How to home school in Ontario

How to home school in Ontario
Old grandmother helping granddaughter while studying at home. Senior teacher helping little girl student with homework. Elementary student doing homework at grandma's house after school.

Whether you’re thinking about homeschooling in Ontario or are already doing so, this article will give you essential homeschooling information.

 

What is homeschooling?

Homeschooling allows parents to educate their children at home rather than send them to a public or private school.

Regardless of the tutor‘s qualifications, a child can be taught by their parent, guardian, or a private tutor. To educate your child at home, you do not need to be a certified teacher or have any home school credentials.

The success of homeschooling is determined by your child’s learning style. If they excel in a school’s highly sociable, regulated environment or struggle to push themselves, they may find homeschooling more challenging than a youngster who enjoys less regimented study in a quieter, more contemplative setting.

 

Steps to home school in Ontario

1. Withdraw your child from school

If your kid is currently enrolled in or registered to attend a publicly funded school in Ontario (public, Catholic, or francophone), you must notify the school board in writing of your intention to homeschool him instead. You should give a copy of your notice to the principal as well.

 

2. Give your child some time

Allow your child to spend some time (or a lot of time, if necessary) living independently for a while, with your support and empowerment, to detox from any negative effects of school: bullying, social anxiety, performance anxiety, low self-esteem, and so on. This essentially entails beginning homeschooling with an unschooling mindset.

Make no mistake: learning will continue to take place during this period. However, you are not required to conform to any educational model. A more purposeful type of learning can begin once your child has regained his/her natural curiosity and interest in learning.

 

3. Choose your teaching style and material

The first step in the homeschooling portion of your strategy is to determine the route you want to follow. This may change as you make responsive tweaks over time, but you must begin somewhere.

You’ll need some supplies to go along with your strategy. Unschooling, for example, does not necessitate anything specifically educational, only your own daily life supplies and attentiveness. Other, more structured techniques may rely on more traditional instructional materials.

 

4. Consider hiring a tutor

Hiring a tutor is advantageous because it provides each student with individualized assistance in order to consolidate information and develop study strategies. The tutor’s job is to not only help the student improve his/her grades, but also to boost his/her confidence and academic motivation.

 

Benefits of homeschooling

Write your own timetable

If you don’t want to, you don’t have to follow the national curriculum. You don’t have to stick to a school schedule. This allows you to follow your child’s lead, resulting in more efficient learning. You can learn about something that your child is really interested in after viewing a movie or reading a book, which will lead to a variety of other topics. If your youngster is most receptive between 3 and 6 p.m., you can schedule sessions around that time. If you want your child to take GCSEs or A-levels, you must follow the curriculum.

 

Flexibility

You can work around any work schedule or shift. However, home education only works if one parent is not employed full-time. You can go on vacation whenever you want and extend your stay if you wish.

 

No running to school

For teenagers whose biological clocks adjust at the outset of puberty, this implies bedtimes and wake-up hours that are more adolescent-friendly. This means you can play to their strengths by constructing the school day around a schedule that meets their periods of motivation.

 

Child-led learning

This is most likely the primary difference between home and school education. When we can learn about things we enjoy, we learn more effectively and have more pleasure. You can also go at the child’s own pace rather than requiring the child to keep up with the rest of the class.

Furthermore, your child can also learn in a way which best suits him/her. PowerPoint presentations and textbooks will not work for children who prefer to be hands-on. This means you can teach your child in a way which best suits his/her needs.

 

Confidence

You can plan your child’s learning properly if they struggle with certain topics. This helps to raise their confidence. Children are significantly less terrified of asking a parent a question about something they do not understand than raising their hand in front of an entire class. However, if your children are of dramatically different ages, this may prove difficult.

One-on-one teaching (or one-on-two or three if you have more than one child) is highly successful, you can get a lot done in a short amount of time. Some home students claim to be able to complete a day’s worth of study in just two hours. You are free to do whatever you want the remainder of the time.

 

Support Network

Although the social side of home education is frequently highlighted, you can join local clubs to meet other families in similar situations. This is really effective in some locations, with parents exchanging expertise to teach their children. More information can be found in home education groups, which can also be found on Facebook.

 

Best of both worlds

If you begin with homeschooling, you can later return your child to the school system, as many parents do. Some parents believe that children should not begin education until they are in high school and then send their children to school. You can also flex school (part-time schooling combined with home education). However, this is at the discretion of the headteacher, so inquire.

 

Looking for a tutor in Ontario?

Parents select tutoring for their children for a variety of reasons. Some parents believe they are unable to assist their children with their schooling while others may find that their children are more comfortable talking about their school problems with someone else. Tutoring can assist students to improve certain topic comprehension as well as boost confidence and learning skills.

Tutorax’s in-home and online tutoring services benefit students in elementary school, middle school, high school, and even university. Math, English, Science, Chemistry, Physics, French, History, Geography, and other topics can all be explored with tutoring.

Tutorax also provides tailored coaching to each student in order to help improve their study habits. The tutor’s job is to boost the student’s self-esteem and academic motivation while also assisting him or her in improving grades. If you’re experiencing problems with education, Tutorax can help with homework, test preparation, and class support, among other things.

Get started 

{
“@context”: “https://schema.org”,
“@type”: “FAQPage”,
“mainEntity”: [{
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “What is homeschooling?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “Homeschooling allows parents to educate their children at home rather than send them to a public or private school.”
}
},{
“@type”: “Question”,
“name”: “How do I withdraw my child from school to homeschool them?”,
“acceptedAnswer”: {
“@type”: “Answer”,
“text”: “If your kid is currently enrolled in or registered to attend a publicly funded school in Ontario (public, Catholic, or francophone), you must notify the school board in writing of your intention to homeschool instead. Give a copy of your notice to the principal as well.”
}
}]
}