Home Schooling Are you looking for a solution to the problems you see with the public school system? Have you considered home schooling? Parents choose to home school for a number of reasons. Some parents feel that the public school system doesn't address their spiritual values. Schools may teach ideas that are at odds with religious beliefs (i.e. creation vs. evolution). Children may have had bad experiences in the public school system. Many children suffer from schoolyard bullying or harassment. Some have experienced bad teachers or have fallen in with a bad crowd. Some parents opt out of the school system for political reasons. They may have a dislike for institutional settings of any kind, including hospitals, prisons, the military, large corporations and the public school system. Still others choose the home schooling option because they wish to maintain a close-knit family. These parents enjoy their children and do not want to "abandon" them to the school system for seven or eight hours a day. Home schooling has been portrayed as one of the benefits of a "working dad/stay-at-home-mom" situation, but any parent can home school whether a single parent or as part of a dual-income professional couple. Parents who home school range from certified teachers to high school dropouts. This type of schooling does not require any special training or credentials. For varying reasons, parents home school only some of their children, while other (very lucky) parents reap the benefits of grandparents who are willing and able to home school the children while the parents work. Home schooling is legal across Canada, although rules and regulations vary from province to province. The main requirements, beyond government regulation, are a love of your children and an enthusiasm for learning. For the nitty-gritty rules and regulations of home schooling, check out some of the home schooling Web sites listed below and contact the Department of Learning. Home schooling can be expensive if one focuses on pricey textbooks and materials that match those used in the classroom. Before there were schools as we know them, children learned from the world around them, and that method still offers an overabundance of learning opportunities. Most kids are avid learners. Human curiosity transcends the classroom. A wealth of free resources and programs exists. Parents who home school can take advantage of bargain-bin book finds at secondhand stores and explore the many outreach programs available at community libraries, museums and community centers. The Internet offers many educational sites and learning resources for parent-teachers and kids. Many libraries and video stores are good sources of educational films such as children's programs, documentaries and film adaptations of classic novels and plays. The main criticism of home schooling has been concern over the lack of socialization opportunities for the home-schooled child. Parents who home school would argue that it is specifically the negative aspects of socialization (peer pressure, bullying, etc.) that they have removed their children from. Some also argue that home schooling offers parents much more control over who their children socialize with and that home-schooled children benefit from exposure to people from many age groups and experiences. In any event, there are many opportunities outside the schoolyard for children to meet and interact with other children. Home-schooling parents can take advantage of outside classes (visual arts, acting, dance, music, etc.), participate in youth groups at church or temple, join organizations such as Scouts or Guides and foster friendships with neighbourhood children. A real concern for the home-schooling parent is the question of post-secondary education. A relatively small number of Canadian universities and colleges accept home schoolers. These students generally lack Grade 12 certification and may need to write special qualification exams before they will be considered for entry into a college or university. In many cases, these exams present little obstacle to a well-rounded home-schooled child, but parents should be aware of post-secondary options and requirements. For more information on home schooling, government requirements as well as home-schooling resources, check out the following Web sites: The Department of Learning Alberta Home Education Regulations The Alberta Distance Learning Centre (correspondence courses) The Home School Legal Defence Association of Canada Alberta Home Based Education (Resources and links) Home Education News (a bi-monthly B.C.-based newsletter) Home Education Magazine (U.S.-based) Canada's School Net (Resources and links) Wendy Priesnitz (Author of School Free: The Home Schooling Handbook; a leading figure on home schooling in Canada) Learn In Freedom Jon's Home School Resource page (Links galore!)