Enquiry learning is the third piece of the puzzle that fits seamlessly together with Waldorf and Montessori to form our comprehensive education program.
The role that Enquiry learning plays is to develop the children’s learning from the ‘Teacher Led’ end of the scale, through to the ‘Child Led’ end. How a child learns is incredibly important to how they approach life and learning opportunities later on in life.
When a child is primarily exposed to only ‘Teacher Led’ learning opportunities, they become masters of following instructions and their ability to think for themselves and approach problems with logic and creativity becomes diminished. Contrasting to that, when a young child is left to make all the decisions about their learning from a very young age, and only encouraged to follow what they currently find interesting can lead them to become limited in their knowledge base and reluctant to step beyond the unknown to explore subjects they don’t yet realise they enjoy. It is a fine balancing act that we work hard at here at Functional Education to begin the children with predominantly ‘Teacher Led’ learning and then transition them gracefully towards ‘Child Led’ learning. Essentially handing them the control and the reigns once the solid foundation has been laid.
The idea behind this is that the children can soar and take their learning to new heights of understanding and creativity, well beyond what a teacher could ever imagine for them, as long as they have been grounded in the necessary skills before launching. Those skills include carefully scaffolded experiences through the younger years, that are built upon a step at a time until the child is ready to stand completely independently and take charge of their learning.
We do this through a variety of ways. In the early stages we draw upon one of Montessori’s eight guiding principles. The principle of choice. From an early age the children are encouraged to make the work their own. To enhance the teacher example and personalise their work. Each child produces their own text book of work as opposed to blindly filling in worksheets that have been produced by the teacher with ‘fill in the blank’ spaces available. Stories are created from the children’s own imaginations and pictures are drawn to accompany the written work. Children can choose the direction of the stories and the art work. Tactile objects are used for many subjects and children have choice in how they will solve their maths equations and what resources they will use to do this. The early years focus on learning the basics in letters and numbers and building a foundation of reading, writing and arithmetic skills (all taught artistically and with beauty and creativity)
As the child progresses through the program and becomes more competent in independent reading and writing activities they can then begin to explore the wonderful world of research projects. The month long topic modules are then scaffolded carefully to begin with a ‘Teacher Led’ introduction which transitions towards a ‘Child Led’ research project and accompanying presentation. These projects allow the child to focus on the aspects of the module they enjoy the most and allow them to stretch their wings and fly as high as they can in the most creative of ways. An example of this may be a Pioneering topic. Once they have heard the early stories of the settlers the children are then encouraged to research an area that interests them. It could be; the clothing, food, weaponry, trench warfare, games, housing, trade, politics, cheesemaking, farming techniques, tools and implements, ships etc. The list is limitless. How the child then decides to present their research and findings is entirely in their hands and this is where they can build on their other interests. The presentation could be painted, sculpted, a power point or a short video, pamphlets, posters, a book or hanging mobile. It could be written in poem form or a song composed. The projects are original works that allow the child to express themselves to their fullest potential. The early years of this process develop all the necessary skills for effective planning, researching and presenting. All essential skills in producing a quality piece of work.
Over time, the ‘Teacher Led’ component of the topic falls away until in the later years of the program the child is directing and leading their own learning. Deep questions are asked that require much thought to answer and the topics are no longer based on recounting a particular topic. Now as the child has a solid foundation to lean on, more pressing topics can be presented that have no one single answer. An example of this would be in one of the Discovery topics when the stories of the ships who set sail from Europe to explore around the world and came across other civilisations was looked into. No longer is this a project about ships or about a particular captain. Now the topics of research become more thought provoking. There can now be a social, political, religious or economic aspect to explore. Who funded these explorations and why? How did the societies live in these other lands prior to the explorers ‘discovering’ them? What impacts did these meetings have both then and now on these societies? If the Spanish discoverers never landed in America, what could the world possibly look like now?
With a solid learning foundation to lean on, and years of carefully scaffolded experiences, a child of Intermediate age can successfully navigate these larger questions with understanding and interest. They can delve into the topic with respect and with a desire to understand the thought processes behind the decisions made by others. They can be open minded and explore aspects from a variety of angles and begin to make connections as to how our world was formed and shaped.
These are the students we are raising. Not sheep who can blindly complete a task they have been instructed to with little to no thought of the bigger picture. Our students question and they have the skills to take that question and follow it down a path of discovery and research to find some possible answers.
The curriculum program at Functional Education has been carefully crafted to contain certain aspects of three incredible learning systems; Montessori, Waldorf and Enquiry for a reason. Each of these systems contains a wealth of skills that fit seamlessly together and build upon each others strengths to help us educate children with a passion for learning, who are comfortable in their creativity and in learning new things throughout the rest of their lives.
Up to 2 hours of lessons a day, plus hands on activities means you can easily give your child a quality education at home.
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The Parent Dashboard is where parents manage their Functional Education account. You can manage your plan and billing, update payment details, add or remove students, change a student’s class, view invoices, and check learning access and progress.
Students use a separate Learning Hub login to access their lessons.
New to Functional Education? Create your parent account here.
Already have an existing Functional Education account? Connect it here.
Parents can sign in to the Family Dashboard here to manage their plan, billing, students and progress.
New to Functional Education? Create your parent account here.
Already have an existing Functional Education account? Connect it here.
Start your 7-day free trial here. Create your parent account, choose a course and plan size, then add your student or students. No credit card is required to start the trial. Here is a video explaining how to get started.
Classes are numbered by the equivalent year of schooling: Class 1 is the first year, Class 2 is the second year, and so on. Choose the level that best matches your child’s current learning needs rather than relying only on their age.
If the class is too easy or too hard, you can easily change it from the Family Dashboard.
A Family Pass supports up to five students from the same family. Parents manage all students, billing and progress from one Family Dashboard account.
Each student has separate Learning Hub access and progress. Students do not share the parent’s dashboard login.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Create your parent account here.
If you have a Family Pass, sign in to the Family Dashboard and select Add student in the Your students section. Enter the student’s details and follow the prompts. Each student needs their own email address so their learning access and progress stay separate.
If you are not currently on a Family Pass, use Change plan on your dashboard to choose a plan that supports additional students.
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Sign in to the Family Dashboard. Your trial summary will show when the trial ends and which plan you selected. Choose Start plan, review the billing details, and add your payment method through Stripe Checkout.
If you are currently on a free trial, sign in to the Family Dashboard when you are ready to continue. Your trial summary will show the plan you selected; choose Start plan to continue with that plan, or Change plan to review other options before adding your payment method.
If you do not continue, your 7-day trial ends automatically and you will not be charged.
Your 7-day free trial ends automatically unless you choose Start plan in the Family Dashboard and add a payment method. If you do not continue, you will not be charged.
Check your spam or junk folder first, then make sure you entered the correct email address. You can request a new verification code from the Family Dashboard sign-in screen.
If the code still does not arrive, contact support@functionaleducation.com and tell us the email address you used to register.
Sign in to the Family Dashboard. On your Current plan card, select Change plan, choose Weekly, review the billing summary, and confirm the change.
You do not need to cancel or wait for your current billing period to end.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
Holidays are easier with the Family Dashboard. Sign in to the Family Dashboard and select Pause or cancel on your Current plan card.
Choose whether to pause for a number of weeks or until a specific restart date. No charges are made while your plan is paused, and billing will restart on the date you choose. Your students can continue learning until the access end date shown in the dashboard.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
If you need help with your account, billing or student access, email support@functionaleducation.com.
For account and billing questions, please include the parent email address associated with your Family Dashboard. For student-learning issues, include the student’s name and learning login email.
You can start your child anytime.
This question is on the MoE application form in New Zealand.
Functional Education delivers lessons that align with the standard NZ curriculum. They are designed to sequentially follow the natural learning progress for each year level. There are planning sheets provided for each topic covered and these sheets contain learning goals and outcomes so that parents can clearly see what the child is aiming to achieve. The senior classes from Class 4-7 have weekly spelling tests. Each topic is designed to have a project/presentation at its conclusion. Some children will present to their families, others will access our platform and share their projects with 'classmates' and receive/give peer feedback as part of this process.
School workbooks are kept as a record of the child's learning throughout the year, along with handcrafts, art and photographs.
Below is a playlist of videos that cover the learning steps for each class, in reading, writing and maths. You may find this useful when applying for an exemption. There is also a short description of what we cover in each course on the curriculum overview page.
Use the playlist button (top right of this youtube player) to skip between classes and subjects)
Home schooling applications are different in each country and region. Before you apply to have a homeschool exemption we suggest you follow these steps:
If you are in New Zealand, and need further help with your exemption, Cynthia Hancox has various resources on her website that can help, as well as an application writing service. Cynthia and her team have processed many exemptions for families planning to use Functional Education.
To view all the relevant laws and requirements for homeschooling in New Zealand. You can read the entire Education and Training Act 2020 here
Our friend Cynthia Hancox has written a fantastic summary of the act here: http://www.cynthiahancox.com/information/relevant-laws-education-and-training-act-2020
Fran’s teaching style is warm, calm, and consistent. Many parents tell us that children who flatly refused to participate in school activities are willing to try Functional Education — often because the classroom pressure is gone, the sensory environment is controlled, and the same familiar teacher shows up every day. The 7-day trial is the best way to find out. There is nothing to lose.
This is the question almost every parent asks. The short answer is: not with a structured programme in place. Functional Education covers all core learning areas at the appropriate level for your child’s year. Many families find that their child actually progresses faster at home, in an environment where the pace is theirs and the anxiety is lower.
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