Homeschooling in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and abroad

Homeschooling law varies enormously between countries, and just as much between states and provinces inside them. Advice written for one place is applied to another constantly, and it is regularly wrong when it lands.

Two broad models

Almost every jurisdiction sits in one of two camps, and knowing which one you are in tells you most of what you need.

• Low regulation: homeschooling is a parental right with little or no routine reporting unless a concern arises. England, several Canadian provinces and several US states sit broadly here.
• Registration and reporting: you register or apply for approval, then submit plans or reports on a schedule. Australia, New Zealand’s exemption system, some Canadian provinces and many US states work this way.

Australia, Canada and New Zealand

In Australia, registration with the state or territory authority is generally required, and requirements differ between states. Most expect a learning plan describing how you will cover the relevant curriculum areas, and periodic reporting or review. Some states expect the plan to map to the Australian Curriculum, others accept alternative approaches described clearly. Practically, this means the plan and the record are not optional extras, and it is worth setting them up properly at the start rather than assembling them the week before a review.

Canada is entirely provincial. Some provinces require only a notification, others require enrolment with a supervising school board, regular reporting, or a designated supervising teacher. A few offer funding to registered home educating families, which comes with corresponding requirements. Check your own province specifically, because advice from Alberta does not describe Ontario, and neither describes Quebec. In New Zealand, an exemption from enrolment must be applied for and granted before you begin. The application describes how your child will be taught as regularly and as well as they would be in a registered school. Approval is not automatic, and the application is the main piece of work.

Expat and travelling families

Obligations usually follow residence, and occasionally citizenship. Some countries do not permit homeschooling at all for residents, so this needs checking before you move rather than after you arrive.

• Keep one consistent record across moves rather than restarting each time. You may need to satisfy a new authority at short notice.
• Keep external evidence in particular: test results, qualifications, tutor reports, course completions. These travel well when your own records are questioned.
• Check requirements before arrival, since some jurisdictions require permission in advance and treat retrospective applications badly.
• If you are following no single national curriculum, be able to describe what you do cover and why it is suitable. That description does more work abroad than at home.

How Different Drums helps here

The app is used by families in the UK, the US, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and beyond, and is not tied to any one national curriculum, which suits families following a different system, several systems, or none. The learning log records by subject and date, and education reports can be generated per child for any date range you choose, which maps onto most registration and review cycles. Curricula are built with week-by-week checkpoints, which is close to the shape most reporting jurisdictions want a learning plan to take. Pricing is available in GBP, USD, EUR, AUD and CAD. Parent Only from GBP 9.99 a month, Parent + Child from GBP 9.99 per child a month for the tutor as well. 14 days free, no credit card required. Data is encrypted in transit and at rest.