Home schooling works, but the rules still tip the scales toward public schools

Home schooling in Canada delivers strong results and greater freedom for parents, yet outdated regulations and funding policies keep it at a disadvantage compared to public education.

Few know that better than Rod Amberson, president of Saskatchewan Home Based Educators (SHBE). He and his wife have 10 children and have home schooled for 22 years.

Amberson explained the whats, whys and hows of home schooling during an address to a civic awareness action group in Regina earlier this year.

Now a pastor, Amberson says his decision to home school his children predated his journey to faith. “We just wanted the best for our kids, and we wanted the freedom to do it,” he says, adding that many parents today feel the same.

Home schooling gained momentum in the 1970s as more people from both secular and faith perspectives found shortcomings in public education. However, changes to education law in some provinces empowered local school superintendents to decide at their discretion whether home schooling met the legal requirements.

Soon, some parents faced legal charges of truancy. In the early 1980s, a case from Alberta led to a Supreme Court of Canada decision that affirmed the rights of parents who home schooled.

In the wake of that decision, SHBE was formed as an umbrella organization for alternative educators. The organization was at the table when the Saskatchewan Education Act was rewritten in 1988. Today, the director of independent schools and home-based education in the Saskatchewan government has regulatory oversight for almost 60 independent schools.

“Saskatchewan is highly regulated, but it’s also fairly easy to do,” Amberson says regarding those who want to home school. “You notify the province, and then you give a written education plan to the school division, and then at the end of the year, you give an annual report.”

Occasionally, school divisions still challenge the adequacy of some alternative educators, but SHBE can usually intervene successfully. Amberson sees education at home as a natural extension of parenting but acknowledges parents can be intimidated by the task.

“Can anybody do it? I think so. But it takes effort. It takes dedication.”

Following through is another challenge, but SHBE offers support. The 2025 SHBE convention had almost 600 attendees and showcased many educational resources. Amberson says on the whole, home schooling delivers better results.

“There’s a ton of studies … Home-based education on the median is far better than a public education,” Amberson says. “Even a bad homeschooler is going to be better than a bad public schooler.”

The headwinds home schoolers face depend on the area. When rural schools close due to low attendance, local home school families sometimes face scorn for draining the system of students.

“It’s not our fault. It’s (the public school system) model. They require one teacher per every couple of grades, right? If they want to keep these schools open, there’s other models out there,” Amberson says.

In Regina and Saskatoon, home schools are a relief valve for boards with overcrowded schools. Remarkably, school boards still get half of the $12,000 provincial per-student grant for home-schooled kids in their area, despite their physical absence. Meanwhile, home-school educators get about one-sixth that amount.

Amberson says when teachers go on strike for more pay, it is hard to argue it’s really for the sake of the children.

“My wife has an engineering degree,” Amberson says. “That’s millions of dollars that she’s given up in earnings to educate our children. She loves her kids and she wants the best for them.”

Meanwhile, the primary complaint of parents during teacher strikes is that they’re at work and it’s hard to find someone to care for their children.

“We’ve broken the family on both ends. Kids don’t want to be home. Parents don’t want their kids home,” Amberson says.

“If you want to fix problems in society, you have to equip the family. You need to value your kids more than just saying you love them—actually like spending time together,” he adds.

Amberson would welcome charter schools in Canada where parents receive a grant or fully refundable tax break to pay tuition at the school of their choice, even if it’s at home.

Some U.S. states enjoy looser regulations and a funding model less punishing and more accommodating for those who choose alternative education. The result is micro-schools, learning centres and increased parental autonomy in education.

“Innovation is being driven by giving teachers and parents options to create something great,” Amberson explains.

The cost of public schooling has ballooned, its quality has eroded, and, says Amberson, increasingly pushes ideologies at odds with parents. Provincial governments can solve this problem by setting up a regulatory and funding framework that democratizes education.

They just need the courage and initiative to unleash parents and educators who can offer answers.

Lee Harding is a research fellow for the Frontier Centre for Public Policy.