My name is Ella and i'm 15. I have recentley just started year 11, it's now the beginning of term 2 and i'm not happy at school. I have asked my parents about homeschooling and they are considering it. I was wondering if it's possible if i can get homeschooled this year and will be able to sit the NCEA exams at the end of the year.
I am worried if it's too late
Ella,
Sorry I have replied late in the day to your post...my son is year 11 & has just returned to school after 4 years of homeschool due to family circumstances. However we were fully prepared to educate him through to school level year 13 via the correspondance school. On their site you & your parents will find various information re NCEA subject choices. These will enable you to gain the certificates you require.
Basically depending on your own circumstances/goals you can enrol free at age 16 (prior to that there are lots of other options via many sources).
NCEA via homeschool means that you have the option depending upon yourself to go straight from level 1 to level 3 if you choose...the correspondance school is very helpful, so give them a call or e-mail with your requirements and they will be sure to help, they also offer on-going assistance/tutors to guide you throughout.
Good luck and if I can be of further help I'm happy to send you any further information I have with regard to homeschooling at your level.
Claire
Hi there, we are at our wits end. Our daughter is G&T. Has never been home-schooled. Is in year 9 now and not coping with the system. She has asked to be home-schooled. Is there a group of home-school parents/kids at yr 9 level in Auckland? I would like to meet someone. I am not sure if it is an option at all. Any help would be great.
Auckland has quite a number of homeschool groups. I am in the South Island, so can't give you more details than that :~) But I *can* point you in the right direction
Here's the link for the Auckland HOme Educators' website
My daughter is 13 and has always been home schooled. She sat NCEA Level 1 Maths at the end of last year and is now studying other Level 1 subjects and she will be sitting Level 1 exams in these subjects at the end of this year.
She is studying some subjects through Correspondence school and I am teaching her others. Because she is only 13 we have to pay $1200 per subject if she studies through Correspondence School, but as Claire has said when you are 16 you will be able to access Correspondence School for free.
It is still possible to sit the exams without studying through Correspondence School and you will have a good idea of the curriculum you are covering this year and the text books you need if you choose to study alone.
To sit the exams you will need to establish a link with a Secondary School, we found this very easy to do so that she could sit the externally assessed achievement standards.
Unfortunately, it is not so easy for the internally assessed standards which is the main reason that we are using Correspondence School, but I am assuming that you will have already achieved some internal NCEA credits at school.
You or your parents are welcome to email me privately if you think we can be of any help. We live in Rotorua.
Homeschooled children don't 'have' to sit exams of any sort. However if they are interested they can sit NCEA via correspondance. I have a friend who's 16 yr old son is interested in doing a NCEA level 2 course next year although won't have done any previous NCEA and only wants to do a science course.
I missed alot of school last year and I didn't pass LVL2.
I failed by about 40 credits. I want to get LVL2 + 3 this year. Does anybody
know if it's possible to finish LVL2 by correspondence & doing LVL3 at school ??
you say that your friends son wants to do NCEA level 2 science. that's exactly want a want to do online. i am taking a level 1 science at school this year but want my level2 science by the end of this to, so i can partake in the army when i turn 17 at the end of the year. is this possible and how do i do this?
hi my names kelly and I'm also year 11. I'm in term 2 and i don't want to do school anymore. I want to become a nurse there for to do that i need the credits in english to get into polytech next year. I was wondering if you could send me any information on being home schooled during NCEA this YEAR.
thank you so much,
kelly.
My daughter cannot attend school for the rest of this year i am doing her school work at home.
If you get a tutor to take them through a subject can they access and give ncea credits. I am trying to help her to continue to build the credits up.
It isn't too late to enrol in the Correspondence School (although they are really slow at dealing with enrolments). My daughter, who is 12, has FINALLY had her first Maths assessment done by the Correspondence School, and she has been moved straight into NCEA Level 1 for the rest of the year. She will do the internal assessments (she has already doen a couple), when those are done, she will move to Level 2, and then sit the Level 1 external assessments next year (since she has only had a week at that level we decided to skip the external assessments this year). I hope that helps. She has been really happy being homeschooled this year, and it is also nice that she can work on the NCEA Maths at her own pace.
do you have groups based around the northern suburbs of wellington that I could talk to please. Am considering home schooling for my daughter from next year - which will be her year 9, and I very much like to talk to other people in the area. If not northern suburbs, just any in Wellington will do.
Melissa, how does it work for doing NCEA early? Do the credits stay with the child, despite which year they were achieved? Do you think it is worth doing them early or waiting and doing Cambridge early?
I moved to Australia for about 6 months (family matters) and returned home at the end of the year. Because of this i missed out on a lot of Level 3 credits and have yet to get University Entrance. Is there a way for me to earn these last few credits to get into Uni? I may have also missed a couple of Level 2 credits as well.
Sorry not to have replied...I missed your post. The credits stay with the child. We didn't look into Cambridge because the Correspondence School offers NCEA. My daughter has really loved doing the course work and assessments. She won't sit the level 1 exam until the end of 2013 because she started the programme so late this year. She can do all the internal unit standards though, and move on to level 2 at her own pace. Although she is going into year 9 next year, she will be able to do a mixture of years 9/10 work for most of her subjects and 11 moving to year 12 for Maths later. I hope that helps. Things got much easier with the correspondence school once she had sat their various tests. I suggest you get these going as soon as you can ( they are all on holiday now until feb though).
Nikki
One other thing: I think it has been great to have her do the NCEA early, she can then work at her pace and move onto levels 2 and 3 as she wishes. That wouldn't preclude her from also doing the Cambridge system. It has been wonderful seeing her engaged and learning new stuff. For most of the day, we really are not too bothered by doing "schoolwork". For maths I have found that having the correspondence school booklets and support from a specialist teacher has been really useful. A lot of the other material from the correspondence school is dreary and old fashioned (especially the language learning eg French & Japanese), and overall I wouldn't have my daughter spend all her time doing that programme. Once we got the Maths sorted, though, it has quickly become a highlight.
Melissa, a couple of questions.
At what age can children do correspondence course for free? And if a subject isn't free, then what sort of cost is involved? One Cambridge subject appears to be $500 approx.
I figured Cambridge maths might be a start. However I am confused about the right thing for her now!
She is just working through the rest of the year 10 NCEA book currently. I have told her just to do what she feels like from the book and I will start teaching her some new stuff in the new year. It probably means buying her a new book.
It is "free" from aged 5 (although a donation is payable like every other school in NZ). The NCEA subjects and assessments do have a cost - $76.70 per subject per year. That charge is to NCEA, not Te Kura (lathough they collect it). I have found it incredibly great value for money. When we are in NZ the postage to return lessons is free, we have to pay for it when we are overseas. They are on holiday now for another month, but worth looking into in February.
I'm confused about the comments you've made about the correspondence school being free as I've discussed with them, and looked at website and it's about $1200 per subject from memory. One of the first comments on this thread states the same thing so it's obviously not just me. I have a gifted daughter who will be nine in April and I would absolutely love to be able to homeschool her through the correspondence school and have her do college level/ncea level work sooner and gain those qualifications at her own pace. She's already learning some of it at home with the aid of some great websites. Since the cost for correspondence is too much for us we are stuck with the public school system as there is no free/affordable way for her to get those qualifications while she's younger. Our only hope is that when she reaches college she'll finally be able to study at her own pace and do those years earlier/faster, since by then she would've learnt most of it at home anyway.
If there is a way for a younger child to get internal and external unit standards for NCEA at home for a smaller cost than $1200 per subject I would love to know about it! but it seems from the comments above that others have found the same info as I have. Not the best system. Just have to deal with it.
Correspondence school is "free" for students from 16 years of age. Younger children can do correspondence for free but only if they meet the correspondence school's criteria (e.g. unable to attend local school, transient, etc). Refer to their website for the criteria.
Home educated children do not need NCEA or Cambridge to attend university. They use the "special admission" provisions and simply have to prove to the university that they are ready for university level study.
The local university is very welcoming to home educators and is familiar with some of the more common academically-focused resources which are sourced internationally (i.e. not NZ NCEA curriculum based) and used by home educators. I have met two students who attended their first course at 14 years of age and another student who at 16 was accepted into a full time limited entry course. None of these students had NCEA, Cambridge, or any "official" paperwork but had studied using these international curricula. If there is any doubt, most universities run some type of foundation course (designed for adults returning to study to make sure they are up to speed) and home educated students can complete some of these courses before entering university.
Every university has their own approach and requirements for home educated students who apply for special admission so it is best to check with your local university regarding their expectations.
there is Alphaed, my 10 year old has been attending since the age of 5 and a half. I believe they are open to NCEA or Cambridge options, but you are best to discuss it with them. You pay by the term, like school and examination fees would be a separate cost. You can e-mail them at info@alpahed.co.nz
I just happened to be browsing the Auckland University website when I came across this:
"An Application for Admission to The University of Auckland based on a home school education will only be considered for entrance on the basis of a recognised qualification or pathway." http://www.auckland.ac.nz/uoa/home/about/admission-and-enrolment/ae-undergraduate-students/ae-entry-requirements/ae-domestic-students
Looks like you really do have to check with your local, or shop around maybe.
Melissa - my daughter's still storming through her maths. Can you explain how the NCEA level 1 works. Does your daughter sit each paper at the end of the year or how does it work? My daughter's preparing for IGCSE and we thought she could do a few NCEA papers to warmup on, depending onhow they work! And how much they cost.
Can you also explain if there is any benefit to sitting all the papers - as she does the work for them all anyway. Is it simply that you pass a paper and get the credits or is there a maximum number of credits that can be earned?
Anyone can answer - it is just Melissa wasso helpful last time!
Hey there. Its only Maths in which my daughter is currently enrolled for NCEA. Otherwise she is pretty much Year 9 (although Te Kura courses for years 7-10 are really blurred, in a good way). It has cost us nothing except the $76.70 entrance fee. She started it late last year (she is 12). She has been assigned a teacher form Te Kura/Correspondence School, and been given a Mathletics login (she finds that bit really boring). The school sends booklets. My daughter completes them and returns them. Every so often there are internal tests which she completes and are assessed and she gains credits. If you are in NZ, your child can do three external assessments (the first is in September). If you are out of the country, there are 2. The credits for these go towards the overall mark. My understanding is that they really want to see accelerated kids working at the Merit or Excellence level (ie not just passing). The work is good, the booklets are great, and my daughter is happy. I understand that once she has completed the internal work for Level 1 then she can carry on with the internal work for Level 2 while she waits for the external assessments. We haven't ACTUALLY done that yet, but will let people know how it goes.
In terms of benefit... it has been good for her to have some structure around her learning (she loves Algebra, and if self-directed would probably stick to that). Some of the work has been beyond my memory and having the coursework organised has been good for me too. She likes doing the tests and seeing her own progress. No down side for us.
I see the confusion about fees now that I have dug around the Te Kura site. It depends on eligibility. The detail is found here - http://www.correspondence.school.nz/_media/pdf/Te-Kura-Enrolment-Policy-Gazette-Supplement-Feb-2012.pdf
Once again, we have not paid the fees other people have mentioned here. It is much more straightforward as homeschoolers. The enrolment criteria is pretty clear. If your child is in school, meets the gifted criteria, the school cannot provide for them, and you have an IEP for the child - the courses do not appear to have a charge (except for the NCEA fee I mentioned). I do know how challenging it can be to get a school to admit it cannot serve a child. The last school our daughter went to would not agree to co-enrolment even though they could/would not help her. It was part of the decision to home-school. If you can get their co-operation and permission there doesn't appear to be a fee.
Yes, my daughter was in school in Christchurch. Selwyn House catered for her really well.
We moved to Wellington and she went into our local school. Other than accelerating her a year, it was terrible. She was still at the top of the year ahead, and her teacher told her to wait until the rest of the class caught up. She went to ODS which did help. I got elected to the Board, and finally managed to get some extension programmes into the school. The two children which went to ODS in the school (ie my daughter an a boy) were excluded from the extension programmes because of a "lack of attendance" (ie they went to ODS which the school tolerated but did not support). The Principal agreed she would have Maths with the year ahead, but the Deputy Principal overrode that and refused to have her go. The school refused to let her co-enrol with Te Kura... and so on. The ERO report (I was not consulted) came back and said that the school did not cater at all well for G & T kids. We took her out of school for 6 months to travel, when she came back it was all too much the same. She had been told for over two years to look out the window or to read until the other kids caught up (she had become school librarian which she loved and spent as much time as possible out of class, organising the library, opening it at lunch time for the younger kids etc). In the end we left. It has worked out really well for her. When she left I found that the Ed Psych report I had provided to the school on enrolment had never been opened, and not one of the teachers who dealt with her had read it. The teachers always used language like "we can cope", and "we know how to deal with kids like her". Not once did I hear them say "She need xxx" or "Her needs are xxx". It was always about them, not her.
Te Kura is disorganised and it seems to me that they have really low expectations of their full-time students. Even so, if you and your child are prepared to drive it, it can work really well. The Maths teacher who has been assigned to my daughter is wonderful. It did take them until September (!!!) to mark an assessment however, and to move her to the right level of work.
