Check this page on the ERO website.

ERO reviews of the education of students exempt from attending a regular school

In the past the Education Review Office has reviewed the education of homeschooled students according to a schedule set annually. From 1 July 2009 ERO will carry out reviews only when requested by the Secretary for Education, or in other particular circumstances.

For further information about this change, please contact Rob Williamson, Senior Review Officer Homeschooling, or phone 0-4-499 2489.

Commentary on this can be found here.

See the conference website for more details:  http://www.aheconference.org.nz/

Advocates of home and Christian education are pointing to an article by one of the top executives of the Southern Baptist Convention as evidence that the nation’s largest Protestant denomination is growing increasingly fed up with the godlessness taught in America’s public schools.

The article printed in The Baptist Messenger by Dr. Morris H. Chapman, president and chief executive officer of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Executive Committee, criticizes the public school system for increasing secularism and moral erosion and proposes that Southern Baptists “bolster (their) investment in Christian elementary and secondary schools.”

Dr. Bruce Shortt, author of “The Harsh Truth about Public Schools” and a board member of Exodus Mandate, a ministry that encourages and equips families to give their children a Christian education, is among those celebrating a change in tone at the denomination’s highest level.

“Historically the Southern Baptist Convention has been joined at the hip with the public school system,” Shortt told WND, “but this article indicates recognition of what the public schools have become and will take the Convention in a new direction.”

Continued here…

See also:

Dr. Dobson Tells Christians to Get Kids Out Of California Public Schools

On March 28, 2002, Focus on the Family founder, James C. Dobson, PhD, stated on his daily radio broadcast: “In the state of California, if I had a child there, I wouldn’t put the youngster in a public school…. I think it’s time to get our kids out. And I’m going to get hit for [saying] that.”

A 10-year-old homeschool girl described as “well liked, social and interactive with her peers, academically promising and intellectually at or superior to grade level” has been told by a New Hampshire court official to attend a government school because she was too “vigorous” in defense of her Christian faith.

The decision from Marital Master Michael Garner reasoned that the girl’s “vigorous defense of her religious beliefs to [her] counselor suggests strongly that she has not had the opportunity to seriously consider any other point of view.”

The recommendation was approved by Judge Lucinda V. Sadler, but it is being challenged by attorneys with the Alliance Defense Fund, who said it was “a step too far” for any court.

The ADF confirmed today it has filed motions with the court seeking reconsideration of the order and a stay of the decision sending the 10-year-old student in government-run schools in Meredith, N.H.

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Nine-year-old children are being targeted for more detailed sex education in schools. In Christchurch today, Family Planning is launching a new resource for teachers of late-primary and intermediate-age children.

The launch has upset the conservative lobby group Family First, which is urging Family Planning to "butt out" and leave sex education to parents. …Year 5 and 6 (nine and 10-year-old) pupils look at pubertal change, friendships, gender, families, menstruation, fertility, conception and personal support. Year 7 and 8 pupils focus more on changing feelings and emotions and their effects on relationships, sexual attraction, decision-making around sexual attraction, conception and birth, contraception and support agencies.

Family First national director Bob McCoskrie said children should be taught sex education by their parents when they were ready. "The simple message to Family Planning is `butt out and leave it to parents’," McCoskrie said. "Parents know their kids the best. They know their emotional and moral development best and have their own values. Family Planning should not be interacting with kids of that age."

McCoskrie said schools had become "one-stop shops" for dealing with social problems in the community. Some parents felt overawed by "the sex talk" with their children, so resources should be put in to helping them better understand what was required, McCoskrie said. "It needs to be values-based and we think parents are the ones who determine the values."

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Family First Media Release - Sex Education Begins at Home Not School READ MORE