Home Schooling in Canada, LAWS & Requirements ?

[countryangels]

What are the requirements to home school in Canada?

Is it different province to province ? If so, which seems to be the easiest one?
Are there a lot of Co-Ops, home schooling groups to socialize with?
Do you have to report to the state or someone? What is involved with it all ?
Are you able to use the public school facilities, such as the library, planeterium, etc ?
Are there a lot of people into this or not ?
Is the government for it & supports it, or not so much?
Is French a required subject all over Canada, or just in some provinces ?
Are there towns, with a farmers market during some part of the year ? If so,
what towns offer this ? And for how many months ?

If you have lived in the US as well, can you please compare the part of Canada you are talking about with the US, to get an idea.

Please give me as many details as possible.
Thank you!

[Piglet68]

Originally Posted by countryangels

Is it different province to province ? If so, which seems to be the easiest one?

Ministries of Education are provincial bodies, so I believe there are differences between provinces. I can only answer for British Columbia since that is the only province I've lived in.

Here are the laws regarding homeschooling in BC. Despite the "legalese" I believe BC is one of the easiest and most supportive places in the world to homeschool. At least in North American I know it is!

In this province there are a lot of local homelearning organizations. I know this because in our recent search for a new place to live in BC I researched several regions and found homelearners in pretty much all of them. In general, the bigger the town the bigger the group but that can vary (some towns are "crunchier" than others and then tend to have a greater proportion of homeschoolers). Just Google the town or region you are interested in plus "homelearners" and you're bound to find links to websites. Some also use Yahoo Groups so you should search there.

An additional option for homelearners is enrollment with a Distributed Learning program. By enrolling with a DL you get more funding, access to teachers, resources, etc. Some programs are very "schoolish" with assignments, report cards, and curricula. While your child is not technically considered a homeschooler, some of these programs are specifically designed for, and very supportive of, homelearning.

The one we are in (www.selfdesign.org) is totally child-led learning and very supportive of unschooling and enthusiasm-based learning. I'd say it is the best program if you lean towards that sort of homeschooling style and want the most freedom you can get. We get $1100/year for our grade-school daughter and half that amount for our kindergarten aged son. We can spend this on virtually anything related to their learning. I send in weekly reports for her (biweekly for him) which are about a page written in journal format describing what you did that week (its very informal and discussion of personal growth, etc is encouraged - it's not all "first we did a chapter of math, then we read a book..."). A BC-certified teacher with special training (called a Learning Consultant) is assigned to your child (you get to choose which one) and they can remain with your child for the duration of their education if you so choose (ours has been with us 3 years now).

Because DL's are funded by the ministry there are certain requirements. French or some second language is expected to begin in the middle years (flexibility depends on the program) and the Foundation Skills Assessements (standardized tests) are administered for learners in grades 4 and 9 (in our program you can opt out but are strongly encouraged to take them).

Are there towns, with a farmers market during some part of the year ? If so,
what towns offer this ? And for how many months ?

Pretty much every town (at least in the southern half of BC) has farmer's markets. Some all year round.

Here's a good site for you:

BC Homelearners Association

[mandib50]

gah arggggg i just lost a huge long reply aggghhhh


http://shine-hs.invisionzone.com/
this site will answer all your homeschooling questions for alberta. let me just say that i have been homeschooling for 10 years and have never had an issue with anything in alberta. you do have to register with a homeschooling board in alberta, but there are some wonderful, supportive, non-interventive homeschooling boards to choose from in alberta.

it is very easy to register with a board ... choose a board, get the form, and send it in you do need to submit a plan at the beginning of the year (easy) and meet with a facilitator from the board twice a year. we also receive funding, about $730 per child per school year if you register traditional.

well i live in an insanely small town of 2300 so there is no such thing as a planetarium here we have a small public library but in alberta the library system is great ~ you have access to all resources in all alberta libraries, including post-secondary institutions through an online database. it's great! depending where you live, you may or may not have access to public school resources, however, you will probably find you really don't need the resources available through the public schools.

alberta is a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig province, so homeschooling groups depend on where you live. we don't have one here, but there is a large number of families homeschooling in my area.

yes, we have a farmer's market, and they are all over alberta
http://www.albertamarkets.com/

the growing season is fairly short here, so although the markets may be open year round, of course you won't have access to fresh produce all year.

let me know if you have any more questions ...

oh, i just wanted to add that in alberta, no testing of any kind is required if you choose not to, and no second language is required.

[countryangels]

Amazing post!

Originally Posted by Piglet68

Ministries of Education are provincial bodies, so I believe there are differences between provinces. I can only answer for British Columbia since that is the only province I've lived in.

Here are the laws regarding homeschooling in BC. Despite the "legalese" I believe BC is one of the easiest and most supportive places in the world to homeschool. At least in North American I know it is!

In this province there are a lot of local homelearning organizations. I know this because in our recent search for a new place to live in BC I researched several regions and found homelearners in pretty much all of them. In general, the bigger the town the bigger the group but that can vary (some towns are "crunchier" than others and then tend to have a greater proportion of homeschoolers). Just Google the town or region you are interested in plus "homelearners" and you're bound to find links to websites. Some also use Yahoo Groups so you should search there.

An additional option for homelearners is enrollment with a Distributed Learning program. By enrolling with a DL you get more funding, access to teachers, resources, etc. Some programs are very "schoolish" with assignments, report cards, and curricula. While your child is not technically considered a homeschooler, some of these programs are specifically designed for, and very supportive of, homelearning.

The one we are in (www.selfdesign.org) is totally child-led learning and very supportive of unschooling and enthusiasm-based learning. I'd say it is the best program if you lean towards that sort of homeschooling style and want the most freedom you can get. We get $1100/year for our grade-school daughter and half that amount for our kindergarten aged son. We can spend this on virtually anything related to their learning. I send in weekly reports for her (biweekly for him) which are about a page written in journal format describing what you did that week (its very informal and discussion of personal growth, etc is encouraged - it's not all "first we did a chapter of math, then we read a book..."). A BC-certified teacher with special training (called a Learning Consultant) is assigned to your child (you get to choose which one) and they can remain with your child for the duration of their education if you so choose (ours has been with us 3 years now).

Because DL's are funded by the ministry there are certain requirements. French or some second language is expected to begin in the middle years (flexibility depends on the program) and the Foundation Skills Assessements (standardized tests) are administered for learners in grades 4 and 9 (in our program you can opt out but are strongly encouraged to take them).



Pretty much every town (at least in the southern half of BC) has farmer's markets. Some all year round.

Here's a good site for you:

BC Homelearners Association

Hi Piglet!

Thank you for the amazing wealth of information! I appreciate it.
I will be researching everything out & probably getting back to you.
I'm glad that you are happy there
If you can think of anything else, please post it.
Thanks!

[countryangels]

Wonderful post!

Originally Posted by mandib50

gah arggggg i just lost a huge long reply aggghhhh


http://shine-hs.invisionzone.com/
this site will answer all your homeschooling questions for alberta. let me just say that i have been homeschooling for 10 years and have never had an issue with anything in alberta. you do have to register with a homeschooling board in alberta, but there are some wonderful, supportive, non-interventive homeschooling boards to choose from in alberta.

it is very easy to register with a board ... choose a board, get the form, and send it in you do need to submit a plan at the beginning of the year (easy) and meet with a facilitator from the board twice a year. we also receive funding, about $730 per child per school year if you register traditional.

well i live in an insanely small town of 2300 so there is no such thing as a planetarium here we have a small public library but in alberta the library system is great ~ you have access to all resources in all alberta libraries, including post-secondary institutions through an online database. it's great! depending where you live, you may or may not have access to public school resources, however, you will probably find you really don't need the resources available through the public schools.

alberta is a biiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiig province, so homeschooling groups depend on where you live. we don't have one here, but there is a large number of families homeschooling in my area.

yes, we have a farmer's market, and they are all over alberta
http://www.albertamarkets.com/

the growing season is fairly short here, so although the markets may be open year round, of course you won't have access to fresh produce all year.

let me know if you have any more questions ...

oh, i just wanted to add that in alberta, no testing of any kind is required if you choose not to, and no second language is required.

Hello Mandib!

I'm sorry you lost your original post
Thank you for your help & info.

So, I'm assuming its not hard to find organic products?
From what month to what month can you find fresh produce at the farmers markets?
Do you have a Trader Joe's and or Whole Foods available, or something like it?

What do you all spend on food, approx. weekly, monthly, how many adults &
how many children, to get an idea on a budget...
Thanks!

[mandib50]

Originally Posted by countryangels

Hello Mandib!

I'm sorry you lost your original post
Thank you for your help & info.

So, I'm assuming its not hard to find organic products?
From what month to what month can you find fresh produce at the farmers markets?
Do you have a Trader Joe's and or Whole Foods available, or something like it?

What do you all spend on food, approx. weekly, monthly, how many adults &
how many children, to get an idea on a budget...
Thanks!

well if you live in a larger center, it would definitely be easy to find organic products. even where i live i can find a pretty decent selection, although not as much as i would like. also, you can order a lot of organic stuff on line now.

fresh produce, as in vegetables/berries would be available from june through october. june would be likely only lettuce and radishes, and october you'd have the root vegetables that can withstand the cooler temperatures. you can pretty much always get organic eggs and beef/chicken though all year round at the farmers markets. it could be different in southern alberta though, i live in northern alberta. it really isn't too hard to find organic farmers though who will sell beef/chicken/turkey either.

i have 4 kids, 2 adults, 3 large dogs and one cat, and my grocery bill is about $1000/mth to feed us. it might be a bit more, or a bit less depending. i have a garden in the summer which helps a fair bit. and groceries are fairly pricely where i live too, so again, it is somewhat dependent on where you live in the province.

oh ... and as far as the stores you mention, i have no idea. in the cities i'd imagine there is something similar, we only have extra foods and a small sobey's where i live.

[gr8fulmom]

there are no Trader Joes in Canada, but larger cities like Vancouver and Toronto have Whole Foods... there is also a lot of organic produce and natural products available at the regular grocery store our here in BC, much more so than I've seen in regular grocery stores in the US...

[MamaKickyPants]

Yep - you can find a hug variety of organic products in regular grocery stores. Loblaws is a great one here in Ontario. We do have a whole foods here in Toronto, but I've found it expensive and I can get all the same stuff at the regular grocery. There are lots of Farmers markets here, as well as homeschoolers etc. My little guy is only 20 mos, so we're not so much into the homeschooling yet, but I know there are lots of groups and things in the city. Toronto is a great city to raise kids in, and I've had no problem finding like-minded families. There are literally hundreds of museums, there's a great science centre, and the largest public library system in the world, early-years drop in centres, beaches, good parks, good public transit, free healthcare (well, that's anywhere in canada). The downside is that Toronto is on the expensive side - we pay 1400 rent for a 2 bedroom w/parking, but you can get as cheap as 900-1000 if you go further from the subway (we're right beside a station). I think food might be a bit more expensive, but not hugely, especially if you're into cooking for yourself, and not buying too much processed stuff.
HTH!

[BedHead]

I'm in Edmonton Alberta and it's very easy to find organic anything here. I have a few farms I source meat, eggs, produce and milk from, the grocery stores all carry organic stuff, there's the year round farmers market in Old Strathcona plus seasonal ones all over the city, there's Planet Organic, there's Earth's General Store, the list goes on.

Mandib covered all the homeschooling stuff pretty well already for Alberta