Homeschooling in Manitoba

We have moved back to Manitoba after being in BC for 4 years ~ thus, we need to register as a home educating family in Manitoba.  We had previously home schooled in Manitoba before moving to BC, but I needed to see what had changed.  The answer ~ nothing.

I did a quick search on the Manitoba Government website and found this info.

Manitoba Government Education Site

A child needs to be registered in a public, private or home school the year that they turn 7 years old.  This is to be completed by Sept 1st or within 30 days of your decision to home educate.

You can print out your intent to home educate forms or get them to mail them to you.  I choose to have them mailed.  I emailed this address homeschooling@gov.mb.ca with how many children I was planning on educating at home.

They sent me the welcome package in the mail and this is what I filled out

I had been told to write a minimal amount of info on these forms ~ so I figured this should do.  They want to know what books/curriculum I would be using for Math, Language Arts, Science and Social Studies. Then there was a spot for the "others".

This is very different from our experience in BC, where I had the most wonderful home teacher / support system ever and I received $1000/child/year for their textbooks, etc.

Manitoba offers no financial support, minimal educational support (unless I can find it myself somehow) but then I am only required to send in the above notification and 2 reports for the rest of the year.  Less time consuming for me. The reports look very similar to the above as well.

If you are looking for a bit more "support" in Manitoba, try the following:

Manitoba Association of Christian Home Schools (MACHS) (they have a conference in WPG each spring) Click here

Homeschool Canada Click Here

Manitoba Association of Schooling at Home (MASH) Click Here

There is a Yahoo Group and a few Facebook groups available as well ... try 

Westman Homeschoolers

Manitoba Association of Schooling at Home (MASH)

As far as mental/social/emotional support ~ I believe in finding a mentor and having someone to talk to and vent and bounce ideas off.  Find someone with children slightly older than yours, with similar family values and ideas and let them motivate you.  ( perhaps I should also say that you could be an encouragement to them in the process as well) 

The biggest hurdle I've found with educating our three girls at home is that I feel all alone sometimes.  The best thing for myself at those moments is getting together with another family or a Mom and just chatting and maybe getting that one little idea or that comment that can keep me going. 

 Don't be shy with your own compliments ~ let people have it !  Tell them that their children are "well behaved", " clever minded", "compassionate", "quick learners", etc etc.  Let them know the good qualities you've noticed in the children or their family, etc.

Encourage and be encouraged!