Field guide · Read at the government's own source
Homeschooling in British Columbia
Registration as a homeschooler, by September 30. If you start partway through the year, the deadline is different; see below. Nobody reviews what you teach.
Register, level 3 of 4
What British Columbia actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
You tell
A school of the parent's choice anywhere in BC: a public school, an online learning school, an independent school that agrees to register homeschoolers (it may charge a fee), or a francophone school if the child is eligible
By
September 30
September 30 each year. Registration is mandatory from the school year in which the child will be 6 years old on or before December 31 of that school year, until the child turns 16. Registering a year earlier, in the school year the child will be 5 on or before December 31, is optional. If you start homeschooling mid-year, after September 30, or move to BC after that date and homeschool for the rest of the year, you should register at the time of the change.
Who reviews it
No one
No reviewer of program content. The registering school records the registration and reports it to the Ministry on Form 1701. A district superintendent must follow up on any report that a child educated at home is unregistered or may not be receiving an educational program.
If you skip it
Failing to register a homeschooled child is an offence under section 13(4) of the School Act. Anyone who believes a child is not registered may report it to the superintendent of schools for the district where the child lives. The superintendent must investigate and discuss the report with the parent. If the child is not registered, the superintendent must tell the parent of the duty to register, and if the parent refuses to comply with the law, the superintendent must inform the police.
Who is in charge
Ministry of Education and Child Care; day-to-day contact is the school of registration (public, independent, francophone or online learning school)
Who reviews your child is set out at the top of this page, in the authority's own terms.
The year
What you must file
September 30You file
Registration as a homeschooler
September 30 each year. Registration is mandatory from the school year in which the child will be 6 years old on or before December 31 of that school year, until the child turns 16. Registering a year earlier, in the school year the child will be 5 on or before December 31, is optional. If you start homeschooling mid-year, after September 30, or move to BC after that date and homeschool for the rest of the year, you should register at the time of the change.
Goes to: A school of the parent's choice anywhere in BC: a public school, an online learning school, an independent school that agrees to register homeschoolers (it may charge a fee), or a francophone school if the child is eligible
Not required
Often assumed. None of it is asked of a family homeschooling in British Columbia.
Education plan / learning planNot required. Developing the learning plan is listed as the Home Educator's role 'at the discretion of the home educator'.Progress report / portfolio / test scoresNot required. Registering schools must OFFER evaluation and assessment services; the parent is free to accept or reject them.
The words a reviewer uses
BC Curriculum (2016 redesign)
Big IdeaCurricular CompetencyContentLearning Standards
The part the paperwork does not cover
Filing on time is the easy half. The harder half is the year in between: showing what your child actually learned, in words the reviewer recognises, without turning your home into a school.
That is what this tool is for. You say what your child did, in a sentence. It maps that to the published standards we hold for British Columbia, which today are English (286 of 383), Mathematics (431 of 574), Science (454 of 604), Social Studies (135 of 1631), Physical Education (84 of 106) and Arts (109 of 115). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of British Columbia's published standards. Then it builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.
Sources
- Read 28 Aug 2026
- Read 11 Aug 2026
- Read 13 Sep 2026
Last read at the source on 2026-09-13: School Act, RSBC 1996 c.412, s.13 Registration (BC Laws). That is the date we read it, not the date the rule last changed.
The law itself: School Act s.3 (compulsory participation); School Act s.12 (right to educate at home; the parent must provide the child with an educational program); School Act s.13 (registration of homeschoolers). We hold no direct link to the authority's page for this jurisdiction.
Guidance, not legal advice. Rules change and districts vary: confirm with the authority named above before you file.