Homeschooling in British Columbia
What British Columbia actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
CanadaFiling requiredWho is in charge
Ministry of Education and Child Care; day-to-day contact is the school of registration (public, independent, francophone or online learning school)
No, homeschooling families are not paid in BC. Registering as a homeschooler (Form 1701) carries no funding. That is different from enrolling in a distance/online learning school instead, which is a separate, funded path.
Who actually reviews your child
No reviewer of program content. The registering school records the registration and reports it to the Ministry on Form 1701. A district superintendent must follow up on any report that a child educated at home is unregistered or may not be receiving an educational program.
What you must file
Registration as a homeschooler
September 30 each year (mandatory from the school year the child turns 6 until age 16). Families transitioning after Sept 30 register at the time of transition.
Goes to: A school of the parent's choice anywhere in BC: a public school, an online learning school, an independent school that agrees to register homeschoolers (it may charge a fee), or a francophone school if the child is eligible
Not required, but often assumed
Education plan / learning plan
Not required. Developing the learning plan is listed as the Home Educator's role 'at the discretion of the home educator'.
Progress report / portfolio / test scores
Not required. Registering schools must OFFER evaluation and assessment services; the parent is free to accept or reject them.
The words a reviewer uses
BC Curriculum (2016 redesign)
Big Idea · Curricular Competency · Content · Learning Standards
The part the paperwork does not cover
Filing on time is the easy half. The harder half is the year in between: showing what your child actually learned, in words the reviewer recognises, without turning your home into a school.
That is what this tool is for. You say what your child did, in a sentence. It maps that to the published standards we hold for British Columbia, which today are English (288 of 288), Mathematics (492 of 496), Science (499 of 535), Social Studies (134 of 193) and Physical Education (78 of 95). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of British Columbia's published standards. Then it builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.
Other places in Canada
Read at the source on 2026-08-28: the Ministry's own Homeschooling policy page at www2.gov.bc.ca. Its words: 'Parents must register homeschooled children at one of the following schools in the province by September 30th each year' - a public, independent, francophone or online learning school - and 'Parents choosing to homeschool their children, but failing to register them as homeschooled, commit an offence.' The policy also states plainly that homeschooling 'is not supervised by a British Columbia certified teacher, is not required to meet provincial standards, and is not inspected by the Ministry.' The offence wording was not on this page before today.
The law itself: School Act s.3 (compulsory participation); School Act s.12 (right to educate at home); School Act s.13 (registration of homeschoolers). We hold no direct link to the authority's page for this jurisdiction.