Moose Jaw Forum

Parents in Canada and the USA have the right to home-school their children. It is most common in circumstances where there is a stay-at-home spouse (usually the wife) and when the parents have any number of objections to the public school system, i.e. exposure to it will challenge the religious beliefs they are trying to instil in their children; schools are too dangerous; there are too many distractions; there is not enough discipline; the family’s circumstances require it to frequently relocate and the parents do not want to subject their children to the trials and tribulations of losing friends and having to make new ones, etc. To a lesser extent (hopefully) there are also those who keep their children out of the public school system because they do not believe in ethnic diversity so object to co-mingling of the races, they believe the sexes should be educated separately, they do not believe in sex education, or simply because a stay-at-home spouse would be too lonely if the child / children were absent from the house.

In all cases, there is provincial or state regulation of home schooling. Saskatchewan’s regulations can be found at: http://www.education.gov.sk.ca/Home-Schooling. As the compulsory credits match those of the public school system, there is no reason those home-schooled students with the aptitude and desire to continue their education to the post-secondary level cannot do so. Without the distraction s common to public schools, the same curricula can be covered in a much shorter period of time, so it is not unusual to see older children (teens) who are being home-schooled also helping out in a family business or learning a trade / skill-set (from a parent, relative, family friend or other home- schooler).

There has been much debate over home-schooling, much of it to do with the perception that children educated this way will not have the social skills of those in the public school system. Looking at many of the products of the latter system, it should be obvious that each has its own benefits, challenges and negatives.