Has the brief time you did distance learning greatly helped your child? If so, then you may think of shifting to homeschooling to help your child unleash their academic potentials at the comfort of your home.
This article will serve as a full guide on how to best homeschool in Calgary. In this article, you’ll also find support groups, online resources, and answers to homeschooling FAQs.
Table of Contents
How Much Does Homeschooling Cost in Calgary
Before anything else, let’s talk about the costs of homeschooling in Calgary. You can expect to pay around $0–$1,000 for homeschooling in Calgary, depending on the type of homeschooling and the sources you use.
It’s a pretty wide range, but every home situation is different and you also need to determine what kind of learning style suits your child the best.
Benefits of Homeschooling
If you’re still having second thoughts about homeschooling, here are some benefits you should keep in mind. With homeschooling, you can:
- Stay true to family goals and beliefs.
- Spend more time with the family.
- Save up on costs.
- Cater to kids who have mental, physical, and psychological conditions that may hinder them from participating well with their peers.
- Adjust according to your child’s learning style.
And the best thing is, you get all these benefits while still making your child eligible for post-secondary education. Upon the recommendation of a school principal, homeschooled grade 12 students may receive a high school diploma.
And since universities and colleges across the country only look at the official government records, your child’s homeschooling education will hold up just as much as school-controlled education does.
Ways on How to Best Homeschool in Calgary
You should know that there are two types of homeschooling programs—supervised and not supervised homeschooling.
Supervised Homeschooling
As you may have guessed, supervised homeschooling means that a public school board or accredited funded private school will supervise the education. Aside from additional educational help, supervised homeschooling also offers eligibility for funding from the Ministry of Education.
Here are some of the things associate board or associate school supervisors can do for supervised homeschooling families:
- Conduct and record at least two formal progress evaluations per year
- Advise parents on the progress of students
- Suggest recommendations for overall improved development
- Assign teachers to home education
- Provide resources to parents
- Evaluate, approve, and accept the program and activities prepared by the parent
As the authority for your child’s education, you can dictate what activities and measuring tools you’ll use to assess your child’s progress. However, you’ll need to get the Ministry approval of:
- The list of activities, complete with an explanation for their relevance
- Instructional methods and resources
- Means of evaluation and assessments
- Name of instructors
Before all of these, you’d need to submit an intent for home education to Alberta’s Minister of Education. Then you’ll need to find a suitable associate board or associate school.
We highly recommend getting supervised homeschooling as it allows you to gain funding and additional support. Lucky for you because you can sign up with any board based anywhere in Alberta.
Not Supervised Homeschooling
On the other hand, not supervised homeschooling gives parents full authority over their children’s education. This option won’t give you any funding benefits.
You can even stray from Alberta’s Programs of Study. But still, you’ll have to make sure your curriculum can help achieve:
- Read for leisure and information
- Write and speak with accuracy and substance
- Solve business, science, and daily problems with Math
- Understand and apply the scientific method
- Understand the physical world and diversity of life
- Learn about the history of Canada
- Understand world history and geography
- Gain insight into Canada’s economic, political, and social systems
- Demonstrate respect, honesty, and other desirable characteristics
- Recognize and strive for personal and community well-being
- Proficient usage of technologies
- Demonstrate leadership, time management, critical thinking, and other necessary skills
- Research credibility of information sources
To avail of this, you need only notify the Minister of Education of your choice and submit either a notice form or an online form via myPass.
Resources and Support Groups
To further guide you on the journey, we’ve also listed some support groups and online resources that can elevate your experience to the best homeschool in Calgary.
1. The Home Education Experts (THEE)
| WEBSITE | https://thee.ca/ |
| CONTACT DETAILS | (780) 467-5511 | [email protected] |
Now, if you’re looking for home education programs that include Christian living, then The Home Education Experts (THEE) may be where you can find the best homeschooling resources.
THEE partners with Elk Island Catholic Schools (EICS) providing Albertans with both administrative and educational support.
It offers support by providing personal and veteran homeschooling facilitators and reading and writing specialists, planning for high-school education, and assessing performance. THEE also conducts workshops and seminars for added guidance.
Additionally, THEE offers both online and onsite tutoring networks for students who need additional lessons on Saxon math, Apologia science, creative writing, and Christian Worldview. THEE also has connections for college and career planning services.
More importantly, THEE provides access to academic tools like Microsoft 365 and Google Suite.
What we like the most about THEE is that with its online website, it can answer questions about homeschooling 24/7.
2. Canadian Home Education Resources
| WEBSITE | https://www.canadianhomeeducation.com/ |
| CONTACT DETAILS | (403) 243-4443 / (800) 345-2952 | [email protected] |
Canadian Home Education Resources (CHER) has all types of resources for families practicing home education. When we say resources, we don’t just mean blogs and books about ideas on how to get through with online education.
We mean that CHER offers books on core subjects, math, language, history and geography, science, and religion, and electives like art, home economics, health, music, and computer science. Some books even come in bundles for those looking for cost-effective packages.
This resource centre also offers prepaid curbside pick-up services. So, you won’t even have to spend much time at its location should you consider buying learning materials from CHER’s online catalogue.
3. The Canadian Homeschooler
| WEBSITE | https://thecanadianhomeschooler.com/ |
| CONTACT DETAILS | [email protected] |
The Canadian Homeschooler offers tips and resources for homeschooling kids and teens alike. This website has online resources for students within the grade 1–8 bracket.
It has a book, titled How to Homeschool in Canada, dedicated to helping you with your journey of homeschooling your children. This book is available in paperback and ebook forms for your Kindle or Kobo.
We also like that The Canadian Homeschooler has posts about how to make learning science and math fun with genius games.
The Canadian Homeschooler’s guide also includes tips for curriculum planning. You can even check the Alberta Curriculum Checklist on the website should you want to recheck whether or not your planned activities and lessons are in line with the Ministry of Education.
The Canadian Homeschooler also extends its helping hand by helping its website visitors connect and join the Canadian Homeschool Community. This feature makes The Canadian Schooler both an online resource and support group.
4. Homeschool Calgary
| WEBSITE | https://www.facebook.com/hscalgary/ |
| CONTACT DETAILS | https://www.facebook.com/hscalgary/ |
Homeschool Calgary is more of an online community than a resource centre. This Facebook Page gets you posted on events, workshops, and programs that can positively affect the Calgary homeschooling experience.
The community is run by an educator herself who also has kids undergoing homeschooling.
This support group is applicable for families within grades 1–12. However, its online Canadian social studies programs are applicable only for those within the grade 5-grade 9 range.
5. Calgary Homeschool Activities
| WEBSITE | https://www.facebook.com/CalgaryHomeschoolActivities/ |
| CONTACT DETAILS | http://groups.yahoo.com/group/calgary-hsactivities/ |
Calgary Homeschool Activities is yet another Facebook page that can help you connect with over 500 homeschooling families in Calgary. It also has connections with businesses and organizations to make homeschooling more holistic.
Such connections can be very useful if you’re looking for activities that enhance teamwork and camaraderie. As a group, Calgary Homeschool Activities is open for play dates, field trips, and other group activities.
Should you want to be a part of this community to join activities or to simply ask questions, you can go ahead and join its yahoo group.
If you only want to join activities, you can browse through its online community posts for public events. Just know that events are usually posted 10-14 days before the registration ends, so be quick in making reservations.
6. Alberta Homeschooling Association
| WEBSITE | http://albertahomeschooling.ca/ |
| CONTACT DETAILS | https://www.facebook.com/groups/AlbertaHomeschooling/ |
Alberta Homeschooling Association has everything you need for homeschooling your child. It has resources on how to start as well as recent government updates concerning your child’s education.
What we like the most about AHA is that it has a webpage dedicated to school boards you can contact for supervised homeschooling. Additionally, AHA organizes webinars and conferences to help you improve your home education practices.
And to make information dissemination much easier, AHA also utilizes a private Facebook group, Alberta Homeschooling. In this group, parents, students, and school board staff can post and join the discussion.
The admins are also very specific about their policies. With its private group designation and its admin’s moderation, Alberta Homeschooling is truly a safe space for families who care about their child’s education.
FAQs about Homeschooling
We hope this comprehensive guide can help you create the best homeschool in Calgary for your children. With homeschooling, you can help your children develop holistically at their very own pace.
Do you think we missed any other information worth knowing about homeschooling? If so, feel free to suggest some more topics so we can cover them, too!
Now, home education may not be for everyone. And if you think you’re one of these people, then you may benefit more from our list of the best preschools in Calgary to get your child’s academic journey started.
