Regina Public Schools Homeschool Registration: Division-Specific Steps and Funding

Registering for home-based education in Regina involves two separate things that families often conflate: fulfilling the province's legal notification requirement, and securing the division funding that Regina Public Schools offers to home-based families. The legal registration process is the same across all Saskatchewan divisions. The funding — and the deadlines that unlock it — are specific to Regina Public.

This post covers both, with the detail you won't find in a general Saskatchewan homeschool guide.

Who You Are Registering With

If your home address falls within the Regina Public Schools catchment area, you register home-based education with Regina Public Schools (Regina School Division No. 4). This is not a provincial registration — there is no central Saskatchewan homeschool registry. Your school division is your registering authority.

If you live within Regina but prefer a Catholic framework, you would register with Regina Catholic School Division instead. This post focuses on the public division.

Your child does not need to currently attend a Regina Public school for you to register home-based education with the division. Residency within the division's boundaries is what determines where you register.

What You Submit for Legal Registration

Saskatchewan's Home-Based Education Program Regulations, 2015 require parents to submit a Notice of Intent containing:

• Full legal name, gender, and date of birth for each home-based student
• Name of the last school attended and grade level (or "no previous school" if this is a kindergarten start)
• Parent or guardian names, home address, and phone number

Alongside the Notice of Intent, you also submit a Written Educational Plan (WEP). This is the document describing what you intend to teach. It must address Saskatchewan's required areas of study: Language Arts, Mathematics, Science, Social Studies, Health Education, the Arts, and Physical Education. For each subject, a few sentences describing your approach and materials is sufficient — the division is confirming coverage, not evaluating your curriculum choices.

Regina Public Schools has its own version of the home-based education application form available on the division website. In practice, many families write their Notice of Intent and WEP as a single document rather than using the form. Both approaches work. What matters is that all required information is present.

Submit your application to the Regina Public Schools division office, addressed to the home-based education coordinator. Email is the most common submission method. Do not send it to your child's current school — the school is not the registering authority.

The August 15 Deadline

For families starting home-based education at the beginning of the school year, Saskatchewan sets an August 15 deadline for submitting your Notice of Intent to the division. This is a provincial deadline, not Regina-specific — it applies across all 27 school divisions.

Missing the August 15 deadline does not prevent you from homeschooling. The regulations state that the registering authority cannot refuse registration when a parent made a reasonable attempt to comply with the notice requirement. However, late registration has funding consequences with Regina Public (see below).

If you are withdrawing your child mid-year rather than starting in September, the applicable requirement is a 30-day advance notice before home-based instruction begins. The mid-year window can create a gap period where your child is still technically subject to compulsory attendance requirements while your notice period runs. See the post on mid-year withdrawal in Saskatchewan for detail on how to handle that gap.

Regina Public Schools Funding

This is where Regina Public stands out compared to most Saskatchewan divisions. The division offers per-student curriculum reimbursement grants to registered home-based families:

• Elementary students (K–8): up to $800 per student per year
• High school students (Grades 9–12): up to $550 per student per year

These grants reimburse eligible education-related expenses: curriculum materials, workbooks, educational software, and similar resources. They are not automatically sent to you — you register, incur eligible expenses, and submit receipts for reimbursement up to the applicable maximum.

The funding deadline is September 15. To be eligible for the full year's reimbursement, your home-based education application must be received by the division by September 15. Families who register after September 15 may receive prorated funding or may not qualify for that year's reimbursement at all, depending on current division policy.

This creates a practical priority for Regina families: even if August 15 passes, completing registration before September 15 preserves your funding eligibility. Call the division directly to confirm current policy if you are registering late — procedures can change year to year.

What Happens After You Submit

Once the division receives your application, you do not need to wait for a formal approval before beginning home-based instruction. The notification requirement is satisfied when you submit. The division's acknowledgment is administrative.

During the school year, the division's home-based education contact may reach out if there are questions about your application. Annual check-ins are not mandatory under provincial regulation for all families, but Regina Public has its own engagement processes — your home-based coordinator can clarify what to expect.

At the end of the school year, you submit an Annual Progress Report summarizing what your child studied and demonstrating reasonable educational progress. This is a written narrative, not a standardized test. Most families include a subject-by-subject summary and attach sample work or a reading list.

Funding Reimbursement Process

To receive the curriculum grant, you submit receipts for eligible expenses to the division, typically at the end of the year or at set intervals. Keep organized records throughout the year — receipts for curriculum packages, workbooks, educational subscriptions, and similar materials.

Some families wait until the end of the year to submit all receipts at once. Others submit receipts on a rolling basis. The division will confirm which process it uses and what counts as an eligible expense. Items like computers and general office supplies typically do not qualify; curriculum-specific materials do.

Registering Multiple Children

The funding amounts apply per student, not per family. If you are homeschooling two elementary-age children, you are eligible for up to $1,600 in reimbursement from Regina Public Schools (2 × $800). Each child requires their own Notice of Intent entry — the written application should list all home-based students.

Practical Notes for Regina Families

• Regina Public Schools has a designated home-based education coordinator. Call or email the division office to get the right contact before you submit anything.
• If you are withdrawing from a specific school, send a separate withdrawal letter to the school principal at the same time you submit your application to the division. The school is required to release records. You do not need the school's permission to begin homeschooling.
• The division cannot legally refuse your registration if you have made a reasonable attempt to comply with notice requirements. If you encounter pushback, you are dealing with an administrative error, not a legal barrier.

The Saskatchewan Legal Withdrawal Blueprint includes ready-to-use templates for the Notice of Intent, Written Educational Plan, and Annual Progress Report — formatted to meet Regina Public Schools' expectations and the provincial requirements simultaneously.

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