Emma Thompson and husband decide to educate daughter Gaia at home

Gaia - pictured here with her famous parents Emma Thompson and Greg Wise - has decided main stream education isn't for her

Gaia – pictured here with her famous parents Emma Thompson and Greg Wise – has decided main stream education isn’t for her

Emma Thompson and her husband Greg Wise have withdrawn their 15-year-old daughter from school and begun educating her at home.

Mr Wise, who starred in Sense and Sensibility, said their daughter Gaia had decided shortly before her GCSEs that school “wasn’t for her”.

He said: “She loves learning and she’s terribly focused and hardworking, but she didn’t like the sausage factory of formal education. I’ve no argument with that.”

Mr Wise and Ms Thompson have built a school room at the end of their garden in West Hampstead, north London, where tutors will teach Gaia.

He said: “Although I won’t be teaching her. We’ve got tutors and I’ve built her a school room in the garden.”

But the couple admit they have not yet decided what will be on their daughter’s home curriculum, with Mr Wise – who recently starred in Effie Gray – the story of Victorian critic John Ruskin’s teenage bride – joking: “I think we should just teach Latin and free-form dance. Really.”

He said home schooling made sense in a world where the nature of jobs and careers is changing at a rapid pace – requiring a more flexible approach to educating children.

“I read a fascinating statistic recently that said 60 per cent of the kids at school will go on to do jobs that haven’t yet been invented,” he said.

Although by law children have to receive full time education until the age of 17, this does not have to be at school and can be done legally at home.

‘Home educating’ families do not have to follow the National Curriculum, making the idea attractive to parents with children who find it hard to ‘fit in’; children with special needs or who have been severely bullied; and children for whom the school classroom does not suit their particular way of learning.

It is estimated that up to 60,000 children are being home educated in England and Wales at any one time.

Edwina Theunissen, of Education Otherwise, said: “School doesn’t suit everyone and it’s great that there’s a safety net like home education. Many children suffer from anxiety at school, or are finding it increasingly hard to cope with the pressure of the exam system. In other cases they are bored with what is being taught and children can gain a great deal following their own interests.

Mr Wise, 48, said parents had to be careful not to regard themselves as irreplaceable or responsible for everything that happens in their children’s lives.

“As a parent, it is easy to make yourself feel responsible for things that are out of your control, but it comes from a need to feel needed and to shape our lives,” he said.

In an interview in The Times magazine, Mr Wise, who first came to public prominence with his appearance as Mr Willoughby in the 1995 film version of Sense and Sensibility, which also starred Ms Thompson and Kate Winslet, said his daughter – who has recently been photographed with her mother at a number of film premieres – refuses to watch anything in which he appears.

He said: “This is the big argument we’re having at the moment. Gaia is OK watching her mum, though. She knows her mum’s an actress and a film star and she gets stopped in the street all the time. But Dad’s Dad. I’m a piece of furniture – we hang out and do stuFF.”

Read the rest of the article here: Emma Thompson and husband decide to educate daughter Gaia at home

Earlier stories:

1. Emma Thompson decides to educate her daughter at home after girl says school ‘wasn’t for her’ 

Emma Thompson’s daughter has been withdrawn from her £6,000-a-term school so she can be taught in her back garden after deciding main-stream learning ‘wasn’t for her’.

– Father Greg Wise revealed ‘sausage factory’ education wasn’t for her

2. Emma Thompson: I would take daughter out of school for a year

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Updated 1 October 2014:  Three years on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here

*****

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 startedhttps://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemptionhttps://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: http://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/

Coming Events: https://hef.org.nz/2013/some-coming-events-for-home-education-during-2013-2/

Beneficiaries: http://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading

Red Tape Cluster Buster Meetings and the Scoping Survey: https://hef.org.nz/2014/next-steps-deadline-8-december-2014/

 

 

Our home

Our home – still on the market

a great home for home educators

Moving and large home for sale

4_Tawa_St_sm_001

  • Home for the large family or
  • Home and Income or
  • Investment property or
  • Home and Granny Flat

4_Tawa_St_sm_13Bed: main house 3-4, extra building up to 3, library could be a bedroom (8 potential bedrooms)
Bath: 1 spa bath
Toilet: 2
Lounge: 2
Garage: 2 car/van
Carport: 1
Character filled rooms
Much loved home built in 1944
Low maintenance grounds

4_Tawa_St_sm_005Features in the main house include three bedrooms and a study (currently used as a fourth bedroom), The dining and family room is open–plan to the lounge and kitchen. The rimu galley style kitchen with stainless steel bench-top and splash-back, stainless steel dishwasher and stainless steel double ovens, well equipped with lots of storage, two pantry cupboards and 12 power points. The lounge, with stunning matai flooring, fan, built in shelving and large cabinet has a large log fire which heats the whole home – no other heating required even on those cold winter nights. The bathroom boasts a spa bath, shower, toilet, and vanity. The house has a second toilet in the laundry. The whole house has been rewired in recent years and is insulated under floor as well as in the ceiling and walls with a heat transfer system to the master bedroom.  The main home has also been reroofed in recent years. The 3m by 3.6m conservatory opening off the kitchen/dining area looks to the Northeast soaking in all the morning sun and leads out to a covered porch with an abundant grape vine which is a fantastic area for outside entertaining and access from the garage to the house.

4_Tawa_St_sm_004The secondary building is a separate house which was moved to this property in 2004 and refurbished. It contains three smaller rooms and one very large room fitted with a heat pump and alarm. This building is ideal for a home office, rental, granny flat, boarders, etc. Each room has multiple power points and data points since being rewired and refitted a few years ago for use by a home business with several staff.

4_Tawa_St_sm_003The third independent structure is a fully insulated recreational room which has been lined, carpeted and is currently fitted out as a library, it has been used as a bedroom and sewing room in the past.

At the back of the library is a garden shed.

4_Tawa_St_sm_010Monday or Tuesday I get to put in an offer on the property in Tasmania. (DV)

We plan to change the boundries as I can’t afford to buy it all without a mortgage. So this is what we roughly plan for the boundries to look like. Mine will be the Red boundary, Charmange with the dark blue and her inlaws with the light blue. Charmange and her husband plan (DV) to build on the piece of land that we plan to buy.

Since I plan to put in an offer for the property on Tuesday I need to get serious about selling 4 Tawa Street. If you are, or you know of anyone who might be, interested in looking at 4 Tawa Street please contact me soon. barbara@hef.org.nz, 06 357-4399, 021 0278 2221.
More on our move and the propery here: Moving and large home for sale
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Updated 1 October 2014:  Three years on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here

*****

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 startedhttps://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemptionhttps://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: http://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/

Coming Events: https://hef.org.nz/2013/some-coming-events-for-home-education-during-2013-2/

Beneficiaries: http://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading

Red Tape Cluster Buster Meetings and the Scoping Survey: https://hef.org.nz/2014/next-steps-deadline-8-december-2014/

Class Dismissed

FOR WELLINGTON REGION – LAST CHANCE!

Dear Friends and Supporters,

Thank you so much for purchasing tickets to the Wellington screening of Class Dismissed on February 22nd, I really appreciate your support.

The screening is coming up in just over 2 weeks time and I’m really looking forward to meeting some of you there.

There are just 25 tickets left. It would be fantastic to fill the theater, especially since this will be Wellington’s only showing of the film. If you have friends who homeschool or neighbors interested in finding out more about homeschooling, I encourage you to invite them to the screening.

Despite being filmed in the US, the experiences and information shared in the film has a universal appeal. As one recent audience member said after a screening in the US:

“Class Dismissed is a MUST see – especially for those who are thinking about homeschooling and unschooling, or for those who have doubts, or for those who are “in the trenches” and need a shot of inspiration and validation.”

Since I have no direct or effective way to reach homeschoolers in Wellington, I’m reaching out to you to ask that you pass along the information to anyone in your area who might be interested.

Here is the direct link for tickets:
http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/1149730

And here is our Facebook event page that you can use to invite friends:
https://www.facebook.com/events/943506892334840/

Many thanks for your support,

Jeremy Stuart – Director, Class Dismissed.

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Updated 1 October 2014:  Three years on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here

*****

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 startedhttps://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemptionhttps://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: http://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/

Coming Events: https://hef.org.nz/2013/some-coming-events-for-home-education-during-2013-2/

Beneficiaries: http://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading

Red Tape Cluster Buster Meetings and the Scoping Survey: https://hef.org.nz/2014/next-steps-deadline-8-december-2014/

School has begun and I don’t have my exemption yet

A new school year and a lot of people have exemption applications into the MoE and have not heard back yet. What should they do?

This is a problem at the moment especially in the Auckland office where they have a lot of exemption applications to process.

Keep your children at home. Even though any contact with the MoE will say that your children must be in school until you get your exemption – the MoE have to say that because that is the law. Schools have a number of excuses for pupils not to be in school when they should be and they have policy to cover that called “Justified Absence”.  So we have asked the MoE to make applying for an exemption to be able to come under “Justified Absence”. That should be happening probably later this year. In the meantime there are ways to keep our children out of school under “Justified Absence”: https://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/truancy-and-the-home-schoolerhome-educator/

The MoE used to be very  strict on this saying that our children must be in school until we got our exemptions BUT they are a lot more tolerant these days to the “Justified absence” ideas that are in the link above. Hopefully soon we will have no more hoops to jump through on that and it will be a matter of course. Then they will be able to write in the letters to us, when asking more questions, that “Justfiied Absence while getting an exemption” is their policy. It isn’t at the moment. So while people are waiting for their exemption to come through here are some ideas of what to do:

1. Wait.

2. Don’t send your child/ren to school

3. Ring the MoE and see what the status of your exemption application is.

4. Wait some more and keep your children out of the public during school hours (only until you get your exemption)

5. You are 99.9% sure of eventually getting your exemption so begin home educating your child as you have planned.

IMG_86036. Your child can be out of school for 20 consecutive days before the truancy officer is informed. Your child can go to school for one day then have another 20 consecutive days off school etc.

7. If the Truancy officer or a school contacts you, after the 20 days, tell them that you are waiting on your exemption and that you are heading to the Dr for a letter of explanation for why your child is out of school or

8. Enrol your child/ren at another school but don’t send them to it.

This will buy you some time until you get your exemption.

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Please share this information – thanks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Updated 1 October 2014:  Three years on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here

*****

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 startedhttps://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemptionhttps://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: http://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/

Coming Events: https://hef.org.nz/2013/some-coming-events-for-home-education-during-2013-2/

Beneficiaries: http://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading

Red Tape Cluster Buster Meetings and the Scoping Survey: https://hef.org.nz/2014/next-steps-deadline-8-december-2014/

Hawkes Bay (Napier) office now processing exemption applications

An email from Lucy Ambrose of the National MoE Office:

220px-Hawke's_Bay_region_view

Our Hawkes Bay (Napier) office are now processing their areas home education exemptions.

There will be a few staff who will work in this area and the director is Marilyn Scott.

The contact details are:

Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne

Napier office

Address for couriers and reception Postal address
8A Lever Street
Ahuriri
Napier
PO Box 147
Napier 4140
DX Number: MX10022
Director of Education for Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne: Marilyn Scott
Email enquiries.napier@minedu.govt.nz
Phone (06) 833 6730 | Fax (06) 833 6731

Kind Regards,

Lucy Ambrose | Senior Advisor | Student Engagement

So all exemption applications from the Hawke’s Bay, Gisborne areas need to be sent to this office.

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Please share this information – thanks

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Updated 1 October 2014:  Three years on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here

*****

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 startedhttps://hef.org.nz/getting-started-2/

and

Information on getting an exemptionhttps://hef.org.nz/exemptions/

This link is motivational: http://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/

Coming Events: https://hef.org.nz/2013/some-coming-events-for-home-education-during-2013-2/

Beneficiaries: http://hef.org.nz/2013/where-to-for-beneficiary-families-now-that-the-social-security-benefit-categories-and-work-focus-amendment-bill-has-passed-its-third-reading

 

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