Written notice

You can decide to homeschool at any time during the year.

You must send your notice at the latest on July 1st. You will need to send two copies, one to the Direction de l’enseignement à la maison (DEM) and the other to your local school service centre. You will receive an acknowledgement of receipt from the DEM. Make sure you keep it safely.

Deadlines are different if you decide to homeschool during the school year. Please consult the page Special cases for more information.

How to send your notice

By email: you can AQED’s notice template or use a personal template.
By snail mail, or
On the secure site from the DEM, under Annual Notice of intent of your child's profile. You will have the option to generate a PDF version of the notice to homeschool to submit it to your SB or SSC.

This is only to notice that you are exercising your right to homeschool. It is not a request for permission. You do not have to justify your decision or wait for confirmation to remove your child from school or to start homeschooling.

Contact details

Direction de l’enseignement à la maison
Ministère de l’Éducation et de l’Enseignement supérieur
600, rue Fullum, 11e étage
Montréal (Québec) H2K 4L1

514 787-3582
1 866 747-6626
Fax : 514 864-8921
Email : dem [at] education.gouv.qc.ca

To find your school service centre using your postal code, visit the Élections Québec website, then click on the link to the school service center (their mailing address is normally at the bottom of the first page).

If you cannot read French, you can send the written notice in English even to a French school service center, as the regulation doesn’t specify what language you need to use.

Information that must be included

1. Child Identification

Child’s first and last name, address, and date of birth.
Permanent Code, if your child has attended a school, add this information. Otherwise, write “not applicable”. The permanent code should appear on report cards and some other documents received from the school board or the school. You could also call the school attended to know your child’s permanent code or communicate with the government via this link. If your child has attended a school in the province of Quebec and you do not know the permanent code, you can simply leave a blank space.

2. Parents Identification

Parents’ first and last names, address, and telephone number.

You have to write down the names and contact details of both parents, even if only one parent has full custody of the child.

3. Student’s school service centre

Indicate the school service centre in which your child is currently registered.

If your child is not yet registered with a school service centre, enter the name of the French language school service centre in your area.

If your child is eligible for education in English, you can choose the anglophone school service centre in your area.

4. School service centre chosen for services (if different)

If you are entitled to register in a different school service centre (for example, because you have an extraterritorial agreement with your school service centre or your child is entitled to English education) and you prefer to receive services from that school service centre, indicate it here.

5. Date of withdrawal from school

Date the child stopped or will stop attending school, if applicable. If the retrieval has been done several years ago, put an estimated date (month and year).

Downloadable documents

Written notice template [.docx]
Written notice example [.docx], made-up by AQED