How to start homeschooling in Illinois

Step by step

1. Know what Illinois requires

   A home school is treated as a private school; it must teach the branches of education taught in public schools, in English. No registration, testing or reporting is required.

   Required school ages in Illinois: 6 (on or before September 1) to 17, unless already graduated from high school (105 ILCS 5/26-1). Teacher qualification for this option: Teacher must be 'competent' (People v. Levisen, 1950, as described by ISBE); no specific credential.

2. If your child is in school now, withdraw in writing

   Send the school a dated withdrawal letter saying your child will be educated at home, and keep a copy. Illinois doesn’t require a separate notice under this option, so the letter is the school’s record that your child has left.

   Write the withdrawal letter

3. No notice to file

   Illinois doesn’t require a notice or registration under this option.

   ISBE: registration is voluntary ('Registration of home-schooled students is not required'); an optional ISBE Home Schooling Registration Form exists.

4. Plan your school year: days and hours

   Illinois doesn’t set a number of days or hours for this option.

   ISBE: no minimum days per year specified; education must be equivalent to public school standards. ISBE: no minimum hours per day specified.

   Planning about 180 days, as schools do, gives the year a shape and makes a move to another state easier.

   Check your days and hoursMake a school calendar

5. Cover the required subjects

   Language arts, mathematics, biological and physical sciences, social sciences, fine arts, physical development and health.

   Statute: 'the branches of education taught to children of corresponding age and grade in the public schools,' with instruction 'in the English language.' Subject list is ISBE's statement of those branches.

   Find curriculum with lesson counts

6. Testing or evaluation

   Not required under this option.

   ISBE: no requirement to test students or submit results to school officials.

7. Keep records anyway

   Illinois doesn’t require records under this option.

   Our suggestion: keep attendance, a reading log and a few work samples each year. A move to another state, a college, or a question from the district is much easier with them.

   Printable logs

8. Start teaching

   Put your books on a lesson schedule, and the planner spreads the lessons across your school days and moves them when a day is missed. Log attendance in a tap, and keep grades, a portfolio and a transcript as you go.

   Start a free plan in My HomeschoolAll free tools

9. High school and graduation

   ISBE: home schools issue their own diplomas; public schools may award a high school diploma only if credits meet state requirements.

   Keep a transcriptGPA calculatorSample transcript

Not confirmed on an official page: Status of 2025 HB 2827 ('Homeschool Act') could not be checked on ilga.gov; the current 105 ILCS 5/26-1 text (latest P.A. 103-721, eff. 1-1-25) contains no homeschool provisions, so it does not appear to have been enacted into that section. Check these points with the state or your local school district before you rely on them; everything else above comes from the official sources listed.