Ontario Homeschooling: The Letter of Intent, Without the Myths

Ontario parents collect sample letters the way other people collect recipes. I have seen three-page essays with reading lists attached to a "notification." The board did not grade them. They filed them.

If your child is of compulsory school age in Ontario, you notify the school board in writing that you are providing satisfactory instruction at home. That is the job. You are not asking a superintendent to approve your maths book.

What PPM 131 is for

Ontario's Policy/Program Memorandum 131 is the document boards are supposed to follow. In plain language: a letter from the parent is usually enough to start. The board can investigate if they have reasonable grounds to think instruction is not satisfactory. They should not treat every homeschooler as a pre-investigation.

Boards vary. Some send a friendly acknowledgement. Some send a form that looks like an application. A form can be useful. A form that demands weekly lesson plans in September for a six-year-old is a board inventing process. You can answer with a short plan and a curriculum list. You do not have to write a thesis.

A letter that is actually enough

Include:

• Your name, address, and the child's name and date of birth
• A sentence that you will provide satisfactory instruction at home for the school year
• The date you are starting, if you are withdrawing from a school
• A contact email

Optional, and often calming for everyone: a one-paragraph description. "English and mathematics daily using a written programme; science and history in termly units; records kept." If you are using Fayferz, you can name the Grade 1 or KG track. Naming a programme is not the same as submitting to it for marking.

If they ask for a home visit

Some families say yes. Some send work samples instead. A visit is not in the "must" column for a routine notification. If a board employee implies you will be refused unless they walk through the house, pause and get local homeschool association advice before you write back angry. Angry letters feel good and file badly.

Quebec, Alberta, BC are not this article

Canada is not one homeschool law. Alberta has a funded and a non-funded path. BC has distributed learning and homeschool registration through a school. Quebec is its own paperwork country. If you are not in Ontario, use the Canada guide and then your province's ministry page. Do not file an Ontario letter in Calgary and hope.

What "satisfactory" looks like on a Tuesday

For a seven-year-old: reading practice, a maths lesson, some writing. That can be 90 minutes. The rest of the day can be a library, a rink, a French cartoon, a grandparent. Boards who understand homeschooling already know this. Boards who do not need to see the dated work, not a speech.

Keep the letter. Keep the acknowledgement. Keep a month of work. That is the Ontario starter kit.