Alberta Homeschooling Association
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8 Myths about Alberta Home Education - Busted!
Teachers Strike Updated Information
This has just been announced by Alberta Education.
We have rewrote it in parent-speak, but we still have many unanswered questions in to the government. Bear with us!
Any child (grades K-12) currently registered in a public, Catholic or Francophone school is welcome to notify with an independent school for supervised home education (where parents procure resources, tutors, and worldwide online classes). Parents would receive half the home education funding of $450.50 per child per year for grades 1-12 once the strike begins on Oct 6th. Kindergarten funding would be $225.25
Alberta Education also temporarily lifted the 10 credit funded courses per year restriction on the distance education grant so students in high school can take more courses (at least the core subjects) from a distance education provider either online or correspondance.
If you were not sure to keep your kids in public or Catholic school and now wish to pull them from their public/Catholic school registration to Home Educate, the count day deadline is now lifted. You can notify for supervised, supportive, funded home education but only receive half the regular amount of $901 per child. You would now receive $450.50 per child, but also could claim the childcare amount of $150 per week. You would have to notify with an independent school and not a Public/Catholic or Charter board.
List of Independent Schools Willing to Supervise Home Education
You have the right to put your child back into public/Catholic/Francophone school once the strike is over, but your child may not be eligible to return to their school with a specialized program (such as French Immersion, etc.) But they will be guaranteed placement in a school.
Those parents who notified for funding/supported/supervised Home Education by the count date of Sept 29, 2025 are eligible for the full funding amount of $901 per child per year as always.
If you notified directly with the government by count date, you might be able to switch to funded, supported supervised home education now.
More info to come out in the following days!
Read the Government Announcement Here
Enrollment Statistics
Home Education now comprises over 3% of the school age population!
According to Alberta Education education enrollment statistics for 2024-2025, there were 24,158 Parent-Led Home Education students.
The evidence is in the numbers: Families LOVE Home Education! (not online, not teacher-directed correspondence, but parent-led home education).
Here are the statistics for this academic year:
Total Home Education were 24,158 students.
Of the total number, 2,274 were in a Shared Responsibility (part-time Home Education) program.
Of the total number, 486 students were in the Non-Funded Home Education program.
Taxpayers should love home education. Saving taxpayers about $12,000 classroom funding per year per home educated child, that works out to $289,896,000. Yes, you read that right - almost 290 million dollars saved with parental efforts teaching at home and in the community.
Surely, home education should get a resource funding boost that they have not received for 3 years in spite of inflation.
2024-2025 Home Education Alberta Statistics
Does Home Education Work?
Yes, it does. This comparison shows the top independent school in the province and the biggest home education high school authority with a comparison of the same grade 12 diploma exam marks. Home education clearly is effective and economical.
"Gave notice today regarding my kids online school. They were so excited to be returning to home education. I love seeing my kids happy about learning... Pulling my kids from school was the best decision we have ever made." - A Parent of 3 Children
Free Books for all Kindergarten, Grade 1, 2 and 3 Students in Alberta
2 books per package!
Chaiwala! by Priti Birla Maheshwari AND Violet Shrink by Christine Baldacchino
Provided by the TD Grade One Book Giveaway and The Canadian Children's Book Centre
Get yours while quantity lasts! The books are free but we need to mail them out to you at a cost of $5 for both books to cover postage, paypal fee, tape and packaging.
We also have a limited amount of French books. Please let us know if you would like the FRENCH print versions.
We also have 50 e-books to give out. Just email jarnall@shaw.ca for a copy of the free e-book - no post charges.
We also accept e-transfer to: albertahomeschooling@protonmail.com No password needed. Please give us your ship-to address.
Upcoming Webinars 2025
Don't miss out! Sign up for a Free Basic AHA Membership and get notified of all upcoming webinars in our quarterly newsletter!
Homeschooling 101
Wednesday August 27, 2025, 7 PM MDT Zoom
Come join us for an extensive session on understanding how home education works in Alberta.
There will be lots of time for a Q and A session on this most popular webinar of the year!
Presented by Krista Jorgensen and Cynthia Fehr
Home Education High School
Thursday Sept 18, 2025, 7 PM MDT Zoom
Come join us for an extensive session on understanding how home education high school works in Alberta. Online is not the only "at-home" option for high school! Yes, your child can most certainly earn a government diploma and/or credits on home education. Plus, its personalized and meaningful!
There will be lots of time for a Q and A session on this most interesting way to do high school and gain admissions to post-secondary schools.
Presented by Judy Arnall and Golda David
Homeschooling 101
Monday Sept 22, 2025, 7 PM MDT Zoom
Come join us for an extensive session on understanding how home education works in Alberta.
There will be lots of time for a Q and A session on this most popular webinar of the year!
Presented by Cynthia Fehr, Krista Jorgensen and Judy Arnall (High School)
UCA Unschooling Info Session
Wednesday Sept 24, 2025, 11 AM MDT 1PM EDT Zoom
Come join us for a quick overview of "Unschooling" in Canada and an extensive "learner-centred" Q and A session over zoom!
Unschooling is where children self-direct their learning and curiosity becomes the curriculum. No motivation problems ever! Parents and children love learning when it is consensual, personalized and embedded in everyday life.
Presented by Judy Arnall, homeschooling parent of 5 unschooled university students/grads.
How to Teach for Each Child's Age and Stage
Monday Oct 6, 2025, 7 PM MST
In this webinar, we will outline children's brain development stages and discover how they learn best for each age and stage.
We will cover ages 4-8 Div1, ages 9-12 Div2, and ages 13-15 Div3 as well as ages 16-18 high school
Presented by Judy Arnall and Cynthia Fehr
UCA Unschooling Info Session
Thursday October 9, 2025, 11 AM MDT 1 PM EDT Zoom
Come join us for a quick overview of "Unschooling" in Canada and an extensive "learner-centred" Q and A session over zoom!
Unschooling is where children self-direct their learning and curiosity becomes the curriculum. No motivation problems ever! Parents and children love learning when it is consensual, personalized and embedded in everyday life.
Presented by Judy Arnall, homeschooling parent of 5 unschooled university students/grads.
Homeschooling Kindergarten and the Primary Years (Grades 1-3)
Wedsnesday October 22, 2025, 7 PM MDT Zoom
In this webinar, learn about the many hands-on ways that children can learn pre-math, pre-reading and basic social skills, while maintaining the fun and play of young childhood. We will compare what Kindergarten looks like in the classroom versus Home Education. We will also explore ways to make the early years learning fun and hands-on. Bring your questions! We have answers!
Presented by Golda David, Krista Jorgensen and Cynthia Fehr
Join Our Coffee and Conversation Online Facilitated Topic Group
Monday November 3, 2025, 7 PM MST Zoom
Theme: Motivating Reluctant Learners
Come join us for an enjoyable evening sharing tips, information, support, strategies and friendship!
Join Our Coffee and Conversation Online Facilitated Topic Group
Monday November 17, 2025, 7 PM MST Zoom
Theme: Handling Family Sceptics
Come join us for an enjoyable evening sharing tips, information, support, strategies and friendship!
UCA Unschooling Info Session
Thursday November 27, 2025, 7 PM MST 9 PM EST Zoom
Come join us for a quick overview of "Unschooling" in Canada and an extensive "learner-centred" Q and A session over zoom!
Unschooling is where children self-direct their learning and curiosity becomes the curriculum. No motivation problems ever! Parents and children love learning when it is consensual, personalized and embedded in everyday life.
Presented by Judy Arnall, homeschooling parent of 5 unschooled university students/grads.
Unschooling (Child-Directed Learning) the SOLO Outcomes in Home Education
Monday December 1, 2025, 7 PM MST Zoom
Come join us for an extensive session on understanding how self-directed (unschooling) home education works in Alberta. In Unschooling, children learn everything they need to know, through interest-based play, projects and life's hands on experiences rather than bookwork curriculum.
There will be lots of time for a Q and A session on this most popular topic.
Presented by Judy Arnall (parent of 5 universty accepted unschoolers and Golda David
Parents Professional Development Webinar: Helping Your Teen and Tween with Living with Anxiety and/or Depression
Wednesday Sept 17, 2025 7 PM MDT Zoom
In this webinar, we will...
Discover ways that parents can help tweens and teens with everyday handling of anxiety and depression
This webinar is based on current brain research.
Presented by Judy Arnall, BA, CCFE, Parenting and Brain Health Educator for 25 years previously with AHS and University of Calgary, Continuing Education
Presented by Professional Parenting Canada
Parents Professional Development Webinar: The Good News Science on Screen Time
Thursday October 2, 2025 7 PM MDT Zoom
In this webinar, we will...
Discover the brain science of when children learn self-control and can begin modulating their own screen time use.
Identify the current research on how addictions manifest and why excessive screen time will not lead to addictive behaviour in warm and nurturing families.
List the many ways how parents can help scaffold healthy screen time, social media and and healthy gamer habits including a non-punitive family phone contract.
Distinguish between punishment and problem-solving and become aware of how punishment hurts the parent-child relationship needed to keep kids safe online.
Practice the 6-step problem-solving method for resolving contentious family screen time issues.
We will also cover the many benefits of screen time.
This webinar is based on current brain research.Presented by Judy Arnall, BA, CCFE, Certified Parenting and Brain Health Educator for 25 years previously with AHS and University of Calgary, Continuing Education
Presented by Professional Parenting Canada
The Happy Homeschooling Handbook - Alberta Edition
Considering homeschooling your child? Yes, you can! This 120 page book contains everything you need to homeschool in Alberta.
NEW! Includes a package of either grade 1-9 sample home education plans and/or grade 10-12 course proposal/summary templates
Credible information, regulations, responsibilities, how-to, tips and a whole lot of encouragement. You got this!
"An incredible, helpful resource! My husband loved it."- A Happy Reader
All net proceeds go to the Alberta Homeschooling Association to cover costs and keep our membership free!
"I would encourage it as "required reading" for all families new to homeschooling. It was so amazingly informative and answers 99% of the questions that pop up on this site. Very well written, the best money I've spent in a long time! Everyone even considering homeschooling should own a copy." - Homeschooling Parent
Print Book $23.95 plus $6.00 shipping
Did You Know?
Diploma Home educated children absolutely can go to post-secondary colleges and universities. Section 6 of the Home Education regulations ensure students can apply for credits to earn an Alberta Government high school diploma.
Post-secondary schools do not know whether applicants are home educated or school students because there are no indications of study methods on the government transcript.
All the major universities across Canada do not require a high school diploma for entrance. Applicants need only to apply with 5 grade 12 subjects: math, English, Social Studies, Science and 1 option. Three of these courses are stand alone and can be taken by anyone without pre-requisites.
Exams Any student can write the grade 12 diploma exams without taking any courses or pre-requisites at age 19, and the exam mark stands for 100% of the final course mark. Diploma exams are only on grade 12 course content.
There is no testing on home education and no marks given.
No Penalty If you pull your child from school this year to home educate, you absolutely can register them next summer for the next grade in their school. There is no testing to determine which grade. Children go into the next grade based on their age. For example, if your child was in grade 2 last Spring, and you home educate for grade 3 this coming year, then next Fall, you would register them for grade 4 back at their school.
Children with special needs may access the same services provided through the school board, instead directly through AHS when on Home Education programs.
Choices Within the same school board or division, parents can move their children in and out of programs at any time in the school year. Parents can pull their child from the school-controlled program of online or classroom delivery and change programs to parent-controlled Home Education at any time of the year by sending in a Notification Form to the school. Parents can retrieve authority of their children's education at any time, however, after September 30th, they will not receive funding, resources or school board support.
In addition, all parents may register their child back into the school controlled classroom programs at any time of the year, if they decide that home education is not for them. All publicly funded resident schools must accept all children in their catchment area. "Schools of Choice" whether resident or non-resident schools including French Immersion, TLC, arts-based programs etc may refuse your child's placement back in, and direct you to register your child with the local resident public school.
Parents can choose from 3 programs: Distance Education (school-controlled), Home Education (parent-controlled), or Shared Responsibility (part school and part parent).
Online school courses fall under the category of distance education and is school. It is not home education.
Distance education programs are marketed under a variety of names but they are all school controlled programs. Parents are support people just as they were during COVID-19 school-at-home arrangement, making sure their children do the school mandated "at-home learning". Just like homework, parents do not teach, assess, choose curriculum or assignements, make decisions or control any aspect of the program. Parent sign control over to the school who then has the "authority" of the child's education. Parents become the support role and ensure that assignments are done and the child is engaged.
Distance Education school programs are called: online, virtual, at-home learning, home-based, teacher-directed, paper-based, BlendED, aligned, and correspondance courses. Your child will have to complete 1400 targets per grade and spend quite a few hours per day online in these programs, just like school, because it is school in your living room. You are not responsible for their education on these programs because you hand it over to their Alberta certified teacher who delivers the instruction. You support your child to make sure they do the "homework". It is illegal for you to teach these programs.
Distance education and especially online courses only work for a limited number of extremely motivated students. They tend to not be a good fit for kinesthetic or young learners. Alberta Education does not recommend online education for children under grade 5.
In traditional, parent-directed home education, the parent is in charge, and in control of all decision-making, curriculum choices, scope and sequence, methodology, and assessment. Parents legally "regain" control, authority and responsiblity of their child's education from the school, who then becomes their support partner in their child's education. Parents decide what is taught, who teaches, when it is taught, where it is taught, how it is taught, and even if it is taught. Parents can easily provide the same or superior learning environment at home and out in the community as a school would with distance education.
Home educated children can learn three dimensionally and kinesthetically through experiences, field trips, travel, play, books, board games, videos, and hands-on activities. The education experience comes alive so the learning sticks in long-term memory. Many children do not learn through two dimensional online delivery.
Home educated children do not have to write any exams, but may if they want to. In fact, even school students don't have to write the PATs. (Provincial Acheivement Tests)
Home education takes a tenth of the time children spend in school. Compare the time it takes to host a formal dinner party for twenty people versus heating a microwave dinner for two. Both relieve hunger but one takes much more planning and delivery for a large number.
Capacity 90% of parents have the content expertise to teach their children (or answer their questions) up to a Grade 8 level without teacher's manuals. We aim to help parents regain their confidence that they had when home educating their babies, toddlers and preschoolers. Everyone home educates their child from birth until age 5 and most everyone can keep doing so.
By age 13, most students surpass their parents in current academic knowledge and can continue home education through high school via self-study, co-ops or with occasional tutor help. Parents do not have to teach. They choose home education in order to continue the general contracting of their child's education using a variety of resources.
Age 13 and up is a good time perhaps to begin online classes as children have the executive function development in teen-age development to concentrate more on screens and have the patience to sit longer for synchronous teaching and assignments.
Employment Continues Many parents work part-time and even full-time while home educating their children and outsource the facilitation of their child's education to another adult such as a tutor, free-lance teacher, another parent or childcare professional. Parents still retain the authority of their child's education.
Learning Guaranteed Until high school, literacy (reading and writing) and numeracy (arithmetic and math) are the most important skills to learn. Science, social studies, art, drama, physed and health are interest based. Most children self-teach reading, writing and math naturally just by living life, and just as most children learn to walk and talk on their own without direct instruction. All children are born curious and never stop learning. Even when school stops.
Flexibility Home education children do not have to learn the 1400 targets or outcomes per grade of the official Alberta Programs of Study (curriculum). Many of these outcomes overlap between subjects because they are repeated. Home education students can follow their interests and learn what they want in order to meet the 22 SOLO targets or outcomes of home education by age 20. (Even playing Minecraft will cover the 22 SOLO targets.) If they choose to write the grade 12 diploma exams, they can study the grade 12 course in order to write the exams.
There are no set attendance hours that children have to attend "home education."
No one is going to evaluate that your child is not learning the 22 SOLO or 1400 APS outcomes. You are the person responsible for your child's education and the school is there to offer support.
Many homeschoolers never finish a year (due to illness, travel opportunities, visitors, different plans, a move, a new baby or just plain old-fashioned procrastination,) and are missing covering the outcomes and they put their kids in the next grade in September and they do just fine.
Excellent Academics Home education is the only program where parents can outsource any of their child's education as they see fit. Parents do not have to teach. They are the ultimate decision-makers. Parents can outsource the teaching to caregivers, tutors, other parents in co-ops, or the learner via unschooling, online A-la-Carte courses, or online charter or micro-schools from anywhere in the world. Outsourcing the education program is only allowed on home education. When the teaching is outsourced, the course or school can easily meet the Alberta Education Requirements of covering the 22 outcomes of the SOLO program plan or the 1400 outcomes of the APS program plan.
Evidence Home Education is an Excellent Education The most unbiased form of evidence that parent-led Home Education works is the grade 12 Diploma Exam Results. Every student in the province, whether home educated, virtual or in a classroom, who wants a diploma must write the same exam at the same time on the same day, supervised by a government hired person. The exam supervisors open the exams at the same time that the student does. The provincial average mark for the core course grade 12 diploma exams in classroom and online high schools was 67% in 2019 which is the last year the public has access to statistics. The only school that we can use for figures was a sole home-education serving school because they didn't have classroom students, virtual students or Shared Responsibility students (which are all school programs-not home education) writing the exams, that would obfuscate the results because they are teacher-taught, not parent/student taught. The 138 students writing diploma exams in 2019 were all home education children and many of those children used curriculum that was not AB ED approved. The average mark of the 138 students over 8 core course grade 12 diploma exams was 74%, beating the provincial average by 7 percent! Way to go home education! This is only one measurable example. Hundreds of home educated grade 12 students write the exams, under their school boards, but their results are not separated by the province for comparison purposes between teacher-taught and parent-taught.
Our current Alberta curriculum (Programs of Study) is 13 to 20 years old. Children learn 1 hour of coding per year. Children deserve an up-to-date education that parents and the internet's resources can provide without waiting years before the new government curriculum goes through piloting and approval processes.
Education Disrupted Home education students are borderless and can learn from any resource, any where, any time, any place and any way. In fact, children are never not learning.
Evidence shows that the earlier and longer children spend time in formal education (16 years when pre-school begins at age 2), the less likely they will be to go on to post-secondary schools. Children immersed in an internet-enabled world do not need 16 years of formal education to become educated citizens. They co-create their learning from many sources as soon as they can talk.
Funding In Alberta, home education provides each child $901.00 per year for grades 1-12 and $450.50 per year Kindergarten in reimbursement-for-supplies and lessons funding to offset the cost of resources. A child needs to be signed up with a school authority partner by the last business day in Sept. to access the funding.
Excellent Socialization Research indicates that homeschooled children are involved in 8 community activities per week. Home educated children meet and socialize with a greater diversity of people and friends in the community than school children who are age-graded. Home educated children meet friends in the neighborhood, through sports, lessons, field trips, facebook group arranged activities, church, and community activities such as Girl Guides, 4H, Triathalon, etc.
Bullying is almost rare in home education because of the adult-child ratio. Bullying is a form of toxic stress that can impair the development of childhood brain architecture.
Home educated children own their education and do not need to be "entertained" or "kept occupied." This skill is the beginning of independent learning that is valuable for post-secondary success.
Many parents tell us that they are discovering how much more confident and curious their children are at home. Bullying is gone. Many parents are discovering that their children were behind at school and now they have caught up. We are hearing everyday how relaxed and joyful learning has become for many reluctant learners. If you want to continue this, you have come to the right place!
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Helpful News Articles
Calgary's Child Magazine - Education Choices
Global - How to Homeschool in Alberta
Global - Alternatives to Classroom Learning: Homeschooling
2020 Todays Parent Magazine "5 Ways Unschooling Promotes Creativity"
2019 Todays Parent Magazine "11 Academic Benefits of Unschooling"
2019 Todays Parent Magazine "Nurturing Curiosity With Unschooling"
Home Education FAQ
The Basic Info on Home Education
Who we are...
Alberta Homeschooling Association is a non-profit community of people interested in homeschooling and home-based education in Alberta. Welcome! We are pro-education and believe that academic and social learning occurs outside the four "B"s of school systems: buildings, buses, budgets and bottoms-in-seats. School is only one way to acquire an education. There are many others ways to learn and home education is a valid method which enhances children's innate love of learning. We beleive the choice in education are funded choices. We beleive that in the best interests of children, students should be funded, instead of systems.
Welcome to close relationships, passionate learning, and personalized, bully-free education.
Alberta Homeschooling Association: Our Mission
Alberta Homeschooling Association provides support, how-to information and government/school board advocacy in order to grow homeschooling and home education in the Province of Alberta.
Alberta Homeschooling Association: Our Vision
Alberta Homeschooling advocates for equitable, sustainable funding and reduced regulation for home education. Our vision is that all children should enjoy education opportunities regardless of where, when, how and who provides the learning environment. We seek the same opportunities, resources and supports for homeschoolers and home education that school children already enjoy. All children's best interests come first. We believe that teachers are education professionals in the classroom and parents are educational professionals in the home. We believe parents have the capacity to teach their children from baby stage to grade 12 and just need to regain the confidence in their abilities that 150 years of media, government and union advertising has taken away.
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We are a grassroots community that runs on donations. We do not charge a membership fee for funding. We are all volunteers that welcome your gift your financial gift to keep this site free from advertising. We also need to fund our webinar platform, newsletter, and other costs of communication and advocacy.
We advocate for families and caregivers and do not receive funding or support from school authorities or government to avoid conflict of interests.
All donations go directly to Alberta Homeschooling Association to enable our free support and programming. We are a registered non-profit society in Alberta, but are unable to issue charitable tax receipts until we reach charitable organization status.
Thank you from the bottom of our hearts!
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Article 26 Universal Declaration of Human Rights
1. Everyone has the right to education. Education shall be free, at least in the elementary and fundamental stages.
2. Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.
3. Parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children.
Parents have the right and responsibility to raise their children as they see fit within the laws of the Country. They either keep the responsibility to educate and home educate them themselves (or via global outsourcing), or they loan them to schools 30 hours a week where schools act "in loco parentis" (in place of parents)in order to educate them. Our children are ours to raise, not the state.
Education Act Preamble 2020
WHEREAS parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that may be provided to their children;
WHEREAS the Government of Alberta recognizes public schools, separate schools, Francophone schools, private schools, charter schools, early childhood services programs and home education programs as being valued and integral in providing choice in education to students and parents;
US Supreme Court 1979
That some parents "may at times be acting against the interests of their children" creates a basis for caution, but it is hardly a reason to discard wholesale those pages of human experience that teach that parents generally do act in the child's best interest. … The statist notion that governmental power should supersede parental authority in all cases because some parents abuse and neglect children is repugnant to American tradition.
Education Act, Dec 2019, Section 32 A parent has the prior right to choose the kind of education that should be provided to the parent's child, and has the responsibility to act as the primary guide and decision-maker with respect to the child's education.