My children arrived in New Zealand right before the school year started. They could barely speak English, and everything felt foreign — no elevators, no phone booths, no school lunch system like the one we'd left behind in Korea. And yet, from day one, they had to learn in English and find their footing in an entirely unfamiliar system. That's when we first tried home learning alongside their ESOL support at school.
Long story short, it didn't work. I designed the curriculum, set up the schedule, monitored everything myself — and then my practicum started, and I ran out of time. Without regular check-ins, the kids stopped keeping up. Lesson learned.
But this year, we can't afford to skip it. Each child is at a critical transition point, and each one needs something different.
Min enters intermediate school, preparing for the academic pathway ahead. Hyun moves into Year 6, making the shift from child to student. Jin starts primary school for the first time, learning what it means to sit down, focus, and follow a routine.
This time, the key is independence. The routine has to work whether I'm home or not — because this year I'll be juggling university classes and practicum at the same time. And honestly, that kind of self-directed learning feels especially fitting here in New Zealand, where education values independent thinking over simply getting the right answer.
Now, it's time to start again.
