I’ve recently been contacted by a few parents who are very eager to begin homeschooling, but who understandably are concerned about fulfilling their legal obligations and making the best choices for their children. It is with these families in mind that I decided to lay down some thoughts about beginning the homeschool process in Quebec. Please keep in mind that I am not a lawyer, and I am very near the beginning of my own homeschool experience. There are bound to be others who will be able to give you more competent legal and practical advice. There are also bound to be those who have done things differently than I, or who would disagree with certain aspects of what I have written. Keep in mind that we all have different needs and approaches. Not to sound too corny, but homeschoolers are as different as the colours of the rainbow! What follows is simply something to think about, and hopefully some signposts for you to follow to more help. If you are in any doubt about your rights or responsibilities, please consult competent legal counsel. If you have concerns about how to meet your child’s educational needs, try to get help from your school or school board. Failing that, there are educational consultants much better qualified than I to help you choose or adapt curricula.

The Legalities

The Quebec Education Act says that all children ages 6-16 living in Quebec must go to public school, then in Section 15 lays out a small number of exceptions (e.g. private school, certain disabilities, expulsion, etc.) The exception for homeschooling says a child is exempt from school attendance if he:

As you can see for yourself, the law is pretty vague. It doesn’t specify a curriculum to be used, nor does it lay down any specific guidelines for how the school boards are to proceed with evaluating the quality of the homeschool educational experience. This is something the provincial groups are trying to negotiate with the ministry of education (the MELS.) You can look around a bit and see some discussion of how others have interpreted the text of the law. ACPEQ has some information in this area, which you can read in either English or French. (Hint: If you are bilingual it sometimes helps to read texts like these in both languages, as certain sections will be more clear in one language than in the other!)

AQED used to have some really good information on their site, but in French only and in the members area. (Membership to AQED, like ACPEQ, is inexpensive - less than the cost of a couple books! Once you have your membership card you can access the members area, but there is a public section of the forum open to non-members and members alike.) AQED recently revamped their site, and the last time I looked I couldn’t find the older materials. However I’m sure if you contacted them with any questions you have, they would be able to assist you.

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To Homeschool or Not to Homeschool?

In general, most homeschoolers do not rush into home-based education. In fact, many homelearners I know have begun the process when their children are pre-schoolers. This allows time to do ample research, and also to establish a strong support network in the homeschooling community & with family or friends who may act as resource people for your homeschool. Even when both the parent & child are very eager to begin I would be giving you poor advice indeed, to tell you to start educating your child at home without doing your own homework. Parents need to look at both the pros and cons (yes, there are cons even to homeschooling!) of this decision, and to plan for the job of becoming not only mother or father, but teacher and principal and educational advocate and counselor. It is not something you can do overnight.

At the very least you must think of the reasons why you want to homeschool & whether you could meet your family’s needs by making some other change (e.g. selecting different courses, a transfer to another school, supplementing the curriculum at home.) You’ll also want to narrow down the possible choices of homeschool approach (classical, unschooling, Charlotte Mason, Montessori, Waldorf, etc.) and then look at what curricula are available to you. I highly recommend beginning with the Homeschool Diner’s Click-O-Matic Quiz for narrowing down the choices to a more manageable group.

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The Educational Program

Something else you may want to consider is the Quebec Education Program (QEP.) Although it is not required by law to follow the program in our homeschools, it will most certainly give you an idea of the subject areas you will want to cover, and what specific skills or topics the government considers appropriate for your child’s grade level. A good reading of the QEP can help you feel more confident about reassuring the school board that your homeschool experience is equivalent to that offered in public school. The QEP is available in several versions. Choose the link for the version which applies to your family:

Preschool/Primary Education (pre-K through grade 6)
| English | French |

Secondary Education, Cycle One (Sec I-II, or grades 7-8)
| English | French |
Secondary Education, Cycle Two (Sec III-V, or grades 9-11)
| English | French |

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Your Homework

Now read! Anything. Everything you can get your hands on. And get in touch with other homeschoolers. Join mailing lists, go out to parent meetings, take advantage of ped days and school vacations to bring your child to homeschool activities to meet with other homeschooled children. (Hint: These are also good times to do a homeschooling “dry run”. Get together some of the resources you are thinking of using, plan out a few activities to try & give them a whirl!)

In the Montreal area we have some mailing lists where you can find out what other families are doing. Try these, and always keep your eyes open for others that address your specific interests:
1) HomeSchool in Quebec
2) Home Based Education
3) Montreal Homelearners has a forum on-site, and also sends out some mailings
4) The Homeschooling Horizons events list can give you an idea of what activities are open to your family for socialization & physical activity, the arts, science & math, learning languages, etc.

You need to think of how homeschooling will affect your family situation. This is a decision that can alter work schedules, take up space in your home that was formerly reserved for other purposes, introduce new expenses, and alter your family dynamic. Again from Homeschool Diner, there is a collection of links to articles you may find helpful in this stage of your planning. You will also want to read articles that are geared towards the teaching approaches that you are considering.

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Preparing Your Curriculum

In Quebec there are few, if any, approved English language materials for teaching most subjects - even for the schools. There is also not much in the way of assistance for homeschooling families who want to know what or how to teach their children (although some boards may offer you teaching materials, they are not obliged to do so.) Since this is the case, you’re pretty much on your own to select your curriculum. The best thing I can suggest to you is go into this phase of planning already knowing what approach you want to take, and what subjects you are teaching.

There are two complete curricula available free of charge online. This may be a good beginning point for you, as it allows you to get started without making a large investment in texts and other materials. I also found that it gave me the flexibility to add in or adapt subjects according to our needs. Packaged curricula are available as well, some with an entire year’s materials for all the core courses from languages arts and social studies, to math and sciences. It is best to ask around if you think you might be interested in this option, or go to a curriculum fair (hint: there’s one hosted by AQED coming up in the spring!) You can also look online. Check out Homeschooling on a Shoestring for a good collection of links. The final option is to create your own curriculum. Donna Young has a set of step by step directions for doing this. Look also at Design Your Homeschool.

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Withdrawing a Child from Public School

Under current Quebec law, if you have never registered your child in public school you do not officially have to deal with school boards. Some families may choose to register with the school board for a variety of reasons, though many simply begin homeschooling without notification. If your child has been registered in public school it is in your best interest to write a letter of intent as a courtesy to the school or the board. If you do not report that you are availing yourself of your right under section 15(4) it is actually the responsibility of your child’s school to report you to the Youth Protection for truancy. Section 18 of the Education Act reads:

The principal shall ascertain, in the manner determined by the school board, that students attend school regularly.

Where a student is repeatedly absent without a valid excuse, the principal or the person designated by him shall intervene with the student and his parents to come to an agreement with them and with the persons providing the school social services with respect to the most appropriate measures to remedy the situation.

When the intervention does not allow the situation to be remedied, the principal, after notifying the parents of the student in writing, shall report it to the director of youth protection.

Does this mean that you must seek permission to homeschool? No. Does it mean you must register your child with the school board, or sign a contract that gives the board complete discretion over such things as when and how testing will be done, or whether your child should be returned to school? No. There is also no reason you should submit to home visits or inspections of your school room by school board staff. Essentially, their involvement with your homeschool should end with you notifying them of your intent. They will offer you contracts and such, and may follow up later by attempting to schedule testing. If this happens just politely decline, and say you will update them once your school year is over. At this point you will need to write a new letter for the following year, and should be prepared to submit any evaluations you had promised.

The law may change, but for now all you are required to do is to offer that “equivalent to school” experience. And equivalent does not mean the same, so don’t worry about doing things differently. School boards may try to tell you other things are required, but this is a requirement of their internal policy rather than of the law. There is a difference, and you are obliged to follow the law but not board policy.

All it means is that you are notifying the school or the board that your child is not absent without excuse. Take the opportunity to reassure the board that you are providing an equivalent to school experience. You may want to tell them what curriculum you have chosen, or perhaps to list some of the readings and resources you plan to use in the coming year. You may also want to tell them what you intend to do about evaluating your child’s progress. Often, parents say they will assemble a learning portfolio. Another option is standardized testing (e.g. the CAT-3) or evaluation by an educational consultant, or MELS certified teacher if you know one willing to help.

Send your letter registered mail, and keep both a copy and your proof of receipt handy in case you ever need it. (You can print this from the Post Canada web site.) There are sample letters of intent available in the files sections of mailing lists, and through groups such as AQED and ACPEQ. Adapt them to your own needs, or use them as a rough idea of what information most people include and just compose your own letter containing that information.

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This is just a start. There’s plenty more to think about, but this should give you enough to get going and figure out for yourself where you need to go next. For more great homeschooling advice, take a wander over to Pass the Torch, an innovative homeschool tips and advice project.

I wish you well in your journey!

This work was created by Ruby of Freehold 2, and is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 2.5 Canada License.

Excerpts copyright quoted authors. Please visit their sites to read more, and respect the terms of their copyrights. Thanks!

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