Home Education follows the everyday lives of six families in Aotearoa educating their children at home. Meet Jen and the dahlia kids, learning through a flower business.

The new docuseries Home Education is filmed across Aotearoa, in and around the homes of six families who have taken schooling outside the bounds of a traditional classroom. Each family moulds their days to suit them, fostering a love of learning through incorporating elements of Montessori, Waldorf, Unschooling, Te Kura, Waldorf, and mātauranga Māori. The students we meet are just a few of over 10,000 who are educated at home in Aotearoa.

The first episode features Jen and her kids who run a pick-your-own dahlia farm. Three years ago, Jen gave her three children $100 to start a business as a learning project. One of her daughters decided to spend it on dahlia plants. Today, the dahlia farm has almost 4,000 plants. Now all of their education is in the context of running the farm. “It’s a beautiful way to live,” says Jen. Gracie, Milly and Lexie learn maths at the till counting out change for customers, science while testing different options for flower food and art as they market their flowers.

When Jen decided to educate her kids at home, not everyone liked that idea – and the courage of her convictions wavered when one of them took longer than usual to learn how to read. However, though trusting her children to learn as and when they need to, the kids, and their business, are thriving.

Made with the support of NZ On Air.