The Quebec Association for Home Education (AQED), which has existed since 1998, has never seen so many members be part of the association since 2020. This upsurge is intimately linked with the pandemic since several families in the provinces did not want their children to experience the health constraints put in place in schools.
“It was rather marginal at the time, but the association has continued to grow, especially in recent months with the pandemic and the craze for home education, indicates from the outset Marine Dumont, president of AQED for almost a year. We started to see a boom in March when Quebec families found themselves in a situation of forced home education. ”
The president says she has many questions from parents curious about how to home school and what resources are available to get there.
“From mid-June, the craze changed and we had other questions if the families wanted to continue during the start of the school year in September. During the summer it was the same. There has been an increase in requests. ”
There are many questions. How do we do? What to start with? How to design a learning project? What are the resources? What do social networks look like for home education? How do children make friends? How do we socialize?
Ms. Dumont notes that the number of members has exploded after the presentation of the recovery plan of Minister of Education Jean-François Roberge last August.
“Last year, we had between 800 and 850 families who were members of AQED. Now we are more than 2,100 family members and this number continues to rise slowly. Yes it is clearly a big boom!»
However, Marine Dumont concedes that the stakes are different.
“This may not be the same educational intention as those who were already doing home schooling. There are many families who have made this choice this year in reaction to the sanitation system and conditions in the schools. The educational experience is different this year, and some people don’t buy into it. ”
On the other hand, it is not necessary for these families to join AQED to do home schooling. The association offers additional support with a team of volunteers for people who are members.
“We have seen a big increase in requests for support. We had maybe 30 to 40 calls or emails a month. It has become 30 to 40 calls or emails a day. We have a good team of volunteers, but we certainly had to call mothers for help. We are back to normal a bit, but we still provide for one francophone and one anglophone volunteer per day to answer questions. ”
By being a member of the association, families can also carry out various educational group activities. However, the activities are less possible due to the current situation. Legal support is also available.
There are other home education associations in Quebec, but AQDE is the only one that is secular.
Chemin-du-Roy school service center
63
Number of homeschooled children for 2019-2020 (as of March 2020)
133
Number of homeschooled children for 2020-2021 (as of November 18, 2020)
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