Free Homeschool Resources in Saskatchewan: What's Actually Available

Homeschooling in Saskatchewan doesn't require a budget for curriculum. The province doesn't fund curriculum purchases the way Alberta does, but there's a meaningful collection of free resources — from provincial distance learning courses to open curriculum documents to library programs — that families use as their primary program or to fill gaps in a paid curriculum.

This covers what's actually available, what the catch is with each, and how to put it together into a workable program.

Saskatchewan Curriculum Documents

The provincial Ministry of Education publishes Saskatchewan curriculum documents for every grade and subject on the Ministry website at no cost. These are the official learning outcomes the school system uses.

Home-based education families are not required to follow these outcomes — Saskatchewan's regulations require broad annual goals, not outcome-by-outcome coverage. But many families use the provincial documents as a planning reference, particularly families new to homeschooling who find it helpful to see what the school system covers at each grade level.

Using the provincial curriculum documents has a practical benefit: if your child re-enters the school system or you're working with a school division reviewer who's unfamiliar with home-based education, documentation that references provincial frameworks can simplify conversations.

The documents are dense and written for classroom teachers, so they require some translation for home use — but they're comprehensive and free.

Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre (Sask DLC)

Sask DLC (formerly the Saskatchewan Distance Learning Centre, also known as the Dr. Stirling McDowell School for Distance Learning) offers provincially accredited online courses at the Grades 10, 11, and 12 level.

Home-based education students can take one or two Sask DLC courses per year at no cost while maintaining their home-based education status. This is one of the more useful provisions for Saskatchewan homeschool families, particularly at the high school level where specific course credits matter for university admissions.

Courses that tend to be most useful for homeschool families at the high school level include sciences (Biology 20/30, Chemistry 20/30, Physics 20/30), mathematics (Pre-Calculus, Foundations, Calculus), and English Language Arts. These are the courses where having a provincially recognized grade matters most for university applications.

The process for enrolling in Sask DLC courses while home-based varies by school division — your division's home education contact is the starting point.

Saskatchewan Home-Based Educators (SHBE)

SHBE is the provincial homeschool organization. Membership is $35/year and includes access to:

• Written Educational Plan (WEP) templates
• Record-keeping forms and portfolio templates
• A newsletter and community resources
• An annual convention

The templates are genuinely useful for families setting up their documentation for the first time. The WEP template in particular helps families understand what level of detail their school division is looking for. At $35, SHBE membership is low-cost rather than free, but the templates alone often justify the cost for a first-year family trying to understand the administrative requirements.

Public Libraries

Saskatchewan public libraries, including the Regina Public Library and Saskatoon Public Library, hold significant homeschool-relevant collections. Most offer:

• Curated homeschool resource sections
• Educational kits (math manipulatives, science kits, activity boxes) for borrowing
• Access to digital resources including Libby/OverDrive for ebooks and audiobooks
• Database access (often free with library card) for encyclopaedias, educational videos, and research tools

The Saskatoon Public Library in particular has run homeschool-specific programming. Check your regional library system's website for current programs — they vary by location and season.

hoopla and Libby (both free with a library card) give access to thousands of ebooks, audiobooks, and video content. For younger children, library digital access alone can provide substantial reading material and educational video content at no cost.

Open Educational Resources

Several free online programs serve Saskatchewan families well:

Khan Academy covers mathematics K–12 and sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics, AP-level courses) completely and at no cost. It's structured, self-paced, and includes practice problems with automated feedback. Many families use it as their primary mathematics program, particularly for middle and high school years where curricula become more expensive.

CK-12 offers free, customizable science and mathematics textbooks aligned to various curricula. The flexbooks can be adapted by subject and level, and the platform includes practice exercises and simulations.

Easy Peasy All-in-One Homeschool is a free, web-based K–12 curriculum built from open educational resources. It's structured by grade level and covers all core subjects. Quality varies, and it works better for some families than others, but it's a legitimate starting point for families who need a structured free program.

Ambleside Online is a free Charlotte Mason curriculum organized by year levels (Year 1 through Year 12). It draws on public domain books available freely through Project Gutenberg and LibriVox, meaning the curriculum itself and most of the materials are free. It requires more parental organisation than a packaged curriculum, but it's comprehensive and used by Canadian families across multiple provinces.

CBC Learning and the National Film Board of Canada (nfb.ca) offer free educational video content with significant Canadian content — useful for social studies and Canadian history that American curricula don't cover.

School Division Materials

Some school divisions allow home-based education families to borrow textbooks or access curriculum materials from the division. This varies significantly by division — some are generous, others have no formal lending program. It's worth asking your home education contact directly when you register.

Putting It Together

Most Saskatchewan families who use primarily free resources combine several of these sources rather than relying on any single one. A common combination: Khan Academy for mathematics, Ambleside Online or library books for language arts and history, provincial curriculum documents as a subject reference, and Sask DLC courses at the high school level for specific accredited credits.

The practical limit of free resources is time and organisation — assembling a coherent program from free sources takes more parental planning than purchasing a packaged curriculum. That trade-off is worth it for many families; others prefer to pay for a structured program and use free resources to supplement.

If you're in the process of withdrawing from the school system and registering for home-based education, the administrative side — WEP requirements, school division communication, registration deadlines — needs to be sorted before you start teaching. The Saskatchewan Legal Withdrawal Blueprint covers the full registration process and what your first Written Educational Plan needs to include.

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