Providing her daughter with a Christian education that reflects the family’s cultural and Christian values is a big advantage of homeschooling, an Auckland mother says.
It’s less expensive too, says Andromeda Teuaki Ki Tangipa, who is originally from Tonga.
“I’ve saved a lot. I know other Pacific families are moving towards homeschooling for this very reason. I’ve been able to put the money towards important bills and other resources for my children.”
Homeschooling
Tangipa is enrolled with Home Schooling New Zealand. It provides homeschoolers with several choices of curriculum including an Accredited Christian Education (ACE) curriculum, which is one Tangipa has chosen for her daughter.
“The ACE my daughter is on is also the same one I went through when I attended West City Christian College. As a solo parent, my faith plays a big part” she says.
There is help for Home School supervisors too.
The current annual supervision allowance rate for the first child is reportedly $796.
According to Ministry of Education data in January, 11,179 children in New Zealand were listed as being homeschooled.
What homeschooling’s like
Now into her second year as a home school parent, Tangipa is positive about homeschooling. She’s not tied to a desk. She likes it that her own daily activities give her daughter more freedom to learn indoors and outdoors.
Nonetheless, their daily and weekly timetable is structured.
“We start with prayer every morning and culturally, growing up, I’ve been able to adapt – whereas a mainstream school wouldn’t.”
That includes adapting their timetable to acknowledge their Sabbath.
“I shut off and kind of go off the grid from Friday sundown to Saturday sundown; where it’s similar to the Islands in Tonga – where everything shuts down.”
“I also work part-time, which is my escape from the kids. My parents and siblings are involved in my daughter’s homeschooling, so they know what to do.”
Focused help needed for Pasifika homeschool families
Tangipa would like to see more Pacific families turn to homeschooling.
At the same time, she would like to see more support from the new Government in this regard. Pasifika families for example typically have larger households and more children than other New Zealanders.
Home Schooling NZ principal Todd Roughton says there has always been a steady number of Pasifika families enrolling with them.
“The three reasons we hear time and again from families who are wanting to switch to home-schooling are the appalling academic standards in our schools, socialisation and children being proselytised in the classrooms by teachers pushing a woke social engineering agenda.
“This aspect, in particular, is something that many Pasifika families find deeply offensive.”
Tangipa encourages other Pacific parents to support one another.
“I congratulate homeschoolers. It’s not an easy task [and] it’s for our return. We reap what we sow – as long as we keep on with the little bits, it’s going to have a huge comeback.”
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