Exclusively Parent-led Boards
Independent Boards with Options
Public Boards with Homeschool Options
Distance Learning Options
Notify-Only
I will tell you right now that when we began homeschooling, after much research, I decided I wanted to be in full control of what my kids learned. I wanted to decide WHAT, WHEN, and HOW they learned everything, and also how they were evaluated. I wanted a parent-controlled home education program.
The school board that we chose was Wisdom Homeschooling, and they have been incredible. They are governed by a Board of Directors instead of trustees. I feel that their priority is looking out for their homeschool families.
The best part is that ALL of their staff and facilitators are either homeschool vets or homeschool grads, so they really understand what homeschooling is all about. The other best part about Wisdom is that they ONLY offer traditional (parent-led) homeschooling. So they have no conflict of interest and will never try to persuade their families to switch to teacher led programs. And one last thing that is relevant right now as so many homeschool boards are overwhelmed with new registrations: Wisdom does NOT have an enrollment cap. Everyone is, however, experiencing delays in replying because there ARE so many new registrations.
I've organized this list by 1) independent, exclusively parent-led boards, 2) independent boards who offer additional options, 3) public boards who support parent-led homeschooling, and 4) options for distance education. This list is complete to the best of my knowledge. Links will open in a new tab.
If you miss the September 30 deadline to register with a homeschool board for funding, your main option is to notify of your intent to home educate directly to Alberta Education. This will eventually be linked to My Pass, but is currently (as of September 4, 2020) only available via mail. The form to notify is here. I have been given the suggestion that anybody notifying directly with AbEd might also want to consider taking out a membership with the Home School Legal Defense Association of Canada.