The Heartbeat of Education Unlimited (Part 3)
Categories: Heartbeat of Education Unlimited, Léo’s Insights 2019-2020
Tags: Education Unlimited
Now, you can be forgiven for being a bit overwhelmed regarding what to do about your home education affiliations, for it is a rather confused system that we have here in Alberta.
Home Education in Alberta is complicated by the fact that there is funding associated with it and as a consequence, there is far too much competition, marketing and misinformation, more designed to prioritize “winning your allegiance” than helping you with your program.
To help you gain clarity, I would like to make you aware of some important facts you should consider before making that all-important decision as to who you chose to be your guides and helpers in your home education journey.
First, let’s talk about the rules respecting education in this province.
Every child between the ages of six and sixteen, including the home educated, must be registered somewhere. Home educating parents can choose to register with any accredited school within the province. This means that the home educated are borderless students, explaining why they are sought by schools throughout the province.
The second point one needs to understand is that, while there is basic funding available for home education programs in this province, the amount made available to the school increases with greater use of government programming. The reason the government pays more for the implementation of its curriculum should be self-evident.
Those looking to escape school ideology should therefore be aware that normalizing public programming through convincing unsuspecting parents to do things the government’s way may be hard to resist, especially if more funding is offered. While this results in greater funding for the school, it comes with the loss of parental freedom and autonomy.
In other words, if you have any desire to independently unschool, it is highly recommended that you avoid any provider who offers accreditation or any other manifestations of public programming.
You should also be reminded that Education Unlimited only advances and supports real home education programs and does not offer public school programming or derivatives.
Now that we have clarified the fact that all must be registered and that the level of funding is dependent on programming, we need to address the importance of associating with a provider that most closely represents your world view perspective.
Again, it is suggested that caution be used as most providers will be more than willing to appear to be whatever you desire of them. Asking questions of representatives of a particular school is no guarantee of truthfulness or accuracy. Neither is a cursory glance at a web site. Both are there to convince you to register with that particular school.
Parents are encouraged to look past the glitter. Checking into the provider’s history for clues of nefarious motivations or into the school’s anti-bullying policy for signs of compromise and whether the provider being considered contributes to the greater home education community, are probably better ways to determine what a particular school option is really all about.
On that note, we stood firm with Harvest Baptist Academy in resisting the pressure being exerted by the NDP Minister of Education respecting Gay-Straight Alliances. Please understand that this was absolutely not an anti-LGBTQ or anti-GSA position but rather a pro-parental authority stance. We also saw Bill 24 as disrespecting constitutional guarantees of religious freedom.
In fact, Education Unlimited is really not about being “anti” anything. We offer an alternative to school by advancing an unschooling approach to home education from our Christian worldview perspective. We do this without compromise, without judgement, without proselytizing and …without apology.
We are but one of many options available with which to associate for home education. An option is just that. Any one is free to associate with us, or not. However, if you do choose to have us as your associate board, we will consistently act in keeping with whom we state we are, and nothing else.
Should we not be what you expect as supporters of your home education program, then we are not your best option. We are okay with that because we are not motivated by numbers, funding or prestige. We simply want to serve as many as possible in the best way we can within the parameters of our faith.
Now, if government approval is what you are looking for, there are a number of places you can go. However, if freedom in education, commitment to parental authority and principled faith are important to you, then Education Unlimited is the place to be.
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