What if a classroom could be a dahlia farm, a house bus, a forest, or a lounge?
From award-winning filmmakers, Chris Pryor and Miriam Smith (The Ground We Won, How Far is Heaven), The Spinoff is excited to platform Home Education, a docu-series that looks into the lives of six families who have taken schooling outside the bounds of a traditional classroom. There are as many ways to learn as there are people, and each family is able to mould their days to suit them. They incorporate elements of Montessori, Waldorf, Unschooling, Te Kura, mātauranga Māori and more, aiming to foster their children’s innate love of learning. These students are just a few of over 10,000 who are educated at home in Aotearoa.
The first episode features Jen and her kids who run a pick-your-own dahlia farm. The thriving business started when Jen gave them each $100 to start a business, as a home school project – now all of their education is in the context of running the farm.
Then we meet Rachel and Felix, who are researching a little known bunker in Mount Eden. Struggling at times to keep Felix motivated in his learning, Rachel taps into his passion for history as the means to inspire deeper engagement. Felix, who is neurodiverse, found it difficult to fit in at school, but has found friends at Forest School. Next, Irma is home educating her two boys and “de-schooling” herself by letting go of curricula and schedules and enabling the boys direct their learning, allowing space for them to be their whole selves.
In episode four, learning at home has allowed Kensey to not fall behind after repeated illness. Her mum Alesha helps her through an online curriculum. Then, the seven “road-schooling” Rasmussen children, aged six weeks to 17 years old, are designing an ancient civilisation in their house bus, led by resourceful mum Bridie. Our final episode features the Baker whānau. Their home education through Te Kura started when a whale washed up on Tokomaru Bay, and Israel and Petrina decided it was as important to teach their tamariki how to correctly harvest the taonga as it was to attend traditional school.
The series is directed by Chris Pryor and produced by Miriam Smith, and made with the support of NZ On Air.
Episode release dates are:
Jen & the dahlia kids: Tuesday 8 October
Rachel & Felix: Tuesday 15 October
The Fairul Izad family: Tuesday 22 October
Alesha & Kensey: Tuesday 29 October
On the road with the Rasmussens: Tuesday 5 November
The Bakers: Tuesday 12 November
