When you homeschool, you are fully responsible for your child's learning and can set your own curriculum. Your tamariki | child should be learning as well as, and as regularly as, they would be at school.

Home education is different from enrolling your child at Te Aho o Te Kura Pounamu. Te Kura is New Zealand's distance learning school that provides teaching and resources for your child.

If you want to educate your child at home instead of enrolling them at school, they need to be officially exempted from the New Zealand education system.

How to apply to home educate your child

You have to complete a home education application form and submit it to your regional office. If you have more than one child, you must apply for each child individually.

Applying is free and normally takes 4 to 6 weeks.

To apply, you must be the child's parent or legal guardian. All of your child's legal guardians need to be in agreement about home education.

You will need the following information:

• Your child's birth certificate. If a parent has changed their name from the one listed on the child birth's certificate, provide a copy of the marriage certificate or name change certificate.
• If the child was born outside of New Zealand, a copy of their passport and visa with date of expiry (where applicable).
• If your child's legal guardian has been assigned by a Court, provide us with a copy of the Court Order.

Our home education guide has information about this.

When to apply

You can apply to home educate your child at any age between 6 and 16.

Children who are 5 years old do not legally need to be enrolled at a school yet. If your child is 5 when you apply for an exemption, it will come into effect when they turn 6.

If you are applying to homeschool a child who is older than 6, they must be enrolled at a school while you do this.

Help with applying

Before starting the application, you should read our guide (document above). This explains what information you need to provide.

Then you can fill in the application.

If you have trouble filling in the form, you can ask your regional office for help. While they can't fill out the application for you, they can help clarify information and answer questions about the application process.

Regional offices

What happens after you apply

Your home education application will be considered by the regional office.

If your child went to school, we will contact them for information about your child's education so far.

When you receive your Certificate of Exemption, you can start home educating your child from the date on your certificate. If the exemption is issued before your child turns 6 years, your starting date will be their sixth birthday.

Your certificate is valid for as long as you continue to home educate them.

If your application is turned down, we will send you a letter explaining our reasons. You can appeal the decision in writing to your regional office. If your appeal is unsuccessful, you can submit a new application to your regional office.

Regional offices

Support for families who homeschool

We pay an annual allowance to whānau | families for each child being homeschooled.

The allowance is paid in 2 instalments a year, usually around June and November. When your application for home education is approved, you get the first payment in whatever of these months comes first.

The annual amounts are:

• $796 for your first child
• $677 for your second child
• $557 for your third child
• $398 for each subsequent child.

Each time you receive the allowance, we will ask you to declare to us that you are still home educating. The allowance is not paid unless the declaration is completed.

The allowance will be paid for your child until the end of the year in which they turn 19. 

Contact us if you have not received your allowance or have a question.

Email: [email protected]

If your circumstances change

If you want to stop homeschooling your child, you can enrol them at school at any time. You cannot do both at the same time, so this will cancel your child's exemption.

If your child wants to transition to school, you should contact your regional office. They will assist you with the process.

You should also tell us if you move house or go overseas.

Being out of New Zealand could change what allowance you receive:

• Less than 28 days – no change to your allowance.
• More than 28 days but less than 6 months – you will only receive the allowance for the time you were in New Zealand.
• More than 6 months – your allowance will stop and you will need to apply for it again when you return.

Teaching your child

Once your child has been exempted from school, it is your responsibility to teach your child.

We recommend teaching your child the skills that they would normally learn at school. If they were to go to school at any stage, this would make the transition easier.

Tāhūrangi has information about what children learn through the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa.

The New Zealand Curriculum – Tāhūrangi

Down the Back of the Chair is our online catalogue of teaching and learning resources.

Login – Down the Back of the Chair

For other learning opportunities, you could look for groups and activities, such as sports clubs, within your own community and contact them.

Reviewing your homeschool programme

Occasionally, we may contact you about your home education exemption.

If we are concerned, we may ask the Education Review Office (ERO) to review your home education programme and show them your Certificate of Exemption application. If this happens, we will let you know why.

ERO has more information about homeschooling education reviews.

Homeschooling education reviews – Education Review Office

The Education and Training Act 2020 outlines our responsibilities for home educated children and young people.

Education and Training Act 2020 – New Zealand Legislation