Homeschooling advocates are calling on the Government to review the way it financially supports parents educating their children.

The current supervision allowance for parents homeschooling a child is $800 a year for the eldest child, with the amount decreasing for each additional child being taught.

The number of homeschooled children in New Zealand has increased over the past three years after the Covid-19 pandemic created home learning environment opportunities because of lockdowns.

National Council of Home Educators government liaison, Cynthia Hancox, says the cost of textbooks and other learning materials are completely the responsibility of the parents, with many options of varying degrees of price to choose from.

"The cost can add up and they find it a bit challenging," she said.

"We surveyed families every year - what is it costing you to home educate your child - and the survey results show that about 60 per cent of homeschooling parents would spend between $800 and $3200 per child per year just for resources."

Some parents will take cheaper approaches, Hancox said, but the average cost would make the process fiscally challenging for many households.

Australia doesn't provide anything for families wanting to homeschool, but New Zealand adopted the financial support approach in 1989 when a supervision allowance was given to families teaching Te Kura.

The allowance was above a fully funded state education provided by correspondence, Hancox said, and was a recognition that those families were supervising their children and doing part of the teacher's job.

It was also decided at that point to pay that amount to homeschooling families. Hancox said it wasn't requested by families but it was appreciated.

"Our issue was with the fact that it's been over 30 years and the amount has never been revised to keep up with the fact that the dollar has changed in value," she said.

"That funding in all aspects of education has increased in 30 years but homeschooling and supervision allowance have had no revision or review or increase."

Hancox said several factors could encourage parents to teach their children at home.

"We find the most common ones are because they want a closer family unit, they want higher quality, more tailored education for their children, maybe they're needing to avoid bullying or negative peer pressure," she told Summer Breakfast.

"Some do it for lifestyle reasons - and quite a number do it because the special education needs of their children are not able to be met in their local schools."

Hancox was asked why the taxpayer should fund a lifestyle choice, she argued homeschool families were contributing to the cost of public education through their taxes.

She said while many call homeschooling a choice, many parents believe their child is not safe in public school for one reason or another.

Many homeschool parents will claim they want their child to be happy, safe and successful in their education which they believe will best come through a home learning environment.

"So, we don't expect the Government or taxpayers would fully fund that choice but it seems reasonable there is some contribution to assist those families in what would be significant costs in purchasing resources and paying for activities and so on, it's a matter of equity really."

Homeschool families have to undergo several checks and balances to ensure the home learning is held to account, starting with a detailed exemption application that parents must fill out for permission to homeschool in the first place.

The application will lay out their plans for the first 12 months of learning, ensuring it satisfies the Ministry of Education that the children would be taught just as well as they would in public school.

A six-monthly declaration form is then required to confirm they're willing to continue and should there be any concerns, the Education Review Office could review their homeschool programme.