Alberta schools' doors may close on Monday because of a teachers' strike unless something happens before then to avoid a work stoppage.
If the strike begins on Monday as the Alberta Teachers' Association has said it will, at least 730,000 students will have classes cancelled, potentially throwing home life into chaos for parents.
Municipalities and child-care providers are planning to offer school closure camps, and the provincial government is providing a payment program for parents of children 12 and under for each day of the strike.
We reached out to a number of organizations and municipalities across central and northern Alberta to get a sense of what support is available. However, this is not an exhaustive list, and parents and students may want to check with their own communities about what options are available to them if their kids aren't in classes.
Here are some common questions parents might have about what comes next.
A variety of organizations across the province have decided to operate half-day, full-day and weekly school closure camps, including the University of Alberta, the Kerry Wood Nature Centre in Red Deer and the Telus World of Science (TWOS) in Edmonton.
TWOS director of education Maura Armstrong said while the centre is "not working on anything that is meant to replace teachers," it is part of a patchwork of support..
"We know that a lot of parents are going to be reaching out to other sources: grandparents, aunts and uncles -- people who can support them," she said.
School closure day camps are something some municipalities will also be offering.
The City of Edmonton will run pop-up camps at locations such as the Edmonton Valley Zoo and the Muttart Conservatory. Some are currently sold out and have a waitlist, but new spaces are being released one week at a time.
Hinton will increase rec centre programming and youth centre hours, as well as extend its after-school care hours to a full day. There are only two to five slots available.
Grande Prairie and Red Deer also have day camp offerings.
Red Deer has a waitlist. If the strike continues beyond a week, so will camps, with registration opening every Wednesday.
Bobby-Jo Stannard, the City of Red Deer's safe and healthy communities manager, acknowledges staffing, and therefore slots, are reduced due to the time of year.
"Our message is the City of Red Deer is here to try to help support you through any school closure," she said.
For those staying home, Stannard said the city will be holding more public offerings like pool times and skating, and would encourage parents to take their kids outside to experience the city's parks and trails system.
Lloydminster is in a unique situation because it sits on the Alberta-Saskatchewan border. School boards there fall under Saskatchewan's jurisdiction and will not be affected by the strike.
CBC reached out to a number of child-care centres located inside public schools that said they will remain accessible during a strike, but it's worth checking if yours will be.
Some centres will open their doors for longer hours to meet demand -- like Kids & Company child care in Red Deer.
Assistant director Lovedeep Kaur said for now, the extended hours are only an option for the centre's current enrolments, as staffing is a concern.
"Everybody's kind of worried about it ... we might need to get more staff in case."
Asma Family Childcare owner Asma Muneer said the uncertainty was on many people's minds.
"Since [parents] heard about the strike, I was receiving lots of emails, messages, phone calls about if the strike happened, if we can accommodate all these kids. I already said yes to them."
But most camps or extra daycare hours will cost more than that.
KPSquared has childcare locations in Fort McMurray and Anzac.
Founder Kyla Penner said while the centres are offering a discounted rate on full-time care during the strike, a work stoppage would still have a financial impact on families.
"We already live in an economic downturn, and if our business from a sustainability level can hold it to support families over the course of the next month, that's what we'll do so we can be contributing members to our community."
Stannard said City of Red Deer day camps "won't [have] a focus necessarily on education components as that is not the forte of the staff that will be there."
"But again, we will need to develop what it looks like as we continue to go through," she added.
Alberta Education and Childcare has created an optional and free toolkit for supplemental learning, providing weekly resources that follow the K-12 curriculum.