Homeschooling in Illinois: Guidance for Getting Started

Let’s hear from an actual Illinoisan. Lily R., a Sonlighter in Carbondale, IL who says it’s easy:

We live in Southern Illinois and homeschooling here has been wonderful. The laws are very relaxed and give you freedom to homeschool as you please.”

The data bear out her experience. Illinois is a low-regulation state as per the Home School Legal Defense Association. Further, there is just one option for homeschooling in Illinois. In some states there are multiple avenues, labels, and procedures. But in Illinois there is just one type of homeschooler from a legal standpoint, making the process straightforward. 

A look at the stats for homeschooling in Illinois can help us answer this question.

As per the National Center for Education Statistics, 3.3% of American children were being homeschooled in 2016. In the spring of 2020, only 2.1% of Illinois households were homeschooling. While this percentage more than doubled over the course of the pandemic, it’s clear that homeschooling remains a small slice of the educational pie in Illinois. However, the number of homeschoolers continues to grow as families recognize the tremendous flexibility and effectiveness of learning at home.

Illinois homeschooling hour requirements don’t exist! Illinois homeschoolers are not required to have school for a particular number of days each school year or have instruction for a certain number of hours each day. There is no record keeping required for a school calendar or days of school. Homeschooling can happen any day of the week and any time of day.

No, a parent does not have to be certified or even have a college degree to homeschool. The law states that a parent must be “competent” and provide an education that is, at a minimum, equivalent to what the public school offers. 

There are no qualifications needed—none in the areas of education, certifications, training, licenses, approvals, or credentials. As long as you cover the required subjects and provide an education that is at least as robust as what a school provides, you’re set!

Any family who can provide a competent education in English that covers the required topics is eligible to homeschool. 

You do not need to report to anyone for homeschooling in Illinois, but if you are switching from public school to homeschooling, be sure to follow the correct and official process for withdrawing. If this step is skipped, your child may be considered truant.

You may, if you desire, report to the Illinois State Board of Education, using the voluntary reporting form. Please note that there is no required letter of intent or affidavit for homeschooling in Illinois

Since the methods and curriculum are not prescribed in Illinois homeschooling laws, parents are free to choose their own styles and materials. Unschooling is a viable approach as long as the education covers the required subjects and is equivalent (or superior to) that of public schools. 

It’s quite doable to teach the required topics through an unschooling approach, and unschooling is legal in Illinois.

The law states that a homeschool teacher can be a parent/guardian or private tutor. So, yes, if you are hired as a private tutor, you could homeschool someone else's child in Illinois. The parent, of course, retains ultimate responsibility for the education.

Your primary concern to fulfill Illinois homeschool law is a curriculum to teach the required subjects. 

Besides that, you’ll want to make sure you have the time and energy to devote to this adventure as well as an area in your home that is conducive to learning.

While you could wing it and homeschool without a planned curriculum, this option is not recommended. 

• If there were ever a question about your being a competent teacher, about your children being truant, or about educational neglect, using a robust curriculum will make it obvious that you are doing an excellent job.
• You will love the ease of having an open-and-go curriculum that takes hours of work off your shoulders each week. Why reinvent the wheel? Unless you truly love lesson planning (and are experienced at instructional design), let the pros handle that for you so you can do the fun part—learning alongside your kids!
• When you DIY your homeschool, you may question the quality of your materials and wonder if your child is truly getting an education that is equivalent to or better than that in public schools. By using a trusted and established homeschool program, you have assurance.

As you evaluate homeschooling programs in Illinois, you may wonder if online homeschooling is a good fit. While digital resources can be valuable supplements, there’s no substitute for real books, hands-on learning, and parent-child discussions.  

No, according to Illinois education laws for homeschooling, testing is not required for homeschooled students. 

For general tips, make use of Sonlight’s Getting Started guide here. Since Illinois is such a low-regulation state, getting started is pretty simple! 

1. If your child is currently enrolled in a public school, be sure to officially withdraw them according to your school’s guidelines. 
2. Then decide if you want to submit the Home Schooling Registration form to the Illinois State Board of Education. This step is optional and is the only homeschooling form in Illinois.
3. If your child has never been enrolled in Illinois schools, no reporting, paperwork, or documentation whatsoever is required. You can simply start homeschooling!
4. Choose a curriculum that suits your child and that covers the subjects and topics required by IL law. 
5. Since the law requires you to provide an education that is at least as good as that in public schools, check state standards and compare them to the scope and sequence of the curriculum choices you are considering. Unsure if a program is adequate? Just ask the Advisors of that program. 
6. Mentally identify the learning areas in your home where you can read books together on the couch and do bookwork at the table or a desk. You don’t need a dedicated homeschool room for this! 
7. Organize your books, hands-on kits, Instructor’s Guides, and other resources for daily and long-term use. 

Children must attend school (or be homeschooled) from ages 6 to 17 in Illinois. 

Yes, since compulsory school doesn’t start until age 6 in Illinois, you can skip kindergarten altogether and start formal schooling with first grade. 

But why skip this precious year? You can enjoy preschool, pre-K, and kindergarten at home with a gentle, age-appropriate program that gives your child needed academic foundations all while nurturing their zest for learning and natural curiosity. 

For ages younger than 6, consider these delightful and fully planned programs:

• Sonlight Preschool • for ages 3-4
• Sonlight Pre-K • for ages 4-5
• Sonlight History / Bible / Literature K for ages 5-7

You can homeschool legally in Illinois for a child’s entire K-12 experience. But deciding to homeschool isn’t an all-or-nothing choice. You can opt to homeschool for one year and return to public school later. 

In fact, many new homeschoolers take a one-year-at-a-time approach, committing to the journey for only a single school year. Each year they evaluate their experience and make a fresh commitment (or not) for another school year. 

As outlined in our guide How Much Does Homeschooling Cost, American homeschool families spend around $500 to $2500 each year to homeschool one child. These figures hold for homeschooling in Illinois, too.

Aside from the Education Expense Credit (outlined below), there is no financial assistance for homeschooling in Illinois. When you opt to homeschool, you take on the entire responsibility for all educational choices and the purchase of all materials. There is no state funding for homeschooling in Illinois, no grats and no school voucher program. 

There is no state-sanctioned, free homeschooling option in Illinois such as a free online public school. A parent bears the full financial burden of homeschooling. 

But there are no regulations against homeschooling for free either. So it’s possible as long as you’re covering the required subjects. However, there are two big cautions about homeschooling for free:

1. You run the risk of having a disjointed curriculum with missing concepts since you’re piecing together a variety of freebies.
2. You can wear yourself out with lesson planning and hunting for (and organizing) freebies.

Because of these pitfalls, most parents find that purchasing a well-planned curriculum that you can use with siblings, one that builds a home library, and one that offers a money-back guarantee is a smart investment.

Of course, you can homeschool frugally and use free resources from the library, the internet, or hand-me-downs to supplement your base program. 

While Illinois does not send families money for homeschooling, there is an Education Expense Credit that may apply in some situations.

Lucky Illinoisans! Illinois is one of the few states with tax credits for homeschool families! Unfortunately, the Illinois Education Expense Credit doesn’t allow for the bulk of what a homeschool family would spend on—curriculum, field trips, and extracurricular activities.

Qualified expenses are covered after the first $250 with an upper limit of $750 for tuition, book rental, and lab fees. But this allowance does not cover books or materials that would be added to your home library or resource shelf for long-term use. It also doesn’t cover any extras like tutoring or enrichment that goes above and beyond the required curriculum. Read more from the State of Illinois here that explains how homeschooling is and is not tax-deductible in Illinois.

Yes, you still have to pay taxes even if you homeschool. Even if your children don’t make use of Illinois public schools, you are still obligated to pay local, state, and federal taxes to support those schools for other families in your area.

There are no specific requirements for coursework for high schoolers. And health is not listed as a required course for public school high schoolers. So health would be an optional course to include in your 4-year high school plan.