Illinois requires nothing. Illinois requires no notice, no registration, and no assessment. You may begin homeschooling without telling anyone. The detail below is what the statute actually says, so you can see for yourself rather than take our word for it.

What you file, and by when

None. Illinois requires no notice of intent, no registration, no approval and no reporting. ISBE offers a purely voluntary Non-Public School Registration; registering is optional and carries no legal obligation. If a truant officer or regional superintendent inquires, the accepted practice is to send a short letter stating the child is enrolled in a private (home) school teaching the required branches of education in English. IMPORTANT / RECENT: HB 2827 (the 'Homeschool Act') would have created a mandatory Homeschool Declaration Form filed with the district and made non-filers truant. It passed the House Education Policy Committee but was re-referred to Rules on April 11, 2025 and was not enacted; it remains dead as of this writing. Because it is a two-year General Assembly running through January 2027, the bill or a successor could be revived, this is the single most likely near-term change in this eight-state set and should be monitored.

Days or hours

None. No minimum days, no minimum hours, no required school calendar, no attendance schedule for home/private schools.

Subjects you must cover

The 'branches of education taught to children of corresponding age and grade in the public schools,' taught in English (105 ILCS 5/26-1). Per 105 ILCS 5/27-1 and ISBE guidance those branches are: language arts; mathematics; biological and physical sciences; social sciences; fine arts; and physical development and health. Illinois also has topical mandates for public schools that are generally not enforced against home/private schools.

Records you keep

None required by statute. Nothing is submitted to anyone. Parents are nonetheless advised to keep attendance logs, curriculum lists, samples of work and grades, both to answer a truancy inquiry under 105 ILCS 5/26-1 and to build a credible high school transcript.

Testing or evaluation

None. No standardized testing, evaluation, or assessment requirement whatsoever.

Diplomas and transcripts

The homeschool operates as a private school and sets its own graduation requirements, issues its own diploma and transcript. No state approval, registration, credit definition or GED substitute is required. Illinois public universities accept parent-issued diplomas; individual programs may request course descriptions or standardized test scores. Note Illinois has no homeschool ESA or voucher, the Invest in Kids tax-credit scholarship program sunset on December 31, 2023 and was not renewed, and it never covered home instruction. Homeschooled students' access to public school courses, sports and services is at each district's discretion; Illinois has no statutory equal-access right.

Where this comes from

Statute: 105 ILCS 5/26-1 (compulsory attendance / private school exemption); 105 ILCS 5/27-1 (branches of education); see also People v. Levisen, 404 Ill. 574 (1950) (home instruction qualifies as a private school)

Source: https://www.ilga.gov/Legislation/ILCS/fulltext?DocName=010500050K26-1

Last reviewed: July 2026 · our confidence in this entry: high

Homeschool law changes, and a page like this goes stale without announcing it. Check the statute above against your own reading before a filing deadline. If we are out of date, we would rather hear it from you than have you find out at the district office.

Keeping the records is the other half of this. Our Records System has the editable transcript with the GPA already wired, 131 course descriptions, and this same statute-cited summary for all fifty states and DC. Thirty-nine dollars, one household, however many children you have.