Homeschool Nations - New Zealand

Dec. 4, 2008

9th Annual Home Education Celebration - Auckland 5 February 2009

Posted in Coming Events

9th Annual Home Education Celebration

Thursday 5 February 2009

Long Bay

(a venue change from One Tree Hill Domain)

Organised by Auckland Home Educators Inc (AHE), the region’s network for homeschooling families

and coordinator of other annual events like the History Fair and Science & Technology Fair.

Watch out for more details in the coming weeks and on Auckland Home Educators Inc’s website at http://www.ahe.org.nz

Dawn Headley

Awareness & PR Coordinator
AUCKLAND HOME EDUCATORS INC - http://www.ahe.org.nz
networking across Auckland’s region and beyond for current & prospective home educators … Join us!

Email:   PR@ahe.org.nz
Tel:      (09) 5277-922
Text:   027-435-8922

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Dec. 3, 2008

Wanganui Home Educators Workshop 21 February 2009

Posted in Coming Events

Wanganui Home Educators Workshop

Date: 21 February 2009

Venue: Wanganui East Baptist Church - cnr Nixon and Moana Streets

Cost: $10.00 per person or $15.00 per family or $5.00 per session

Time: 9am to 5pm

Programme: Coming soon

Speakers: Erena Fussell, Craig and Barbara Smith

Resource Stands:

Dayspring  http://www.schools.roadshow.org/dca/

Geneva Books http://www.genevabooks.org/

Home Education Foundation http://www.hef.org.nz

Learnex  http://www.learnex.co.nz/

Contact and please pre-register with: Lisa  neil.lisa [at] xtra.co.nz 06 345 8645

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Dec. 3, 2008

Parents convicted over son’s truancy

Parents convicted over son’s truancy

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4777135a11.html

By NICOLA BRENNAN - Waikato Times | Saturday, 29 November 2008

The parents of a Morrinsville College student have been prosecuted and convicted over their son’s truancy.

Kathleen Kereopa and Chris Hemara, charged under the Education Act, pleaded guilty when they appeared in the Morrinsville District Court last week for the repeat non-attendance of their 15-year-old son.

They were both convicted and discharged.

Matamata couple Belinda Witaka and Jason Aoake faced a similar charge on the same day and were convicted and discharged, but ordered to pay $130 in court costs.

Morrinsville College deputy principal Marian Fogarty welcomed the convictions, and the message they sent.

“The available penalties are fines and so it is probably more important that the parents are given a clear message that if their children truant they can be prosecuted. I am sure if the same parents were convicted again there would be a substantial financial penalty.”

A second offence carries a fine of $400.

Ms Fogarty said the college took the issue of truancy “very seriously” and monitored their students’ attendance closely.

“We have prosecuted a family once before, a number of years ago and we will certainly contemplate doing it again.

“But it is a last resort and obviously we would much rather not have to take this step.”

The parents in this case were reported to the police by the town’s ROCKON (Reduce Our Community Kids Offending Now) committee.

The attendance rate for the first three terms of this year was 63 per cent - the goal for secondary students is 92 per cent. A 60 per cent attendance rate is 76 days off a year.

ROCKON meets once a month and is made up of representatives of schools, Child Youth and Family (CYF), the police, Education Ministry and health providers. If an absentee problem arises, the first step is for the police to contact the parents. If things do not improve CYF is called in to set up a family group conference.

If all those interventions failed the next step was to prosecute the parents.

Ms Fogarty said truancy was an issue at every school - Morrinsville College was “no better or worse than others”. Year 10 students most often skipped school, although there were a small number of persistent truants at each level.

The college belonged to the Morrinsville District Truancy Service which employed two attendance officers to help track students and get them back to school. But she said funding had not increased in 11 years, and the service was struggling.

“It should be a government priority to fund all truancy services adequately and ensure that everything possible is done to keep students at school and off the streets. “

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Dec. 3, 2008

Armed robbery for lunch spurs concerns over school violence

Armed robbery for lunch spurs concerns over school violence

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10545396

4:00AM Friday Nov 28, 2008

A 14-year-old schoolgirl who held a knife to the throat of a younger girl while demanding her lunch has heightened concern over the level of violence some Gisborne schools are having to deal with.

The incident came just days after a fight was filmed at another school and posted on a video website.

A small group of Gisborne Girls’ High School students approached another group of 13- to 14-year-old girls on the school field during lunch break last Wednesday.

Police said an altercation took place and a knife was used in a threatening manner.

The Gisborne Herald said it had been told a 13-year-old student was asked for her lunch, she refused, and her hair was grabbed and a knife held to her throat.

Details of the altercation remain unclear and investigations are continuing.

A parent of one of the girls approached said her daughter was shaken but “coping” and had returned to school.

“All of the parents, on both sides of the fence, are extremely upset at what has happened,” she said. “A knife at a high school is something you don’t want to see.”

She did not hold the school responsible.

“Something like this is out of their control. It’s not something you expect in a Gisborne high school,” she said.

The school’s board of trustees held a suspension meeting on Monday night to deal with three students.

Board chairman Ian Petty said one of the girls had since been excluded from the school, while the two others were on extended suspension pending further investigation by the school’s senior management team and police.

Exclusion applies to students under 16 years old and means the school needs to help them find another form of education.

Girls’ High principal Heather Gorrie said the situation affected a lot of people and it was important to allow due process to take its course effectively.

The school was understood to be supporting the victims.

The incident followed a fight at Gisborne Boys’ High School that was filmed and posted on a video internet site the previous week.

Principal Greg Mackle said a group of boys “wanting to set up a fight club” brought boxing gloves to school and began fighting during an interval period. It is understood camera-phones were used to film the footage.

The incident was stopped by school staff “straight away”.

Mr Mackle felt these fights were “mock-ups”. He was more concerned with the measures they might need to take to ensure general school safety.

His “real worry” was what they were going to do if situations such as the knife incident happened again.

“Put kids through metal detectors? It’s a real concern,” he said.

“We do what we can in terms of what we see and hear, but we do a hell of a lot in promoting the non-violent stuff as well.’

Mr Mackle sympathised with staff at Gisborne Girls’ High, saying he knew how hard they had worked to make their school safe.

“There is no way a school would tolerate that sort of violence. There’s no way a school would turn a blind eye.”

- NZPA

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Nov. 27, 2008

More Home Educators in the Newspaper

Posted in News

More Home Educators in the Newspaper

An article in today’s Te Awamutu paper about three home educators.

School not out Yet

http://www.flickr.com/photos/14055908@N02/3061663181/sizes/l/

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Nov. 27, 2008

Armed Robbery For Lunch Spurs Concerns Over School Violence

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10545396

4:00AM Friday Nov 28, 2008

A 14-year-old schoolgirl who held a knife to the throat of a younger girl while demanding her lunch has heightened concern over the level of violence some Gisborne schools are having to deal with.

The incident came just days after a fight was filmed at another school and posted on a video website.

A small group of Gisborne Girls’ High School students approached another group of 13- to 14-year-old girls on the school field during lunch break last Wednesday.

Police said an altercation took place and a knife was used in a threatening manner.

The Gisborne Herald said it had been told a 13-year-old student was asked for her lunch, she refused, and her hair was grabbed and a knife held to her throat.

Details of the altercation remain unclear and investigations are continuing.

A parent of one of the girls approached said her daughter was shaken but “coping” and had returned to school.

“All of the parents, on both sides of the fence, are extremely upset at what has happened,” she said. “A knife at a high school is something you don’t want to see.”

She did not hold the school responsible.

“Something like this is out of their control. It’s not something you expect in a Gisborne high school,” she said.

The school’s board of trustees held a suspension meeting on Monday night to deal with three students.

Board chairman Ian Petty said one of the girls had since been excluded from the school, while the two others were on extended suspension pending further investigation by the school’s senior management team and police.

Exclusion applies to students under 16 years old and means the school needs to help them find another form of education.

Girls’ High principal Heather Gorrie said the situation affected a lot of people and it was important to allow due process to take its course effectively.

The school was understood to be supporting the victims.

The incident followed a fight at Gisborne Boys’ High School that was filmed and posted on a video internet site the previous week.

Principal Greg Mackle said a group of boys “wanting to set up a fight club” brought boxing gloves to school and began fighting during an interval period. It is understood camera-phones were used to film the footage.

The incident was stopped by school staff “straight away”.

Mr Mackle felt these fights were “mock-ups”. He was more concerned with the measures they might need to take to ensure general school safety.

His “real worry” was what they were going to do if situations such as the knife incident happened again.

“Put kids through metal detectors? It’s a real concern,” he said.

“We do what we can in terms of what we see and hear, but we do a hell of a lot in promoting the non-violent stuff as well.’

Mr Mackle sympathised with staff at Gisborne Girls’ High, saying he knew how hard they had worked to make their school safe.

“There is no way a school would tolerate that sort of violence. There’s no way a school would turn a blind eye.”

- NZPA

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Nov. 27, 2008

The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine Sale

Posted in TOS
The Old Schoolhouse Magazine Black Friday Sale

The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine is having an amazing sale on subscriptions during their annual Black Friday Sale November 26 – 30. For those 5 days only, they are actually lowering their new one-year U.S.  subscription price to $7.95! That's the price you would usually pay for just one issue at a bookstore!

This is their lowest price ever on the magazine and they want all of you to take advantage of this offer and share the info with your friends.

Please don't miss out. Your one-year subscription will pay for itself time and time again as you receive practical tips and Biblical encouragement to keep going strong in your commitment to homeschooling and to the Lord. Since it's a quarterly magazine, they even have a monthly subscriber's only E-Newsletter called Teacher's Toolbox that will give you seasonal teaching ideas and a free E-Book download! It's like joining a unit study of the month club! The free E-Books alone are valued at almost $250/year. It's really perfect for people who are homeschooling on a shoestring or just wanting to add in some little extras to your teaching.

Plus during the Black Friday Sale, they have all kind of bonus gifts when you spend $50, $75, $100, or $150. Some are electronic downloads that you can download immediately, while other are physical products mailed from various vendors directly to your home.

Visit The Old Schoolhouse store at:  www.TheOldSchoolhouseStore.com

Order Yours Today!  And don’t miss out on this great price!!!

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Nov. 25, 2008

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

Posted in News
It  looks like this is the first home schooling group in the World to have this opportunity.

Amateur Radio on the International Space Station

Wednesday 26th November 2008 at the moment 3:27pm

This Wednesday, 11 school children from the Wairarapa Home Schooling Association will ask questions of an astronaut on the International Space Station via Amateur Radio, in what will be New Zealand’s second organised contact, though it is number 387 for the ISS. It also appears to be the 1st time a group of home-schoolers have contacted the ISS. Typically, the time allowed for questions is about 10 minutes, and in this time, up to 15 questions can be asked and replies given. The questions are of general interest.

The astronaut the children will be speaking to is American Radio Amateur Mike Finke (KE5AET), this is Mike’s 2nd expedition on the ISS. Mike is a very  keen amateur radio operator and has operated from space before. He is one of 9 astronauts on the space station at present. The International Space station orbits the earth every 90 minutes at an altitude of 370 km at a speed of 27,000 km/hour. The Space Shuttle Endeavour docked with the ISS on Monday 17th November, and is scheduled to stay docked to the ISS for 14 days before returning to earth.

Many volunteer Radio Amateurs around the world have worked for over 12 months to make this Radio contact a success, including those in America who have the responsibility for the scheduling and timing. Other countries involved are Australia and Japan. We must recognise that Amateur Radio on the ISS is secondary to everything else, and there may be something outside of our control that may prevent this contact from taking place; it would be unusual at this late stage, but it could happen.

ARISS (Amateur Radio on the International Space Station) is a purely volunteer organisation involving people in many countries around the world. It is supported by the American Radio Relay League (ARRL), NASA (National Aeronautics and Space Administration), the Amateur Satellite Corporation (AMSAT), Japan Amateur Radio League (JARL), and many other national Amateur Radio organisations, including the Wireless Institute of Australia (WIA) and the New Zealand Association of Radio Transmitters (NZART).

ARISS is to inspire, at least in some small way, the study of space to school children from all over the world, to speak to an astronaut who is a Radio Amateur and is on the International Space Station.

The Radio Amateurs in New Zealand who are in charge of this contact belong to the South Wairarapa Amateur Radio Club based in Featherston; Peter Norden (ZL2SJ) the New Zealand Co-ordinator for the ARISS program in New Zealand, and Ian Miles (ZL2TZW), assisted by Graeme Nelson (ZL2GDN) of Masterton.

The Wairarapa Home School Association (WHSA) is a support group for many of the home schoolers in the Wairarapa province. WHSA provides a point of communication for events and resources that are in the Wairarapa (and surrounding areas), and for parents to plan events that will provide for educational and social activities for their families. Some families live in  remote areas in the farming community and others live in the country towns; Masterton is the main town in the province. The children who will be asking the questions are schooled by their parents, and the ages of the children involved range from 5 to 14 years.

The Wairarapa province which is located about 90 km north east from the capital city, Wellington, and is a rural community consisting of dairying, cattle, sheep, timber, cropping and some fruit growing industries.
Wairarapa is a Maori word meaning “sea of sparkling waters”, from Lake Wairarapa, a fresh water lake in the province.

The contact should be available live on the internet via http://www.discoveryreflector.ca/events.htm, and on radio via various Amateur Radio frequencies around the country.
——————————————-

For those “various Amateur Radio frequencies” see http://status.irlp.net/?PSTART=5&country=173 and look for “Status” of  “9010″.

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Nov. 17, 2008

$1.5m paid to control kids

$1.5m paid to control kids

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4764141a11.html

By LANE NICHOLS - The Dominion Post | Tuesday, 18 November 2008

A fund to help schools with troublesome pupils has dished out more than 1300 payments - mostly for dealing with violence and aggressive or threatening behaviour.

The Interim Response Fund was set up to help schools keep difficult pupils in class. In most cases the money is spent employing one-on-one teacher aides to work with difficult or dangerous pupils.

The fund, introduced last year, is part of a strategy to tackle “severe behaviour” after a sharp rise in incidents.

“It might be some sort of unprovoked assault,” Secondary Principals Association president Peter Gall said.

“That’s the worst sort of violence. That’s unfortunately the situation schools are faced with on an increasing basis these days.”

An Education Ministry report issued to The Dominion Post shows the fund has paid out more than $1.5 million on 1387 successful applications to support 1240 pupils.

Almost every crisis involved boys, most of whom were still at primary school. Injury had been caused in 41 per cent of cases.

A further 20 per cent involved other violent incidents, and 11 per cent involved aggressive or threatening behaviour.

After 10 weeks, nearly one in three schools said the situation was still unstable.

Asked how widespread violence problems were in schools, Special Education deputy secretary Nicholas Pole said the level of violence committed by youth offenders was growing - though the ministry did not “collect data on it in any systematic way”.

Some schools have started using a new confidential pupil survey to gauge whether pupils feel safe, how often they play truant and whether they get bored in class.

The ministry hopes the surveys will provide important information, but has ruled out making the use of them compulsory.

Council for Educational Research manager Charles Darr helped develop the Me and My School survey. He said it was being used by about 100 schools.

It asked pupils how engaged they felt at school, including their safety, truancy patterns, teacher relationships and how interesting they found classes.

“Schools are using it to get some sort of student voice on how well students feel they are involved in student life,” Mr Darr said.

“If you’re looking at the health of your school, you need to be looking at something like this as much as you do achievement information.”

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Nov. 16, 2008

Teachers fight to save Shakespeare

Teachers fight to save Shakespeare

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4761441a11.html

By LANE NICHOLS - The Dominion Post | Saturday, 15 November 2008

Shakespeare’s plays and other great works of literature considered too difficult for some pupils will disappear from classrooms under proposed changes to the curriculum, alarmed principals say.

There are also fears that basic content in maths, history and business studies will be axed in a drive to make subjects easier, “dumbing down” schoolchildren and further undermining NCEA.

Education officials are reviewing the way secondary-school subjects are assessed in preparation for the new curriculum, to be introduced from 2010.

English teachers say some papers, such as level 3 Shakespeare, could disappear. They will discuss their concerns at a meeting in Wellington next week.

The Qualifications Authority says the world’s greatest playwright is not compulsory but stresses that the bard’s works will still be taught in most schools.

Macleans College principal Byron Bentley said reference to basic content, such as Shakespeare, appeared to have been axed under the proposals.

It meant some schools would ignore important subject material if pupils found it too hard - offering lightweight courses that deprived pupils of key knowledge.

Mr Bentley, who heads the lobby group Education Forum, said other subjects such as history had no proposed syllabus, leaving content decisions entirely to individual teachers. There was also a drive for more internal assessment at the expense of nationally administered exams. He said the changes were being bulldozed through by officials, and he called for a government moratorium.

Lower Hutt’s Sacred Heart College principal, Lisl Prendergast, feared changes that could sideline Shakespeare were already a fait accompli.

Other concerns raised include:

The study of blogs earning the same credits as literature papers

The elimination of essays in some subjects

No mention of accounting or business studies in the curriculum

“All the challenge and in-depth analysis and skills required at each level are being modified, and in my opinion, made easier,” a senior teacher said. “Is the implication that we should not dare to challenge students, or heaven forbid, ask them to engage with texts that really speak to the human condition in a superbly crafted form? Dumbing down again.”

Education Ministry curriculum group manager Mary Chamberlain said knowledge in key subjects remained important as ever, but it was no longer good enough to have pupils faithfully reproducing content.

They needed to apply their knowledge to problem-solving in the real world.

Ministry officials and national subject associations were reviewing all NCEA subject areas to ensure standards were rigorous and that pupils continued achieving well internationally, she said. Consultation was now under way.

“Schools have the professional responsibility for designing learning programmes which contain appropriate knowledge that are relevant for their particular students.

“A teacher may choose to teach students to respond critically to a Shakespearean drama, or another piece of drama depending on which is most relevant for students.”

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Nov. 16, 2008

Free ebooks from Trivium Pursuit and Christian Logic

Posted in Coming Events

Special Offer from Trivium Pursuit and Christian Logic

Our readers have the opportunity to receive two free ebooks from Trivium Pursuit.

1.The 73 page ebook of the entire text of Chapter Twelve: Ten Things to Do With Children Ages Ten Through Twelve from the book Teaching the Trivium: Christian Homeschooling in a Classical Style by Harvey and Laurie Bluedorn

2.The new 94 page ebook Ancient Literature: Significant Excerpts from the Books of Classical Authors Which You Can Use to Supplement Your History Curriculum - Volume Two: Alexander the Great.

You will receive both of these ebooks when you subscribe to the Homeschooling with the Trivium newsletter. This offer is only for new subscribers to Homeschooling with the Trivium and is good only through November 30. Go here to subscribe.

http://www.triviumpursuit.com/list/

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In addition, if you subscribe to Christian Logic’s Fallacy Detective News you will receive two lessons from the logic textbook The Thinking Toolbox by Nathaniel Bluedorn and Hans Bluedorn (Lessons 12 and 13, along with exercises and answer key). This offer is only for new subscribers to The Fallacy Detective News and is good only through November 30. Go here to subscribe.

http://www.fallacydetective.com/news/

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To buy Teaching the Trivium in New Zealand go to: http://hef.org.nz/2007/teaching-the-trivium/

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Nov. 15, 2008

Schools Failing To Tackle Violence

Schools Failing To Tackle Violence

MEDIA RELEASE
13 November 2008

Family First NZ says that schools are being forced to turn a ‘blind eye’ to increasingly unacceptable behaviour and violence because of a drive by the Ministry of Education to reduce the numbers of suspensions and expulsions.

The comments follow a Close Up programme which highlighted a vicious and unprovoked attack and yet the offender is still at the school and the victim (and family) is still being victimised by the inappropriate response of the school.

“It seems ironic that as we are saying no to violence within families and our community, schools are tolerating an unacceptable level of violence, sexual and offensive behaviour and intimidation,” says Bob McCoskrie, National Director of Family First NZ.

A Ministry of Education report earlier this year trumpeted a fall in school suspensions, and at the time Minister of Education Chris Carter heralded it as a ‘concerted effort by schools supported by the ministry’.

“Yet Education Ministry figures in 2007 revealed that violence and dangerous behaviour is on the rise in schools with more pupils assaulting teachers and classmates, and the Post Primary Teachers Association called for more resources to deal with difficult pupils and for zero tolerance toward violence and abuse,” says Mr McCoskrie.

Ironically, Family First uncovered figures which the Ministry had buried showing a 37 per cent surge in primary school disciplinary actions. Primary schools are reporting increasingly violent misbehaviour by children as young as five.

The presidents of the Canterbury and national principals’ associations backed up recent comments by a high school principal who said “Because it’s an election year, the Government is trying to make sure the statistics look really good.”

“The Ministry of Education is burying both its head and the extent of the problem in the sand, and both staff and young people are being put at risk by the unacceptable behaviour of a minority who know that the consequences are negligible,” says Mr McCoskrie.

ENDS
For More Information and Media Interviews, contact Family First:
Bob McCoskrie - National Director
Mob. 027 55 555 42

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Oct. 30, 2008

Hokitika: Home Education evening 11 November

Posted in Coming Events

Hokitika: Home Education evening

11 November 2008
Time:       7-9pm
Venue: Hokitika Church of Christ, corner of Stafford St and Sale St
Topic: “Reforming the Future through Home Education”, followed by a question and answer session.

Contact: Sonya 03 755-5300 mcgarveyls [at] snap.net.nz

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Oct. 29, 2008

Nelson: Home Education evening 12 November

Posted in Coming Events

Nelson: Home Education evening

12 November 2008
Time:       7-9pm
Venue: Wakefield Anglican Church, Edward Street, Wakefield.
Topics: ‘Getting things into  Perspective’ and
 Books, great books and more books?

Cost:     $5.00 per family
Contact: Elaine (03) 541-8802 hborger [at] xtra.co.nz
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Oct. 29, 2008

Blenheim: Home education afternoon and evening 13 November

Posted in Coming Events

Blenheim: Home education afternoon and evening

13 November 2008

Time: 3:30pm onwards.

Venue: 18 Hathaway St, Spring Creek, Blenheim

Casual - come when you can. Bring and share tea planned for about 5:30pm. Discussions continuing after tea. We will be discussing, among other things, your rights as Home Educators and what is required by law for filling out your Exemption Form. This is a timely meeting because of the planned meeting with Hilary Clifton of the MoE in December. 

Contact:  Contact Rena  03 570-5143 tatts.family [at] slingshot.co.nz

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Oct. 27, 2008

Preparing for an ERO Review by Craig Smith

Preparing for an ERO Review by Craig Smith

Revised edition - October 2008

New Zealand Home Educator’s Guidebook

Twenty A5 pages of insightful and helpful comment on the imminent arrival of the Review Officer. Chapters include: Overall Strategies, What They”re Looking For, What if You”ve Changed Curriculum, Access to Children, Home or Neutral Venue, Coping with a Negative Report, etc.

Revised edition includes having a review from an unschoolers perspective plus more.

Please order by sending an email to barbara@hef.org.nz or ringing 06 357-4399 or on Trademe: Here

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Other New Zealand books on Home Schooling:

Putting the Joy back into Egypt by Jean Hendy-Harris

Home Educating in New Zealand by Antoinette James

Training our Children by Craig and Barbara Smith http://hef.org.nz/2008/training-our-children-2/

The Evidence of the Superiority of Home Education over Conventional Schooling edited by Craig Smith http://hef.org.nz/2008/the-evidence-of-the-superiority-of-home-education-over-conventional-schooling/


Giving Support at ERO Reviews by Lennie Harrison http://hef.org.nz/2007/preparing-for-an-ero-review/


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Oct. 26, 2008

…teacher’s actions outside school affected his ability to teach.

…teacher’s actions outside school affected his ability to teach.

This is unbelievable:

But the board’s investigation of the allegations found no evidence the teacher’s actions outside school affected his ability to teach.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/4739970a11.html

Spurned dad on assault charges

By LEIGH Van Der STOEP - Sunday Star Times | Sunday, 26 October 2008

A father has been charged with assaulting one of his son’s primary school teachers after the teacher had an affair with his wife.

He says the Auckland school failed to act after the affair, which started when the pupil’s mother began work there as a teacher aide.

He has been battling for almost two years to keep the teacher away from his eight-year-old son, but the school allowed the teacher to take some of the boy’s lessons.

Police say the woman’s 42-year-old husband went to the school earlier this year to retrieve his son’s file, but ran into the teacher. He allegedly patted the teacher’s back “forcefully”, causing him to spill his coffee.

“I put my hand on his shoulder and said, ‘Congratulations, you’ve won mate’. I was very sarcastic and patronising,” says the man, who the Sunday Star-Times has chosen not to name to protect the identity of his children.

Despite the minor nature of the allegations and that the man has no previous convictions, he was arrested at work two weeks later and kept in police cells for hours, before being charged with common assault.

The man says his son and two daughters knew the teacher was “partly” responsible for the break-up of their parents and he wanted to protect them from the stress of being in contact with him.

The teacher began the affair with the man’s wife in 2005.

When the man discovered the relationship in 2006 he complained to the principal, who told him there had been other similar allegations against the teacher, the man says.

The principal assured the man he would investigate and the teacher would be kept away from his two children at the school.

“It worked well and he left at the end of the year.

“Then we started getting newsletters last year at the end of third term saying, `We’re encouraging [the teacher] to come back… Why would they encourage someone like that to come back?”

Allegations had since emerged of the teacher asking the man’s wife and another woman for a threesome, drinking at the school’s pool after hours, and being drunk and abusive at the local bar.

“The disturbing thing was [the principal's] attitude that ‘boys will be boys’, that there was this social scene with teachers. I’m not a teacher and I don’t behave like that.”

When the teacher returned to the school at the start of this year the man complained again to the principal and board of trustees, asking that the teacher be kept away from his son.

The school’s response was that the teacher took only occasional maths, drama and remedial reading lessons.

The boy could read “quietly” in the library during these lessons and did not have to have any contact with the teacher, the school told the father.

Meanwhile, the father had given the teacher a “verbal dressing down” on school grounds, warning him not to come near his family.

“It was strong, it was in his face but I didn’t swear or anything.”

This confrontation prompted the school to warn the man he would be issued with a trespass notice. That was put into force following the alleged assault in the staffroom.

The chairman of the school’s board of trustees said it was a “tricky situation” because it involved high emotion and personal relationships.

But the board’s investigation of the allegations found no evidence the teacher’s actions outside school affected his ability to teach.

The school had dealt with the matter appropriately, but he could not comment on actions taken by the previous board which first investigated, he said. “We took swift action when it needed to be taken…”

The father plans to complain to the Teacher’s Council. The teacher has since left the school.

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Oct. 23, 2008

An Introduction to Home Education in New Zealand

An Introduction to Home Education in New Zealand

An Introduction to Home Education in New Zealand by Craig Smith

What does it cost, what are the legal issues, a bit about socialisation, can they get into University or the workplace after being home educated? What do the experts say? Was anyone of note ever educated at home? (On that last one, how about Wolfgang Mozart, Thomas Edison, the Wright Brothers, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, Agatha Christie, Charlie Chaplin, Andrew Carnegie, Ben Franklin, Franklin Delano Roosevelt…and NZs own inventor of the jet boat, C.W.F. Hamilton.)

A5, 8 pages. NZD$4.00.

Please order by sending an email to barbara@hef.org.nz or ringing 06 357-4399 or on Trademe: Here

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Other New Zealand books on Home Schooling:

Putting the Joy back into Egypt by Jean Hendy-Harris

Home Educating in New Zealand by Antoinette James

Training our Children by Craig and Barbara Smith http://hef.org.nz/2008/training-our-children-2/

The Evidence of the Superiority of Home Education over Conventional Schooling edited by Craig Smith http://hef.org.nz/2008/the-evidence-of-the-superiority-of-home-education-over-conventional-schooling/

 


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Oct. 20, 2008

The Evidence of the Superiority of Home Education over Conventional Schooling

The Evidence of the Superiority of Home Education over Conventional Schooling

The Evidence of the Superiority of Home Education over Conventional Schooling

edited by Craig Smith

Comments by professional educators and others, research evidence, philosophers, government agents all agree the tutoring and mentoring aspects of home education allow ordinary parents to routinely produce students who are superior in both academic acumen and social engagement.

The twenty-three different snippets of evidence, with references both to professional journals as well as the Internet, are just the tip of the ice berg. There is more material here, given the Internet references, than youre ever likely to read. But this will put you on the trail of even more material. The evidence is indeed overwhelming.

A5, 12 pages. NZD$4.00.

Please order by sending an email to barbara@hef.org.nz or ringing 06 357-4399 or on Trademe: Here

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Other New Zealand books on Home Schooling:

Putting the Joy back into Egypt by Jean Hendy-Harris

Home Educating in New Zealand by Antoinette James

Training our Children by Craig and Barbara Smith http://hef.org.nz/2008/training-our-children-2/


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Oct. 20, 2008

Training our Children

Training our Children by Craig and Barbara Smith



Two of New Zealand’s pioneer home educators share some of their best advice, borrowed and original, re-worked and developed, over 28 years of training their own eight children (some adopted) and fostering many others.

Topics covered include reading aloud, the art of buying used books, home discipleship, training our children’s minds, training our children in worship, keeping going when the going gets tough, marriage, discipline, interpersonal relationships, an integrated lifestyle and much more.

Paper back, 142 pages A5 size

Normally $19.50

These first few were put together for a workshop this past weekend. The binding is perfect binding. Have 17 left to offer at $15.00 per book.

Please order by sending an email to barbara@hef.org.nz or ringing 06 357-4399 or on Trademe: Here

```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````

Other New Zealand books on Home Schooling:

Putting the Joy back into Egypt by Jean Hendy-Harris

Home Educating in New Zealand by Antoinette James




 


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