Happy New Year!
You know that old saying, life goes by in the blink of an eye? Well, that's what it feels like happened to 2016. I blinked and the whole year went *POOF*!!
I don't know what it is exactly, but each year seems to go by faster than the last. In my case, my children are growing older and with that, they have greater aspirations as to what they want to do with their year, and that seems to bring constant change and growth which sometimes has me hanging on by my fingernails. I was reminded of this when I was watching the movie RV, with Robin Williams, when he talks about nurturing a business while relating it to his growing children at the same time. He starts off talking about how it's your baby, you're scared, you're not sure what the heck you're doing or if it's even going to work out and then it grows older, things get more complicated, you embrace it, nurture it and are proud of its accomplishments and you're loving it more than ever. I can totally relate that to homeschooling! I remember when I started, I was more than a little out of my comfort zone and worried that I might mess up their education, but you know what, I haven't. My oldest graduates this year, my thirteen-year-old is coming into her own with a voracious passion for animals and biology, and my youngest is just loving life and they're all thriving in a learning environment tailored especially for them, here at home.
I also feel that way about the BCHLA. I've been a long time member, and even before I actually became an official member I was watching from the sidelines checking it out. Board members have come and gone, projects have been completed and our name has evolved with the times over the decades, and we are about to evolve again. The BCHLA (now the BCHEA) is growing older, nearly 30 in fact, and we should be proud of that and embrace the accomplishments and aspirations it has to defend and protect Section 12 Homeschooling in BC even if it may feel a little out of our comfort zone at times.
So as we jump head first into 2017 we will be making some changes to our newsletter, website and more. Read on as we share about some of the things that you can look forward to this year. Change is good and leads to even better things!
Have you noticed? We have a new name!
After careful consideration of input from our membership, the board is pleased to announce that we have officially changed the name of our organization to the BC Home Educators’ Association, or BCHEA.
Why the change? Discussion about the phrase “home learners” in our name has taken place at various times over the years, but in 2016 it became particularly relevant because changes to the Society Act required us to refile all our registration paperwork, thereby presenting us with an opportunity to bring our name more in line with our mandate. Almost three decades ago, BCHEA was originally founded to protect the provisions in the School Act that allow parents to forego the school system and provide their own educational program (see sections 3, 12, 13, 14), and that mission forms the core of our Constitution and Bylaws.
Since the more recent advent and rapid spread of Distributed Learning programs, which have provided a further alternative to brick and mortar schools, there has been much debate among parents about what terminology to use to describe what we all do, specifically concerning the terms “home schooling” and “home learning”. This has fostered confusion about educational choice amongst both parents and school officials, as many people do not realize there are actually two different options. The Ministry of Education took steps to delineate between section 12 and Distributed Learning by clarifying the language in their policies and using “homeschooling” to refer to section 12 registration only. At the same time, “home learning” has generally been viewed in the community as an inclusive label encompassing both section 12 home education and Distributed Learning. Consequently, the decision of our board way back in 1999 to formally change the Canadian Home Educators of BC (our original name) to the BC Home Learners Association proved to have unforeseen ramifications and has unintentionally added to the confusion.
So how to clarify what our organization is all about? It exists because of legislative provisions in the School Act, so we looked to that wording. The only phrase used there is “Home Education,” the title of Part 2, Division 4, which contains sections 12 to 14. While Ministry policy documents do currently use “home schooling” to refer exclusively to section 12 registration, policy can and does change far more frequently than legislation does, and the ultimate authority is the legislation itself. We felt that “home educators” is most closely aligned with the statute’s wording. Accordingly, with a nod to our original name, we chose BC Home Educators’ Association in an effort to be clearer about who we represent and the specific legal provisions we work to protect and promote.
As we approach our 30th anniversary next year, we hope you will continue to join us in supporting each other and ensuring that home education remains a legal option in British Columbia.
AGM and Board Report for 2015/2016
On June 8
th, we had another successful AGM with three hubs for members to attend in Vancouver, Tsawwassen & Penticton. Our remote hubs continue to be a low-cost way to connect both our board and members each year via skype and also ensure that you have an opportunity to have your voice heard and participate in the workings of the association. If you weren’t able to attend last June we hope to see you this coming June!
Sandra, Melissa and Rosina were finally able to meet with the Inspector of Independent Schools and he seemed really receptive about our concerns and willing to talk. He talked about flexible DL's being more at risk than Registered Homeschooling right now and mentioned that the Ministry is trying to be more clear about the difference between DL compared to Homeschooling. We've seen evidence of this on the recently redesigned Ministry website. One of our main requests when meeting with him was to have an easily accessible form for families wishing to register placed on the Ministry website. He was very responsive to our request but we haven't heard anything yet on actually getting the form published which would make the process of registering much easier for families. Rosina continues to keep contact with the Inspector, asking once in a while how that is going so that we can keep it fresh in his mind.
We finally took Norma up on her offer to woman a booth at the CHEC convention in Kelowna and she did a wonderful job organizing all of the volunteers. It was a huge success. Many people that came to our booth did not know much about their educational choices here in BC. Even the DL schools were not fully aware of the options, so Norma and our volunteers did a great job explaining them to everyone. Norma shared a fantastic write-up about their experience at the convention in our Spring 2016 newsletter and we're planning to do it all over again this year!
Last year our webmaster, Michal, did an amazing job overhauling
our website and we have received tons of positive feedback on it. Michal continues to take care of it for us and is continually updating the support group pages to make sure they are current for visitors to our site.
Sandra has continued to run outreach programs within her community and through the “
BC Homeschoolers/Section 12 Registered Option” Facebook page to bring awareness and spread the word about the benefits of registering. She is a real support to both the registered families and those looking for more information or to make the switch from being Enrolled to Registered.
Giles continues to be a huge help with all things financial, creating statements and paying our bills which we truly appreciate. Norma continues to take care of any emails coming in with questions about homeschooling and Rosina kept us on track doing secretarial work and taking care of any other correspondence that needed to done.
Melissa is always a constant presence online on the many Facebook pages sharing her knowledge and giving advice regarding homeschooling and letting everyone know that we have two options in BC when keeping our kids at home, not just DL schooling. In addition to that, she continues to be the voice behind our 1-800 number which still continues to be a very popular way for people to contact us. Melissa also had numerous conversations with other BCHLA members about how to frame the "terminology" debates which led her to suggest that we consider a name change for the BCHLA. It was thoroughly discussed at the AGM and put to a vote, which passed, that we would indeed pursue changing our name in the coming year. (Read more about the progress on our name change below)
In the previous year, Alison had started a new feature in our newsletter with interviews from different BC support groups. We continued with them and Rosina took the lead getting them published in our newsletters. By the large amount of positive feedback that we received we can confidently say that they were very well received and it was also a good indication that people were actually reading our newsletters. Including the interviews in our newsletters was a win-win for both us and the support groups as it helped with promotion to each featured group and helped boost our readership.
There are a few projects on our to-do list that we are continually working towards the completion of, namely our post-secondary document which Norma spear-headed for us and did a great job, and getting the registration form on the Ministry web pages.
We’ve got a good start on these projects already so we are looking forward to updating you regarding them this year.
Meet the Newest Members on the BCHEA Board of Directors
With our 2016 AGM came the election of two brand new board members, and shortly after that, we gained an additional two more new board members! Margaret Young, Linda Walton, Kerry Longia and Teresa Wiedrick all bring their passion to protect Sections 12 and 13 of the School Act, and it is so nice to have the fresh energy that new volunteers bring, to keep us steaming along on our mission to protect registered homeschooling in BC. So without further ado, I will let each of them introduce themselves.
My name is Margaret Young and I have two children and our family has been officially home learning since 1999. In the early elementary years, my children were enrolled in a Distributed Learning program. Since 2006, they have been s. 12 registered homeschoolers. My daughter is now in post-secondary studying science, and my son plans to enter college in 2017. Our family followed an eclectic homeschooling plan, loosely based on the Well Trained Mind classical approach to education. My experiences are in respecting a student’s growth and development while preparing them academically for their post-secondary studies and career goals. I am an International Board Certified Lactation Consultant since 2002, and a retired La Leche League Leader. Before my mothering career, I worked for the federal government in the immigration department where I learned to read and apply laws, regulations, policies and procedures. I also hold a B.A. in Political Science from UBC. My hobbies are dogs and reading.
My name is Linda Walton and I recently moved back to Vancouver Island. I have two boys. My oldest son is 17 and he is completing his last 3 online courses to graduate with a Dogwood. My youngest son is 9 and we have homeschooled for the last 2 years in Alberta. We are excited to homeschool under Section 12/13 in BC for grade 4! I have been self-employed for the last 10 years. I have a diploma in Business Marketing and Management and an Event Planning certificate. I have 20 years experience volunteering for non-profit organizations and running events/fundraising/awareness and being on boards. I was a Toastmaster and I will be joining here once the summer is over. I have many different skills such as designing websites, creating promo materials, and social media memes to name a few. I am excited to be a part of the BCHEA and look forward to contributing!
My name is Kerry Longia and I live in Vancouver with my husband and two children, aged 10 and 5. Both children are registered home learners and have happily been so since the start. Our family enjoys being a part of Vancouver's thriving community of home educators and unschoolers, and appreciates the various options for learning in BC, particularly our ability to register under Sections 12/13. I am excited about serving on the Board and helping the organization continue its mandate of supporting these much-valued freedoms.
My name is Teresa Wiedrick and we began home educating our four kids 15, 13, 11, and 8, when our oldest entered grade 3. For most of the last decade we were anchored in Kamloops while travelling throughout Canada, Europe and twice to Africa. In the last six months we've built a home in a lovely mountain town in the Kootenays and are building up the garden and chicken coop while my husband works as a physician in emerg and we learn about the world. I blog at
www.capturingthecharmedlife.com
The rest of your 2016/2017 board of directors:
Melissa Hodges Rosina Huber
President/1-800 # Vice President/Membership
Michal Sirton Giles Grierson
Webmaster Treasurer
Norma Hill Sandra Kwitkoski
Contact Outreach
Candace Sikiric
Volunteers Needed for the 2017 Convention
We are doing it again! The BCHEA will be attending the 2017 Christian Home Educators' Convention (CHEC) in Kelowna, April 28th - 29th, but we need your help!!
Sandra and Norma will be the smiling faces behind our BCHEA booth at the convention but they would love to have you join them for a few hours to talk with visitors about what the BCHEA does and answer questions about the homeschooling/home learning options available in BC. Don't worry if you don't know all of the answers as one of us will be there with you to help you if you get stuck!
It would be perfect if we could get one or two others to partner with us and we can work around the speaker schedule if there are seminars you don't want to miss. As a thank you for volunteering your time to help, we will provide you with free admission.
If you are interested in helping please contact us at
boardofdirectors@bchla.bc.ca and let us know. For more info on the CHEC convention, speakers and where it is, check out their website at:
http://www.bcconvention.ca/.
Don't Forget to Renew Your BCHEA Membership
Our membership drive officially began on August 18
th and both the renewals and new memberships are coming in! Thank you so much to those of you who have already submitted your membership and if you haven’t had a chance yet you can access our easy to use
online membership form here.
Membership is by donation, so although our suggested donation is $25 per member, please feel free to give what you can! Please don’t be deterred if at this moment you are unable to give anything. There is strength in numbers and having you as part of the BCHEA helps us to have a larger voice to protect our rights and freedoms as Section 12 homeschoolers.
The BCHEA is the provincial organization that represents all home learning families who want to protect and preserve their right to registration under Section 12 of the School Act, even if they aren’t taking advantage of it at present. So if you know of anyone who would be interested in joining the BCHEA, regardless of whether they are registered or enrolled but would like to preserve their options, please let them know how easy it is and give them the link above. Thanks!
From the BCHEA Board, we wish you the best learning adventure through this year!
