Fewer home-schooled children this year

After a notable increase last year, the number of homeschooling children is down this year. Some students whose parents had turned into teachers due to the pandemic have returned to school.

Marie-Eve Morasse
Press

Dominique Bernèche became the teacher of four of her six children in September 2020. The idea: to protect the grandparents and continue to see them in a tight bubble.

As COVID-19 cases soared in the middle of winter, the 5^e year of Louis, the 3^e by Laurier, the 1^D de Simone and Marie’s kindergarten have been completed – complete! – from the house of Lanaudière.

“It’s been a great year, but I wouldn’t have done another one. Home schooling was not for me a long-term vision or a solution because I was not satisfied with what was happening at school ”, explains Dominique Bernèche, entrepreneur and teacher by training. , who found that “it takes a long time”.

According to figures provided by the Ministry of Education to Press, this year (as of September 13) there are just over 8,300 homeschooling children. Last year, they were almost 12,000 children, or double from 2019-2020.

Some parents who “felt at ease” with the health situation chose to put their children back in class, observes Marine Dumond-Després, president of the Quebec Association for Home Education (AQED).

“It takes a network to home school. Children need to make friends, that parents can interact with families who do the same. It was not really easy last year ”, explains M^me Dumond-Després, who believes that this isolation may have discouraged some from continuing to teach at home.

More children at home than before the pandemic

Although the choice to teach at home remains marginal (less than 1% of all students in the province), AQED believes that the “enthusiasm” observed with the pandemic is not running out of steam.

“It’s interesting to see that families who started last year are continuing [l’enseignement à la maison]. Many families tell us that individualized education is better for their child. We have a majority of children who have special needs. It is certain that a teaching [en tête à tête] allows you to follow the child’s rhythm, ”observes Marine Dumond-Després.

At the Ministry of Education, we remind you that although the deadline for declaring a child in home schooling is the 1^er July, “a parent may choose to withdraw their child from school in order to home school him at any time during the school year.”

As for Dominique Bernèche’s children, they returned to their primary school a few weeks ago.

And the mother? She cites the example of her little Simone, to whom she taught to read. “It was very rewarding,” she says. But while her spouse, a CEGEP teacher, gave her courses at a distance, she often took care of the rest.

“I was the one who was in charge of the school, saying: ‘Today, we’re doing this.’ Sometimes, if I had a meeting, my boyfriend would take care of it, ”explains Dominique Bernèche. Grandparents were also involved.

Now that her children have resumed their more “traditional” routine, Dominique Bernèche devotes herself to her business Les Belles Combines, which offers educational tools for parents. And the family is preparing to welcome a baby, the seventh of the siblings, in a few months.