The language law in Quebec has limited access to an education in English since the late 1970’s. For those of you unfamiliar with the issue, yup, we have “language police” here in Quebec. The intent of the law & its associated limitations was to preserve the French language and to encourage both anglophones and allophones to learn to speak it. I won’t get into the constitutionality or efficacy of the law here. That is a subject for another time, and perhaps another forum.

Let’s just say that if you’re concerned about all the schools in Quebec teaching in French, this simply isn’t the case. There are lots of English schools in the province, especially in the Montreal area. The issue, however, is whether you get to send your kids to one of them. One of the measures implemented in the language law was to require that anyone enrolling a child in an English school produce a certificate of eligibility to access English-language education. That little piece of paper is so precious, I know of at least one family who have framed the certificate and hung it on the wall!

If you are new to Quebec and you are coming from outside of Canada, in all likelihood you are not eligible to send your kids to school in English. If your family has lived in Quebec for generations, but no one has ever been educated in English, chances are you will have to send them to school in French. There are some exceptions, but basically it’s not easy to get that little paper for your kids unless you were educated in English somewhere in Canada.

It is important to note that the language law applies to public institutions, and as such, does not apply to homeschooling. If you are a homeschooler moving into Quebec, or if you are withdrawing your child from a French school, you may have been told that you are not permitted to educate your child at home in English. Rest assured, this is simply not true. You may educate your child at home in the language or languages of your choice.

Here is the official statement of the ministry of education (the MELS):

[L]’enfant non admissible à recevoir l’enseignement en anglais, en vertu des dispositions de la Chartre de la langue française, peut recevoir, en anglais, son enseignement à la maison puisque ces dispositions sont inapplicables dans ce cas.

My translation:
The child who, due to the provisions of the French Language Charter, is not eligible to attend an English language school, may nevertheless receive instruction at home in English; the provisions of the Charter do not apply to homeschooling.

~ La Scolarisation à Domicile, Orientations, Projet; MELS, Mai 2005

The document continues by saying that parents can register for homeschooling with either the English or French school board in their region, according to the language of instruction. (This registration is, however, a hot issue. Many feel this is not required by law.)

We are also told that, as is now the case with private education since the legal loopholes have been closed, homeschooling in English cannot be used to establish eligibility for public education later.

Folks who may benefit from this option:

• Anglophones and allophones entering Quebec from outside Canada, who would ordinarily have to send their kids to French school, and who are concerned their children will not be able to keep up with their classmates;
• Francophones without eligibility certificates, who would like their children to benefit from earlier exposure to English instruction or from a bilingual or English immersion format that is not available through the local public French-language school;
• Anyone with a child who seems to struggle a great deal with the French language, but who has no specific diagnosis of learning difficulty or other disability that may grant him eligibility, and who would therefore be required to send this child to school in French.

If you choose this option, do keep in mind that if you ever need to return your kids to public school they will have to attend a French school. It is wise to provide some French instruction!

The bottom line: If you are not ordinarily eligible to send your children to English school you have a legal right to give them an English education by opting to homeschool.

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

The content of this blog is offered in the spirit of sharing information and ideas, and all factual information is accurate to the best of my knowledge at the time of writing. Please be aware that laws change and new requirements may be imposed on homeschooling parents. I am not an expert. You should consult legal counsel for the best advice on homeschool legalities and your rights as a home educator.

When we tell people that we’re homeschooling most of them are quite interested and even complimentary. But because most people aren’t too well informed about homeschooling we’re often asked, “Is it legal?” The Bitter Homeschooler’s Wish List has a fun answer to that question, if you like sarcasm & you’re feeling kinda tired of having people question your status as a law-abiding citizen.

If you’re thinking about homeschooling - or if you’re moving from one jurisdiction to another - and you want to be sure you will be fulfilling your legal obligations, this really is a valid question.

In the broadest of strokes and to the best of my knowledge, homeschooling is at this moment legal in every Canadian province and territory. It is also legal in all 50 US states. (Yes, there’s been some controversy in California recently, but I believe the most current news from that state has been that it’s still quite legal. If you’re in California I suggest you get your information from a trusted association like HSLDA, NHELD or CHELD.)

Knowing your legal obligations in a given jurisdiction is the more complicated part, especially if the law is rather vague. The Quebec Education Act says that a child aged 6-16 must attend public school. There is an exception for home education, and to be eligible for the exemption the parents must meet their obligations under this section of the law. Here it is (in its official English translation - in cases where the translation varies from the original, it is the French that will be accepted as the final authority):

15.  The following students are exempt from compulsory school attendance:…..

…. 4) a student who receives home schooling and benefits from an educational experience which, according to an evaluation made by or for the school board, are equivalent to what is provided at school.

~ (R.S.Q., chapter I-13.3: Education Act, Section 15(4). Updated to 1 August 2008)

OK, so what constitutes an equivalent educational experience? What do I need to teach my kids in order to meet my obligations under the Education Act? A document issued by the ministry of education to school boards in 2005 discusses this equivalence:

La notion d’équivalence peut être interprétée dans le sens que l’enseignement dispensé et l’expérience éducative vécue doivent permettre à l’enfant d’avoir les connaissances et les compétences suffisantes pour qu’il puisse, s’il le souhaite, intégrer ou réintégrer le système scolaire public ou privé.

(My translation:
The notion of equivalence in this sense can be interpreted as the teaching given and the educational experience lived by the student, that permit him to have sufficient knowledge and competencies* so he may enter or return to the public or private school system if he so wishes.)
* The ministry of education uses the term “competency” in discussions of subject-specific and cross-curricular learning objectives. These are very specific competencies as outlined in the Quebec Education Program, and not skills in general.

~ La Scolarisation à Domicile, Orientations, Projet; MELS, Mai 2005
(I got my copy through one of the forums at AQED before they switched to their new web site. I don’t know whether they still have it available, but it’s been exceedingly difficult to find elsewhere.)

So if you are a home educator in Quebec, to be meeting your legal obligations under the Education Act you need to be sure your kids could enter or return to school with no great need for adaptations. In other words, Johnny should be able to read the textbooks the school is using and to do whatever other reading is assigned. He should be ready to understand the math, French, social studies or science concepts the teachers will be presenting. He may not have read the exact books or studied the exact same subjects in history, but the knowledge he has gained should give him a solid foundation for learning alongside his classmates without the teach having to give him too many special assignments or individual tutoring sessions.

Furthermore, he should have a set of competencies that will be useful to him in his learning process. These are different for each cycle of school, but may include things like having some coping strategies that he can use when he encounters an unfamiliar word, or understanding the concept of place value. Other competencies are being open to others’ opinions & experiences, and learning to share some of his own. There is also trying to express himself in French, and using a variety of types of literature. As I said, these vary to some extent. Consult the Quebec Education Program to know what is expected for your child’s grade level.

Check this post on starting out for links to the various parts of the Quebec Education Program. I’ve included a good number of other links that may help you as you begin to formulate your education plan, too. You should be off to a good start!

Next in this series of posts:
Evaluation of Equivalence - looking at several published opinions on what should be evaluated and how

*****

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

The content of this blog is offered in the spirit of sharing information and ideas, and all factual information is accurate to the best of my knowledge at the time of writing. Please be aware that laws change and new requirements may be imposed on homeschooling parents. I am not an expert. You should consult legal counsel for the best advice on homeschool legalities and your rights as a home educator.

Mr. Q of E=MCQ has produced a second course for homeschooling families. Called Elementary Earth Science, the first chapter is available for download free of charge so you can evaluate the material. The course is designed to be completed over 36 weeks, and comes with both student and parent materials. It includes readings, worksheets, tests and lab work for kids aged roughly 7-10.

The Elementary Life Science course, also 36 weeks for the same aged kids, is still available free for download PLUS Mr. Q has added extra resources. The full text of the new earth science course, if you decide to buy it, is $50 for the complete material (parent & student texts.)

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

My autistic son has been very busy with scissor work lately. It’s taken him about 4 years to get the hang of using scissors, and he’s still kind of awkward in the way he holds them. But he’s really starting to do a good job of cutting around an outline. Not terribly close to the lines as yet, but still he’s preserving the general shape of a thing, which is super!

I got a simple scissor work booklet earlier this summer, which my son & his youngest sister have been enjoying these last few weeks. If you are looking for scissor work for your preschooler or special needs child, it’s still available free at CurrClick: Simple Scissor Practice by Middaysnack.com.

Today’s freebie from Homeschool Freebie Of The Day, though, was a neat surprise. It was unscheduled, as the expected download was temporarily unavailable. The replacement, When Mother Lets Us Cut Out Pictures, has lots of really cool outlines for kids to choose from. It’s an early 20th century book that’s been scanned, and all the “patterns” are negatives so kids can colour the plain white interior of their shapes, once they’ve cut off the black exterior. These are more complex than the easy scissor practice, and the book also provides written instructions on how to cut a variety of shapes and objects. This is a good book for older children. It might lead to an interest in papercutting as a craft.

If you want a free copy from the abovementioned site, you must go before the end of today. If you miss it, you can also download it free from the Internet Archive.

Do check out Homeschool Freebie Of The Day, regardless. They offer a new freebie each weekday, and usually one extra freebie per week for their subscribers. (You don’t have to subscribe, but only subscribers get the link to the extra weekly freebie.) I find that I pick up a few neat things every week or so from their site. It’s fun for the bargain hunters and lovers of freebies.

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

For most of us it’s almost four weeks before the local public schools are back in session, but those “back to school” sales are starting up already. Even if you homeschool or afterschool year round, this is a good time to stock up on supplies. We’re also in the middle of conference season, and I for one have been trying to catch some of the workshops at the Heart of the Matter virtual conference.

After two days of computer issues & other difficulties, today I was able to “sit in” on several interesting workshops. I learned more than I ever thought anyone could know about using time lines in teaching history, and was both entertained and informed on the subject of gender differences in education. I missed a bunch of other conferences, but will listen to them when the MP3’s become available, later on. Now that’s convenience!

I believe you can still get tickets for the conference, if there’s anyone who hasn’t yet had the chance. There’s a wonderful, huge grab bag of freebies that comes with the ticket, and remember there will be the opportunity to listen to any workshops you missed, so you’re getting the full value of your ticket even now that the conference is in full swing. Just click on the banner at left.

I also wanted to say that CurrClick is having yet another fabulous promotion: it’s the 3rd Annual Back to Homeschool Sale. I think there might be a more official announcement coming, but this is what’s up at the web site now:

Kick-off your school year with great savings on hundreds of titles! For the entire month of August, get 10-70% OFF of hundreds of curriculum choices from your favorite publishers. With our huge title selection, you can be sure to find something to please any learning style in your home. Here’s to great savings and a fun new school year!

Check out the great savings on homeschool curricula, textbooks, unit studies and more! There are several new publishers offering great products at CurrClick now, and so many really wonderful ideas to help you plan your homeschool year or just round out your lessons with a few special items geared to your family’s interests. You’re bound to find something, so take some time over the next month to take a good look at what’s on special. The list of discounted items is here.

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!