Marian Buchanan

When parents start considering homeschooling a child who is already in middle school or high school after years of school attendance, it’s usually because of difficulties the teen is experiencing in school. There could be any number of issues: struggling to keep up academically experiencing bullying or discrimination experiencing stress, anxiety, or depression or a medical issue that leads to frequent absenteeism. Sometimes it’s not an issue of struggling but rather a need for greater accommodation of talents: greater flexibility as they pursue a career in the arts or athletics less boredom for a bright or gifted student What families often don’t realize is that there are a number of home-based learning options besides homeschooling. Homeschooling is the only option that does not lead to an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD). This is not necessarily a problem, as we’ll explain below. However, the OSSD factor can be an important part of deciding whether or not homeschooling would be the family’s preferred choice among their home-based learning options. This is why we’ve made it Step 1 in the process of deciding which home-based educational path to take in the teen years. Step 1: Determine if an OSSD is necessary You can, of course, decide to get an OSSD even if it’s not necessary for the teen’s plans for the future. But it can make a difference, both psychologically (stress and anxiety) and in terms of planning (flexibility to change plans), to know whether it’s a choice or a necessity. Whether the plan is to pursue post-secondary studies or go straight into the job market, often people have the misconception that a high school diploma is a necessary goal as a prerequisite step on the path to a teen’s studies, employment, or career goal. That’s not necessarily the case: There are plenty of universities and colleges that have alternative admissions policies for homeschoolers and anyone else who hasn’t obtained a high school diploma. (See https://universityadmissions.ca). Before you assume an OSSD is necessary, first find out what the policies are at the specific post-secondary institutions at which the teen would like to seek admission. Then you can prepare the prerequisites accordingly. If post-secondary academic studies are not part of the mandatory path for the chosen career, then whether or not an OSSD is necessary depends on what the career is and what its specific entry requirements are. For instance, a self-taught computer programmer will likely have no problem finding a job once they’ve reached a certain level of mastery, even if they have no diploma or formal education, not only because of the current high demand for programmers, but also because many employers in that field don’t care about official credentials, only about actual knowledge and skills, and the proof of that is in the applicant’s portfolio and job interview testing. If the chosen career is a trade, the post-secondary path to it may involve attending a trade school. Again, before you assume a high school diploma is necessary for gaining entry into the school, first find out what admissions policies the specific trade school has. Some might require an OSSD, but some might require only certain high school courses as prerequisites (for example, to prove proficiency in English) but not the whole OSSD. Some just have an admissions test and an interview. For trades, sometimes direct arrangements for apprenticing can be a way in. Entrepreneurs are subject to government rules about business and the industry they’ve chosen, but high school credentials are not part of that equation. The other thing to consider is that the immediate goal may not be about careers. Step 2: Determine what’s most important Even if an OSSD is necessary for the chosen career path, is it really necessary to obtain it by a certain date? Sometimes mental health, or the development of maturity, or some other life factor, is more important than staying on a conventional timeline for taking the path to the chosen career. Current needs and wellness As mentioned above, many families who haven’t thought of homeschooling during the elementary grades start considering home-based education during middle school or high school if their teen is suffering from an issue that’s either caused by a situation at school, exacerbated by school attendance, or prevents the teen from attending: bullying stress depression anxiety (social anxiety, performance anxiety, existential anxiety, free-floating anxiety) low self-esteem identity issues or a combination of the above. Even when the chosen home-based learning option involves getting the OSSD, it’s important to take into account any mental health needs that might make it appropriate to take it slower than the standardized pace. Life goals and readiness Another reason for re-thinking the conventional timeline for career preparation is that the career may not yet be chosen and more time may be needed to explore and discover what that choice might eventually be. Also, a teen is not just preparing for work, they’re preparing for life as an independent adult. From a practical point of view, adults need to know how to cook for themselves, budget their income, pay their bills, file their tax returns, register to vote, etc. Ideally, a newly independent adult should also have a certain degree of social and emotional maturity: knowing how to troubleshoot problems, negotiate agreements, resolve conflicts, navigate relationships in a healthy way, etc. So even if you’ve determined that the OSSD should be part of the plan, the focus of a teen’s education needs to be broader than just studying for a diploma. Paper credentials cannot replace resourcefulness, resilience, and know-how. The big picture The purpose of determining what’s important (step 2), is to guide the planning of what needs to be done (step 3). Before taking any practical steps towards a change in the teen’s educational path, take time to look at the whole person and the whole picture of where they are and where they want to go, as well as the very notion of education. The whole concept of dividing knowledge and skills into