Don't worry if at this point it all seems a bit overwhelming.
I think most parents who are home schooling and have been through this process, have a bit of a panic attack at the idea of what this all means, and how the heck am I going to be able to do this.
Sometimes it helps to get in touch with some members of the home schooling community and ask question and get some advice on how to approach it all.
They are all very helpful and friendly and this is how I managed to get my head around what I wanted to put down on paper.
But I will add my daughter's application that I put in just so you have an example.
This is not to be stolen and reused for your own purposes, so I am trusting that all who reads this will respect that. It is my interpretation of understanding and giving the Ministry of Education what they needed to get my daughter's exemption.
Our goal is for Miss Personality
to develop a passion for learning based on her current interests.
Miss Personality is already a
keen learner who loves to communicate what she has learnt as well as
independently seeking new things to discover. So we as her parents just want to
keep extending her interest and provide the most optimal environment for her.
I have noticed she likes group
activities or learning from being part of a group. Since she is the youngest
member of our family and most of the time an only child, I would like to get
her involved into as many group learning environments as we can. But also
making sure she covers as many of the key learning areas covered in the New
Zealand curriculum as we can through other methods of teaching and learning.
Miss Personality really seems to enjoy learning
through topics or unit studies that incorporate all the key learning areas
covered in the New Zealand Curriculum.
Topic
One of the topics my daughter has
shown an interest in is butterfly’s.
In the past we have watched the
life cycle of a butterfly, so I would like to extend on this previous
experience with more depth.
Method:
Arts – Miss Personality will use lots of
different art supplies eg. Glue, paint, collage materials, to decorate a pot
for planting seeds into.
Science – Miss Personality will research the
optimal time of the year and environment for growing seeds.
Maths – Miss Personality will choose a method
to do a daily record when observing to see if any butterfly’s have laid any
eggs yet.
Technology – Miss Personality will use a
digital camera to photo the changes of the eggs as they happen and then
transfer photos to a folder on the computer for later use.
English – As the eggs change Miss Personality will also be encouraged to either do a written or voice recording of her
observations.
English & Technology – Miss Personality will use google search engine and the library to research the proper names of
each stage of the cycle. Miss Personality will also research what butterfly’s eat, and how
long they live for.
English, Technology and Arts – Miss Personality will use information gathered and previous photos taken to either create a
flow chart or a hanging mobile to present it.
English, Technology, Geography
and Maths – Miss Personality will use google and the local library to research how many
different kinds of butterfly’s there are in the world. Then Miss Personality will locate on
a map where in the world these butterfly’s come from. Create a graph to record
this information.
English and Technology - Introduce Miss Personality to the word ‘Migrate’ and find
out what it means by looking it up in the dictionary.
English and Technology - Use google search engine and the local
library to investigate if butterfly’s migrate and why.
Community – See if there is a
butterfly garden in the Auckland area and go visit it.
Learning Goals:
Learn about the butterfly life
cycle.
Learn to use a search engine to
gather information.
Practice sounding out word that
are difficult when reading information.
Practice hand writing and self editing
skills.
Learn how to use a digital
camera, computer and printer.
Learn about weather and how it affects the growth of a plant.
Learn how to find books of
interest in the library.
Learn about the Dewey decimal
system at the library.
Resources:
Art supplies e.g paint, glue,
collage materials, scissors, cellotape, glitter etc.
Plant shop e.g potting mix,
seeds, pots etc.
Computer e.g search engines,
storing of information, word-processing etc.
Local library e.g asking
questions to learn about the different ways to find books of interest.
Key Competencies:
Thinking – Miss Personality will design and
decorate her own plant pot.
Using Language, Symbols and Text
- Asking questions at the library, deciding which information she would like to
record when researching or making observations. Reading maps, to pinpoint where
in the world the butterfly’s come from. Using a dictionary to find the word
‘Migrate’.
Managing Self and Problem solving
– Miss Personality will work through coping strategies when she is getting frustrated and
find other solutions to making the situation better for her to cope with. She
will be able to practice effective communication when negotiating which method
she would like to use when presenting or recording her information gathered.
Relating to others – Miss Personality will
have to practice turn taking when talking, as well as active listening. She is
great at talking, but sometimes when she gets passionate about the subject
forgets to listen or let the other person have a turn talking. Miss Personality will get
practice with this while she is at the library and when her and I are
negotiating how to do her work.
Participating and Contributing – Miss Personality is very good at these things and will be actively involved in all aspects
of this topic.
Curriculum
English – Spelling, Reading and
Writing
Miss Persoanlity is going to develop into
someone who enjoys writing and reading through her topics/ unit studies of
interests.
Miss Personality loves to read lots of
different kinds of books, both non fiction and fiction.
I will keep extending on her
current knowledge and level of understanding and learning in these ways:
·
Being
read to
·
Reading
to herself
·
Keeping
a record of books she has read
·
Playing
board games
·
Re
telling stories in her own words
·
Writing
her own stories
·
Writing
her own plays
·
Writing
her own songs
·
Illustrating
her stories and topic/ unit studies
·
Writing/
talking/ thinking about characters in books.
·
Writing/
talking/ thinking about characters in movies/ documentaries she watches.
·
Writing
letters and cards to people we know.
·
Texting/
messaging her sister on the internet
·
Doing
word searches
·
Writing
captions to her art work
·
Making
lists of things to do or wish lists of things she would like to do
·
Reading
signs and labels in the community
·
Visiting
the local library on a regular basis
·
Using
Reading Eggs online, which practices skills in phonics, sight words, word
families, spelling and vocabulary.
·
Reading
recipes as we bake
·
Writing
shopping lists when we go do the weekly shopping
·
Scrabble
on the ipad
·
Reading
sewing and knitting patterns.
·
Learning
communication skills when talking to customers at dad’s store.
Mathematics – Numeracy
Our goal is for Miss Personality to become
more confident and competent in all aspect of maths. She is a keen learning and
loves anything associated with numbers.
I will extend on her current
knowledge of this subject by:
·
Practice
reading from an analogue clock.
·
Baking
and cooking – fractions and measurements
·
Knitting
– adding and subtracting stitches
·
Playing
board games – Monopoly and Yahtzee
·
Using
a number line to 100 and practicing skip counting, less than and more than.
·
Using
Mathseed online programme
·
Various
work books
·
Designing
maps for her treasure hunt games
·
Learning
about different shapes in 2D and 3D dimensions
·
Learning
about currency through buying items in the supermarket as well as Monopoly
board game.
·
Playing
card games – last card, skipbo, uno
·
Measuring
when sewing
·
Lego
·
Minecraft
·
Helping
dad at his work with keeping records of stock in the store.
Science
Miss Personality has a natural inquisitive
nature, which we would like to keep extending on through her personal interest
and surrounding environment in the following ways:
·
Human
Body – Research and explore through internet and local library, how muscles and
bones make the body move.
·
Butcher
– Visit a local butcher and investigate where different cuts of meat come from.
From which area of the animal and which animal.
·
How
to take care of different animals.
·
Rainbows
– How is a rainbow made?
·
Doing
experiments that she has observed on
Backyard Science
·
Watch
‘Myth Busters’ with her dad
·
Introduce
her to recording and analysing data collected through experiments
·
Exploring
the beach
·
Planting
and growing vegetable, fruit and flowers
·
Reading
science books from the library
·
DVD’s
that related to Miss Personality’s interests
·
Read
books by ‘The Magic School Bus’.
Social Studies including
Geography and History.
Through us travelling and living
in another country for the last two years, she has been introduced to travel,
maps and trying to find our way around. Since we will be going through this
again when we move back to New Zealand, I will get Miss Personality to help me with finding
our way around in our new surroundings.
I will extend on her current
knowledge and understanding of these subjects by:
·
Getting
to know our new community by visiting supermarkets, butcher, zoo’s and any
other places of interest.
·
Learning
about emergency numbers and location of hospital, fire station, doctors etc.
·
Finding
locations of where butterfly’s come from.
·
Looking
at maps of the world and of New Zealand.
·
Teach Miss Personality how to program in destinations on the GPS.
·
Visit
the local library to source books of information in relation to maps and
history.
·
Visit
local museum
·
Create
a time line in relation to a Topic/Unit Study
·
Watch
DVD’s that relate to Miss Personality’s interests
·
Create
maps to find hidden treasure in a treasure hunt game.
·
Learning
how to use public transport eg, timetable, route, bus stops.
·
Learn
about the first maori’s and how they lived.
·
Visit
the buried village and learn about what happened there many years ago.
Art and Music
Miss Personality loves being creative in any
way she can and has full access to a wide range of art supplies to encourage
and support her in her imagination.
Miss Personality also has an interest in all
music and singing.
I would like to extend on her
knowledge and understanding in these subjects by:
·
Buying
craft kits that she can put together herself.
·
Getting Miss Personality into a dance lesson of her choice
·
Getting Miss Personality involved in learning a musical instrument of her choice
·
Listening
to the radio or CD’s of her choice
·
Attend
a ballet or musical stage show.
·
Learn
how to make musical instruments at home
·
Making
and experimenting with playdoh, clay and other types of manipulative hands on
textures.
·
Making
gifts for special occasions, like birthdays, Christmas etc
·
Using
books at the library for arts and crafts ideas.
·
Talk
to her dad about information to do with different music artist that he knows
of.
·
Make
puppets using different art supplies. Research what kinds of puppet shows there
are. Which countries do them. Make up a play and perform it with her puppets.
Technology
Miss Personality is very keen to learn about
anything new that she can use with her hands. I would like her to grow into a
confident user of new technology as her interests develop. So I would like to
keep extending on her knowledge and understanding of this subject by:
·
Learn
how to transfer photo from digital camera to computer and then print.
·
Learn
how to knit.
·
Learn
where wool comes from.
·
Knit
a teddy and some clothes for it.
·
Learn
how to use a sewing machine safely.
·
Learn
how to read a sewing pattern, cut fabric and sew together to create a project
of her choice.
·
Maybe
take a sewing class.
·
Learn
how to program a GPS.
·
Learning
how to answer the phone and take messages at dad’s store.
Health and Physical Education
Miss Personality has a high energy level that
needs to have an outlet of some kind, depending on her interest. I would also
like her to have an understanding of how to have a healthy body and what she
can do to help assist her body in being the best it can be.
I would like to extend on her
knowledge of this by:
·
Our
goal is to provide an opportunity for her to experience as many different
sports as she would like e.g swimming lessons, ballet, gymnastics, tennis,
golf, horse riding etc.
· Miss Personality is going to explore and experiment with tasting different foods.
·
Learn
about the five senses and the different taste spots on the tongue.
·
Go
for walks to investigate our new area we live in and discover what is local to
us.
·
Finding
new recipes to try, either on the internet or from the local library.
·
Discussing
what we would do in an emergency in regards to an escape plan.
·
Attend
a home schooling sports group
·
Extend
on her current knowledge and interest in the human body
·
Discussing
safety issues in regards to using the sewing machine, tools in the kitchen or
garage, crossing the road since we will be living a busy city, when using the
bus etc.
·
Learning
about puberty at a level of understanding to her.
·
Reading
books from the library to do with topic/ unit study of interest in regards to
health and the human body.
·
Discussing
with Miss Personality any issues she may have about self- esteem as it arises.
Learning Languages
Our goal is to re-introduce Miss Personality to Te Reo, since we are moving back to New Zealand. At such time she develops
an interest in any other language then we can introduce it to her in a
similar way. I believe that the
interest in learning another language can be introduced when talking about
other cultures and countries.
I plan on extending on Miss Personality’s
knowledge and understanding by:
·
Learn
to count in Maori.
·
Lean
common greetings in Maori.
·
Learn
shapes and colours in Maori.
·
Learn
some songs in Maori.
·
Watch
on YouTube the stick game/song and practice at home.
·
Read
some books on maori myths and legends.
·
Learn
about the first maori’s and how they lived.
·
Visit
a local marae.
·
Visit
the buried village.
Assessment and Evaluation
Assessment is a vital to the
learning process. The assessment tools I will use are observation, discussion
and informal comparison to the levels in the National Curriculum.
I believe that being in a one on
one environment will enable me to be able to evaluate where Miss Personality’s current
learning level is at and extend or revise as needed.
Through observing and discussions
with her practicing the skills she has learnt, and using them in real life
situations. It will be the perfect way to assess whether she has grasped and
understands some of the concepts she has learnt, and whether it needs to be
revisited or extended on.
I will also keep a record of
spelling lists she has learnt, books she has read, maths workbooks she has
finished, as she achieves it. Then I can look back on past work completed, and
have a visual comparison to assist me in evaluating what Miss Personality has achieved and how
she has progressed.
Areas in the Home.
Miss Personality will utilises all areas of
the home whether it be inside or outside.
Depending on what the interest of
learning is, and which is the easiest and safest place to do it, it could be
anywhere from the kitchen to the garage.
Miss Personality has total flexibility to use
any area of the house she would like to use when learning as long as it is safe
and she has checked with a parent first for safety and materials available to
her .
Regularity – Routine.
We are committed to ensuring
that Miss Personality regularly receives a high quality education.
As home educators we don’t break up our day into
subjects, while some subjects are covered in a more traditional school form
with direct teaching and work books, many other subjects are just part of our
everyday life. We do have a structure to our days which ensures we cover what I
consider the core subjects to Miss Personality’s current educational needs without
excluding Miss Personality’s ability to self-direct her own learning.
Miss Personality will get out of bed between 7-8am and carry out her
usual morning routine of making her own breakfast, getting dressed, hair,
teeth, apply her own cream for eczema, do inhaler, have her antihistamine, make
her bed.
Then I will direct her to start on some activities/ book
work based on what I believe are the core subjects e.g maths, reading, writing,
spelling.
I will include regular breaks based around morning tea,
lunch, afternoon tea and moments for Miss Personality to stretch her legs with a walk or
some form of exercise.
Afternoons are usually spent on a more
emergent curriculum based on Miss Personality’s current interest and unit studies. I also believe it is important for Miss Personality’s well-being
and self-esteem to attend regular group activities/ social gatherings , given
that she is pretty much an only child.
Because Miss Personality is in an environment
where she is learning 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, at all times apart from
when she is asleep. I believe that she has more opportunity than what she would
in a regular school to be educated, as there is not a minute of the day where
she is not doing something educationally beneficial to her.
Social Contact.
Miss Personality is a very social child and
it is important for her wellbeing to get as much contact with others as we can
facilitate.
We intend to introduce her to as
many environments as possible where she can be involved in group activities of
interest to her.
We also plan to get in touch with
the local home schooling community and get involved in as many outings and
gathers as we can.
Also her dad is going to be
managing a store, so we would like to utilise this environment by allowing Miss Personality to practice some of the skills she has learnt in real life situations.
Resources.
Here is a list of some of the
many resources we plan on utilising in our journey of home schooling:
·
Local
library
·
Internet
·
Local
garden centre
·
Digital
camera
·
Art
supplies eg. Glue, paint, plaster, collage materials etc
·
Local
butcher
·
Home
schooling community/groups.
·
Family
and friends
·
Board
games
·
Card
games
·
Garden
·
Local
play grounds
·
DVD’s
·
CD’s
·
Television
·
Maps
·
Telephone
book
·
Dictionary
·
Gardening
tools
·
Kitchen
and kitchen equipment required when baking
·
Lego
·
Sewing
machine
·
Knitting
needles and wool
·
Local
museum and zoo
·
You
tube
·
Minecraft
·
Reading
Eggs
·
Ipad
·
Work
books and work sheets
·
Local
swimming pool and beaches
·
And
many, many, many more.
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