Consider home schooling

A little known fact to parents is there may be an alternative way to get formal education for their children through the ministry of education’s home schooling program.
To effectively home school a child requires commitment, time management and approval from your local district school board.
The organization Ontario Federation of Teaching Parents (OFTP) has a mandate to assist parents who wish to home school their children.
While there has been resistance from school boards to allow home schooling, the OFTP lobbied to have home schooling become an acceptable alternative to acquiring education.
In 2001, the Ontario government introduced standard testing and tools for parents to use when home schooling.
For the Aboriginal people in Nishnawbe Aski Nation and Treaty 3 territories, the concept of home schooling may be worth looking into.
Within the vast land base of NAN and Treaty 3 there are 13 district public and catholic school boards. Each school board differs with regard to its own home schooling policy.
Taking into account the Aboriginal community is the fastest growing population in Canada, it would be beneficial to take concrete, immediate measures to ensure Aboriginal children are receiving quality education.
Historically, the education of Aboriginal children has been wrought with assimilation, starting with the forced abduction of young children to attend residential schools very distant from families and communities.
Thousands and thousands of children suffered traumatic sexual, physical, mental, spiritual and emotional abuses spanning more than 100 years.
Those intergenerational effects are still felt throughout the territory.
Children are growing up no longer speaking the language, feeling ashamed of being Aboriginal and not being taught the significance of Aboriginal and treaty rights.
Today, the provincial education system has failed the Aboriginal student.
Study after study has determined the cost of funding an Aboriginal student is significantly lower than their mainstream counterparts.
Home schooling of children can make a difference, according to Roberta Wesley, Nakina district representative for the Ontario Native Education Counselling Association.
“Home schooling would give Aboriginal parents an opportunity to plan the curriculum, both academically and culturally,” Wesley said.
For example, she said, curriculum can be based on the seven grandfather teachings, colonization of Aboriginal people in Canada, treaties, governance and Aboriginal rights. She said incorporating culturally significant content would help children be proud of who they are.
Another positive aspect of home schooling children is language immersion, which Wesley said is lacking in urban areas.
Home schooling in remote northern communities would also allow parents to keep high school aged children.
“If they did home school in a First Nation, I think it would be very beneficial,” Wesley said.
She said for an Aboriginal student to leave home and live in boarding homes with strangers can be daunting. It’s a life of new routines and rules, a place outside of their comfort zone, Wesley said, so students may end up just going home if they have trouble adapting.
Since the summer of 2005, all elementary level grades are available through independent learning centres.
If students in isolated communities prefer to learn from home, they can sign up for secondary level courses one at a time even if they are under age 16.
However, the local school board must be notified of any intentions to provide home schooling and that your child is excused from attending school.
“It would be neat to see that start rolling for us Nishnawbe people,” Wesley said of home schooling. “Hopefully down the road, this will be something that us as Nishnawbe people will pursue for the sake of our children.”