Homeschooling option

By Melissa Piche Times Contributor

With back to school right around the corner, parents are feverishly scrambling to do all the last-minute preparations.

For homeschooler Jennifer Keeling and her family, preparing for back to school looks just a little bit different. 

Keeling has been homeschooling her three children (24, 20 and 15) for 19 years, with only one of her children currently in school, as her oldest children have since graduated. 

However, Keeling is well-versed on what needs to be done to prepare for the upcoming school year. 

“In terms of back to school, the thing people have to do is register with a homeschool board or notify the government that they are going to homeschool,” she said. 

From there, Keeling explains, the parents have to present a program plan and that needs to be submitted to their facilitator who is a certified teacher. 

“And then you pick your curriculum based on what you said your plan is going to be and what your goals are for homeschooling,” she said.

Once Keeling figures out a curriculum, then she has to start looking for the books and material for the year. 

The Education Act in Alberta requires children ages 6-16 to attend school, whether that be homeschooling, virtually or in person. That is why it is imperative to register with a homeschool board. 

Keeling said there are two main things people need to establish for homeschool prep. First, the formal homeschool board, this has the regulations with the government where they (the homeschool board) write the reports on what your kids are learning. Second is the more informal or social groups where you gather to have sports, social time, art classes and participate in field trips if you wish. 

“A good idea for a lot of people is to have a support group,” Keeling explained. “Then they offer advice and they can tell people what to do.” 

When COVID-19 hit, many parents were faced with having to navigate the idea of assisting in their children’s education from home. This prompted many people to explore the idea of homeschool going forward. 

“With COVID there was a lot of new homeschoolers – (a) huge, huge increase,” said Keeling.

When she first began homeschooling, she said in her group there were between 10 and 15 families, now there are over 50. 

Keeling has a degree in education; whether this has helped her homeschool is debatable. 

“I think in some ways I had to let go of some of that and relax a bit for homeschooling so that we could have a bit more freedom with how they learn,” she said. “There are lots of moms that don’t have degrees in education and that are awesome homeschoolers.”

One of the perks of homeschooling, from Keeling’s perspective, is the freedom it allows her and her children. 

“We can gradually ease into it throughout September,” she said. “A lot of the deadlines for having your program plan done or (being) registered with your homeschool board are at the end of September so you can gradually ease into things, which is really nice.” 

Being able to set your own schedule and your own pace is another bonus to the homeschooling community. 

It’s hard to lay out a typical school day for the Keeling family as one day could be filled with activities for most of the day, so there may not be a lot of book work. Then there are days where they sit down and do the core courses with reading, writing and math, for example. 

Families who choose to homeschool are eligible for funding from the government to purchase curriculum materials, supplies, computers, admission to museums and lessons, for example. 

Some good resources for anyone who is thinking about homeschooling can be found on social media or the Government of Alberta website for homeschool information (alberta.ca/home-education).