Homeschooling in Ontario
What Ontario actually asks of a family teaching their own children. Written plainly, and honest where the answer is that nobody asks for anything.
CanadaFiling requiredWho is in charge
District school board (the board in whose jurisdiction the child last attended school). Ministry policy is PPM 131.
Who actually reviews your child
The school board (administratively). PPM 131 states boards should NORMALLY not investigate. Escalation is to the Provincial School Attendance Counsellor under Education Act s.24(2).
What you must file
Written notification of intent to home school
Initial: on deciding to home school. Continuing: in writing each year PRIOR TO SEPTEMBER 1.
Goes to: The district school board
Letter must state each child's name, gender and date of birth, plus the home telephone number and address, and be signed by the parent(s).
Not required, but often assumed
Education plan, progress report, portfolio, test scores
Not required. Only if the board has reasonable grounds to SUSPECT the child is not receiving satisfactory instruction may it investigate, and then it may ask the parent to meet or supply written information about curriculum, instructional schedule, mater
The words a reviewer uses
The Ontario Curriculum (Ministry of Education / dcp.edu.gov.on.ca)
Overall Expectation · Specific Expectation · Strand · Achievement Chart
The part the paperwork does not cover
Filing on time is the easy half. The harder half is the year in between: showing what your child actually learned, in words the reviewer recognises, without turning your home into a school.
That is what this tool is for. You say what your child did, in a sentence. It maps that to the published standards we hold for Ontario, which today are English (288 of 288), Mathematics (496 of 496), Science (443 of 535), Social Studies (163 of 193) and Physical Education (95 of 95). Those figures count the topics we carry for ages 5 to 12 that cite one of Ontario's published standards. Then it builds the record you can hand over the day someone asks. See how it works.
Other places in Canada
Read at the source on 2026-08-28: Policy/Program Memorandum 131, ontario.ca. Its words: parents 'should give notification each year in writing prior to September 1 to the school board in whose jurisdiction their child last attended school', and 'Normally, the board should not investigate the matter.' PPM 131 was issued 17 June 2002 and is in effect until revoked or modified, so the date above is when WE read it, not when it last changed.
Check it yourself: the authority's own page.