Unizon and Alberta’s school system

What it is. Every Unizon book follows the same rhythm: First Principles (what do I know, need and aim for?), short readings, worked examples, Try It activities, a self-check with answers, a small real project (the Mini challenge) and a capstone. A Core path suits learners 12 and up. Optional Level Ups stretch older and adult learners, including a two-page Algebra Level Up in every Math lens and an essay Side Quest in every Language lens. Every book has a print edition and a web version where answers save on the learner's own device.

What it isn't.

• It isn't an accredited school or program, and it doesn't issue credits, marks or transcripts.
• It isn't a replacement for Math, Science, English Language Arts or Social Studies courses.
• It isn't "aligned with," "approved by" or "authorized by" the Alberta curriculum. Alberta reviews learning resources through its own Provincial Resource Review process, and Unizon hasn't been through it.
• It doesn't prepare students for diploma exams. Its coverage is introductory and applied, not course-complete.
• It isn't an authorized "external learning opportunity." Alberta authorizes some outside organizations to offer learning that schools can count for up to 5 credits (about 25 hours per credit). Unizon isn't one of them.

Fair wording. We say that Unizon activities "touch outcomes in" Alberta subjects, and we show where. A school or a supervising teacher decides whether any of that work counts toward something.

• Junior high (Grades 7–9) has no credits. Students in Grades 6 and 9 write Provincial Achievement Tests (PATs).
• High school (Grades 10–12) is organized into courses worth credits. A student earns a course's credits with a final mark of at least 50%. Credits are awarded by Alberta Education on the recommendation of a principal.
• Diploma exams are written in selected 30-level courses (for example ELA 30-1 and 30-2, Social 30-1 and 30-2, Math 30-1 and 30-2, Biology 30, Chemistry 30, Physics 30 and Science 30). For 2026–27, the exam is worth 30% of the final mark and the school-awarded mark 70%.
• The Alberta High School Diploma needs at least 100 credits, including ELA 30-1 or 30-2, Social Studies 30-1 or 30-2, a 20-level math, a 20-level science, Physical Education 10, CALM, 10 credits of options (such as CTS, fine arts, second languages or PE 20/30) and 10 more credits at the 30 level. The full official wording is in the Guide to Education; check it there, not here.
• Other credentials: the Certificate of High School Achievement, the Certificate of School Completion, and the High School Equivalency Diploma (through 100 credits as an adult, or through the Canadian Adult Education Credential, CAEC, which replaced the GED in Canada in 2024).

The curriculum is changing. Alberta has finished new Kindergarten to Grade 6 curriculum in most subjects. For Grades 7–9:

• Math, social studies, PE & Wellness, and Career Education & Financial Literacy: optional piloting in 2026–27, with mandatory implementation planned for September 2027.
• Science 7–9: a draft released in fall 2026 for optional field testing in 2026–27, optional piloting in 2027–28 and mandatory implementation planned for 2028–29.
• CALM 10 and PE & Wellness 10: drafts released in fall 2026 for optional field testing.
• Most other high school courses still use their older programs of study.

Families will hear about these changes from their school. The table in section 6 names the current 7–9 science units, because those are what most junior high students are taught in 2026–27, and notes where the new drafts point the same way.

Home education is a parent-directed program for Grades 1 to 12. Each year, parents choose one of two options.

Unsupervised notification is required only for children older than six and younger than 16 on September 1. Home education for Kindergarten is a separate pilot, extended to the end of 2026–27.

The learning plan, SOLO and where Unizon fits

Parents may follow the outcomes in the Alberta programs of study, the Schedule of Learning Outcomes for Students Receiving Home Education Programs That Do Not Follow the Alberta Programs of Study (SOLO) in the Home Education Regulation, or a mix of both.

SOLO is short. It asks for a solid core program in language arts, mathematics, science and social studies, and lists 20 broad outcomes. Examples include reading for information and enjoyment; using mathematics to solve problems in business, science and daily life; understanding the physical world, ecology and the diversity of life; knowing the history and geography of Canada; researching an issue and evaluating sources; and using information technologies.

If you're supervised and your plan doesn't follow the programs of study, your written description must include:

• the activities you've chosen and how they'll help your child reach the outcomes;
• the instructional methods and resources you'll use;
• how you'll evaluate progress; and
• who is instructing, if it isn't you.

A teacher at your associate school must help you prepare it if you ask, and the school must accept the program.

How Unizon can appear in a plan. List a Unizon book, or particular lenses, as an activity and a resource. Then say which outcomes it supports, using the table in section 6 or the SOLO list. For example: "Biology Path, Lenses 1, 2 and 8: cells, body systems, genetics and Alberta ecosystems (Science 8 Cells and Systems; Science 9 Biological Diversity; SOLO (d) and (e)). Evaluation: self-checks, the field journal and the strawberry DNA report, reviewed monthly." Your associate school decides whether the plan is acceptable. A plan built only on Unizon may not be enough. That's the school's call, not ours.

Note: the Home Education Regulation includes an expiry date of May 31, 2027. Regulations like this are usually renewed or replaced, but check the current version before you write next year's plan.

Records and work samples

Every home-educating parent, supervised or not, must keep dated samples of student work and a general record of activities, and must evaluate progress at regular intervals and record how and when. You don't have to keep everything, only dated samples.

Unizon makes this easy:

• Print edition: write the date on each finished page and keep a few from each lens.
• Web edition: use "Print my work" to print the pages your child has filled in. Each printed page is dated automatically at the bottom ("Printed" plus the date on your device and the module name). "Print blank" leaves a "Date: ____" line to fill in by hand.
• Good samples: the Mini challenge sheets, self-checks and capstone plans.
• Your own record: keep a log of which lenses you did and when, with a line on how you checked progress.

Funding

The 50% parental portion is for costs that meet the provincial Standards for Home Education Reimbursement, and the associate school decides what qualifies. Ask your associate school whether Unizon books can be reimbursed. Don't assume they can. Parents have up to two years to use the parental portion. A form lets parents transfer part of it to a home-education provider.

Older websites describe "blended programs," often with a rule that the school does at least half. The current term is Shared Responsibility.

• The school authority is responsible for 20% to 80% of the program. A certificated teacher plans, instructs and assesses those courses, which follow the programs of study or approved local courses and can be taken in person, online or by distance.
• The parent provides the rest as home education under the Home Education Regulation, and can receive 50% of the home-education grant for that share.
• Below 20%, the student is a home-education student. Above 80%, they're a regular or online student.
• Schools don't have to offer Shared Responsibility, and it isn't available to unsupervised families.
• It's also the route to off-campus programs for credit, such as the Registered Apprenticeship Program, the Green Certificate, Work Experience and Career Internship.

Where Unizon fits: in the home-education share, as enrichment around the school-taught courses.

Supervised students can earn credits on a principal's recommendation in three ways.

1. Course challenge. A formal assessment, run and marked by a certificated teacher with expertise in the course. Schools don't have to offer challenges; each school authority has its own policy. Not every course can be challenged (off-campus programs can't, for example). For diploma courses, a challenge counts only toward the school-awarded mark, so the diploma exam is still needed.
2. One distance or online high school course a year, up to 5 credits.
3. Shared Responsibility, for more courses.

Diploma exams. A supervised student may write a diploma exam at a school or a provincial writing centre. But the exam mark alone doesn't become a course mark; that needs a school-awarded mark too, unless the student writes as a mature student.

Mature students. A mature student is someone who, as of September 1 of the school year, is 19 or older, or already holds an Alberta high school diploma or an accepted equivalent. Mature students can earn credits by completing a course or a diploma exam without the usual prerequisites. For 2026–27, mature students pay $35 per diploma exam and register through myPass. Alberta's sources word the start of mature status slightly differently: one says "the current school year," another "the subsequent school year." If timing matters, call PASI Student Records (contacts in section 10).

Unsupervised students have no affiliation with an accredited school. They can earn credits and a credential only as mature students.

Admission isn't automatic. An Alberta credential doesn't guarantee admission to a post-secondary program. Check each institution's requirements early.

Where Unizon might help with credit (always through a school, never promised):

• As preparation for a course challenge in a course that overlaps strongly. Some examples are CTS modules in Foods (Cooking), Mechanics (Automobiles), Communication Technology (Media), Enterprise & Innovation (Entrepreneurship) or Computing Science (Coding & AI). Expect to study beyond the book.
• As the starting point for Special Projects 10, 20 or 30. This is a student-planned project worth 1–5 credits at about 25 hours of work per credit. It needs a proposal approved by the principal and a supervising teacher. Special Projects can't be used to give credit for courses or programs run by outside organizations, so a Unizon book itself can't be the project. A capstone the student designs and extends could be the basis of a proposal. The school decides.
• As enrichment alongside a course the student is taking anyway. Examples: Biology 20 (Biology Path), Chemistry 20 (Chemistry Path), Personal or General Psychology 20 (any Psychology lens), Economics for Consumers 20 (Economy), Political Thinking 20 (Government) or Drama (Theatre).

How to read this table. It lists the Alberta subjects and grade bands where a book's lenses touch outcomes, based on the book's section topics.

• 7–9 means junior high. Current Science 7–9 unit names are given where they fit.
• 10–12 means high school, with example courses where the overlap is real.
• "Touches" means introductory or applied coverage of the topic. It doesn't mean a course is covered.

This is a coverage map, not an outcome-by-outcome audit. A teacher can check specific outcome codes.

Across all 22 books:

• Math: every Math lens ends with an Algebra Level Up (linear equations and simple quadratics). These match the draft Math 7–9 direction (equations, functions, simple quadratic equations).
• Language: every Language lens includes an essay Side Quest (a thesis-driven five-paragraph essay with sources).
• Careers: every Execution lens has careers or next steps.

Since we first mapped Unizon against the curriculum, we've deliberately closed several gaps:

What's still thin or missing:

• Depth. Everything above is introductory. Unizon doesn't replace Math 10C–30-1, Biology 20/30, Chemistry 20/30 or Physics 20/30, and doesn't prepare students for diploma exams.
• High school math beyond simple quadratics: functions and notation in depth, trigonometric laws (sine and cosine law), logarithms, systems of equations and calculus (Math 31).
• Physics as a course: kinematics, dynamics and momentum appear only in applied form.
• Earth science: rocks and the rock cycle and plate tectonics (in Science 7 and 9 and the draft science curriculum) appear only in passing.
• Electricity and circuits (Science 9) are touched in Energy but not taught as circuits.
• Canadian and Alberta history and geography as a continuous story. Pieces are spread across Government, Energy, Gardening & Farming, Building, Aviation and Biology.
• Literary study of novels and poetry. Only Shakespeare is studied as literature, in Theatre & Shakespeare.
• French. Books include vocabulary only.
• Statistics: distributions, histograms and box plots (draft Math 8–9) are light.
• Sexual health and substance-use education are left out by design. We think families and schools should handle them.
• Indigenous content is spread across many books but is still waiting for review by Indigenous educators and knowledge keepers. We mark those pages and will revise them.

Where to get what Unizon doesn't cover: your school's courses; an online or distance course (for supervised home educators, one high school course a year); Shared Responsibility; and the resources your associate school or a teacher recommends.

• Follow the interest. Pick the book your child already cares about. Interest first is the whole idea.
• Match lenses to what's happening at school.
• Grade 8 cells and systems → Biology Lens 2.
• Grade 9 chemical change → Chemistry Lens 2.
• Math 10C trig → Soccer or Aviation Lens 1.
• An ELA essay unit → any book's essay Side Quest.
• Use the Core path for 12–14 and the Level Ups for older students. Short sessions work: one section is a sitting.
• Share the work with the teacher. A Mini challenge or capstone can sometimes become a school project, if the teacher agrees.
• Safety stays with adults. Every hands-on activity has a safety note. Anything with heat, tools, chemicals, water, ice, heights or wildlife needs an adult present.
• Treat answers as practice. Self-check answers are printed upside down. The goal is understanding, not a mark.

Is Unizon accredited or approved by Alberta Education? No. It's an independent supplement, not reviewed or approved by Alberta Education and Childcare.

Can my teen get high school credit for finishing a Unizon book? Not on its own. Credit comes only through an Alberta school: a course, a course challenge, a distance or online course, or a school-approved Special Project. Schools decide what they accept.

Can I use Unizon in my home-education plan? Yes, as activities and resources. Explain which outcomes each one supports (section 6 helps). If you're supervised, your associate school must accept the plan.

Does Unizon follow the programs of study or SOLO? Neither completely. It touches outcomes in both. Most families use it as one part of a plan.

What counts as a work sample? Any dated piece of your child's work. Finished Unizon pages are a good fit: web printouts carry the print date, and on paper pages you write the date yourself.

Can I be reimbursed for Unizon books? Only if your associate school agrees the cost meets the Standards for Home Education Reimbursement. Ask first.

My child is unsupervised. Can they write diploma exams? Only as a mature student (19 or older on September 1, or already holding a diploma).

What happened to "blended" programs? The current term is Shared Responsibility: a school does 20–80% of the program. Schools don't have to offer it.

Does Unizon prepare students for PATs or diploma exams? No. It can build interest and background, but it isn't test preparation.

What age is Unizon for? Learners 12 and up, including adults. Younger learners can try some activities with an adult.

How current is this guide? It was last checked on October 11, 2026. Alberta updates its handbook and curriculum pages often, so check the official sources below.