trial is the best way to find out. There is nothing to lose.
This is the question almost every parent asks. The short answer is: not with a structured programme in place. Functional Education covers all core learning areas at the appropriate level for your child’s year. Many families find that their child actually progresses faster at home, in an environment where the pace is theirs and the anxiety is lower.
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