Homeschooling in Ontario

You tell

Your school board

That is a district school board or a school authority. Each later year's letter goes to the school board in whose jurisdiction your child last attended school.

By

When you start, then each year before September 1

On deciding to home school, then in writing each year before September 1 while you continue.

Who reviews it

The school board

It should send you a letter each year acknowledging your notice, and normally it should not investigate. If the board cannot tell whether your child is receiving satisfactory instruction at home, it may ask the Provincial School Attendance Counsellor to inquire under section 24(2) of the Education Act.

If you skip it

The board may investigate

Refusing to notify the board in writing is one of the reasons the policy lists that may give a board cause to investigate; others include a credible report of concern from someone else, signs that the child was taken out of school because of ongoing conflicts with the school rather than to home school, and a history of absences before you notified the board. If the board cannot tell from its investigation whether your child is receiving satisfactory instruction at home, it may take further action under section 24(2), section 30, or both, of the Education Act. Under section 24(2), an inquiry may be held, and the Provincial School Attendance Counsellor may order in writing that your child be excused from attendance or attend school. Under section 30, a parent who neglects or refuses to cause a child under 16 who is required to attend school to attend is guilty of an offence and, on conviction, can be fined up to $200; the court may also, or instead, require a $200 bond.