Smokey the Magnificent

Huh. I always thought it was “free reign”. Apparently “free rein” is the original/correct version, but “free reign” has become an accepted variant through usage and the fact that it also makes sense. Whaddya know.

Homeschooling laws in NZ are pretty loosey-goosey, actually. Kids only have to start school or get an exemption when they turn 6, and the only official requirements are that the child must be taught “as regularly and as well” as at a public school. To get the exemption you have to give them a plan, but it doesn’t need to conform to anything specific. It can be “We’ll be reading through Victorian literature for English, using Saxon Maths, correspondence school science and history from library books”. If they don’t like it they won’t give you the exemption, but they’re not *too* picky.

At the other end of school, to get into Uni you have to do Cambridge exams and/or NCEA, which is annoying. Or if you don’t, you can do that six-month bridging course, the university preparation one. My sister may end up doing that before she starts a music degree next year. It used to be looser - I got into Uni on the strength of my SAT scores and the fact I could vaguely write my own name. But who knows what it’ll be like by the time the piggie grows up!

It is fun, thus far anyway. We’re going on a homeschool field trip to Thames next week, to see the butterfly house. There will be fish and chips.

Or the innards of a possum.

Hard to argue with $1300 a year! We get a bit of money from the government for homeschooling here - or will when the piggie turns 6, anyway. I fluctuate between being delighted to get “free” money, and irked that they only give us a tiny percentage of what they’d spend on public schooling every other child. At any rate, I’m keeping a log of how much the pig’s education costs, just for interest. Wildly unprecise, really - we’re going on a homeschool trip next Wednesday, so do I count petrol? Admission to the Butterfly House for her, or for all of us? The cost of the fish and chips and picnic lunch items? But it might give us a vague idea. Which reminds me, I need to add $9.51 to the spreadsheet for coloured pencils.

I’m pretty mathsphobic myself (and I haven’t ever done trigonometry… or calculus… or really anything beyond basic maths and a spot of algebra). I’ve read enough articles by autistic maths geniuses to dimly acknowledge that maths can be a beautiful, wondrous thing of great clarity and stark magnificence, if you’re into that… but I ain’t. Fortunately, I do quite enjoy maths at the piggie’s level, which involves a hundreds chart and drawing up graphs of Boys Vs Girls in various households we know. (Numerically, that is, not…. combat-wise…)

So can I ask why you ditched MDC? :p I keep meaning to, but there are a few threads I find motivating. It’s absurd how much more I get done when I can write it in the “What did you accomplish today?” thread! Good for you, though… but we’ll miss you round the boards!

When working out the cost of your childs education and you factoring in some kind of expense for your time?

How much is Smokering worth per hour under her own calculations?