Parents choosing to home-school their child in the state of Illinois may complete and file a Home Schooling Registration form with the Illinois State Board of Education. Unlike other states, Illinois does not require that a registration form be completed. Parents may opt to complete a form that notifies that student's school district of the parent's intent to home-school. The form may be downloaded from the State Board of Education website, and must be filed annually in September. Parents must include their email address, phone number, home address, biographical information for each child (name, grade level, gender, race and ethnicity, date of birth and last public school attended), the name of any curriculum being used, and all educational areas taught.
Section 26-1 of the Illinois School Code requires that all children in the state complete a minimum concentration of core academic and physical education courses. These courses are clustered into branches of education that include language arts, social sciences, biological/physical sciences, mathematics, fine arts and physical education/health. All core courses must be instructed in the English language. Parents may select any curriculum that meets the home schooling needs and goals. Additionally, parents may choose specific assignments made and records that need to be kept.
Illinois does not have any specific testing requirements for home-schooled children. Parents may opt to regularly test their home-schooled children as a method to assess learning if desired, or ask for permission to test at the local public school. Test or assessment results may be kept by the parents and do not need to be forwarded to the student's official school district or State Board of Education. The Illinois State Board of Education does note that the Illinois Standards Achievement Test (ISAT) that is utilized for public school student assessment may not meet the needs of a home-schooled child due to inconsistency in academic curriculum and instruction.
Although parents are not required to send home-schooled children to a public school, they may select part-time enrollment. Parents must ask permission from the school district by May 1 for the following academic year. Additionally, state law mandates that all public school districts offer home-schooled teens in ninth through 12th grades a classroom-based and hands-on drivers education course.