The Short Answer
To register, you provide the Department of Education with a Notice of Intention for the school year, before the year starts, along with a declaration acknowledging your responsibilities for the home education program. The notice asks for your child's name and date of birth, your name, address, and telephone number, and the last school the child attended if any. You file a fresh notice every year. There is no fee, no required subjects, and nothing else to submit.
Verified June 2026 against the PEI Education Act, the Home Education Regulations, and the Government of Prince Edward Island Home Education page.
PEI Homeschool Notice of Intent at a Glance
| The form | Home Education Notice of Intention (Department's approved form) |
|---|---|
| Plus | A declaration acknowledging your responsibilities |
| Where it goes | The PEI Department of Education, Home Education office |
| When | Before the school year starts, each year |
| Notice includes | Child's name and date of birth, your contact details, last school attended |
| How often | Every school year |
| Fee | None |
| Anything else to file | No. The notice and declaration are all |
What the Notice of Intention Does
The Notice of Intention is how you tell the PEI Department of Education that you intend to provide a home education program for your child this school year. Under the Education Act, a parent who plans to homeschool gives the Minister this notice for each school year. It is what makes your homeschool official and exempts your child from compulsory school attendance for that year. There is no application to be approved and no program to defend; you notify, and you begin.
The notice serves a recording function. The Department uses it to know which children are being educated at home rather than in the school system. That record exists so the province can account for all children of compulsory school age, not to monitor how you teach. Once the notice is on file, you are registered and free to run your program as you see fit, without further approval.
The requirement to file a fresh notice every school year is built into the law by design. You are not registering once for the life of your homeschool; you are registering for the year ahead. That is worth knowing from the start, so the annual filing becomes part of your summer routine rather than something that catches you off guard in September.
The Two Parts: Notice and Declaration
The law asks for two things at once. First, the notice itself, in the Department's approved form, stating your intention to provide a home education program for the year. Second, a declaration that you acknowledge your responsibilities for that program. These are filed together, and you need both in place for your home education to be formally registered for the school year. One without the other is an incomplete filing.
The declaration is not a contract about hours, subjects, or curriculum. It is your acknowledgement that you are taking on responsibility for your child's education for the year. The standard the Home Education Regulations set is that you will ensure, to the best of your ability, that your child has the opportunity to acquire knowledge and develop skills that prepare them for adult life. That is a broad standard, deliberately so. It asks for a real education, not a specific one.
Both documents apply for the school year you are registering for. When the next school year begins, you file again. This annual renewal keeps each year's registration distinct and gives you a clean starting point each September. Keep copies of both the notice and the declaration each year; they are your evidence that you were registered and that you took on your responsibilities in the required form. Our free reading assessment is a useful tool for grounding the program you plan before you file.
What the Notice Asks For
The Home Education Regulations are specific about what the notice must contain. You include your child's name and date of birth, your own name, your address, and your telephone number. If your child was previously attending school, you also include the name of the last school they attended. That is the complete list. There is no program outline to attach, no list of textbooks to disclose, and no learning goals to submit.
The fact that the notice asks for so little is worth sitting with. PEI is not asking to review your curriculum before you start. It is not asking you to justify your approach to home education or to demonstrate that your program meets a grade-level standard. The Department needs to know who you are, which child you are registering, and where that child was last enrolled if they were in school. A short form does that job cleanly.
If your child has never attended public school and is entering home education directly, you still complete the notice with the date of birth and contact information, and you note that the last-school field does not apply. Do not leave required fields empty without a note; a complete form processes without complication. Check the current form on the Government of PEI Home Education page before you fill it in, since form versions can change from year to year.
If you are homeschooling more than one child, complete a separate notice for each. The registration is per student, not per family. A household with two children in home education files two notices and two declarations. Keep the process clean by treating each child's filing as its own record from the start.
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When to File
You file the Notice of Intention before the school year starts, and you do it every year you continue homeschooling. The filing is prospective: you are declaring your intention for the year ahead, not reporting on a year already done. Filing ahead of the year gives the Department time to record the notice and gives you a clean start without any gap in your registration status.
The Home Education Regulations do not name a specific calendar date for the filing window the way some other provinces do, so the right approach is to confirm the current deadline with the Home Education office before each school year. Building the notice into your late-August or early-September routine is the safest habit regardless. If you are withdrawing your child from public school mid-year and switching to home education, file the notice at the same time rather than waiting for September.
Because the notice is annual, missing the filing window for the year ahead means your child is not registered for home education during that gap. The filing is not onerous enough to justify that risk. Some families link it to the same weekend they plan the year's curriculum, so the administrative step and the program-planning step happen together and neither gets overlooked.
How to File It
You submit the Notice of Intention and the declaration to the Department of Education's Home Education office, which is based in Summerside. The Notice of Intent form is available on the Government of PEI Home Education page, either as a PDF you print and fill by hand or as a form you complete and submit electronically, depending on what the Department offers at the time you are filing. Check the current page for the latest version before you fill anything in.
For questions about the process, the Home Education office can be reached by phone or email. The contact details are listed on the Government of PEI Home Education page. If you are filing for the first time and are unsure whether the form is complete or whether you need any additional documentation for your specific situation, a quick call to the office before you file takes a few minutes and removes any uncertainty.
Keep a copy of everything you submit, whether you file by mail, email, or online form. Write down the date you filed it. This record is not something the province requires you to keep, but it protects you if any administrative question comes up later. A simple folder, physical or digital, with one page per year showing the filed notice and the date, is enough.
If you want to borrow provincial curriculum books at the same time, file the Request for Home Education Learning Resources form with the $50 refundable deposit alongside the notice. That is a separate step, not part of the notice itself. Confirm the current process for the book-lending request with the Home Education office when you are in contact about the notice.
What Happens After You File
PEI asks very little once your notice is on file. The Department may offer advice and comments on your home education program if you choose to seek them, but it does not require reports, testing, or a set number of instructional days. You are free to run your program as you choose, at the pace and with the resources that suit your child. The declaration you signed is your commitment to doing that well.
Keep a folder of dated work samples through the year, a few per subject each term. You are not required to submit these to anyone, but they serve two purposes: they give you a concrete picture of what the year looked like, and they protect your child's record if they ever return to school, since the school board will look at available records when placing a returning student. Samples also give you something to point to if anyone ever asks what your child did that year.
For your program-building step, the guide walks through how to plan from scratch, how to set a pace that works without overwhelming you, and how to organize the year so it works month to month. For how to borrow the provincial books, what the Department's curriculum guides offer, and how to plan when nothing is required, see PEI Homeschool Curriculum and Resources (2026). For the full picture of how the notice fits into the larger PEI homeschooling framework, see the complete PEI guide.
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Val's Note: What This Really Means for You
After some of the heavier provinces, PEI's notice felt almost too easy, like I must be missing a step. I was not. A short form, a signed declaration, and you are registered for the year. The law asks for very little at the intake stage and trusts you to follow through on the declaration you signed.
The only things that trip people up are forgetting it is annual and letting the late-summer window drift past. I keep a copy of every notice I file and write down the date it went in. The program-building part, deciding what to teach and how, takes more time and energy than the filing itself. Get the notice in before the year starts, keep your copy, and you are set for everything else.
One more thing: if you have more than one child, set up a separate folder for each and keep the filings clean. Their grade progression, any future school records, and the history you build over time all work better when each child has their own clean file from the start.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Do I File to Homeschool in PEI?
A Notice of Intention for the school year, plus a declaration acknowledging your responsibilities, to the Department of Education's Home Education office in Summerside. Both are required.
What Does the Notice Ask For?
Your child's name and date of birth, your name, address, and telephone number, and the last school the child attended if applicable. That is the complete list.
When Is It Due?
Before the school year starts. There is no fixed calendar date in the Regulations, so confirm the current window with the Home Education office each year. You file a fresh notice every year you continue homeschooling.
Is There a Fee?
No. There is no fee to homeschool in PEI. The only cost is a refundable $50 deposit per child if you choose to borrow provincial curriculum books.
Do I Have to Attach a Program Plan?
No. The notice is short and does not require a program outline, learning goals, or a resource list. You describe your program only when asked, not as part of the notice filing.
What Happens After I File?
Little. The Department may offer advice if you seek it, but there is no required reporting, testing, or set number of instructional days. You teach as you choose and file a new notice at the start of the next school year.
Sources
This guide was verified in June 2026 against the following primary sources. Confirm current filing requirements and the Home Education office contact with the Department before each school year, as procedures can change.