In its second year of operation as a part of the Edmonton Public School System in Alberta, Canada, the Centre provides an option for families who want to choose their own educational plan, including home-based learning.  

According to principal Ron Bradley, over 1800 students participate in the school’s five educational strategies from locations ranging from Hong Kong to the Netherlands, from Australia to Newfoundland. 

One family is on a sailboat in the Caribbean.  When they stop in port, they connect to the Internet and exchange files between students and the school.  Another Alberta family traveled with their oil worker father to Saudi Arabia.  

Students arrange their programs around athletic endeavours or elite fine arts programs.  One family owns a berry farm and the children arrange their school around their work schedule.  

The Centre meets the needs of all kinds of students, whose situation doesn’t fit the traditional classroom.  

One of the strategies gets students involved in LearnNet on the Internet.  Distance courses are based on the Alberta Program of Studies, allowing families the flexibility to choose when and where their children study.  At home, parents support and supervise the learning process while teachers provide on-line instruction, assessment and evaluation.

The Argyll Centre’s correspondence program is a traditional approach to home-based learning that is designed to allow students in grades 1-12 the freedom they need to complete courses at their own pace, in the home setting.  The correspondence program offers advice, assistance and marking services.

A third strategy, the Christian program, recognizes and respects the Christian perspective. Families can draw from Christian or Alberta curriculum. 

In traditional home schooling the parent teaches the student under the supervision of the school board.  Argyll adds to this the Learning partnership where Argyll staff work in partnership with parents to provide the support, programming materials, and strategies they need.  

Parents can choose from two different categories – blended and basic home education.   Through classes, field trips, instruction, tutorial assistance, workshops, curricular kits for home use and computer technologies, parents and students have access to effective and innovative home-based learning resources.

Alison practices piano four hours a day.  The Argyll Centre programs allow her the flexibility of learning at her own pace, while taking Alberta grade 12 curriculum.  She will graduate with an Alberta high school diploma and attend university next year.  

Robert is another high school student. Although home schooling requires discipline, he likes the program because it provides him the flexibility to learn at an accelerated pace.  On LearnNet, he gets a report daily of his progress.  His program has the same standards, curriculum and exams as other high school students.  He gets social interaction after school or by corresponding with classmates on the message board.

Students can take one or several classes at the Argyll Centre while attending the regular program at a traditional school.
Alberta residents attend without any fee.  Students from other Canadian provinces pay $5000 a year.  International students pay $8000.

More information is available by visiting the Argyll Centre website at http://argyll.epsb.edmonton.ab.ca.