Homeschooling process and steps

Homeschooling, also known as home education, is a form of education that replaces school attendance. It involves transferring educational responsibility to the family and providing an educational experience outside school.

Parents who choose homeschooling must submit a notice of intent, a learning project, a status report and two reports on their child’s learning progress each year. Parents evaluate their child’s learning progress, or have it evaluated, and make sure that their child fulfills their obligation to take ministerial evaluations. Parents and the child also attend a monitoring meeting.

If you wish to undertake the process of homeschooling or if you are already homeschooling, you must submit a written annual notice of intent for your child to the Direction de l’enseignement à la maison of the Ministère de l’Éducation, which will automatically be submitted to your school service centre (SSC) or school board (SB).

A notice of intent for a child who is being homeschooled can be submitted throughout the period in which school attendance is compulsory. This obligation applies from the first day of the school calendar of the school year following the year in which the child turns 6 years old until the last day of the school calendar of the school year during which the child turns 16 years old. Please note that a school year covers the period from July 1 of each year to June 30 of the following year.

The notice must be submitted each year no later than July 1, or within 10 days of the last day on which your child last attended school.

The notice must also provide contact information for the child and their parents. Please note that the second parent’s information must be provided, even if they are not involved in your child’s homeschooling project. The parent who is submitting the annual notice of intent for their child is responsible for notifying the other parent or legal guardian of this submission, and for getting their consent.

Your child’s learning project must, among other things, aim for the acquisition of diverse knowledge and various competencies set out in compulsory programs in language of instruction and second language, mathematics, science and technology, and social sciences.

You must submit the required information about your child’s learning project to the Direction de l’enseignement à la maison of the Ministère de l’Éducation and start implementing this project no later than September 30 of each year. If your child stops attending an educational institution during the school year, you must submit the learning project and start implementing it within 30 days of the last day on which your child last attended school.

The learning project must include the following elements:

• a description of the chosen educational approach
• the programs of study that will be taught as well as a brief description of the activities chosen for that purpose
• the other knowledge and skills that the child is expected to acquire as well as a brief description of the relevant teaching and learning activities chosen
• the educational resources that will be used
• a plan indicating the approximate amount of time that will be allocated to learning activities
• the name and contact information of each organization that will contribute to your child’s learning as well as a description of this contribution
• the means of evaluation that will be used to assess your child’s progress
• the last level of educational services your child received from an educational institution

For more information on the learning project, see the Guide for Parent-Educators (PDF 1.47 Mb).

Forms are available to help you prepare and submit the learning project on the secure site.

The status report is an account of the implementation of your child’s learning project. It provides a snapshot of the learning activities carried out and the approximate amount of time allocated to them. If applicable, it also mentions changes that may have been made to the learning project.

For more information on the status report, see the Guide for Parent-Educators (PDF 1.47 Mb).

Forms for use in preparing the status report are available on the secure site.

In the mid-term and completion reports, you are responsible for commenting on your child’s learning progress in relation to the expected outcomes of the programs of study targeted in the learning project and for specifying the evaluations that were carried out.

For more information on the reports on the child’s progress, see the Guide for Parent-Educators (PDF 1.47 Mb).

Forms are available to help you prepare and submit the reports on the child’s learning progress on the secure site.

During the implementation of the learning project, you and your child will be required to participate in a monitoring meeting. This meeting is an opportunity to discuss the educational experience, the implementation of the learning project and your child’s learning progress. Your resource person will contact you to determine the time and logistics of the meeting.

Other meetings could be held if you encounter some difficulties in the implementation of the learning project or if your child is not making adequate progress.

For more information on the monitoring meeting, see the Guide for Parent-Educators (PDF 1.47 Mb).

Throughout the learning project, you must monitor your child’s progress using one or more evaluation methods:

• an evaluation by the school service centre (SSC) or school board (SB)
• an evaluation by a private educational institution
• an evaluation by the holder of a teaching licence
• a ministerial examination set by the Minister
• a portfolio submitted to the Minister

In order to obtain a Secondary School Diploma, homeschooled children are subject to the same certification regulations as those who attend school. The school service centre (SSC) or school board (SB) will take the necessary steps so that your child can be evaluated free of charge to earn the credits required for a diploma recognized by the Minister.

Ministerial examinations

In Québec, all students and homeschooled children take examinations set by the Minister. To register your child for ministerial examinations, you must follow the necessary steps with your SSC or SB. There are Guides for parents and information documents that provide more information on the examinations.

To submit all the information to the Direction de l’enseignement à la maison of the Ministère de l’Éducation, you must log in to the secure site for homeschool providers (or create an account for the first time).

Submission dates

For a complete list of the dates by which you must submit the required information and documents, see the homeschooling schedule (PDF 217 Kb) (in French only).