Welcome to WISDOM

Welcome to WISDOM

Welcome to WISDOM What Now? One great freedom in home education is that there is no “start date” by which you must begin. So breathe, take the time to come up with a good plan and remember to utilize the many daily opportunities for learning together as a family.

Planning

Funding

The first step to a successful home school year is to consider your vision, both for the long run and for this school year. Do you have a family “mission statement”? What do you most wish to accomplish as a family? For individual children? Start here before you decide on methodology and resources. Once you have decided on an overall vision, you can become more specific with an education program plan for each child. If you need help, your facilitator is happy to assist you. See this part of our website for program plan suggestions and a template. Once we receive your plan, we will send it to your facilitator for approval. Remember: your plan is a living document that may be changed as your year progresses. (No matter how much it changes, though, we prefer that you only send us a maximum of two revisions during the year.)

You may begin to purchase or sign up for resources for your home school now. Be sure that anything really specific is listed on the plan under resources - karate class, a telescope or soap-making supplies, for example. See which resources are refundable by viewing the most recent Funding Policy. Save your receipts and submit them for reimbursement, along with a properly-completed Expense Form, by the last business day of any month for direct deposit six weeks after that date. If you haven’t done so, please send us a completed EFT form and void cheque.) You also have the option to use purchase orders to order materials, beginning mid-September. The year›s funding is $850 per student with half available in Fall, and the second half in Spring (beginning in April for purchase orders or May for refund). Find answers to all your funding questions here.

Ready to Connect?

Home Education Support Groups Of Alberta Updated: August 2020

This is a compilation of home school support groups all around the province. These groups are a good place to meet local home schooling families, find out about local field trips, and hear about events near you. These groups are not affiliated with any particular home school administration, including WISDOM. Many of these groups have dedicated Facebook pages, too, and we have listed as many as we knew about.

If you find any incorrect information on this list, or notice something missing, please contact us at office@wisdomhomeschooling.com so we can get it up to date. *Facebook Pages Updated August 7, 2020*

ALBERTA ASSOCIATIONS

AIRDRIE

Alberta Association of Home Educators of Special Needs (*Phone for support and to find resources) Sharon Kok (780) 460 – 4468 luvvws@telusplanet.net

Airdrie Christian Home Educating Parents Debbie (403) 948 – 4089 debcnts@telusplanet.net

Alberta Home Education Association (AHEA) executiveassistant@aheaonline.com (403) 236 – 1173 www.aheaonline.com Facebook: *AHEA - Alberta Home Education Association *AHEA – Events in Alberta Alberta Homeschooling Association (AHA) http://albertahomeschooling.ca Facebook: *Alberta Homeschooling Classical Conversations Dawna Ferguson (403) 805 – 2265 dferguson@classicalconversations.com www.classicalconversations.com Misc. Provincial Pages - Facebook: *Alberta Home Schooling Support and Encouragement *Alberta Unschooling Families *(NEW) Beginner Homeschooling Alberta *Homeschoolers of Alberta *Homeschooling Alone *Secular Homeschoolers of Alberta WISDOM Home Schooling Facebook: (WISDOM families only) *WISDOM Home Schooling *WISDOM Home Schooling – High School & Beyond *WISDOM Support Group: Learning Challenges (Open to all home schoolers) *WISDOM Home Schooling Buy/ Sell / Swap

Facilitator As families notify us of their intent to home educate, we match them with a facilitator. This Fall, your facilitator will have their first visit with your family. Our facilitators are certificated teachers as well as home schooling parents/graduates and they are 100% committed to supporting you in this journey. The facilitator evaluations are based on your plan and your unique children - not on anyone else’s idea of what home schooling should look like.

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Our website tells you more about us and offers current information, helpful articles, details on camps and workshops, and our Socratic Dialogue Online Program.

Facebook: *(NEW) Airdrie Homeschooling Families *NW Calgary Homeschooling Families ATHABASCA Athabasca Homeschoolers Maureen Rymer (780) 675 - 2969 maureenrymer@hotmail.com Facebook: *Athabasca/Boyle Homeschoolers BARRHEAD Barrhead Home School Support Group Jake Warkentin (780) 305 – 9358 jakewarkentin@gmail.com Facebook: *Barrhead & Area Homeschool Network BEAUMONT Facebook: *Beaumont Homeschoolers BONNYVILLE (and surrounding area) Bonnyville Home Educators Tamara Brooks (780) 726-7768 tamarapalm74@gmail.com Facebook: *Bonnyville Homeschoolers BROOKS Facebook: *Brooks and Area Homeschoolers

a new and effective way. See the website for information on our rotating series of workshops: WISDOM’s Mediated Learning Program •

Our Parent Support Council (PSC) members are available to you for support and information, and to help connect you with local families and events.

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Another way to get connected with the home school community is to sign up for the WISDOM Social Networking List by contacting the office or your facilitator.

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Every Fall, WISDOM hosts a barbecue in your area, just for WISDOM families. To find out information on these events, click here.

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In addition to our bi-monthly magazine, each month we send out an e-Newsletter to our families, giving you important information about current deadlines as well as what events or opportunities are coming up. Please make sure you have wisdomhomeschooling.com in your email ‹safe list› so you receive these emails. If you do not receive one after this month, please let us know so we can make sure we have your email address entered correctly.

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We also have a WISDOM-only Facebook group to encourage discussion and interaction. If you have not already, click here and request to join.

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Remember to Like our Page on Facebook to be reminded of anything coming up.

WISDOM offers unique parent training through our Mediated Learning program. ML is a dependable method of enhancing learning and refining behavioral habits by having a mediator work with a student to challenge and help them past barriers. These workshops help parents to bridge information to our children in

Please let us know how we can best serve your unique family. We support you fully as you choose your home education style and specifically tailored program. If you would rather have more (or less) interaction with us, or are in need of advice or direction, please let us know.