best place for homeschoolers / unschoolers in canada?

[moodymaximus]

we are trying to strategise our move and even though it is job related for DH, we are not willing to end up AGAIN in a place with no homeschoolers. especially as the kids are getting older.

please share your experiences. right now having other homeschoolers who are either unshcoolers or unshcooler friendly, and social resources such as gym days, pool days, groups, fieldtrips etc is our most important criteria.

ETA: i forgot to ask, but swellmomma reminded me--how unschooling friendly are the provincial regulations?

anyone in a place that they absolutely hate for homeschooling? what to avoid?

[swellmomma]

I live in Edmonton, there is several homeschooling groups, that have park days weekly even through the winter, coffee nights monthly for parents, we plan feildtrips, weekly gatherings at indoor rec cetners to skate/swim/indoor gym etc. I am on a local yahoogroup (edmonton-hs) but I also participate in teh St. Albert one which is the neighboring city. Shine is a homeschool network that I used to have a membership to and need to renew, they hold a curriculum and methods fair every may and host park days in teh summer, every thrusday they meet, alternate weeks have a topic, like math and every one can share their experiences/games/curric that they use to introduce math whether they are unschoolers or not, then the next week is open convo, then it might be foreign languages etc.

The homeschooling community in edmonton is getting VERY big, also in Alberta the gov't gives you money based on how you are registered to pay for lessons like gymnastics, swimming etc, or for entrance fees to the museum, or for curric. YOu have to sign up with a school board, either as traditional(least involved, most unschoolers go this route) it receives the least amount of money but for my 2 kids is still worked out to almost $1300 this year, blended(which means you have some courses inline with alberta ed and some you do your own thing), and fully aligned which means you are basically doing correspondence or online classes, this one gets the highest amount of funding, what I got for 2 kids you would get for each kid BUT gov't involvement is higher.

As a traditional schooler I meet with my facilitator once at the start of the year to share my goals, and once at the end to recap our year, and show our portfolio, that is it. BLended or aligned will have scheduled assignments de, 3-4 meetings a year, required testing etc.

Overall ALberta as a whole is a very homeschool friendly province. EVen our city attractions offer homeschool days with cheaper or free admission, the pools, gymnastics clubs etc offer homeschool lessons that are held during the day and allow you to meet other homeschoolers. it's great.

ONly down side is cost of living, it is high in Edmonton so having one parent stay home is tough but not impossible, if I can do it as a single parent 2-parent homes certainly can with some budgeting the juggling of bills

[riversprite_ca]

I personally think that Ottawa is a great place to unschool or homeschool.
You can check out the Ottawa HBLN announement list to get an idea about what it's like here.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HBLN-announcements/

[moodymaximus]

Originally Posted by swellmomma

I live in Edmonton, there is several homeschooling groups, that have park days weekly even through the winter, coffee nights monthly for parents, we plan feildtrips, weekly gatherings at indoor rec cetners to skate/swim/indoor gym etc. I am on a local yahoogroup (edmonton-hs) but I also participate in teh St. Albert one which is the neighboring city. Shine is a homeschool network that I used to have a membership to and need to renew, they hold a curriculum and methods fair every may and host park days in teh summer, every thrusday they meet, alternate weeks have a topic, like math and every one can share their experiences/games/curric that they use to introduce math whether they are unschoolers or not, then the next week is open convo, then it might be foreign languages etc.

The homeschooling community in edmonton is getting VERY big, also in Alberta the gov't gives you money based on how you are registered to pay for lessons like gymnastics, swimming etc, or for entrance fees to the museum, or for curric. YOu have to sign up with a school board, either as traditional(least involved, most unschoolers go this route) it receives the least amount of money but for my 2 kids is still worked out to almost $1300 this year, blended(which means you have some courses inline with alberta ed and some you do your own thing), and fully aligned which means you are basically doing correspondence or online classes, this one gets the highest amount of funding, what I got for 2 kids you would get for each kid BUT gov't involvement is higher.

As a traditional schooler I meet with my facilitator once at the start of the year to share my goals, and once at the end to recap our year, and show our portfolio, that is it. BLended or aligned will have scheduled assignments de, 3-4 meetings a year, required testing etc.

Overall ALberta as a whole is a very homeschool friendly province. EVen our city attractions offer homeschool days with cheaper or free admission, the pools, gymnastics clubs etc offer homeschool lessons that are held during the day and allow you to meet other homeschoolers. it's great.

ONly down side is cost of living, it is high in Edmonton so having one parent stay home is tough but not impossible, if I can do it as a single parent 2-parent homes certainly can with some budgeting the juggling of bills

thank you for such a thorough response! the traditional route doesn't seem like a lot of hassle. how do you like Edmonton as a city? there are openings in Edmonton now for DH, but we sort of thought not to apply, but without any basis for it. i think we should look more into it and maybe reconsider!

[moodymaximus]

Originally Posted by riversprite_ca

I personally think that Ottawa is a great place to unschool or homeschool.
You can check out the Ottawa HBLN announement list to get an idea about what it's like here.
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HBLN-announcements/

thanks! we are formerly from ontario, so ottawa feels like home to us.

[swellmomma]

Originally Posted by moodymaximus

thank you for such a thorough response! the traditional route doesn't seem like a lot of hassle. how do you like Edmonton as a city? there are openings in Edmonton now for DH, but we sort of thought not to apply, but without any basis for it. i think we should look more into it and maybe reconsider!

Overall it's nt bad. It is a big city so it has it's pros and cons. Crime rate is low compared to other large cities but it's not the safe haven of smaller towns. Many people live in St. ALbert, Fort Sask and Sherwood park which are all neighboring suburbs and work in Edmonton. Living just outside of the city proper like that, gives a little more of the small town feeling while still having city amenities. I live in Edmonton itself and over all it is pretty good. The children's hospital is awesome(and I know of a ped there taking new patients without the need for referral), there is a ton of attractions like museums, learning days(for everyone not just homeschoolers), rec centers etc. I grew up in St. ALbert and my family is still there so most ofmy kids extra currics are there, from my house to my folks in st. albert it is only a 20 minute drive, so less than driving to the south side of the city. The heart of the city has great things like little quaint shops, year round farmer's market, art gallery etc, so a great area to visit just don't live down there as it is also full of the homeless etc. I am part of a local parenting website, that has monthly parent's night out and other events in addition to it's online component which helps making friends and getting out easier.

Over all while I look forawrd to living in the country one day the city itself it fairly decent, and many people love it.

[moodymaximus]

Originally Posted by swellmomma

Overall it's nt bad. It is a big city so it has it's pros and cons. Crime rate is low compared to other large cities but it's not the safe haven of smaller towns. Many people live in St. ALbert, Fort Sask and Sherwood park which are all neighboring suburbs and work in Edmonton. Living just outside of the city proper like that, gives a little more of the small town feeling while still having city amenities. I live in Edmonton itself and over all it is pretty good. The children's hospital is awesome(and I know of a ped there taking new patients without the need for referral), there is a ton of attractions like museums, learning days(for everyone not just homeschoolers), rec centers etc. I grew up in St. ALbert and my family is still there so most ofmy kids extra currics are there, from my house to my folks in st. albert it is only a 20 minute drive, so less than driving to the south side of the city. The heart of the city has great things like little quaint shops, year round farmer's market, art gallery etc, so a great area to visit just don't live down there as it is also full of the homeless etc. I am part of a local parenting website, that has monthly parent's night out and other events in addition to it's online component which helps making friends and getting out easier.

Over all while I look forawrd to living in the country one day the city itself it fairly decent, and many people love it.

thank you for sharing! now DH says the openings are not until next year. but as i said, we have to be prepared and do research, as i don't want to be isolated again.

[alima]

Manitoba has very loose regulations (hsers are required to register children between the ages of 7-16, with 2 one page progress reports a year, it takes me about 30 minutes total for the entire year.)

Winnipeg has a growing and active unschooling community. Outside of Winnipeg, hsers are more often religiously motivated and school at home types.

I've found Winnipeg very easy in terms of regulations. We don't get any money, but on the flip side, as long as the paperwork is filed, the gov't really has no say whatsoever on how you educate your child.

Registered hsers also get access to the teachers library (officially called the Instructional Resources Unit.) They have not only books, but also films, games, manipulatives, textbooks (handy to borrow and check out before plunking down money on something), anything that teachers can borrow for their classroom comes from here, and they will also mail out, for free, any resource in the catalogue, for out of town educators (very handy for rural folks, since most of Mb's people and resources are concentrated in Winnipeg.)

There is also a very active french-language hsing community, with about half the field trips in my hsing group also offered in french, and lots of assistance from the province in finding french-language resources.

Winnipeg is not as cheap as it used to be to live in, our economy is pretty booming here, plus people coming here from places like Toronto, Vancouver and Calgary for the cheap housing is driving up the cost of houses. Still, it's pretty cheap compared to any other large city in Canada, with the cost of a house about 1/3 cheaper than a comparable one in Ottawa or Calgary, and a fraction of what you would pay in TO or Van. $150,000 would easily get you a 3-4 bedroom house with a yard in a safe neighborhood.

It's not the most exciting city in Canada, and the winter is stupidly cold, the summers are hot and the mosquitos are plenty, but it's also one of the most artistically and culturally active and ethnically diverse city in Canada, if you look around a bit for stuff to do.

[HerthElde]

I don't live there any more, but there are a fair number of unschoolers in Saskatoon. I believe they even have a yearly unschooling conference.

[Sage_SS]

Which province are you in? Which city?

[Milakais]

Ontario's homeschooling laws and regulations are listed and discussed here: http://ontariohomeschool.org/

The law in Ontario is very unschooling-friendly. The Ontario Education Act simply states, "A child is excused from attendance at school if, the child is receiving satisfactory instruction at home or elsewhere;". That is the only legal requirement for homeschooling, that your child must be receiving "satisfactory instruction", and there is no more specific definition as to what "satisfactory instruction" entails. There are no curriculum or specific subject-matter requirements, mandatory testing, or routine monitoring of homeschooling families. Basically, as long as your children are being educated, they're legally excused from school.

The Ministry of Education does have a policy where they prefer that homeschoolers send an annual letter of intent to their local board, but that is Ministry policy, not law. There is no explicit legal requirement for you to comply with this policy, so it'd be up to you whether or not you choose to do so. The policy tends to be more of an issue for children who have been withdrawn from the school system (letting the schools know that the children are not simply absent or truant) than it is for families whose children have not been in the schools.

You can check out the above link for more details.

Edited to add a link to the Toronto Unschooler's Conference: http://www.livingjoyfully.ca/conference/

[moominmamma]

I love BC for homeschooling. There are options similar to Alberta's (of enrolling with a public school or independent school program, receiving some funding in exchange for reporting) but there's also the home-free option of just registering your child, meaning there's absolutely nothing required of you beyond your signature annually to state that your child is being homeschooled. Homeschooling is very popular in most areas of BC (in my miniscule town fully 10% of school-aged kids are homeschooled -- though of course my kids alone are 3% of the school-aged population ). Rates around 3-5% are pretty common. And here in lotus land we tend to be fairly heavy on the unschooling/eclectic end of the spectrum.

This being in the tiny town that we are (pop. <1000), we don't have homeschool swimming, gym days and the like. But my backyard ice rink is currently hosting biweekly homeschool skating.

Miranda

[Sage_SS]

ok, so ignore my last comments! I promise to read EVERYTHING in the OP next time!

So which province are you leaning towards? Where are you moving from? How old are your kids?

[KimProbable]

I was going to post about the great homeschooling community in Edmonton but swellmomma beat me to it!

I guess I can add to it that if you're worried about being isolated you can rest assured that there are lots of homeschooling events going on. There are weekly homeschool get-togethers at rec centers and playgrounds, and the AP-type community is quite active too. I have to prioritize my meetings and events as we can't handle all the socializing!

[moodymaximus]

thanks for responses, everyone!

m00minmama, only bi-weekly skating? your rink is awesome! i love the photos on your blog!

i can't even figure out which province we are leaning towards. the one with least regulations. the thing is that with DH's job we'd need to be either in a big city or in a smallish community again. After living in toronto for a long time we are not sure we want to go back, though Ottawa is an option. Not sure about Vancouver, though i'd love to live in BC. now Edmonton sounds interesting, we've never considered Alberta. something to think about. we are going to Nova Scotia for the parental leave, so we will have a good feel for it.

we can't really choose and go, we need to have our options researched, and then see what is available for DH, and then we choose from there. feels a bit complicated and overwhelming, but it should work out, eventually.

the ages of my kids are in my siggy, DD is 5.5 and DS is 3. as for where i live, pm me, if interested

[Milakais]

Originally Posted by moodymaximus

the one with least regulations.

That would probably be Ont.

Homeschoolers don't receive any government funding here, but they also don't have to have any school involvement/interference. You decide to take responsibility for educating your own child, and the schools are supposed to just leave you alone to do your own thing. That's it.

Originally Posted by moodymaximus

the thing is that with DH's job we'd need to be either in a big city or in a smallish community again. After living in toronto for a long time we are not sure we want to go back, though Ottawa is an option.

Oh yes, Toronto's a bit too big for my tastes too. I included the link to the Toronto conference, not to suggest Toronto in particular, but because it'd be easy enough to travel to the conference from pretty much anywhere in the southern-ish half of Ontario.

[bwylde]

I will warn you that homeschooling, let alone unschooling, is a very foreign thing in most of Nova Scotia. It's big in the Valley reigon and in Halifax/metro area (lots of home and unschoolers, tons of activities), but in the smaller communities/more rural areas, there is nothing. I don't even know of any homeschoolers in my county or within an hour of me (although I "heard" there are some).

The regulations are fairly easy. You have to write a letter of intent and let them know what you are planning for the year at the beginning of the year and file a report at the end of the year. You don't have to be specific. No funding here either.

[African Tulip]

I have to agree with moominmamma, I love BC for homeschooling. There are so many options so if your needs change there is something available to you.

I live in a small town of <5000 but am near a larger town of >15,000 that has a homeschool group that has swim/skate days, gymnastics, gym days and other activities that get planned through the year. I don't get involved in most of the activities because the 20min drive is just too much. The one we do get involved with is the homeschool ski day as it's in my town and field trip type of activites like going to the wildlife habitat conservation or fish habitat station, etc. I also find that most of the homeschoolers are not unschoolers and very Christian but we are still included if we want to be.

The nice thing about BC is you can always find a small town near a larger one if you want. So, if Vancouver is where your DH needed to work you can find lots of smaller cities with large homeschool communities. Victoria is also a nice city and has a small town layed back feel to it even though it's the capital. My personal fave city is Nelson and has a large unschooling/homeschooling community.