The Short Answer
To homeschool in Yukon, you register each year with Aurora Virtual School (AVS) for the English program, by September 30. You submit an education plan for each child, before the program starts, covering a minimum of three school years and describing learning activities that build the basic skills set out in the Education Act. AVS helps you build the plan, arrange testing, and choose resources. Yukon Education funds some distance-learning courses and reimburses educational materials up to about $1,200 per child per year. Compulsory school age starts at 6 years 8 months and runs to under 16.
Verified June 2026 against the Yukon Education Act, the Home Education Regulations, and the Government of Yukon homeschooling registration page. Confirm current funding amounts with Aurora Virtual School.
Homeschooling in Yukon at a Glance
| Legal basis | Education Act and Home Education Regulations (sections 22, 23, 31) |
|---|---|
| Register with (English) | Aurora Virtual School (AVS) |
| Register with (French First Language) | Ecole Nomade, via the Yukon Francophone School Board |
| Deadline | By September 30 each year |
| Education plan | One per child, before the program starts |
| Plan covers | A minimum of three school years, with learning activities for the basic skills |
| Funding | Some distance-learning courses covered; materials reimbursed up to about $1,200 per child per year |
| Support | AVS helps with the plan, testing, exams, and resources |
| Compulsory age | From 6 years 8 months to under 16 |
Can You Homeschool in Yukon?
Yes. Yukon's Education Act lets parents provide a home education program as an exemption from compulsory school attendance. Compulsory attendance applies to a child who is 6 years and 8 months or older as of September 1 and younger than 16, and a registered home education program meets that requirement fully. A child younger than 6 years 8 months is not subject to compulsory attendance, so you can begin a home education program earlier if you choose, though the registration requirements and the funding apply once you are in the system.
Yukon stands apart from most of Canada for how much it supports homeschooling families. Aurora Virtual School is a genuine partner in the process, not just a registry. The territory provides funding for materials and covers some distance-learning course fees. That combination of institutional support and financial help puts Yukon in a category of its own among Canadian jurisdictions. The trade-off is that the system asks for a structured multi-year plan and maintains oversight of your child's progress, but for families who want support rather than isolation, this is a good arrangement.
How to Register with Aurora Virtual School
For the English program, you register with Aurora Virtual School, the territory's distance and home education school. You register when you first start homeschooling and again each year by September 30. AVS is the institution that receives your registration, reviews your education plan, and connects you with the territory's resources throughout the year. If you are late for the September 30 deadline, contact AVS to discuss your situation rather than waiting until the following year.
AVS does considerably more than hold your registration. Its staff help you set up your home education program, understand what the Department of Education requires, create your education plan, arrange achievement testing and provincial exams, and choose curriculum resources that fit your plan. Families new to homeschooling in Yukon find this support valuable, because you are not writing the plan in isolation and then submitting it to a faceless office. You have people to talk through the plan with, and that changes the experience of putting it together. If you are homeschooling in French First Language, you register instead with Ecole Nomade, the equivalent school run by the Yukon Francophone School Board.
Before you contact AVS, get a clear picture of where your child is starting. The free reading assessment gives you a concrete baseline in literacy in about ten minutes, which is far more useful for writing the learning activities section of the education plan than working from a vague sense of grade level.
Building the Education Plan
For the full breakdown of what the plan must include, the eleven basic skills it has to cover, and how to write it with AVS support, see the dedicated Yukon homeschool education plan guide. The overview below covers the key requirements.
The education plan is the document that makes Yukon different from most other Canadian jurisdictions. You prepare one plan per child and submit it to the Minister, through AVS, before the program starts. The plan has to cover the entire home education program, a minimum of three school years, and describe the learning activities, curriculum, and resources you will use across that period. This is not a one-page overview; it is a substantive document that shows the Minister that your program will provide satisfactory instruction across all the basic skills.
Those basic skills are defined in the Education Act and include literacy, listening, speaking, reading, writing, numeracy, mathematics, analysis, problem solving, information processing, and computing. Your plan has to show how the activities and resources you have chosen will develop each of those areas over the program years. The three-year horizon is daunting at first, but it does not require you to plan every lesson in advance. It asks you to describe a coherent program that holds together across the years, with the curriculum and approach you intend to follow. AVS staff help you write a plan that meets the requirements without overwhelming the exercise.
Once the plan is approved, it guides the year. You are expected to deliver what you described, though adjustments can be made in coordination with AVS as the program evolves. The plan is reviewed as part of the oversight process, so keeping it current and realistic is better than writing an ambitious plan you cannot follow.
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The Funding and Resources You Can Access
The funding is one of the strongest selling points for homeschooling in Yukon, and it works in two ways. First, Yukon Education covers some distance-learning course fees: for grades 1 to 7, up to four core courses, and for grades 8 to 12, up to two concurrent distance-learning courses. These covered courses let your child access structured instruction in subjects where you want external support, without paying out of pocket. Second, the territory reimburses parents for educational materials, up to about $1,200 per child per year. Confirm both the course funding and the materials reimbursement limit with AVS when you register, since these figures can change year to year and what qualifies for reimbursement has its own criteria.
Beyond the funding, AVS arranges for home educators to borrow textbooks and equipment from the Department of Education's Resource Services unit. This borrowing program gives you access to materials that would otherwise cost you money or require you to piece together a curriculum from scratch. AVS also provides home educators access to the ERAC digital classroom, which expands the range of resources available to your child online. Between the funding, the borrowing program, and the digital classroom access, Yukon home schoolers have a resource base that families in most other jurisdictions have to build themselves at full cost.
What the Territory Asks in Return
With the support comes a monitoring relationship. The Minister may provide for regular assessment of your child's achievement and share the results with you. If your child is not making reasonable progress, the Minister may advise you of that and make recommendations for how to improve the program. You can also request that tests be administered to your child, subject to the regulations and any fees that apply. AVS coordinates the testing, so this is not something you organize on your own.
In rare cases, the Minister can terminate a home education program if it no longer meets the basic-skills requirement of the Education Act or if the child has not met achievement standards comparable to those in the public schools. This is not a routine outcome; it is a backstop for programs that are not being delivered. For families who keep their plan current, maintain their child's progress, and stay in contact with their AVS liaison, the oversight stays in the background. The monitoring is designed to catch situations where the support is not working, not to create friction for families who are doing the work.
Is There Funding for Homeschooling in Yukon?
For the full breakdown of what qualifies, how to claim, and how to get the most from the borrowing program, see the dedicated Yukon homeschool funding guide. The summary below covers the key figures.
Yes, and more than most of Canada. Yukon Education covers some distance-learning course fees and reimburses educational materials up to about $1,200 per child per year. That reimbursement covers purchases like curriculum materials, books, educational software, and other resources that directly support your program. The distance-learning course funding covers the fees for specific courses your child takes through recognized providers. Both streams of funding are administered through AVS, so your coordinator is the right person to ask about what qualifies and how to claim each one. Confirm the current figures and qualifying criteria when you register, since they can shift from year to year.
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Homeschooling Through High School
Homeschooled students in Yukon can take courses offered by the Minister or a school board, and the grades 8 to 12 distance-learning funding helps cover some of those courses. AVS arranges achievement testing and provincial exams, which matters as your teen works toward graduation requirements. If a diploma is the goal, talk with AVS early about which courses and assessments your teen needs and how the distance-learning path aligns with Yukon's graduation requirements. The distance-learning courses available through the territory are the core of the high school credit path for most home schooled students.
The mechanics of how credits are recognized, which assessments count, and how the diploma is awarded at the territory level are worth a dedicated conversation with your AVS coordinator before Grade 10. The earlier you plan the credit sequence, the more flexibility you have in the senior years. A full Yukon high school diploma guide covering these details is planned for this cluster.
Your First Year, Step by Step
The path for year one follows a clear order. Start with the free reading assessment or another tool to get a concrete picture of where your child is before you write the education plan. Contact Aurora Virtual School early in the spring or summer before your intended start date: the plan takes time to write and AVS staff need time to review it before you begin. Build the multi-year education plan with AVS support, covering a minimum of three school years and all the basic-skills areas. Submit your registration and approved plan to AVS by September 30. Confirm which educational materials qualify for reimbursement and set up your distance-learning course funding for any courses you have chosen. Teach through the year using the plan as your guide, keeping records of your child's work and progress. At the end of the year, re-register with AVS for the following year and update the plan if anything has changed. The guide covers how to turn a multi-subject plan into a manageable weekly routine without overloading the first semester.
Val's Note: What This Really Means for You
Yukon was the first place I researched where the system felt like it was on my side rather than just watching. Aurora Virtual School is a real partner: they help you write the plan, sort out testing, and point you to resources, and the funding for materials is not small. The multi-year plan threw me at first. Writing three years out felt presumptuous before I had even started. What changed was realizing that the plan is a direction, not a script. It describes what you intend, not a precise timetable. Thinking three years out made me a calmer teacher, because I stopped overplanning each September and started building a program with some coherence to it.
Lean on AVS, claim the funding you are entitled to, and keep your records so the plan and the progress line up when the year-end comes around. If AVS advises something based on your child's test results, treat it as useful information rather than criticism. They have seen a lot of homeschool programs, and the feedback tends to be practical.
Frequently Asked Questions
How Do I Start Homeschooling in Yukon?
Register with Aurora Virtual School for the English program by September 30, and submit an education plan for your child before the program starts. Contact AVS early, since the plan takes time to write and review.
What Does the Education Plan Cover?
A minimum of three school years, with learning activities, curriculum, and resources that build the basic skills set out in the Education Act, including literacy, numeracy, analysis, problem solving, and computing. The plan needs approval from the Minister through AVS.
Is There Funding for Homeschooling in Yukon?
Yes. Yukon Education covers some distance-learning course fees and reimburses educational materials up to about $1,200 per child per year. Confirm current amounts and qualifying criteria with AVS when you register.
What Help Does AVS Provide?
AVS helps you set up the program, create the education plan, arrange achievement testing and provincial exams, choose resources, and borrow textbooks and equipment from the Department's Resource Services unit.
Does Yukon Monitor My Homeschool?
The Minister may assess your child's achievement, advise you if progress is not reasonable, and make recommendations. In rare cases, a program can be terminated for not meeting the basic-skills requirement. Families who follow their plan and maintain progress are not affected by this.
Can My Child Take School Courses?
Yes. Homeschooled students may take courses offered by the Minister or a school board, and the distance-learning funding for grades 8 to 12 helps cover some of these.
Sources
This guide was verified in June 2026 against the following primary sources. Confirm current funding amounts, registration deadlines, and plan requirements with Aurora Virtual School.