Victoria Home Learning Network – Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Welcome to the Victoria Home Learners' Network Association. Below are answers to questions that newcomers to Victoria and to home learning often have.
What is the VHLN?
The Victoria Home Learners' Network Association (VHLN) is a non-profit society created to support home learning families in the Greater Victoria area. One of the main reasons for having a society is to provide insurance so that our group can sponsor events as is now required by most event rentals. Our membership is comprised of families who follow diverse home learning paths – from traditional approaches to home schooling to “radical" unschooling to everything in between.
Benefits of membership include access to member initiatives, such as:
All families with a direct interest in home learning are welcome to join the VHLN… and to help organize and join in the activities they feel best fit their family's collective and individual interests!
When was the VHLN created?
There has been a loosely-organized Victoria Home Learners Network operating in Victoria for over 20 years. In the spring 2010, a new society was created, the Victoria Home Learners' Network Association. While there is a similarity in the name, the new society is a separate entity.
How do I join? And what is the fee?
There is an online application form on this website. You simply need to click the link that says,JOIN and fill in your information, including your connection to home learning. Please double check that all your information is complete - this saves our volunteers (and you) a lot of time. You will be immediately directed to PayPal to complete your membership application by submitting your $15 yearly fee electronically. (If you have concerns about using PayPal, please click here.) Once we receive confirmation of your PayPal payment, you will be added to the Hotline (please look for the invitation in your inbox) and will receive your discount card and directory by mail.
The annual membership fees help to create and support a vibrant diverse selection of home learning community events and services. As individual families, we may not participate in all that is available, but having many choices is what makes our community an exciting, dynamic place to engage in home learning.
Everything at the VHLN is done entirely by volunteers: we pay no wages nor do we reimburse anyone for the time they donate as volunteers.
When can I join?
You can join up anytime. Our membership year officially runs from September 1st to August 31st. The application form for the next membership year will be available after June 15 on the VHLN website.
If you apply mid-year or even in the spring, you are still able to benefit from your membership in many ways. There are several homeschooling events scheduled in the late spring that your family can partake of and enjoy. You will be added to the hotline and you will receive a membership card (good until November) and a directory. The $15 fee is applicable whenever you apply during the membership year.
What if I can't afford the membership fee?
Our goal is to create a welcoming home learning community in Victoria and the surrounding areas! If the fee is a hardship for your family we offer a bursary program. Please apply for membership by way of the online 'Join Us' form and indicate that you wish to apply for a bursary in the Special Requests box at the bottom of the form.
What will I find on the Hotline?
All VHLN members can post notices directly to the hotline. You will find posts about planned fieldtrips, information about community classes, announcements of events that are of interest to home learners, information about resources available in our community, invitations to join home learning groups or co-ops, or reviews of fieldtrips or other relevant events. We encourage all members to take an active part in planning or informing others of relevant home learning activities, in accordance with the Hotline's posting guidelines.
What is my role as a member?
This is something only you can determine! We have a large group of volunteers who do everything and anything from answering questions, organizing large events, adding content to the website, creating the directory, planning events to create a sense of community, or doing administrative work. Also, many members plan fieldtrips or events and invite other VHLN families to attend. If you would like to organize a fieldtrip or event, please read the article about this on the website. We are always looking for volunteers to help organize and help with events, to contribute to our newsletter, or take on a job that needs doing in order for the VHLN to function. The VHLN exists because people volunteer their time to support it. We love our volunteers! And it's a great way to get connected.
How can I meet other VHLN members?
There are a variety of ways to find your feet within the Victoria home learning circles. Please see the article on our website about how to find your niche. You may also try any of the below:
How do I find out more about home schooling?
There are several great links to helpful websites listed in our "Links" section on the VHLN home page. There are a variety of sites that relate to different approaches of learning at home, so you are bound to find something that fits your personal beliefs and parenting style. Also listed are the sites for a number of different school authorities in the province where you can register your child as home schooled or enroll your child as a home learner under a distance program. There is a helpful FAQ on the Home Learners Association website that is a good place to begin.
If you have further questions specifically about the VHLN, please feel free to contact us.
If you are looking for a venue to find out more about how to homeschool, there are several wonderful yahoo groups, such as HomeSchool Canada, that you can join to get some immediate and helpful online support.
Why PayPal?
In an attempt to address ongoing administrative hassles with cheques and/or cash, the VHLN began to use PayPal to collect membership fees. It has been a great success – both in terms of convenience for our membership and in terms of workload reduction for our busy volunteers (who are also home learning with their own children). Some previous issues the VHLN has had with cheques and cash are as follows:
With PayPal, it’s possible to make an online credit card purchase without having a PayPal account. You just need to look for that option on the login page.
Is PayPal safe?
PayPal has made it their business to provide people with a safe way to complete online transactions. It protects your identity and your financial information, while keeping all sensitive information encrypted. Here is a page that explains how they do this: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/cps/securitycenter/buy/Index-outside
Many of our VHLN members have regularly used PayPal’s services for 7+ years without any incident. If you are concerned, you can call your credit card company to get their advice about the safety of this transaction.
But I don’t have a credit card!
PayPal gives you the option to make a deposit from your bank account to the VHLN PayPal account (which is deposited directly into the VHLN bank account). You will need to set up a PayPal account in order to do this and it will take a few days for PayPal to verify your account (as being yours). Then you can submit your VHLN payment. It won't take any longer than sending a cheque in the mail and then waiting for it to clear.
If you have concerns about making an account-to-account payment, the next best thing to do is to ask a good friend or a relative to make the VHLN payment on your behalf (and you can write them a cheque or give them cash to repay them).
And... thank you!
The VHLN appreciates your support.
Welcome to the Victoria Home Learners' Network Association. Below are answers to questions that newcomers to Victoria and to home learning often have.
What is the VHLN?
The Victoria Home Learners' Network Association (VHLN) is a non-profit society created to support home learning families in the Greater Victoria area. One of the main reasons for having a society is to provide insurance so that our group can sponsor events as is now required by most event rentals. Our membership is comprised of families who follow diverse home learning paths – from traditional approaches to home schooling to “radical" unschooling to everything in between.
Benefits of membership include access to member initiatives, such as:
- the VHLN Hotline, a Yahoo group where individuals post events relevant to the home learning community
- The VHLN Facebook group.
- SOS (Support or Socializing) Coffee Night gatherings for the parents of home learners.
- large group events a few times a year, past events have included: the Not-Back-To-School Picnic in September, BizKids, May Day, Science "Plus" Celebration (a non-competitive science and project fair)
- other VHLN-sponsored events as they are proposed and organized by VHLN members (such as a Family Fun sports day or a VHLN Performing Arts Gala)
- the VHLN website
- a discount card for several vendors in the Victoria area
- an electronic membership directory
All families with a direct interest in home learning are welcome to join the VHLN… and to help organize and join in the activities they feel best fit their family's collective and individual interests!
When was the VHLN created?
There has been a loosely-organized Victoria Home Learners Network operating in Victoria for over 20 years. In the spring 2010, a new society was created, the Victoria Home Learners' Network Association. While there is a similarity in the name, the new society is a separate entity.
How do I join? And what is the fee?
There is an online application form on this website. You simply need to click the link that says,JOIN and fill in your information, including your connection to home learning. Please double check that all your information is complete - this saves our volunteers (and you) a lot of time. You will be immediately directed to PayPal to complete your membership application by submitting your $15 yearly fee electronically. (If you have concerns about using PayPal, please click here.) Once we receive confirmation of your PayPal payment, you will be added to the Hotline (please look for the invitation in your inbox) and will receive your discount card and directory by mail.
The annual membership fees help to create and support a vibrant diverse selection of home learning community events and services. As individual families, we may not participate in all that is available, but having many choices is what makes our community an exciting, dynamic place to engage in home learning.
Everything at the VHLN is done entirely by volunteers: we pay no wages nor do we reimburse anyone for the time they donate as volunteers.
When can I join?
You can join up anytime. Our membership year officially runs from September 1st to August 31st. The application form for the next membership year will be available after June 15 on the VHLN website.
If you apply mid-year or even in the spring, you are still able to benefit from your membership in many ways. There are several homeschooling events scheduled in the late spring that your family can partake of and enjoy. You will be added to the hotline and you will receive a membership card (good until November) and a directory. The $15 fee is applicable whenever you apply during the membership year.
What if I can't afford the membership fee?
Our goal is to create a welcoming home learning community in Victoria and the surrounding areas! If the fee is a hardship for your family we offer a bursary program. Please apply for membership by way of the online 'Join Us' form and indicate that you wish to apply for a bursary in the Special Requests box at the bottom of the form.
What will I find on the Hotline?
All VHLN members can post notices directly to the hotline. You will find posts about planned fieldtrips, information about community classes, announcements of events that are of interest to home learners, information about resources available in our community, invitations to join home learning groups or co-ops, or reviews of fieldtrips or other relevant events. We encourage all members to take an active part in planning or informing others of relevant home learning activities, in accordance with the Hotline's posting guidelines.
What is my role as a member?
This is something only you can determine! We have a large group of volunteers who do everything and anything from answering questions, organizing large events, adding content to the website, creating the directory, planning events to create a sense of community, or doing administrative work. Also, many members plan fieldtrips or events and invite other VHLN families to attend. If you would like to organize a fieldtrip or event, please read the article about this on the website. We are always looking for volunteers to help organize and help with events, to contribute to our newsletter, or take on a job that needs doing in order for the VHLN to function. The VHLN exists because people volunteer their time to support it. We love our volunteers! And it's a great way to get connected.
How can I meet other VHLN members?
There are a variety of ways to find your feet within the Victoria home learning circles. Please see the article on our website about how to find your niche. You may also try any of the below:
- Look for activities posted on the Hotline or Facebook group that might interest you or your family. Many others will be new to the group, too, so please feel free to come out even if you don't know anyone yet. You'll soon meet a lot of people!
- Check out one of the large-scale activities during the year that bring VHLN members together. There is the "VHLN Not-Back-to-School Picnic" in September, which is an informal gathering of home learning families on a local beach and gives families a chance to reconnect after the summer or to make new connections. Another popular event is the "May Day Celebration Potluck" - a time of music, dance, food, and fun. Another great VHLN activity is the "Science Celebration" in the early spring - this gives our kids a chance to showcase their projects in a relaxed and supportive learning fair environment.
- Attend a monthly Support Or Socialize (SOS) meeting. These fun gatherings are held in the evening, for parents only, at the beginning of each month at a central location. See the hotline for more details.
- Consider organizing your own activity or fieldtrip and post it on the hotline. Is there a place you have always wanted to go to or an activity your children would love to do with others? Gathering together a group is a way to obtain group rates for many venues and a fun way to share the experience with others.
- If you are completely new to home learning or to Victoria, consider posting a request on the hotline for a "buddy family". You never know who might take you under their wing.
- VHLN meetings are held on an "as needed" basis and often, an invitation to attend is sent out through the Hotline. All VHLN members are welcome to attend these meetings. You don't have to commit to do anything and it's a good opportunity to see what the Network is about.
- Join or create a learning co-op. A learning co-op is anything you want to make it. Generally someone starts with an idea or has a need that they would like to fill and go from there. You could create a group for kids of a certain age to work on a certain topic together (for example a Math co-op or a French co-op or a Lego group) or you might want to have a regular meeting time with the same group of people to create a sense of social continuity in your children's lives.
How do I find out more about home schooling?
There are several great links to helpful websites listed in our "Links" section on the VHLN home page. There are a variety of sites that relate to different approaches of learning at home, so you are bound to find something that fits your personal beliefs and parenting style. Also listed are the sites for a number of different school authorities in the province where you can register your child as home schooled or enroll your child as a home learner under a distance program. There is a helpful FAQ on the Home Learners Association website that is a good place to begin.
If you have further questions specifically about the VHLN, please feel free to contact us.
If you are looking for a venue to find out more about how to homeschool, there are several wonderful yahoo groups, such as HomeSchool Canada, that you can join to get some immediate and helpful online support.
Why PayPal?
In an attempt to address ongoing administrative hassles with cheques and/or cash, the VHLN began to use PayPal to collect membership fees. It has been a great success – both in terms of convenience for our membership and in terms of workload reduction for our busy volunteers (who are also home learning with their own children). Some previous issues the VHLN has had with cheques and cash are as follows:
- Cheques made out to a person instead of the VHLN
- Cheques coming back NSF
- Cheques submitted with the wrong date or no signature
- Cheques that were sent but didn't arrive
- Cheques written in pencil (not accepted by the bank)
- Cash being handed to VHLN volunteers at fall events where the name of the payee was hurriedly scribbled down on a scrap of paper that loses itself
- Cash being handed to VHLN volunteers at fall events when the payee has not yet submitted the electronic application and thus, the money and the payee cannot be matched up
With PayPal, it’s possible to make an online credit card purchase without having a PayPal account. You just need to look for that option on the login page.
Is PayPal safe?
PayPal has made it their business to provide people with a safe way to complete online transactions. It protects your identity and your financial information, while keeping all sensitive information encrypted. Here is a page that explains how they do this: https://www.paypal.com/us/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=xpt/cps/securitycenter/buy/Index-outside
Many of our VHLN members have regularly used PayPal’s services for 7+ years without any incident. If you are concerned, you can call your credit card company to get their advice about the safety of this transaction.
But I don’t have a credit card!
PayPal gives you the option to make a deposit from your bank account to the VHLN PayPal account (which is deposited directly into the VHLN bank account). You will need to set up a PayPal account in order to do this and it will take a few days for PayPal to verify your account (as being yours). Then you can submit your VHLN payment. It won't take any longer than sending a cheque in the mail and then waiting for it to clear.
If you have concerns about making an account-to-account payment, the next best thing to do is to ask a good friend or a relative to make the VHLN payment on your behalf (and you can write them a cheque or give them cash to repay them).
And... thank you!
The VHLN appreciates your support.