Before you fill in
the form, read this.

A short guide to help you think through your answers, so you reach the form already knowing what you want to say.

01 / BEFORE YOU BEGIN

What this is really about.

The Ministry of Education is not testing you. They are checking one thing: that real learning is happening in your home, as often and as well as it would at a school. That is the whole bar. You do not need to sound like a teacher or a lawyer, and a polished application is not a stronger one. Plain, honest answers about your actual family beat formal language every time, because they sound true. Take your time with this guide, jot a few notes as you go, and the form will feel like writing down what you already know.

02 / ABOUT YOUR CHILD

Start with the person, not the pupil.

Think about what your child is like to be around: what makes them light up, what they find hard, how they move through a day, what they were like as a younger kid. The form is not asking for a school report, it is asking who this learning is for. A parent who can describe their child clearly is already showing that this education is built around a real person. Picture them on an ordinary afternoon and write down what you see.

03 / YOUR STORY

Why you chose this, and
what a day looks like.

There is a reason you chose this, and it is worth saying plainly. It might be one clear moment or a slow build over months, and either is fine. Think about why home education made sense for your family, what a normal learning day actually looks like (messy and real is good), and who else is part of it: a partner, a grandparent, a tutor, the neighbour who knows things your child does not. You are not defending a decision, you are describing a life. Honest reasons land better than impressive ones.

04 / LEARNING AREAS

Your week covers more than you think.

Schools split learning into subjects: literacy, maths, science, the arts, health and PE, technology, te reo Māori, and learning in the community. Your week already covers far more of these than you think, it just does not announce itself. Cooking is maths and reading and science. A walk is science and PE. A sports club is health, PE and social learning all at once. As you think through each area, look at what your child already does and notice where it fits, because one ordinary activity often shows up in three places at once.

THE BIG ONE

05 / PROJECTS & DEEP INTERESTS

The most powerful part
of your application.

Think about anything your child has gone deep on lately: it could be one big project, a cluster of related interests, or three small obsessions running side by side. Rabbit holes count. Fixations count. The thing they keep coming back to when no one asked them to, that counts most of all. Think wider than you normally would, because what looks like “just a hobby” to you is exactly the self-driven, sustained learning the Ministry wants to see.

06 / ACTIVITIES & CONNECTIONS

You can list everything,
even the casual stuff.

Make a list of every group, club, class, person and place that teaches your child something. The library, the swim lesson, the homeschool meetup, the neighbour with chickens, the marae, the museum you keep going back to. Do not filter for what sounds impressive. The casual and ordinary things, the regular visits and the people in your child’s orbit, are real evidence of an education that reaches beyond your kitchen table, so write them all down.

07 / RECORDS

Informal record keeping is fine.

You do not need a fancy system, and you do not need to start one before you apply. The Ministry wants to know you will keep some record of what is happening, and informal is completely fine. Photos on your phone, a few dated pieces of work, a notebook where you jot what you did that week. Decide what feels manageable for you and say that, because a simple habit you will actually keep beats a perfect system you will abandon.

YOU’RE READY

08 / WHAT HAPPENS NEXT

You are ready.

That is everything. The form itself takes about 15 to 30 minutes, and your answers save as you go, so you can stop, make a cup of tea, and come back without losing anything. Once you submit, that is your part done. You know your child better than anyone. Tell us that, and we take care of the rest. We will write your application and send it to you to check before it goes anywhere. Be yourself, be specific, and trust that your real family is more than enough.

SIGN-OFF /

From the team at Pulled.

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