BC Homeschool Law
BCHEA encourages all home educators to register. Not doing so places you outside the law. Currently, BC still has the best home education laws in North America. Any parents refusing to register their children as home school learners while our laws maximally safeguard our parental freedoms, simply lose public sympathy; consequently, credibility for home education wanes.
Please take the time to read through the BC School Act law pertaining to home schooling (Part 2, Division 4, and specifically Sections 12 and 13, of the Act). Every home educating parent needs to be familiar with BC home education law. Know your legal status; you will need to inform others.
The Right to Homeschool
(BC School Act, section 12(a))
A parent of a child who is otherwise required to enrol in an educational program may educate the child at home or elsewhere.
Registering as Homeschooled
(BC School Act, section 13(1))
(BC Independent School Act, section 10(1))
A parent who has chosen to homeschool must register the child’s homeschooled status on or before September 30 of each year until the child is 16.
- You may register with a public school of the parent’s choice that is operating in British Columbia.
- If the child is an eligible child, your may register through a francophone school of the parent’s choice that is operating in the francophone school district in which the parent resides.
- If the child is an immigrant child, you may register through a public school or willing independent school or a francophone school of the parent’s choice that is operating in the francophone school district in which the parent resides only if the francophone education authority responsible for that school permits the parent to register that child.
- You may register through a willing independent school operating in British Columbia.
Age of Entry to the Education Program
(BC School Act, section 3(2))
The earliest your can register as homeschooled is the year the child turns 5. You must register a homeschooled child by September 30th of the year the child turns 6.
Educational Program
(BC School Act, Section 12(b))
A homeschooling family is required to provide the child with an educational program.
An Educational Program is defined in the BC School Act as:
…an organized set of learning activities that, in the opinion of … (c)the parent, in the case of learning activities provided to a child registered under section 13, is designed to enable learners to become literate, to develop their individual potential and to acquire the knowledge, skills and attitudes needed to contribute to a healthy, democratic and pluralistic society and a prosperous and sustainable economy;
Registering Mid-Year
You can decide to homeschool at any time of the year. If you feel you need to take your child(ren) out of school during the school year, BCHEA recommends writing a letter to your school principal stating your intention to begin homeschooling your child(ren) as per Section 12 of the BC School Act. Your school will then be able to change the child(ren)’s enrollment status to ‘registered’ and they will be aware that the child will not simply be truant.
If the school is unwilling to change the child’s enrollment status, you may wish to consider contacting the district superintendent who will direct the principal in how to lawfully register your child (BC School Act, section 13(2)), or you may wish to have another school register your child’s status as homeschooled.
Available School System Resources
(BC School Regulation, section 3 (1)(a) and (b))
(BC Independent School Regulation, section 6(1)(a))
An independent or public registering school must offer evaluation and assessment services sufficient to enable the parents of the child to determine the educational progress achieved by the child in relation to students of similar age and ability
A public registering school must also offer the loan of educational resource materials that are authorized and recommended by the minister and in the board’s opinion, are sufficient to enable the child to pursue the child’s educational program and which will be offered to the homeschooled child on a similar basis to the offer of such educational resource materials to students.
Accessing the School System as a Homeschooler
(BC School Regulation, section 3 (2) and (3))
(BC Independent School regulation, section 6 (3))
With the permission of a board, a child registered in a public school or francophone school may audit educational programs offered by the board subject to any terms and conditions established by the board, including the payment of any fee.
A child in grade 10, 11 or 12 registered in a school, francophone school or independent school may enroll in all or part of an educational program which is delivered through online learning.
Personal Education Numbers and Funding
The PEN is the individual number allocated to every child either entering school (enrolled and attending) or registering as a home education learner for the first time. The numbers are assigned to each and every child by the Ministry of Education. The same number stays with the child throughout his/her years of schooling regardless of the education option taken.
The Ministry of Education and Child Care assigns the PEN numbers for:
-
- those participating in Strong Start
- those entering the school system in Kindergarten
- those moving from out of province, when they enroll in a school or register as a homeschooler at any time in the year
- homeschoolers, who have never been enrolled in an institutional school, when they are first registered as a homeschooler
Parents can obtain their child’s PEN number by contacting the school where their child was previously registered or enrolled.
Having a PEN does not mean that you are required to register your child as a homeschooler at age 5. Even if your child was assigned a PEN through StrongStart or another program, you can still defer homeschool registration until the year your child turns 6.