Online School & Homeschool in Quito

Online school and international curriculum in Quito

For Quito families — Cambridge and IB taught live in the morning, in the one Andean country that actually names homeschooling in its regulations.

Live online Cambridge IGCSE, Cambridge A-Level, Pearson Edexcel International, IB Diploma Programme, and American Curriculum with Advanced Placement (AP) for Quito families. The capital holds Ecuador's government, its diplomatic and development community, and the country's deepest international school tier — Academia Cotopaxi, Colegio Menor, the Inter-American Academy, the German and French schools — with a substantial IB presence and fees at the top of the Ecuadorian market. Ecuador is also unusual: its Ministry of Education names educación en casa among the recognised modalities and regulates it by ministerial acuerdo. That matters, and so does one article inside it that determines exactly what a provider like us may and may not claim.

Challenges Quito families face

International school fees in Quito sit at the top of the Ecuadorian market, with competitive places.
Educación en casa and educación abierta are two different routes, and families confuse them at real cost.
The national curriculum is mandatory, and official recognition requires evaluation before the education system.
We teach eight hours ahead, so our classes land in the Ecuadorian morning, not the afternoon.
Time zone: mainland Ecuador runs ECT (UTC-5) with no daylight saving — a fixed eight-hour gap behind Nairobi.

Why Quito families choose Smartious

The two extraordinary routes explained apart: Educación abierta means enrolment at an accredited Ecuadorian school with a distance programme; educación en casa is non-formal and the family's own responsibility. Families confuse them, and we set them out separately.
Honest about what article 31 means for us: A school may not offer homeschooling as an ordinary modality or issue promotions for it. We do not claim to provide educación en casa, and we do not issue Ecuadorian títulos — we teach Cambridge, Edexcel, IB and AP.
Morning classes that fit the jornada vespertina: We are eight hours ahead, so our block lands in the Ecuadorian morning — the free half of the day for afternoon-shift students.
A fee gap against the capital tier: Live small-group teaching from USD 5,076 a year.
Spanish kept alongside: Cambridge Spanish runs beside the English-medium core, protecting Ecuadorian and Spanish university routes.

Ecuador is one of the few countries in our coverage whose ministry names homeschooling as a modality rather than ignoring it, and the regulation deserves setting out carefully. The Ministerio de Educación recognises educación en casa alongside presencial, semipresencial, a distancia and a distancia virtual. The foundational instrument is Acuerdo Ministerial No. 0067-13-A of 8 April 2013, which regulates Educación en Casa as an extraordinary service; the current framework sits in the 2023 acuerdos, including the Normativa para la oferta educativa extraordinaria and the acuerdo regulating educación en casa and the procedures for accrediting learning. Article 31 is the provision that matters most, both for families and for us: educación en casa is a type of non-formal distance education, its development is the exclusive responsibility of the family, and a private, municipal or fiscomisional school may not offer homeschooling as though it were an ordinary school modality nor directly issue promotions or títulos for that service. We state the consequence plainly — Smartious does not provide educación en casa as a school service, does not issue Ecuadorian promotions or títulos, and is not an accredited Ecuadorian institution. We teach Cambridge, Pearson Edexcel, IB and AP qualifications with their own international validity. Two further points families need. The national curriculum is mandatory, so any programme must address its learning objectives, and for learning to gain official recognition the student must sit evaluations before the education system. And there are two distinct extraordinary offerings that are frequently confused: educación abierta, where the child is formally enrolled at an accredited Ecuadorian school licensed to run a distance programme — often the more practical route for expatriate families — and educación en casa, which is non-formal and the family's own responsibility. Choosing the wrong one creates real bureaucratic difficulty. Reporting also indicates that families who attempted home education without meeting the acuerdo's conditions have been brought before the District Board of Protection of Children and Adolescents and required to enrol their children, which is why the conditions are worth taking seriously rather than skimming. Confirm your position with MINEDUC and your distrito educativo.

Smartious delivers to Quito families online; the live programme is complete without in-person supplementation.

Live online via Smartious LMS in the Ecuadorian morning. With a fixed eight-hour gap and no daylight saving on either side, a 07:00-10:00 Ecuadorian block sits in our normal late-afternoon teaching hours every week of the year, with all sessions recorded.

Quito holds Ecuador's government, its diplomatic and development community, and the country's deepest international school tier with a substantial IB presence — inside a framework that, unusually, names educación en casa among the recognised modalities. Mainland Ecuador runs ECT (UTC-5), eight hours behind Nairobi.

Family situations we work with

Diplomatic, development, and international-organisation families.
Government, corporate, and professional households outside the international tier's fees.
Students in jornada vespertina whose mornings are free.
Families pursuing educación abierta or educación en casa who want an internationally examined academic spine.
Students targeting UK, American, Spanish, or Ecuadorian universities.

Quito communities and nearby areas

Cumbayá and Tumbaco · La Carolina · González Suárez · Valle de los Chillos · Nayón · Sangolquí · Otavalo

Common questions from Quito families

Is homeschooling legal in Ecuador?

Ecuador names educación en casa among the recognised modalities and regulates it — the foundational instrument is Acuerdo Ministerial No. 0067-13-A of 2013, with the current framework in the 2023 acuerdos. It is treated as non-formal distance education and is the family's exclusive responsibility, with official recognition obtained by sitting evaluations before the education system. Confirm your own position with MINEDUC and your distrito educativo, because families who have not met the conditions have faced enforcement.

What is the difference between educación abierta and educación en casa?

Educación abierta means the child is formally enrolled at an accredited Ecuadorian school licensed to offer a distance programme — often the more practical route for expatriate families. Educación en casa is non-formal, developed under the family's own responsibility, with learning accredited by evaluation before the system. They are separate offerings and choosing the wrong one creates real difficulty.

Can Smartious provide educación en casa for us?

No, and the regulation is explicit about why. Article 31 provides that a school may not offer homeschooling as though it were an ordinary school modality, nor directly issue promotions or títulos for that service — and educación en casa is the family's exclusive responsibility. We are not an accredited Ecuadorian institution. We teach Cambridge, Edexcel, IB and AP qualifications alongside whatever Ecuadorian arrangement a family holds.

What are the class times?

We are eight hours ahead, so our classes land in the Ecuadorian morning. For a student in jornada vespertina that is the free half of the day. After-school and morning blocks are both available, since we run two teaching teams in different time zones.

Guides for families in Ecuador

What parents say

Rated 4.9 out of 5 on Google from 130+ reviews. Read our Google reviews

“What I love most about Smartious is how they make learning enjoyable. The tutors use engaging methods that keep children interested throughout the lesson. My child now looks forward to studying instead of avoiding it.” — Google reviewer, Google review