Category Archives: NZ Families

Different set of rules at home school

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Different set of rules at home school

By Lin Ferguson

School’s so good for the Rea children they never want to grow up and leave home. Because home is where their school is.

Last week was Home Education Awareness week with displays set up last Friday at the library, Trafalgar Square and at Majestic Square for people who want to learn about teaching children at home.

Some parents couldn’t imagine anything worse than being with their children all day, every day answering questions, organising activities and hitting the books, said mum Suzie Rea.

But for the Rea children, the joy of being together on the farm, feeding their pets and riding their motorbikes as well as hitting the books each morning with mum is a great combination.

‘‘Well it is all about choices, about being adaptable — it’s about being real and my children love it,’’ said Mrs Rea.

What could Sammy-Jo (nearly 10) and Troy (7) possibly be missing out on?

‘‘Well . . . absolutely nothing. They’re certainly not missing out on bullying, being labelled and being slotted into a convenient mould. These two have freedom to develop, to think freely, to absolutely love and be interested in what
they’re learning.’’

The Reas own and run their business Emmetts Service Centre (a trucking service centre in Wanganui) and the family live on a small farm at Fern Flats near Marton.

There are 32 on the payroll at Emmetts Service Centre and the pay master is . . .9-year-old Sammy-Jo Rea.  ‘‘She’s brilliant. She does the payroll every week for her dad,’’ Mrs Rea said.

Sammy-Jo blushes and says she likes doing it because she really likes maths. Troy already knows his way around engines and is keen when it comes to all things mechanical.

‘‘Dad lets me watch when he’s fixing engines and I’m learning it all.’’

Read the rest of the article here

PhD study on Home Education in New Zealand

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PhD study on Home Education in New Zealand

Parental Choice and Education:

The Practice of Homeschooling  in New Zealand

By Leo Roach

2009

ROACHE-LEO.jpg

Home schooling is a viable alternative to the state school’s approach to education, says veteran teacher, former principal and now Doctor of Education Leo Roache.

Read his Thesis here:

http://muir.massey.ac.nz/bitstream/10179/1227/1/02whole.pdf

Parents of bullied kids can sue school, advisor says

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Parents of bullied kids can sue school, advisor says

Pupils who are bullied in schools may be able to seek redress in court, the Children’s Commissioner’s principal advisor Janis Carroll-Lind says.

Parents of kids could sue schools which failed to act when their children were bullied, Dr Carroll-Lind told a forum on bullying in Auckland yesterday.

“Schools had both a duty of care to their children and a fiduciary obligation similar to a doctor-patient relationship.”

She said there was the potential to go to court if schools were found to have breached their duty of care, The New Zealand Herald reported.

If doctors, school counsellors and psychologists working with young people could prove that a young person’s health was affected because of the bullying, there was the potential for the courts to deal with the case, Dr Carroll-Lind said.

A girl in Australia was recently awarded compensation after being bullied from the age of eight. Her parents had to move her to an expensive private school after the bullying came to light.

Schools needed to be much more consistent in their responses to bullying, Dr Carroll-Lind said.

Home-school family learn together

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Home-school family learn together

http://www.stuff.co.nz/auckland/local-news/western-leader/2354877/Home-school-family-learn-together

By CAROLYN THOMAS – Western Leader

Photo: CAROLYN THOMAS

FAMILY TIES: Amy, 18, Chloe, 6, mum Kate, Rosie, 8, and Sophie, 13, enjoy home-schooling.

Home-school mother Kate Todd wasn’t going to let her girls miss out on a full curriculum.

So 10 years ago she set up the Westgate Home School Group to ensure an all-round education for daughters Amy, 18, Sophie, 13, Rosie, 8, and Chloe, 6.

Now more than 200 kids from kindy to high school take part in weekly art, sports, drama and science classes.

The Todds are one of many New Zealand families who choose to home-school their children.

“When Amy was five she was so clever, she was reading fluently. I’d just had Sophie, and Amy wanted to stay home.

“I thought, well she doesn’t legally have to go to school until she’s six and I knew she’d be fine,” Kate says.

The former primary school teacher launched into action after learning the local home-school group was full.

“It was awful, families were being turned away,” she says.

She approached the Massey Leisure Centre’s manager for space.

“There were seven other families and we started doing sports and art up there as soon as it opened.”

It grew from there with dance, creative writing and biology classes added over the years.

The regular contact also provides support to the parents.

“It’s really important that home-school parents socialise. Everybody pulls together and brings in new ideas.

“There is a lot of responsibility on the stay-at-home parent. If you weren’t given the support and encouragement then you’d burn out.”

Kate says people choose home-schooling for various reasons.

Sometimes a child just does not suit a classroom setting,” she says. “I think it’s a privilege that I’ve been able to have all this time with my children.”There was little disruption when dad’s job took the family to China for two years – something they would not otherwise have been able to do.

The eldest, Amy, is now in her second year of a speech and language therapy degree.

“I think I actually found the transition from high school to university a bit easier than my peers. At first they found it difficult being given assignments with no guidance,” Amy says.

“As a home-schooled kid, you can sort out what you need to do and do it independently.”

Owen Walker “Akill”: World at the fingertips of NZ’s young and lucky geek

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It would seem that Owen Walker was home educated.

By putting this news item on this website we do not endorse the wrong that he did but want to highlight the skills that he gained through possibly being home educated and self taught.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/1/story.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10522457

By Jane Phare and Carolyne Meng-Yee

Owen Walker (left), with friend Richard Simms. Photo / Sarah Ivey

Owen Walker (left), with friend Richard Simms. Photo / Sarah Ivey

The Whitianga computer whiz kid who masterminded an international network of computer hacking has become something of a local hero, flooded with international job offers and celebrated by fellow geeks.

Last night local geekers organised a birthday/freedom party for Owen Walker, who turned 19 yesterday. The party, a LAN (local area network) night of playing computer games, was to celebrate Walker’s discharge without conviction in the High Court at Hamilton last week.

Walker has yet to make a decision about his future but his stepfather Billy Whyte told the Herald on Sunday that his son had been inundated with job offers from overseas.

In an extraordinary move backed by the police, Justice Potter last week discharged Walker without conviction on some of the most sophisticated crimes seen in New Zealand. The judge took into account that Walker could have a brilliant future using his talents overseas. He was ordered to pay $9526 towards his share of damage to Pennsylvania University’s computer system, give his computer and related assets to the police and pay costs of $5000.

In April, Walker pleaded guilty to six charges, including accessing a computer for dishonest purpose, damaging or interfering with a computer system, possessing software for committing crime and accessing a computer system without authorisation. The crimes carry maximum sentences of up to seven years in prison.

In a poacher-turned-gamekeeper scenario the Crown acknowledged that if Walker escaped conviction he could use his skills to help law enforcement agencies. The police have expressed interest in considering him for a job.

Walker told the court he was interested in forensic analysis and securities systems and would be interested in working with the New Zealand Police should an offer arise.

For the moment he is still working part time in Whitianga as a computer programmer, and living at home. His only asset is a computer he bought to replace the one seized.

Whitianga Year 13 student Ella Grierson said yesterday that she and a group of computer friends had decided to hold a birthday/freedom party for Walker to celebrate the court’s decision.

“I was glad he wasn’t convicted because people needed to focus on what he didn’t do. He is really a nice person, I mean he wasn’t hurting anybody. He is a really smart guy.”

Grierson said Walker had become a local celebrity.

“I think he will go down in Whitianga history. It’s pretty exciting, especially because he didn’t go to school and when he did he was bullied. It’s great that the world has become aware of him and his amazing skills.”

Added later:

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=10501518

Self-taught Whitianga computer whiz Owen Walker………

Home-schooled in his high-school years and with no formal training in computers, Walker taught himself computer programming and encryption.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/category/story.cfm?c_id=93&objectid=10522449&pnum=0

His mother says he was diagnosed at age 10 with mild Asperger’s syndrome, a form of autism often characterised by social isolation but great intelligence…..

But he was taunted, and, by the age of 14, he had been pulled out of school by his parents.

“He was bullied by the ‘cool’ kids, especially the boys. Also because he was a computer geek. They were boys being boys but they were mean to him.

“Self-taught, he developed skills and knowledge which impressed even the FBI investigators who closed in on him. As he hit his mid teens he became increasingly fascinated by what he could do with computers.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AKILL

Walker was home-schooled from the age of 13, removed from school due to bullying. He received no formal computer training, instead teaching himself programming and encryption.