Homeschooling in Quebec: Rules, Requirements, and Curriculum Options

Quebec has the most regulated homeschooling environment in Canada. Before you pull your child out of school or make any curriculum purchases, you need to understand how the system works — because skipping steps here has real consequences, up to and including compulsory school orders.

The good news: homeschooling is legal in Quebec, parents do it successfully every year, and the approval process is manageable once you understand what the Ministry of Education actually wants to see.

The Legal Framework: Bill 40 and the Learning Project

Quebec's Education Act requires that homeschooled children receive instruction equivalent to what they would receive in the public school system. Families who homeschool must submit a Learning Project (Projet d'apprentissage) to the Minister of Education for approval.

This is not optional and it's not a formality. The Learning Project is reviewed, and families can be required to modify it. If a Learning Project is rejected and no corrective action is taken, the school board can apply for a compulsory school order through the courts.

The process differs depending on where you live in Quebec. Anglophone families typically work with their local English school board; francophone families through their francophone school board. Some families work directly with the Ministry. Contact the school board in your area first — they are your first point of contact and the most common approval authority.

What the Learning Project Must Include

The Ministry's guidance for the Learning Project typically requires:

• A description of the educational approach — how you plan to structure learning, what methods you'll use
• Subject coverage — how you'll address the core subject areas from the Quebec Education Program (QEP): French language arts, English as a second language (or French as a second language for English families), mathematics, social studies, science and technology, arts education, and physical education
• Learning resources — what curriculum, materials, or programs you plan to use
• Assessment plan — how you'll track progress and evaluate your child's learning

The Quebec Education Program (QEP) is the official curriculum framework for all schools in Quebec, including the progressive "competency-based" structure that emphasizes broad cross-curricular competencies alongside subject knowledge. Your Learning Project doesn't need to reproduce the QEP exactly, but reviewers will look for alignment.

This is where many families run into difficulty: the QEP is a lengthy, complex government document written for trained teachers. Understanding how to map a commercial curriculum to QEP outcomes is a real skill that takes time to develop.

How Quebec Differs from Other Provinces

To put this in perspective, contrast Quebec with Ontario, which has no approval process for homeschooling — Ontario parents simply notify the school board and have almost complete autonomy over curriculum and methods.

Quebec is the strictest province in Canada for homeschooling. It's also the province where curriculum selection matters most, because your curriculum choice affects whether your Learning Project gets approved. A heavily American curriculum with no French instruction, no coverage of Quebec history, and Imperial-only math will likely draw scrutiny.

Key curriculum considerations for Quebec homeschoolers:

French instruction is non-negotiable. Even for Anglophone families, the Learning Project must address French as a second language in a meaningful way. The QEP requires French language arts for francophone students and FSL for Anglophone students. A curriculum that has no French component will not satisfy this requirement.

The QEP is competency-based, not textbook-based. Quebec's Education Program organizes learning around broad competencies and cross-curricular connections, not chapter-by-chapter subject instruction. Reviewers may question a rigid textbook-only approach. You don't have to abandon structured curriculum, but you should be able to explain how your approach develops critical thinking, communication, and problem-solving — the competencies the QEP emphasizes.

History and social studies must cover Quebec and Canadian content. A US curriculum that covers American history, American government, and American geography without supplementation for Quebec or Canadian content is inadequate. Families using US social studies or history programs must document how they're supplementing with Canadian and Quebec-specific content.

Practical Steps for Getting Started

1. Contact your local school board — English or French depending on your family's language of instruction. Ask specifically about the homeschooling registration process and who reviews Learning Projects.

2. Download the Quebec Education Program from the Ministère de l'Éducation website. Skim the section relevant to your child's grade cycle (Cycle 1: Grades 1–2, Cycle 2: Grades 3–4, Cycle 3: Grades 5–6 for elementary; three cycles for secondary). You don't need to read every page — you need to understand the subject areas and competencies for your child's level.

3. Choose curriculum before writing your Learning Project — you'll need to describe specific materials. Choosing curriculum after the fact means potentially revising a submitted project.

4. Document your French instruction plan explicitly. This is the most common gap in rejected or revised Learning Projects.

5. Include an assessment approach. This doesn't have to be standardized tests — portfolios, parent-assessed work samples, and educational records all satisfy reviewers. The key is showing that you have a plan.

Curriculum That Works in Quebec

The challenge is that most popular English-language homeschool curriculum was designed for the US market. Finding programs that address French instruction, Quebec/Canadian history, and metric-first math under one roof is difficult.

Most Quebec homeschoolers use an eclectic approach:

• A structured English language arts program (many use All About Reading/Spelling, which is US-origin but content-neutral)
• A separate French curriculum or immersion-style resources (Duolingo won't satisfy the Learning Project, but structured programs like Rosetta Stone, Voie de la réussite, or locally developed French homeschool materials will)
• Math with metric-first emphasis (Jump Math, Math Mammoth's Canadian edition, or Schoolio)
• Social studies supplemented with Canadian/Quebec resources (Donna Ward's Canadian history materials are popular; provincial library systems often have Quebec history resources available digitally)

If you're comparing curriculum options across subject areas — mapping each program's content against QEP subject requirements, checking for metric math, French instruction options, and Canadian content flags — the Canada Curriculum Matching Matrix covers the major programs used by Canadian homeschoolers with a provincial compliance view. It's particularly useful for Quebec families who need to demonstrate QEP alignment in their Learning Project.

A Realistic Timeline

Plan for the following:

• 2–4 weeks to research and select curriculum
• 1–2 weeks to write the Learning Project
• 4–8 weeks for school board review (timelines vary; some boards are faster)
• Possible revisions requested — budget another 2–3 weeks if changes are needed

Start this process well before your intended start date. Families who pull their children mid-year without an approved Learning Project are in a legally vulnerable position.

Homeschooling in Quebec is demanding from a regulatory standpoint. But families who do the preparation work find it manageable — and the flexibility to customize your child's education, including their French immersion experience, is genuinely worth it.

See more Canada homeschool guides →