How do you home school a neurodivergent child?

This guide was gifted to the Awhi Ngā Mātua by Awhi community member Tiana Thompson. It covers the basics you need to get started, including financial considerations, home-schooling styles, support and applying for an exemption to home-school.

_Hei te tau tītoki | _The year the tītoki tree blooms

This whakataukī references the Tītoki tree, which, like our tamariki/rangatahi only blooms when the climate is right.

As a parent of a neurodivergent tamariki or rangatahi, home-schooling may be something you are considering as beneficial opportunity – or as a last resort. Many home-schooling whānau arrive at this option due to the education system not meeting the needs of their neurodivergent ākonga. Perhaps they are overwhelmed in the classroom setting, are being bullied, or are not receiving the support they need to access to curriculum.

Many have faced exclusions, standdowns or expulsion. Indeed, a new study has found that Autistic children in New Zealand are almost three times more likely to be stood down or suspended from school than children who aren't autistic.

In the case of my child, it was a combination of all four factors. Our whānau was forced into home-schooling having exhausted every other option available to our son. We were traumatised, exhausted and isolated. During the following four years that we home-schooled, we were able to heal, have our needs met, and create nurturing friendships amidst a community of like-minded families.

Getting started on your home-schooling journey can be overwhelming and intimidating. Because you are going against the social norm of sending your tamariki/rangatahi to school, it can also feel like you’re alone, swimming against the current of popular opinion and what it is to be seen as ‘normal’. The good news is that there is a huge home-schooling community, that have been through what you are going through, and are happy to awhi and help!

This guide will cover the basics you need to get started, including financial considerations, home-schooling styles, support and applying for an exemption to home-school.

How much does home-schooling cost?

I orea te tuatara ka puta ki waho | A problem is solved by continuing to find solutions

Financial constraints are a big factor in preventing whānau from home-schooling. To make home-schooling work, you need to be able to have one parent at home. Your child will no longer be eligible for any teacher aid hours or in-school supports that may have been in place.

They will, however, still have funded access to certain supports like a speech language therapist, occupational therapist and assistive technology.

Home-schooling families are paid a small allowance which is paid in bi-annual instalments. The amount for one child totals $743.00, with lesser amounts for each subsequent child. I am also aware of families paying themselves using Carer Support payments.

What are the different types of home-schooling?

E koekoe te kōkō, e ketekete te kākā, e kūkū te kererū | The parson bird chatters, the parrot gabbles, the wood pigeon coos (It takes all sorts to make a world/ variety is the spice of life).

There are many different styles of home-schooling. The type you and your whānau choose depends on what works best for you and your tamariki/ rangatahi.

At one end of the spectrum is Te Kura/ Correspondence school (which is like a regular school that is taught extramurally with the parent supervising). At the other end of the spectrum is Radical Unschooling, in which no scheduled formal learning takes place, with child-centred learning naturally occurring in daily life.

The style of home-schooling you choose may evolve and change throughout your home-schooling journey, depending on what works for you and your child.

As a qualified teacher, I naturally gravitated toward a more formal teaching and learning style. This rapidly changed into more of a project-based integrated curriculum, driven by my child’s interests. I strongly recommend that all whānau new to home-schooling begin with a period of ‘Unschooling.’ This provides tamariki/ rangatahi with an opportunity to ‘detox’ from any negative learning experiences they’ve had while at school and allows them to start home-learning with a fresh mindset.

Other styles or aspects you might like to adopt (or include to some extent) include using a purchased curriculum subscription or work-books, or attending tutoring or a Nature School.

How to access support as a home-schooler

He rau ringa e oti ai | Many hands make light work

From a parent’s perspective, home-schooling is incredibly flexible and is usually really enjoyable and rewarding. However, it is unrelenting, sometimes menial, and often unrecognised work.

A good support system is imperative if you are going to succeed. While it’s not the case for many, I was lucky enough to have my parents, husband, and many of my close friends behind me on our home-schooling journey.

However, the people that really made a difference were the other members of the neurodiverse home-schooling community we met along the way.

To be clear, there are many different factions within the general home-schooling community.

Aside from the neuro-diverse/medically fragile group, these sub-groups include those home-schooling for religious reasons, and more recently those choosing to home-school due to the mandates surrounding COVID.

The best way to get in touch with your local home-schooling community is via their Facebook page.

Most local home-schooling communities organise weekly meet-up and activites such as swimming or dance lessons, gymnastics, lego club etc.

Do try to plan for factoring in time for yourself, whether this is scheduled time your tamariki/ rangatahi spends with their other parent/care-giver, a grandparent, fellow home-schooling parent, or in a Respite Care setting.

How to apply for a home-schooling exemption

Tē tōia, tē haumatia | Nothing can be achieved without a plan, workforce and way of doing things

If you are wanting to homeschool in Aotearoa, you need to apply to the Ministry of Education for an exemption from enrolment for your child. In your exemption application, you need to demonstrate your intention to "teach your child at least as regularly and well as in a registered school."

This includes what and how you are going to teach, as well as the resources you intend to use. If your tamariki/ rangatahi is younger than six or older than 15, or you are enrolling them in Te Kura they do not need an exemption.

Te Kura is a registered school so you would need to follow the enrolment criteria and process after qualifying under one of the gateways. The funded gateway that might apply to neurodiverse tamariki/ rangatahi is that one that refers to psychosocial needs. Te Kura is free for 16-19 year olds who are not enrolled in school.

I found the Exemption Application process a good opportunity to really nut out how I wanted home-schooling to work for us (although as I’ve said this may change!).

I’d recommend looking at the examples on the resources section in the Homeschooling NZ Facebook page or searching the page for relevant advice that has previously given.

The biggest, most helpful piece of advice I could give is to get help from an expert. Seasoned home-schooler Cynthia Hancox offers a Home Education Exemption Application Guide Pack, including a template that is much more accessible than the MoE provides! Cynthia also offers a service to review applications before they are submitted.

Applications usually take four to six weeks to be processed, depending on the region. They may get declined first time around or you may be asked for more information. This happened to me, despite my being a qualified teacher. So don’t be disheartened!

Once you have your exemption, you are free to home-school your tamariki/ rangatahi without the need for any further intervention from MoE. There is the VERY SLIGHT chance you might be subjected to an ERO review if someone lodges a complaint about you to the MoE. If you’d like your tamariki/ rangatahi to trial regular school again, you can retain your exemption as long as attendance is less than 10 weeks.

Home-schooling was an amazing option for our family. Free from the daily stress, sensory overwhelm, prejudice, and failure our child experienced in the classroom environment, our child thrived. They acquired the skills they needed to engage in learning in a positive and successful way and have since reintegrated into mainstream schooling. The friends I have found along the way, from within the neurodivergent home-schooling community, have become one of my biggest sources of understanding, empathy, and strength.

He taonga rongonui te aroha ki te tangata | Goodwill towards others is a precious treasure

Awhi Ngā Mātua

This article has been developed by Awhi Ngā Mātua with research support from the IHC library.