Canadians, talk to me about homeschooling high school

[FarmingMomma]

We are hopefully moving to British Columbia from the U.S. We lived in BC briefly a few years ago, which is when I actually started homeschooling.  There seemed to be tons of homeschoolers there, so I figured it's pretty common and that applying to college wouldn't be a big deal. However, from the limited info I've found on these boards and elsewhere, it seems that getting a homeschooled student into college/university is trickier in Canada than in the US.  My oldest will be in 10th grade this fall, so I'm trying to figure out our best course of action.  I plan to homeschool all the way through, but it sounds like having her take a certain number of online public school classes her senior year would make it easier to get her into college, is that correct? If so, which classes? I assume math, english, science, and history, anything else? Can we forgo any public school classes and still get her into college? She wants to attend Southern Alberta Institute of Technology for Charcuterie/Butchery and Professional Cooking.  My youngest is more likely to go somewhere like the University of Alberta and major in Biology and Crop Science, but he's only a rising 6th grader so I have more time to figure things out for him.  

[RootAnn]

Have you read the Canada acceptance thread on the college Sun forum yet? That would provide some people to PM at least . . It looks like it varies by region and by school.

[Dicentra]

Hi FarmingMomma!

I'm in Ontario so things are going to be different for you than they were for us.  I'd say your first steps would be to look at the province's requirements:

https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/education-training/ways-to-learn/homeschooling

http://bchea.ca/getting-started/new-to-home-education/

After that, it's a matter of doing some research about the schools that your students are interested in and finding out what each school wants.  Some schools are more homeschool-friendly than others.  As someone mentioned on another thread, universities in Canada seem to be more friendly than colleges.  Which is weird.  If your oldest is wanting to attend a college (which it sounds like she does), I'd research and also phone that college and talk to someone in admissions about homeschooled students to see what they say.  They may want her to have an official provincial diploma or they may not.  You can then make decisions from there.

Best of luck!

[wagingpeace]

Sorry, I don't know too much about the homeschooling policies for universities in BC or Alberta. I do know of many homeschooled students who have gone to Trinity Western University in BC and also that Quest University is very welcoming to homeschoolers. The University of Victoria also has a fairly well-laid-out policy on their website and I have heard of one family whose kids went there. If your students know that they are for sure going to study in Alberta, not BC, then they should follow a path that meets the requirements for Alberta universities, not BC ones. In BC, as well as Ontario, it is your grade 12 grades and courses that are important, not all the high school courses. So you will likely see programs that specify requirements like  "grade 12 math, grade 12 chemistry, grade 12 English." In Ontario, at least, you can either do the official grade 12 courses at a school or online or you can do SAT subject tests or AP courses for those requirements. You can check with specific universities in Alberta and see whether it is the same there. Good luck!

[FarmingMomma]

Thanks for the advice everyone :)