 Introduction
This year, parents have been challenged more than ever by the strain of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many families have decided to pull their kids from traditional schooling because they’re worried about outbreaks. Depending on the province, they may have connected with a distance-learning hub or have had very little support. We’ve created this guide to help parents across Canada who are considering taking the leap to homeschool! We’ve provided an overview of the different homeschool offerings for each province, as each varies greatly. We’ve provided links to each province’s guidelines, as well as a series of Canadian resources. Before deciding to homeschool, we believe it is valuable to know what support is available for both the parent as an educator and their learner! At Beyond Learning, we recognize homeschooling’s value for many Canadian kids and the need for support for struggling students. We offer courses that are both live and flexible in subjects that may be harder for parents to tackle. For example, we provide lessons in areas such as chemistry, paragraph development, and exponent rules. As more parents choose to homeschool their children, making sure they’re supported is essential! How does homeschooling work in each province? Homeschooling is a legal option in Canada, and each province varies in its delivery of educational opportunities. For whatever reason you decide to homeschool your child, each region is more than willing to accommodate, and some offer a variety of flexible options depending on your needs. As each province is unique, we’ll go over their offerings individually in the following sections. British Columbia British Columbia offers a few different styles of learning for its residents. Compared to other provinces, it is the most inclusive schooling portfolio with significant funding available depending on how you choose to educate your child and the school district you live in. They classify their education under three different categories for alternative/homeschooling: Traditional Homeschooling The Ministry of Education in British Columbia describes traditional homeschooling as education managed by a parent or guardian and is done independently of the school system. There’s no oversight: children do not need to follow the government’s learning outcomes, and a certified teacher is not involved in their learning. While the government does not supervise you, you’ll need to register your child for homeschooling through the Ministry. You can contact a public school in your district to learn more about the registration process and how they can help you. If you choose to homeschool your child through the traditional method, they will not receive a Dogwood diploma, the standard high school graduation certificate. However, if they complete high school credits through distributed learning or another alternative schooling, they can receive an adult graduation certificate. Additionally, students can take courses through distributed education from grades 10-12 without losing their homeschooling status! Distributed Learning (enrolled) Distributed Learning (DL) is what British Columbia calls distance education. You can have your child complete Ministry-approved courses that count towards the Dogwood diploma. Your child is considered enrolled in the district under a DL school and supervised by a certified teacher. You’ll need to follow the BC learning outcomes when designing your child’s schedule. DL learning has a lot of potential for parents who are nervous about sending their kids back to school in person or want to offer more flexible learning. Students are also eligible for funding (the amount depends on the district). Blended Learning (enrolled) Blended learning is flexible, offering students the opportunity to do in-person classes some days and online learning on the others. If your child needs additional in-person support, this is an excellent option as it cuts down on the long hours in school and allows parents to register their kids in the trickier sessions. Blended learning is enrolled and not considered to be homeschooling in the traditional sense. Like distributed learning, students are supervised and need to hit the Ministry’s education targets. Alberta Home Education Home Education is like Traditional Homeschooling in British Columbia. Parents are 100% responsible for the procurement of educational materials and their child’s learning. There may be some support from the “associate board” (also referred to as a willing board), but parents ultimately decide for their children. There’s funding available for parents to purchase resources, but we’d recommend checking with your school board as it may vary. Distance Education Distance education is the same as it is in British Columbia. Students complete courses designed by the Ministry and are under the supervision of a teacher. This option is excellent for students who wish to be more flexible in their schooling and families who are not ready to send their kids back to in-person learning. Shared Responsibility The school teaches a percentage of education, and the other portion is done at home and negotiated by each family. It helps students who may need some school support but can’t pull the long hours in classrooms. It allows for flexibility and lets kids go in only for the courses that they need the extra help. The student will need to follow the learning outcomes of Alberta’s Ministry of Education. An Important Note: The following provinces offer minor support in terms of homeschooling. If you live in these provinces, it is essential to make sure you’re fully committed to homeschooling, have a budget for resources, and that content is available that aligns with your educational goals! Manitoba Home education is easy to start in Manitoba - all you need to do is submit a letter to the government disclosing education’s commencement. Some homeschooling sites recommend informing the school you pull your child from to be aware that they’re no longer attending. One important thing to note is that if you decide to homeschool, there’s no funding or curricula available unless your child has a disability or medical condition that makes in-class schooling difficult. The resources available for students with disabilities are online courses that are the same content that they teach in schools. Other families have the option of accessing this content for a fee. Saskatchewan When a parent informs the school board of their intent to homeschool, they must submit an educational plan for their child and provide 30 days notice. We recommend keeping a portfolio of your child’s progress as you’ll need to submit a summary of their progress at the end of the year. There’s some funding available, but it varies per district. Ontario Parents need to submit a letter of their intent to homeschool and forward a copy to their child’s school as a courtesy. The government does not get involved beyond this, and no funding is available. Quebec Parents inform the minister and school board of their intent to homeschool and need to submit an outline of their learning plan. A minister’s representative will follow-up at some point in the year to check on progress, and a year-end summary will need to be submitted. There’s no funding available. New Brunswick New Brunswick offers a handy infographic that highlights the rights and responsibilities of homeschooling parents in the province. One key takeaway is that parents will need to submit their request to homeschool and keep detailed records of their child’s progress throughout the year. There’s no finding available. Newfoundland and Labrador In Newfoundland & Labrador, you’ll need approval from the Director of Education within the school district in order to homeschool your child. Additionally, you’ll have to seek this approval yearly. If you’re approved to homeschool, your child is registered through their local school and textbooks are provided to them free of charge. PEI According to the Canadian Homeschooler, PEI is the most relaxed around homeschooling children. As a result a vibrant community is available for those who choose to educate their child at home! A form is filled out that informs the district of your intent to teach at home, and the parent is completely responsible for their education and testing. If you wish to follow the provincial curriculum you’re supposed to contact the district for further instructions. Nova Scotia In Nova Scotia, the parents must register their child annually for homeschooling and provide documentation of their age. They must also produce an annual report in June of their children’s progress. Finding Resources and Curriculums for Homeschooling For Canadian parents, finding vital resources to educate their children can be a real challenge. We believe that finding Canadian content is essential to homeschoolers’ education. It is more cost-effective, relevant to the country they live in and lets them connect with content creators that may be local to them! Social studies/history, science and math are essential as content from other countries won’t match. In this section, we’ll compile a list of Canadian resources that parents can use to homeschool their children. If we’re unable to find a reputable curriculum, we’ll replace it with an American counterpart. Subject Areas Before we go over the resources that you can access, We’ll first list the different standard subjects in school as reference: 1 - Language Arts/English 2 - Mathematics 3 - Science 4 - Technology 5 - Social Studies 6 - Health 7 - Career Development 8 - French 9 - Music 10 - Art 11 - Physical Education Websites to Order From and Free Resources We’ve compiled a list of Canadian resources - perfect for getting started on homeschooling! Canadian Home Education Resources (CHER) CHER offers resources in all core subjects: science, math, history/geography, and language arts. They also go a step farther and offer electives as well. They’re a great starting point to finding the resources your child will need to learn at home. Some exciting elective options available are leadership, economics, gardening, cooking and music. Homeschool Canada Homeschool Canada has a collection of resources that you can find in Surrey, BC. They offer an impressive array of books and even digital downloads - making learning more accessible across the country. Some of the vast array of content to order from include computers and coding, critical thinking, LGBTQ+, and the core subjects listed above. BC Hydro If you live in British Columbia, BC Hydro (a crown corporation) offers courses and information for students K-12 on sustainability and climate change. It is free and aligned with Ministry educational requirements! Donna Ward/Northwoods Press Donna Ward is a well-known Canadian social studies program with a variety of courses geared towards homeschooling families. They also offer various Canadian history books, and their programming is perfect for students of all ages! Kaleeka Press Kaleeka Press is the one-stop-shop for language! They have materials in both French and Spanish and encompass 20 units spread over four books and CDs and develop content that parents can incorporate at any age. Kids Can Press Kids Can Press is not Canadian but offers a great selection of books about animals, space travel and Canadian history for kids up to 15 years of age. Pearson Canada Pearson Canada offers the most text-based resources for the most significant number of subject areas than the other publishers on our list. They’re the resource often relied on by schools, so their content is helpful if you want to follow some of the Ministry’s guidelines. They also offer textbooks and curriculums for Advanced Placement programs and the International Baccalaureate program. Beyond Learning Beyond Learning offers curricula in STEM subjects (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) as well as language arts lessons that are flexible depending on your child’s needs. We have two teaching styles: live and flexible. A teacher teaches the live classes through a webinar, which allows your child to ask questions and get help on the spot. The flexible sessions give your child the freedom to work when they want to while still having extra support. Having this choice allows students to choose more help if they need it or less oversight if they work at their own pace. Conclusion In this article, we went over the different homeschool opportunities to parents in each province and the kinds of supports that are available. We provided links to each region’s policy page for further reading and a list of Canadian resource websites that contain essential products for your child’s learning. Finding Canadian content and support can be difficult, and we recognise that parents want to ensure their children have education that’ll set them up for success. By providing this guide, we hope you’ll feel more confident deciding on homeschooling or distance learning for your child. At Beyond Learning, we understand the importance of giving the best content for your child and their needs. This is why we’ve worked hard to develop course materials that go beyond the textbooks you can order online. By creating pre-recorded and live lessons with teacher supervision, we hope to provide robust curricula to parents who may need a hand teaching their kids some of these advanced concepts. Our list of available courses is always changing and expanding! Check out our online lesson list to see what’s currently available, or get in touch with us if there’s a course you’d love to see!  Introduction
Chemistry is a subject that can be engaging and fun with the right curriculum. However, finding the perfect course package can be challenging! Homeschooling parents often want to step beyond what takes place in the classroom, but where do you begin? There are pages of learning outcomes for every subject, but it’s essential to make sure that it embodies the spirit of homeschooling and other types of supplemental learning. That’s why in this article, we’ve focussed on the soft skills that you develop when learning chemistry. Building your lesson plans around these critical skillsets means your child will feel more confident to handle the challenges of any subject in university! In the area of each soft skill, we’ve defined the learning outcomes described by British Columbia’s curriculum plans for both Chemistry 11 and 12 as they were the most updated. We’ve also provided resource options for each section to build your student’s curiosity and passion for chemistry! Finally, we offer links to the curriculum outcomes for each province, where you’ll find links for textbooks that teach the “hard skills” - the facts and theories that your child should learn for each grade. At Beyond Learning, we understand the challenges of getting your child set up for success in homeschooling, especially in Canada, where fewer options are available. Not only that, the pandemic makes connecting with the homeschooling community incredibly difficult. We want to help make things easier for you and your learner! From now until June 30th, 2021, we’re offering free, online on-demand prep courses to get ready for the next school year. These courses come with lessons, worksheets and the ability to get in touch with an instructor if you need extra support. This offer is perfect for student enrichment, homeschooling and flexible learning and will help get your child set up for success in the next school year. Developing “Soft Skills” Focus has shifted in provincial curriculum guidelines to emphasize soft skills - these are the skills that are most transferable into other aspects of life. From communication and planning to questioning and analyzing, chemistry is rife with opportunities to help develop students’ critical thinking for university. This section will detail the different soft skill outcomes as described by British Columbia’s curriculum outcomes. We chose their resources as it’s most readily available, current, and detailed for parents looking to build their child’s coursework. We’ll describe their measurements of success in more detail and go over some resources that can help foster growth in each area. Questioning and Predicting By Chemistry 11, students should begin to develop intellectual curiosity about a scientific topic or problem. This could be at any level: a personal issue, a community objective, or a global crisis. Exploration into these issues leads to observations: how can these issues be solved? Through the scientific method, you help guide your child through increasingly abstract questions and comments about the natural world. For example, starting with a question like “what are the main contributors to global warming?” students can go down a path that develops theories around renewable energy resources and the social/cultural consequences of these changes. Finally, after their explorations, students are expected to formulate hypotheses and predict multiple outcomes. This skill takes the abstract questions learners may have about the world around them and converts them into a workable experiment where they can determine whether their predictions were correct. If they weren’t, they could then decide what may have contributed to the experiment’s outcome. Resources These skills can be tough to develop through a textbook and distance learning alone. So how can your child spark their interest in chemistry that leads to these explorations? You can start by getting your family involved in different interests and hobbies in the community. From these entry points, your children can learn more about what they find interesting and use it to develop theories and solutions surrounding the issues in their subject area. Here are a few different outings that can spark interest in chemistry and exploration into the natural world: 1 - Salmon Hatchery 2 - Bird Sanctuary (If you’re local to BC, there’s one in Richmond!) 3 - Trips to the forest to identify plant and mushroom species (find books here) 4 - Gardening! Look online for a variety of community gardens and learn from pros about soil mixes and PH levels 5 - Owning a fish tank (maintenance requires chemical testing and balancing, even at a small size!) Planning and Conducting The planning and conducting category refers to the actual development of scientific experiments. British Columbia’s Ministry of Education indicates that by Grade 11, students should take the “hard skills” learned in earlier years of science classes to develop their experiments both in a group and individually. Learners should be familiar with the scientific method and use it to create, plan and collect reliable data (qualitative and quantitative) to create a helpful study. The essential part of this skill set recognizes the impacts the experiments can have on the environment and the community where they conduct the study. Students who develop these skills are ready for university, where they’ll need to reflect on the ramifications of their research in every class they take. Resources You can start building these skills without conducting elaborate experiments. One way we’d recommend getting students thinking about the impacts of research is to pull news articles that talk about recent studies and ask the following questions: 1 - Why was this study conducted? 2 - Who would benefit from this research? 3 - Can you find any potential problems with the data? 4 - What is the impact this research has on the surrounding community? If you’re ready to go beyond the planning stages and conquer some home chemistry experiments, you’ll need to invest in equipment. Luckily, there are many kits out there that make things easier and more affordable for parents. Here are a few great places to start: Switched-On Schoolhouse Lab Kit (SOS) This kit has everything you need to get your child set up to conduct experiments at home. There’s also a curriculum book that you can add to help maximize the use of the equipment. Additionally, the website that carries the Lab Kit - Home Science Tools, has over 75 products meant for students in upper-level chemistry that help them explore and carry out experiments in many different areas of interest! Green Teacher The Green Teacher has various free lesson plans that get students outside that also use minimal lab equipment. If you want access to more resources, they offer quarterly newsletters, books and a podcast. Processing and Analyzing Data and Information Processing and analyzing data doesn’t take place in just the classroom! According to the learning outcomes for chemistry, students should bring in other ways of knowing and local knowledge as sources of information, emphasizing First Peoples perspectives. After they’ve analyzed community perspectives, they’ll combine it with their data analysis. Some ways they can describe data include graphing, charts and quantitative analysis. They can use this to identify patterns. From these patterns, your learner will need to combine the community perspectives and knowledge with their quantitative data to reach reasonable conclusions about the experiment they conducted. Evaluating Under the learning outcomes described for Chemistry 11 and 12, the term “evaluating” covers critical thinking both inside and outside the classroom when building a well-rounded program for your child. Addressing actual world application of student learning can help your child see where they can use chemistry skills outside of their lessons. Within the classroom, learners should understand the process of their experiments. Could there be errors? Are there better ways to collect data? Evaluating also includes the nature of their experimental conditions and data quality. From these decisions, students need to conclude whether their study was valid and discuss their biases. As students learn and explore, they need to demonstrate consideration of the changes in their knowledge and connect this to future careers and areas of development. While they work through problems, they need to analyze the social, ethical and environmental implications of the findings from their experiments and those of other researchers. Resources Teaching data analysis and evaluation at home is no easy task. Luckily, there’s a lot of fantastic, free resources out there to help support you! Khan Academy Khan Academy offers free instruction on all sorts of math concepts, and teachers recommend it to support learners through challenging content. We’ve added the link for their statistics courses, but there’s a wealth of knowledge available! BC Open Textbook BC teachers created this resource to connect students with high-quality, free textbook resources. We’ve linked the statistics section, but there are several other great offerings as well. BioInteractive BioInteractive offers data and free experiments to help students visualize statistical data and draw conclusions. Core Concepts: Chemistry Education Outcomes for Grades 11 and 12 There are a lot of education outcomes for students learning chemistry in Grades 11 and 12. Instead of going through each province’s requirements, we’ve put together a list of links here so you can access their information. British Columbia - Grade 11 and Grade 12 Quebec - not available Alberta Newfoundland and Labrador - Grade 11 and Grade 12 Manitoba - Grade 11 and Grade 12 Nova Scotia - Grade 11 and Grade 12 Saskatchewan - Physical Science 20 and Chemistry 30 Prince Edward Island - Grade 11 and Grade 12 Ontario - Complete Science Curriculum Conclusion This article went over the soft skills that students are to develop in higher-level chemistry courses. We believe that by emphasizing these skill areas, homeschooling parents can visualize course content for their learners and step outside the textbook. We also provided both free and paid resources for parents to use for each area of skill development. Chemistry education is essential for students wanting to head into college or university, regardless of whether they wish to pursue science further. For parents, developing lessons that hold their child’s interest can be challenging. We know that keeping learners supported and ready to learn is a difficult task! At Beyond Learning, we want to make it easier for Canadian parents to find the information they need to support and educate their kids. That’s why we offer flexible learning opportunities in a broad range of school subjects such as English, Chemistry, Mathematics and Physics. In addition to these offerings, we’re also allowing parents to check out our content by giving free on-demand courses for the rest of the school year! One of our featured on-demand courses is Chemistry 11, a class covering seven units: Introduction, Matter, Atomic Theory, Stoichiometry/Mole, Chemical Naming, Chemical Reactions, and Solutions. You can sign up for a free, limited-time, all-access account so you can see where we can fit into your homeschooling plan. Check out our on-demand page to get started! |
