I was asked an interesting question at the AHEA convention this past spring that I was glad to answer, and I thought that it might be a question that others were asking. The question was simple and went something like this; "Why is it that homeschooling has such strong Christian roots?" Now, admittedly not all homeschoolers come from a Christian perspective, and the reasons a family might choose to homeschool can be diverse; but the Christian belief lends itself to the venue of homeschooling in many ways. This is a condensed version of my answer.

First off; 'Why should we educate our children in the first place?' I have commented in the past that the main reason that a child should learn to read is so that they can read the Bible. The Bible is our lifeline to the truth and therefore essential reading if we are to live the Christian life. I have gone so far to say that if an individual is not going to read the Bible it would be better that they should not read at all; but I would also argue that everyone should learn to read so that when the time comes that they should desire to read the Bible, that they should already know how to read.

In any homeschool environment there comes a time when you teach the young ones about weights and measures. In our culture the accepted standards are either the Metric system or the Imperial system. Each has its advantages and disadvantages. In a perfect world, the Metric system with its emphasis on the base 10, which is, of course, the same as our numerical system, works the simplest. All standards of measure relate to each other in one way or another, and once understood, provide simple ways for the varying measures to interrelate. On the other hand, because we did not start with the Metric system, measures of length often still relate to the Imperial system, simply because the land itself is
divided into miles and not kilometers. Building design is still often done in feet and inches. Some smaller projects are done in millimeters, but on big buildings these numbers become astronomically large. On the whole, either system works simply because it is standardized. This has not always been the case.

We have been homeschooling for over 27 years. We have eight children that we have homeschooled from the start. We've graduated 7 from high school and one from college. When I started this journey with our kids, the internet wasn't in existence. We didn't have cell phones and homeschool curriculum availability was limited.

As the years have passed, I've watched the internet, cell phones, and curriculum companies give us access to unlimited amounts of information. Although these can be helpful, I am also realizing how detrimental this seems to be, especially for those who are just beginning their homeschool journeys. 

For hundreds of years, children have been allowed to have plenty of playtime, spending hours building forts, making bows and arrows, collecting bruises and bloody knees, and loving every minute of it! They were engrossed in childhood. Our world has changed, but our children have NOT! 

They arrive in this world with many, many stages of development that they must walk through before becoming healthy, well-adjusted adults. Our job as parents is to provide an environment that allows them to do that well. Their health and wellbeing are dependent on it. 

The trouble is, as homeschooling parents, we are terrified that our children are going to fall behind "educationally."
I am here to tell you that that IS THE LEAST OF YOUR PROBLEMS.

In just three years, the greatest teacher of all time impacted the world more than anyone else. How was that possible? Jesus Christ was both human and divine. What did He say about financial literacy? A lot! He taught about money matters more than heaven and hell combined. Many of His parables were filled with financial overtones.

What did he say? Before I get into specifics let me say emphatically that if our government gurus studied Jesus' teachings on the proper use of money, we would not be in today's financial mess. Sometimes I think senior finance bureaucrats need a Dave Ramsay course or counsel from Mary Hunt!

First, a little about me. My family came to Canada from communist Europe when I was four, and we settled in Toronto. My dad was an accountant in Poland, but in Canada he got a job in a bakery as an oven man. It was hot and hard work. He did not have to speak much English, be employed year-round, and buy fresh baked goods for his four children. He often worked nights to earn more. My mom worked during the daytime in the Sears steno pool. Both parents toiled and were especially frugal. 

There were many updates and improvements to the Funding Manual last year. If you are a home educator that notified with an associate board or associate private (Independent) school, let's make sure that everyone is on the same page to enhance good communication! Here is a summary for reference and where the points are directly addressed in the Funding Manual, Sections C pages 30-31 for associate boards or D pages 59-60 for associate private schools. You can reach out to AHEA if you need any further support.

1.   The parent directed side of the Home Education Grant is exactly $850 - no more and no less. This is tied to the Education Plan receipts that you submit for a refund. (Read this for more details on the Standards for Reimbursement.)

2.   You have two years to use your funds, and this is now mandatory everywhere. It goes without saying that the oldest funds should always be used up first in your records, giving you the most opportunity to utilize funds. This allows for families to plan for a more expensive item that qualifies for reimbursement under the Funding Guide.

(6) An associate board or associate accredited funded private school must offer to the parents of a home education student 50 per cent of the home education funding for the purchase of instructional materials. An associate board or associate accredited funded private school may not reimburse parents of a home education student, whether in a shared responsibility program or not, more than 50 per cent of the home education funding, the reimbursement amount may not exceed $850 per year. Parents have up to two years to access the parental portion of home education funding.

(14) School authorities are not permitted to provide funding, whether by reimbursement, purchase order or direct procurement, to students or families in cases where a student is enrolled in an online or regular school program.

3.   You should receive a 100% refund of your current year's $850 grant portion if you submitted receipts for 75% or more.

1.6 – Home Education and Shared Responsibility Grant
The Home Education Grant supports educational choice for students and parents. For each home education student, the school authority is provided 50 per cent of the funding to support the home education student, and 50 per cent of the funding is provided to the parent and/or guardian as reimbursement for instructional materials and services that support the instructional program at home. Furthermore, parents who submit receipts for at least 75% of eligible expenses will receive the entire $850.00.

4.   If the parent-directed side of the grant remains unused, the Department of Education will claw it back at the end of that time.

(8) If parents decline or do not claim the parent portion of Home Education funding, Alberta Education will recover the unclaimed/declined portion, the year following the previous two year period.

5.   Home education families have the option to donate some or all of their funding to their associate board or associate private (Independent) school if they wish.

(7) Parents will be allowed to transfer some or all of the parental portion of the home education funding to the associate school authority for education supports should they choose to. If parents decide to transfer their funding, they will be required to sign a Parent Declaration Form to facilitate this transfer: (https://www.alberta.ca/assets/documents/edc-home-education-funding-transfer-of-parent-portion-declaration-form.pdf.)

If you have chosen to avail yourself of the Notification Only option for home educators that was offered as of September 2021, you will have No Funding to worry about tracking!

It is so helpful when we work together to keep the funding side of home education functioning in a clean and clear manner.  A big 'Thank You' to all the staff who work so hard with our families to keep things straight and their reimbursements timely. It's great when this topic makes 'cents' to us all!