Home Education follows the everyday lives of six families in Aotearoa educating their children at home. Today, education among whales and horses with the Baker whānau.

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 and mātauranga Māori. The students we meet are just a few of over 10,000 who are educated at home in Aotearoa.

The final episode features the Baker whānau on a farm in Hiruhārama, Tairāwhiti. When a whale washed up on Tokomaru Bay, Israel and Petrina Baker decided it was important to take time out of school so that their tamariki could learn how to harvest the taonga. It took a few weeks, and the truancy officers were not too pleased, so the whānau’s home education began through Te Kura. Now, the kids make time for correspondence school inbetween mustering horses, fencing and planting kūmara, side by side like fish.

Hana is gaining the credits needed to study veterinary science at university. It’s something she wouldn’t have thought she could do without the correspondence teacher Tracy, who teaches the tamariki online and comes to visit every term. Once qualified, Hana’s plan though, is to “come straight back.” A vet would benefit not only the Bakers’ farm, but many around the East Coast. 

Made with the support of NZ On Air.