Is Homeschooling in Illinois a Wise Choice for Your Family?

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The Ins and Outs of Homeschooling in Illinois

Whether the homeschooling process runs smoothly depends on how much relevant information you’ve collected and how well you prepared beforehand. You must get familiar with homeschooling state regulations and look for the right resources, a curriculum suitable for your child, and available support.

Homeschooling in Illinois can be the best option for the entire family as it allows flexibility in the educational process. DoNotPay outlines the requirements you need to fulfill for your smooth transition from a conventional school to homeschooling.

Illinois Homeschool Laws

Illinois is one of the easiest states for homeschooling since state laws are pretty lenient. The main requirement is the list of subjects you need to cover while teaching at home.

Here’s what you need to include in your instruction:

  • Fine arts
  • Mathematics
  • Language arts
  • Social sciences
  • Physical education and health
  • Biology and physics

Everything else is up to you. A homeschool parent or teacher decides:

  • On the teaching material to use and curriculum to choose or create
  • How to evaluate or grade the work and keep track of the homeschooled student’s progress

How To Homeschool in Illinois

You have all the freedom to homeschool in Illinois the way you find suitable for your child and family.

What you should do before starting with homeschooling in IL is follow these steps:

Steps To TakeSpecifics
Create a letter of intent to homeschool
  • to prepare a rock-solid notice of intent to homeschool
Withdraw your child from schoolWhile not required for homeschooling in IL, you should:
  1. Send an Illinois withdrawal letter to the principal of your child’s school to notify them of your intent to homeschool and avoid truancy problems
  2. Take your child out of their current school
Pick a curriculumYou—or another person responsible for teaching your child—should:
  1. Join a homeschool association, co-op, or group to get advice on good curriculums
  2. Mix and match various plans to customize a homeschool program to your child’s specific needs

Use DoNotPay To Generate a Notice of Intent To Homeschool

Teaching at home entails some red tape, so you should get help with administration. We know the state and local regulations and will help you create a formal document to inform the right institution about your child’s homeschooling journey.

and follow these simple steps:

  1. Access the Notice of Intent to Homeschool product
  2. Enter the relevant info about your family and school district
  3. Choose if you’d like our app to:
    1. Help you get the notice notarized remotely
    2. File the letter in your stead
    3. Send you a PDF file to submit yourself

Part-Time Homeschooling in Illinois

Illinois, unlike other U.S. states, allows part-time homeschooling. It means that your kid can take part in all academic and extracurricular activities within a regular school system if:

  1. You file a request to a school from your homeschool district by May 1
  2. There is available space for your child within the selected school

You could choose this option if you cannot make up your mind about homeschooling your child.

Illinois Homeschooling Recordkeeping

While Illinois homeschooling laws don’t require you to file any reports, you should maintain records of your homeschooling process, especially if your child would like to:

Keep in mind that you should include the following in your homeschool portfolio:

  • An outline of the curriculum you’ve used
  • Progress reports for all homeschool years
  • Results of any standardized tests your child took
  • Samples of any work your child carried out, including:
    • Quizzes or tests
    • Assignments
    • Essays

Your homeschool portfolio should also contain a transcript if your homeschooler is in high school.

Illinois Homeschool High School Diploma Criteria

Parents decide on graduation requirements when homeschooling in Illinois. Before you determine what courses, subjects, grades, or tests you’ll use, you should:

  1. Research specific requirements of desirable colleges, employers, the military, or vocational schools
  2. Adjust your homeschool program to these particular criteria

Keep in mind that some families align their homeschool programs with the following state requirements for traditional school programs:

  • Testing requirements—Students in grade 11 must take one of the following:
    • The SAT
    • The DLM-AA
  • Diploma requirements—Students need to complete a minimum of 16 units to:
    • Graduate in IL
    • Receive a diploma
  • Transcript requirements—Public school transcripts must include:
    • Identifying information
    • Attendance records
    • Credit totals
    • Standardized test scores
    • A complete credit history by course

Continue Learning About the Homeschooling Process

You should explore DoNotPay’s learning center whenever you have a dilemma about homeschooling. We answer many common questions, including:

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