Has the Covid-19 pandemic affected your family life and found yourself accidentally homeschooling?

We can’t deny that this crisis has affected so many lives in one way, shape, or form. Some are better prepared than others, while some are struggling to keep afloat.

Things changed quickly in the educational world. And if you find yourself in any of the spectrum, take comfort in the fact that there is hope and we’ll weather this storm.

That is why I’m excited to be part of the 2020 Homeschooling Playbook, where 50+ experts including myself reveal the top strategies on how to homeschool with ease, fun and joy!

This colorful Playbook is loaded with tons of valuable information and serves as your GUIDE when you attend the Homeschooling Conference.

GRAB YOUR COPY HERE NOW! https://smpl.ro/al/QwSYgonh5mi2eqi8wSw6o3GX/19088-Barbara-Smith

Here’s a sneak peek of what you’ll discover inside the Homeschooling Playbook:

What the Homeschooling Conference is and who is it for
Daily Homeschooling Conference Schedule broken down into theme days
Day 1: Homeschooling Foundation
Day 2: Homeschooling Methodologies
Day 3: Homeschooling Curriculum
Day 4: Homeschooling Communities
Day 5: Homeschooling Learning Platforms
Day 6: Homeschooling in Different Countries
Day 7: Homeschooling Inspiring Stories
The Top Homeschooling Tips from 51 Homeschooling Experts and Parents
How To Make The Most Of the Homeschooling Online Conference
Plus many many more!
Grab your playbook right now and you’ll automatically get a ticket to the Homeschooling Conference where you will meet those experts live!

GRAB YOUR COPY HERE NOW! https://smpl.ro/al/QwSYgonh5mi2eqi8wSw6o3GX/19088-Barbara-Smith

Early America had widespread literacy and a vibrant culture of learning.

Parents the world over are dealing with massive adjustments in their children’s education that they could not have anticipated just three months ago. To one degree or another, pandemic-induced school closures are creating the “mass homeschooling” that FEE’s senior education fellow Kerry McDonald predicted two months ago. Who knows, with millions of youngsters absent from government school classrooms, maybe education will become as good as it was before the government ever got involved.

“What?” you exclaim! “Wasn’t education lousy or non-existent before government mandated it, provided it, and subsidized it? That’s what my government schoolteachers assured me so it must be true,” you say!

The fact is, at least in early America, education was better and more widespread than most people today realize or were ever told. Sometimes it wasn’t “book learning” but it was functional and built for the world most young people confronted at the time. Even without laptops and swimming pools, and on a fraction of what government schools spend today, Americans were a surprisingly learned people in our first hundred years.

I was reminded a few days ago of the amazing achievements of early American education while reading the enthralling book by bestselling author Stephen Mansfield, Lincoln’s Battle With God: A President’s Struggle With Faith and What It Meant for America. It traces the spiritual journey of America’s 16th president—from fiery atheist to one whose last words to his wife on that tragic evening at Ford’s Theater were a promise to “visit the Holy Land and see those places hallowed by the footsteps of the Savior.”

In a moment, I’ll cite a revealing, extended passage from Mansfield’s book but first, I’d like to offer some excellent, related works that come mostly from FEE’s own archives.

In 1983, Robert A. Peterson’s “Education in Colonial America” revealed some stunning facts and figures. “The Federalist Papers, which are seldom read or understood today…..read the rest of the article here:

https://fee.org/articles/the-myth-that-americans-were-poorly-educated-before-mass-government-schooling/

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Needing help for your home schooling journey: https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/
And
Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:
Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/
and
Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/
This link is motivational: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/
Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/
Beneficiaries: https://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-cate

From Cynthia Hancox:

Quite a few folks are wondering whether/how we as home educators can access the resources the Ministry is providing for students under lockdown. 

The resources the govt is rolling out are targeted at students enrolled in schools or ECEs, as those are the students the govt is responsible to deliver teaching/resources to. Home educated students do not have the right or ability to access most of those resources on an individual basis. However, some of the resources are being delivered on public platforms, and there is nothing whatsoever preventing home educated students from taking advantage of them. These could include the 6 hours a day of broadcast content over the dedicated tv channels (and on demand), the resources and links on the Ministry’s website and so on. 

We cannot, however, expect to be able to get access to free devices, supported internet provision, or hardpacks of printed resources, stationery etc. Nor to have teachers send us stuff and tell us what our kids should be learning/doing at this time. 

Ultimately, I think we as home educators are in a good position – we can, as always, have the freedom to choose our children’s program of learning etc, and we can tap into some of the additional online resources if we wish, while they last. We should also remember that this is not something they’re rolling out as an on-going, long term option; eg the tv broadcasting is only funded for a month, with review after that. Schools will resume, though maybe not all at once. All of what is being offered is a stop-gap measure to ensure they are delivering some kind of educational content to students in the meantime. It’s not a roll-out of “great learning at home alternatives” to replace schoolrooms as such, though lessons learned may well shape some of what they offer in the future. 

So, we can pick and choose some of the useful online content, or maybe learn about things that have been there all along we just weren’t aware of before which may be useful going forward, but remain in control and responsible for determining, directing, and resourcing our children’s programs of learning as the parents of exempt students. By following some of the links on this site you can find some resources that are accessible and may be useful: https://learningfromhome.govt.nz/. 

Note: I know that some of our families have both exempt and enrolled students. They should, of course, be able to access resources for their enrolled students on the same basis as any other family.

From Cynthia Hancox http://www.cynthiahancox.com/homeschooling.html

————————————————————————————————————
Needing help for your home schooling journey: https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/
And
Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:
Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/
and
Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/
This link is motivational: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/
Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/
Beneficiaries: https://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-cate

Cynthia Hancox has been working behind the scenes to find out what is happening with exemption applications and declarations:

Many folk are asking questions about what happens with exemption applications, and declarations during this shut down period. Cynthia Hancox emailed all regional offices, and received feedback from each one. The national office has also put a brief update on their Home Education webpages. Here’s what you need to know:

Please visit Cynthia’s link to get the answers you are looking for: http://www.cynthiahancox.com/information/home-educators-the-ministry-covid-19-lockdown?fbclid=IwAR1GFiD0IxOxfvX4-cqklBMueu6KkhINv9tkizNURd-wPkBA4VhvfrosM88

————————————————————————————————————
Needing help for your home schooling journey: https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/
And
Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:
Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/
and
Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/
This link is motivational: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/
Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/
Beneficiaries: https://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-cate

How are you going in writing your submission for the Education Bill?

Information about the Bill was posted in January this year https://hef.org.nz/2020/education-and-training-bill-193-1-submissions-close-on-the-14th-feb-2020/

It is now getting URGENT to get our submissions in with only eight days left until submissions close.

Cynthia Hancox has put together an additional post with simple instructions on how to make a submission, and some examples. Please write a submission – only eight days to go until submissions close 14 February 2020!

http://www.cynthiahancox.com/information/education-bill-submissions-how-to-and-examplesh

Do you need help writing your submission? I am sure there will be people willing to help you. Just leave a message in the comments or email me hef.barbara@gmail.com.

————————————————————————————————————
Needing help for your home schooling journey: https://hef.org.nz/2011/needing-help-for-your-home-schooling-journey-2/
And
Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:
Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/
and
Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/exemptions/
This link is motivational: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-what-is-it-all-about/
Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/2012/home-schooling-exemption-form-now-online/
Beneficiaries: https://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-cate