Since 2018 New Zealand parents have chosen to use Functional Education to deliver a positive education to their children, and the results are fantastic!
"I just wanted to email you and tell you how much we are enjoying functional education! My daughter is so keen to get into her school work each day she has been doing classes on the weekend. It really is working very well for us, thank you so much!"
The Functional Education platform is for learning. Your child will watch their teacher deliver a lesson, filmed in a special classroom studio, and pause the video to do activities like spelling, writing, draw, craft & maths. Each days lessons will build on the previous day, and having the same teacher for every video provides a natural rhythm for your child. They'll enjoy getting to know their teacher over weeks and months.
Fran loves to help families transition into this new way of learning at home. There is an online support group available for parents, where you can chat directly with Francean and other parents using the Functional Education platform.
Your child will learn from a qualified teacher via pre-recorded videos, pausing to do hands on activities throughout their lessons. You may like to sit with your child at first, but they will soon be able to learn independently for 2-3 hours per day.
There are more than 2000 schools worldwide operating in over 200 countries. These systems are proven to work. They provide a well-researched, well documented educational curriculum suitable for a wide range of learners.
Graduates of these learning systems are held in high regard globally for their creativity, academic rigour and their personable approach to working in team environments.
Functional Education takes the best from the Waldorf and Montessori systems and combines it with the latest in enquiry based modern learning producing an outstanding curriculum without the politics of a traditional schooling environment.
There are so many pressures in a school environment that can rob your child of their real potential. New Zealand primary school students are facing alarming rates of bullying, social pressures, anxiety and stress, even in children as young as 6 years old.
Everything is covered, my child was engaged and excited to do lessons each day and it took a lot of the planning time and preparing resources each day away for myself which is fabulous!
My son found it easy to understand, not rushed, there was plenty of time to process information and his teacher was animated and engaging...in his words, “my teacher isn’t boring!”
I really like how the video can be paused and replayed. My favourite part was the daily gratitude activity. Brilliant idea, something I intend to continue.
There are discounts for larger families, or parents wanting to subscribe to single subjects only.
Instant access. No credit card required.
We respect your privacy and won't give your email to anyone else.
We love answering your questions! Here are a few answers to the common queries we receive.
If you can't find the answer you're looking for here, please contact support.
Please watch our getting started video which covers a lot of the questions you may have.
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.
Parents use the Parent Dashboard to manage the family account, billing, students, plans and progress.
Students use their separate Learning Hub login to watch lessons and complete their learning. A parent login should not be used for student learning access.
Students use their own Learning Hub login at functionaleducation.thinkific.com/users/sign_in.
New students receive an email with instructions to set up their learning login. Parents should use the Family Dashboard for account and billing tasks, not the student Learning Hub login.
Once your student has their Learning Hub login, sign in at functionaleducation.thinkific.com/users/sign_in. Go to the Library tab, open your student’s class, and look for the first module.
This short video explains 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.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Create your parent account here.
Sign in to the Family Dashboard. Select Update beside your payment method on the plan card, or open your account menu and choose Update credit card. This opens Stripe’s secure billing portal.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
Sign in to the Family Dashboard. On your Current plan card, select Pause or cancel, then choose Cancel plan and confirm.
Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current paid period. 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.
Yes. Sign in to the Family Dashboard. On your Current plan card, select Pause or cancel, then choose whether to pause for a number of weeks or until a specific restart date.
No charges are made while your plan is paused. Your students can continue learning until the access end date shown in the dashboard, and billing will restart on the date you choose.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
If a payment fails, your plan will show a Payment issue in the Family Dashboard and student learning access may be paused while Stripe retries the payment.
Sign in to the Family Dashboard, then choose Update Card or Retry Payment on the plan card. If the payment succeeds, billing and student access will be restored.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current paid period. Your students can continue learning until the access end date shown on your Family Dashboard.
To cancel, sign in to the Family Dashboard, select Pause or cancel on your Current plan card, then choose Cancel plan and confirm.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
Yes. Your students can continue learning until the end of your current paid period. The exact access end date is shown on your Family Dashboard after cancellation.
After that date, learning access ends, but your account and saved progress are retained if you decide to return later.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
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.
Sign in to the Family Dashboard. Your recent invoices and payment history appear below your plan and student details.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
Students sign in at functionaleducation.thinkific.com/users/sign_in. If they have forgotten their password, use Forgot password on the sign-in page.
If the student has not received their login email or still cannot sign in, contact support@functionaleducation.com with the student’s name and learning login email.
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 the student’s card, select Edit details, update the email address, and follow the prompts to verify the new address.
This changes the student’s Learning Hub login email, not the parent’s dashboard login.
Sign in to the Family Dashboard, open the account menu, and select Account details. Update your parent login email and follow the verification steps.
This changes the parent dashboard login email. It does not change any student’s Learning Hub login email.
Sign in to the Family Dashboard. On your paused Current plan card, select Restart billing and confirm. Billing will resume immediately and your regular plan will continue.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
Sign in to the Family Dashboard. On the student’s card, select Remove student and confirm. This removes the student from your Functional Education plan, but their learning account and progress are kept if you add them back later.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
A Family Pass supports up to five students from the same family. Parents manage all students from one Family Dashboard account, while each student has separate learning access and progress.
After logging in, you’ll arrive on the Home tab. Your most recently accessed course should appear near the top, so you can jump straight back in.
To find any of your other courses, open the Library tab. Your courses are organised by class, which is especially useful for families using a Family Pass. Select the class and course you want to open.
After logging in, open the Library tab. Your courses are organised by class, so choose the class you want to work on first.
Then start at the lowest module number in that class and continue from there.
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.
You do not need to pay for a full 12 months. Plans renew weekly or monthly, depending on the option you choose.
You can change your billing frequency, pause your plan, or cancel from the Family Dashboard. Cancellation takes effect at the end of your current paid period.
Don’t have a Family Dashboard yet? Connect your existing account here first.
Promo codes can be entered during checkout when you start a new plan. Enter the code when prompted, before confirming payment.
If you already have an active subscription and want to use a promo code, contact support@functionaleducation.com before making changes to your plan.
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.
You will find an equipment list at the start of each weeks lessons.
As well as a device connected to the internet (laptop, smart TV, mobile phone, tablet etc.) your child will need some items each week. These are usually things found around the home like: books to write in, coloured pencils, play dough, dice, playing cards etc.
Our videos are all prerecorded. You can choose to watch them at any time of day, any day of the week that suits your schedule.
If you are based in a rural area or living/working/schooling all together trying to access the same internet connection it can cause strain on the speed of the videos. You are in control and able to change the size of the video data to help speed it up. When you open a video, on the right hand side of the screen at the bottom there is a settings icon that looks like a wheel. Click on that and lower the quality of the video a few levels and it should help. We have IT people available to talk you through this if you require assistance.
Your educational choices are your own. We provide a series of videos that you are welcome to access. If a topic doesn't interest you, you can move on to the next. If a topic totally engages you, then feel free to stay with it as long as you like and move on when you are ready.
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
It is important that your child interacts with other kids a similar age. Sports groups, drama classes, school holiday programs, art and craft groups, reading clubs, play dates, and even homeschool social groups are fantastic ways to allow your child to grow positive social skills. Over 3,000 families homeschool in New Zealand, so there's probably a local homeschool group near you. It is not a case of hiding children from the ‘real world’ and wrapping them up in cotton wool so that they never experience the negative situations in life. It is more a case of opening the world up to your children, allowing them to discover and interact with the world in a positive way. Educating your children at home means they become independent big picture thinkers, confident and self-motivated to learn and with a thirst to immerse themselves in the world amongst all ages, cultures and backgrounds and to see the world with observant eyes, not biased judgements limited to standardised opinions.
No. Functional Education teaches children gratitude, to care for their environment, to respect others, and live in awe of the world around them. It's suitable for children from all backgrounds and cultures.
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.
If you can't find the answer to your question in the FAQ's please contact us below.