British Columbia has excellent laws in place that support home based learning. Parents have many options to choose from. Traditional or Registered homeschooling, Distance Education, or Enroling in a Distributed Learning Program. Parents should know that they can choose to change their child's education option on any day of the school year. For example: after 1 month of going "to school" the parent may choose to register for homeschooling. After several months, the parent may want to have more teacher involvement but still want to have their child at home so choose to enrol in a DL Program. Never feel trapped or that you don't have choices. It is important that parents know that they have the right to choose the education that they feel would be best for their child.

REGISTERED HOMESCHOOLING

Before 1989, homeschooling in BC was not permissable. Homeschooling parents were put at risk of having their children fall into the hands of the Ministry of Social Services for teaching them home. The laws were changed in 1989 to include homeschooling as a legal education option that parents could choose for their children. Homeschooling was placed under the Ministry of Education. Click here for BC School Act. The child must be registered at either the local public school, a Distance Education school, a Distributed Learning Program or an Independent school located anywhere in the Province, it does not have to be in the local district. When registering as a homeschool student, you will provide the school with only the child's name, address, phone, and birthdate. Every student in BC must be either registered as a homeschool student or enroled in a school program by September 30th.

A child can begin homeschooling on a given day of the school year and may return back to school at any time.

The parent is responsible to provide "a set of learning" to their child. The learning program can be whatever the parent has chosen for the child. There is no obligation to follow BC learning outcomes or use BC approved resources. The parent is completely in charge of the program and is not accountable to a school authority. No testing is required and the school has no obligation to provide any resources to the parent/child unless they so choose, with the exception of testing if requested. The public school receives $250.00 per year and Independent schools receive $175.00 per year as an administration fee. There are no funds designated from the Ministry of Education for registered homeschool students. There are however some Independent schools in BC that offer some funds towards learning materials for homeschoolers. Click here for a list of homeschool supportive schools.

Because the school authority does not oversee the learning program the student receives no official report card. Homeschool students can enter school on any day of the year and can be taken out to homeschool on any day of the year. Not having a report card does not hinder the child from going back to school. They will likely not be tested and parents do not have to submit their child to testing. The child will be placed into the grade that is age appropriate. The graduation years of grade 10-12 may be a little more complicated since students must have evidence of required courses, credits and graduation exams for each of these grades. There is however a challenge and equivilency process in place that can be considered.

DISTANCE EDUCATION

There are regional Distance Education Centers in BC that provide the BC Provincial Curriculum FREE of charge to BC residents. The program is delivered either in paper based modules, mailed to the student to complete and return for grading or a computer based program with the students working online. Students have one or more teachers involved in their learning and will receive a report card.

DISTRIBUTED LEARNING PROGRAMS

Ministry of Education list of Distributed Learning Programs

The Greater Vancouver Homelearners website also has a list of DL Programs with a description of services they offer.

"Registered Homeschooling" places the parent "in charge" of their child's learning, whereas "enrolling" means that the school the student is enroled in, is in charge. A BC certified teacher oversees their program and they are accountable to them for their learning and must take required exams and fullfill the requirements to receive a report card. Enroled students in a DL program must follow the BC Learning Outcomes that students in a brick and mortar school would, including all the core subjects, fine arts and PE. Each DL Program will offer it's own flavor and style, with combinations of online, paperbased or both. All DL Programs, whether public or independent must adhere to the same Ministry of Education guidelines in order to operate as a DL school. Some programs are more "creative" and open in their approach and expectations but all are audited routinely to ensure guidelines are met. Independent DL Programs may offer religious materials but not any of the public programs.

Students are reporting to their teacher weekly and submit a portfolio each reporting period showing evidence of learning for the teacher to access and prepare a report card.