Pine Cone

Is it legal? Is it common? Is is stigamised as being only for hippies or devout evangelists trying to 'protect' their children from the world? Is is possible to gain access to high school or equivalent qualifications?

not2old

The Ontario Federation of Teaching Parents» Homeschooling FAQ

Oink

They don't really take education terribly seriously here so go ahead. And all the research I've seen, apart from social and emotional capitial, suggests children have roughly the same acedemic achievement as those who attend public school. But yes, its usually only the nutcases that can be arsed.

Piff Poff

Incredibly common here in Red Deer.

Pine Cone

Thanks for the link. It looks like Canada has many of the same issues as other countries without a registration process but is nice to see that there is also plenty of organised support.

Pine Cone

I'm not the remotest bit interested in starting a debate on the why's/how's/myths/stereotypes of homeschooling families here, but would you mind just clarifying what you were referring to with the above comment in case I have misunderstood what you were referring to with the above?

TrishP

Home education in Canada is legal and is growing in popularity across all sectors of the social spectrum. Here in Ottawa, I know of literally hundreds of kids being home educated, mostly by parents who have professional backgrounds themselves. There appears to be a high disillusionment with the standard of public education, resulting in parents taking on board the teaching of their kids themselves. There are many different models of home education and there are differing provincial requirements in terms of reporting and funding availability. Ontario requires nothing from the parents in terms of lesson plans, etc, but does not provide any funding towards the costs (and you do still have to pay the education portion of your municipal taxes). Depending on the school board and individual school, some kids will attend on a part-time basis (it's all about the moolah the school receives per head!). There are many home educators' groups across the country that one can join in order to further educate yourself on the various curricula valuable, homeschool co-ops, etc.
The majority of the statistics on home educated kids compared with those who attend public school have come out of the US, with the home educated kids scoring very highly on public testing. There was a recent report published on home education in Canada - if I find it, I'll post a link.

Pine Cone

Yes, this is us basically. It started as a 6 month trial and worked so well that we're still doing it several years later.


I'm interested in the possibility of attending a school part time. This is not something that has been possible in any of the countries we've lived to date. Whilst I've found co-op groups, daytime home ed sports groups and social groups to be pretty good, it would be awesome if it was possible to attend, say high school lab based science lessons rather than having to arrange residential courses, or foreign language classes.

Outcomes I'm not so worried about. In the circles we've been involved, those whose kids do not have learning disabilities and who take high school qualifications as private candidates/via access programmes mostly do very well compared to their schooled peers.

TrishP

Attendance part-time seems to depend upon the willingness of the head teacher at any given school. Many of the school boards will have a rep to liaise with homeschooling parents.
One good organisation to join is the Home School Legal Defense Association:Home School Legal Defence Association

Engineer_abroad

I am sure I saw article on this on CBC not to long ago. I believe in the territories it is extremely common given the isolation of some of the communities as well as the inability to move around easily when the winter hits.

I think they had a virtual classroom style which allowed teachers to interact with students.

Pine Cone

Yes that is becoming quite common all over the world, where parents can enroll their kids with a distance education providing school rather than going with fully independent home education. Usually though, you need to pay a lot of $$ if you don't meet various isolated student criteria.

TrishP

Khan Academy is one resource that's free:https://www.khanacademy.org
Another great resource, where kids can receive online assistance with maths is TVO:https://homeworkhelp.ilc.org

There are lots of great resources out there that don't have to cost lots.

Pine Cone

Yes, we love Khan academy, Coursera, Reading Eggs, and all the 100's of providers of awesome MOOKS. I notice from one of your previous posts that you are eventually planning on home educating yourself. Feel free to chat some more via PM if you ever feel like it :-)

TrishP

Thx Pine Cone! It's an exciting path to take - I've watched so many friends' kids thrive on homeschooling and I'm already linked in with so many families and groups in the area. To me, education is more of a state of mind and lifestyle, with every activity being a learning opportunity, so I don't believe there will ever be a specific time to start, but will be something we just generally morph into according to what we're up to and where we are. Truth be told, if it was up to me, I'd sell the house and head off and travel the world as a family - don't think there could possibly be a more exciting learning experience than that for anyone! However, my lovely, but somewhat boring, Canadian husband is typical of his culture ... it's all about the reliable job, the health benefits and the bloody pension *yawn*, so is unlikely to jump with enthusiasm were I to introduce the concept

Pine Cone

I've met lots of families who have sold up everything and either travel full time or part time, within their own country or overseas. It is a lovely life in some ways, but there are also big down-sides if you do it longer term. As you mentioned, you are effectively putting yourself at risk of a much more austere old age or going broke if someone ends up seriously ill, unless you are lucky enough to benefit from a significant financial buffer. In my experience it is better suited to families who are completely natural learning and have no interest in formal qualifications or kids going to Uni, than those who choose to home educate due to the shortcomings they see in various education systems or to provide a more personalised and flexible education.