back-to-school
high school at home: options in Alberta Courses provide flexibility and personalization By Judy Arnall, BA, CCFE, DTM Do you have a child that needs to complete high school courses for their chosen career, but they require flexibility and personalization in their studies? Consider taking a high school program through home education. Children can home educate and receive supervised program funding up until they are 20 years old on September 1 of that year. The high school system is like a buffet. If one school board doesn’t offer a particular course title or format (live, online, or correspondence), students may take the course from another school board, or self-teach through home education by meeting the course outcomes posted on Alberta Education’s website. To receive a government issued Alberta High School Diploma, students must acquire at least 100 credits and meet the government requirements for credits by completing outcomes in certain courses. Be aware that contrary to what most people believe, a child doesn’t need to present an Alberta High School Diploma to achieve acceptance into a post-secondary school. For most universities and colleges, what is required for admission is the four Grade 12 core courses and an option. My son was in his second year of an engineering program at university when he finally got that last credit and received his Alberta High School Diploma. Consult the post-secondary school websites of the program your child is hoping to enter and note which courses are required. Then decide the best way to achieve the mark and credit. High school can follow several routes when you are home educating, depending on the child’s goals. As of 2020, home education can be done via two programs: The supervised home education program is • where a child notifies a willing, supervising, nonresident, home education supportive school board or independent school for the year and receives funding and high school course assessment. • The unsupervised home education program is where a parent notifies the government that the child is being educated without board supervision and receives no funding or assessment. Their are five routes for children looking for alternative ways to meet post-secondary admission requirements and/or finish their education at home:
40 • Find us on
ROUTE ONE – Traditional Home Education Available for: Supervised Home Education and Unsupervised Home Education programs. One route is to do a traditional, parent/studentdirected high school program that meets the 22 outcomes of the “Schedule of Learning Outcomes for Students Receiving Home Education Programs That Do Not Follow the Alberta Programs of Study,” or SOLO for short. Because the child is not meeting outcomes of high school courses from the Alberta Programs of Study, they will not receive a government issued High School Diploma or course credits. Some parents issue course marks and a transcript from their “family home-school” and/or the supervising school/ board may also issue a certificate of home education completion, but as this document is not issued by Alberta
Education, it may not be universally recognized. Check with the intended post-secondary institution to see if they accept parent-awarded diplomas. Will a diploma be awarded? No. Will my child get the courses required for university entrance? No. ROUTE TWO – Complete Just the Grade 12 Courses in a School Classroom or Online Available for: Supervised Home Education and Unsupervised Home Education programs. Another route is to learn at home on a traditional home education program (whether supervised or unsupervised) for Grades 1 to 11, and then take a school-taught Grade 12 course to get marks and credits retroactively. These courses will appear on an Alberta
