Common Questions Answered
(see below for help and troubleshooting membership signup issues)
- I already participate in a couple other Waikato home education groups. Why should I join THEN? Then offers a different service than any other home education group in the Waikato. Most groups offer activities to enhance your child’s education and offer social networking. THEN supports these groups by compiling information in one handy place so that home education families can easily find out about all the opportunities available to home educators in the Waikato. THEN also does important work liaising with the Ministry of Education to help ensure that your home education journey is protected and as stress free as possible. We also negotiate discounts and have access to school programs not offered to the general public. For a full and growing list of our many benefits, see our home page.
- Why isn’t THEN membership free? There are expenses related to running any organisation. We keep our costs as low as possible by running our entire organisation with volunteer labour. However, we must pay annually for our website, post office box, government fees, and other types of common expenses. You may be aware of other organisations that offer free membership. However, they recoup their costs in other ways, such as adding a fee to any payment you make to them in order to participate in one of their offered programs. There is no such thing as a free lunch. You pay for every service in some way or another. We have a team of dedicated home educating parents who volunteer their time to keep our membership fee as low as possible. The fee has changed very little in our twenty-year history as an organisation. We are convinced that our membership fee is extremely valuable. The benefits you receive from being a member will far outnumber the small membership fee we must charge annually.
- What are the benefits to belonging to THEN? For a growing list of the reasons we think every Waikato home educating family should join THEN, see our home page. You will be surprised how many ways you can participate, save money, and have advocacy.
- Why aren’t more services and events offered by THEN? THEN is a fully volunteer run organisation. Every service we provide is made possible because someone with the skill to offer it has volunteered to serve our home education community in that role. We would love to offer more services and events. In fact, we have a list of ideas. We need more volunteers. Do you have a skill you could share to enhance our network?
- How can I be more aware of the big picture of home schooling in New Zealand? How can I be involved in promoting homeschooling in New Zealand? Join The National Council of Home Educators New Zealand (NCHENZ) which will keep you informed on home education matters from around New Zealand. For more information about their work and the resources they offer, or to volunteer, head to their website.
Troubleshooting Membership Signup
- I am having trouble signing up for a new membership. How can I get help? As a first point of action, please try a different browser and/or a different device which will often resolve the issue. You may also clear your cookies and cache before trying again. If you have tried these three options without success, please email us. In your email, please include 1) the result of the recommended steps you have taken above 2) as a description of the problem you are having, and 3) include a screenshot of where you are unable to proceed.
- I am having trouble renewing my membership. Can I just pay the membership fee direct to THEN banking? When THEN memberships are renewing, all members receive an email with instructions on how to renew their membership. You can see a copy of that email at this link. Please do not just pay THEN banking. This complicates the renewal process and creates extra work for our busy volunteers. If there is a problem with our renewal process, we need to resolve the problem so that we don’t have to manually process 130+ renewing memberships. If you have followed the instructions in the email link, and you are still having trouble, please follow the steps as listed above for troubleshooting signing up for a new membership.