HOME EDUCATION - Web series
From a dahlia farm to a house bus, six families have found their own ways of educating their children at home. Our documentary series follows these kids and their parents as they contend with the challenges and joys of education outside the bounds of a traditional classroom.
🎞 Home Education is a documentary series from filmmakers Chris Pryor and Miriam Smith, following the everyday lives of six families in Aotearoa educating their children at home.
Watch the full series at thespinoff.co.nz/videos/home-education
Made with the support of NZ On Air.
EP01: Home Education | Jen & the Dahlia Kids
🌸 Three years ago, Jen gave her kids $100 to start a business as a learning project. Today, the dahlia farm is thriving, with almost 4,000 plants. “It’s a beautiful way to live,” says Jen. Gracie, Milly and Lexie learn maths at the till, science while testing flower food, and art and photography to market their flowers.
EP02: Home Education | Rachel & Felix
🌲Felix was having trouble finding a school that fit him. Now, he’s making friends at Forest School, and growing his confidence at improv theatre classes. At home he’s digging deep into his love of history in an essay about a secret bunker, and Rachel is trying to figure out how to teach maths.
EP03 Home Education | The Fairul Izad family
🩰When Adam was at school his love for ballet became an open secret. Now that he and his brother are being taught at home he doesn’t have to hide his passion. Their mum Irma fields questions like “does space have a bottom?” following Montessori and Unschooling principles.
EP04: Home Education | Alesha & Kensey
💻 When Kensey was slipping behind at school due to illness, Alesha and Damien dug deep and decided to do something different, something they’d only seen on Country Calendar. Learning from home has allowed them to nurture Kensey as a whole child, while she writes books about unicorns and learns to gather toheroa with her whānau.
EP05: Home Education | On the road with the Rasmussens
🚌 The Rasmussens have travelled the country in a house bus for over a decade. Bridie is the ‘road-schooling’ mum to seven kids, all at different stages. She says the family runs into judgement all the time, but “We thrive on proving people wrong,” says Bridie.
EP06: Home Education | The Baker whānau
🐋 When a whale washed up on Tokomaru Bay, Israel and Petrina Baker decided it was important to take time out of school so that their tamariki could learn how to harvest the taonga. Truancy officers were not too pleased, so home education began for the whānau. In between mustering horses and planting kūmara, they make time for correspondence school through Te Kura.
