Tell me about homeschooling in Illinois, plz

[dannic]

We're looking into schooling in Illinios--what's the HS atmosphere like? Laws? And related laws? Homeschool groups? Active community? THX.

[heatherdeg]

We're relocating to IL in late July and have been researching different areas of Northern IL for easily 6 months. Since dh works from home MOST of the time, we really could go anywhere. We also attended the InHome conference back in (thinking) March? And we just missed one this past weekend but are attending yet another in early August. All in the Chicago proper or the western suburbs.

Where I am now (NJ) there are ZERO rules for hsing. I'm finding IL to be the same. No notifications, testing or attendance. PLUS, there's some kind of tax rebate up to $500/year for hsing expenses. And a number of the school districts will allow hs kids to attend electives (art, music) at their local public school. I don't know what it's like at the high school level, though... I never checked. Here are some resources about the rules:

http://www.illinoishouse.org/

http://www.hslda.org/laws/analysis/Illinois.pdf

Also, per the HSLDA website:

"Homeschool students are classified as private school students for the purposes of IDEA funding for special education services"

... which means SpEd kids should be explicitly granted SpEd services through the local schools. But I honestly haven't met anyone in that situation yet.

ETA: here's a list of the groups in different areas. Of course, if you're not from IL, you'll need a map to see what's where...

http://www.home-school.com/groups/IL.html

We looked at moving to the Rockford/Belvidere area which doesn't get great press with the locals because it's far from "the city" and it has horrible schools; but honestly--I'm coming from NJ with a good friend who grew up in Rockford and now owns rentals in both towns. If you stay in the eastern part of Rockford (and the more NE you go, the better off) it's fine. I was stunned that there were so many resources in the area via one of the local colleges plus the local chapter of H.O.U.S.E (Home Oriented Unique Schooling Experience--an IL organization). There's a private school that allows hsers to attend classes there (starts at 6th grade).

Closer to Chicago, the area around Naperville in a rather WIDE band (Plainfield, St. Charles, etc.) is plentiful for hsing. In fact, there's a pretty active group that appears to be based out of a church in Plainfield. I don't think it's the HOUSE chapter, either. But there's plenty there, too. In fact, we landed in the town just east of Naperville (Lisle) and there's plenty there... and EASY access to the city (where the major educational attractions apparently run "homeschool days" and/or free admission days--and it's actually a surprisingly beautiful and laid back city, but I'm comparing to NYC).

I've found that pretty much anywhere you go in IL, if you say you're hsing, nobody even raises an eyebrow. VERY acceptable... even if you live in an awesome school district. So the culture is great on that level.

Is there something specific about it that you're looking to find out? I may not have encountered it yet, but maybe I have. I can't wait to get there.

[Tigeresse]

heatherdeg covered it all pretty well. Just wanted to add that I am just graduating my oldest homeschooler and have gone through 12+ years of homeschooling here with *never* an issue as far as legal stuff. He took driver's ed through the local high school, no problem, and I know of other kids who took classes through their high schools. The only thing was that he needed to do it in summer as the school year was reserved for enrolled students. Many older kids take classes at community colleges as well, which is the route we went and it worked out great!

Overall a great state to homeschool in!

[PGTlatte]

Here are some links you may find helpful:

http://ilhomeschool.wordpress.com/about/

Scroll down to the response by JoAnn.

http://www.isbe.net/homeschool/

Although registration, testing, and turning in records are not required, I keep detailed records and written work anyway. Investigations are rare but they do happen, and when they do, the burden of proof is on the parents who must be able to show that an education is taking place that meets the state's requirements - and exactly what those requirements are and what is acceptable proof is not spelled out. My feeling is that the law here offers us a lot of freedom as long as we are not investigated, and very little protection if we are.

I live in the far NW suburbs of Chicago. There are active groups and co-ops but most of them have a religious basis. There are a few active inclusive groups. We are completely secular and so far it has been rare for me to find secular or less religious homeschoolers. There seem to be some active unschooling groups around. I would check Meetup.com and Yahoo Groups.

I have only received a hard time about homeschooling from some neighbors who IMO are pushy and should mind their own beeswax. Nobody else has ever given me a hard time about it.

[Tigeresse]

Originally Posted by laundrycrisis

I live in the far NW suburbs of Chicago. There are active groups and co-ops but most of them have a religious basis. There are a few active inclusive groups. We are completely secular and so far it has been rare for me to find secular or less religious homeschoolers. There seem to be some active unschooling groups around. I would check Meetup.com and Yahoo Groups.

Are you in McHenry County?

[PGTlatte]

Originally Posted by Tigeresse

Are you in McHenry County?

I am in extreme northern Kane co.

[prairiebird]

I homeschool in Illinois too and the only problems I've had is finding a group that's secular. I also keep records that aren't required for just-in-case reasons and also because I am a list-maker that way anyhow . I also thought it might come in handy for my younger kids so I can look back at what I did for my older kids.

You do have to do your research though because there are pockets of districts where they will try and have you jump through hoops that aren't required or are passing curfew laws that makes it illegal for kids to be out and about during school hours. (Probably also going to be challenged at some point too, I'm thinking.) In the welcoming areas though, the museums and libraries and other programs like the YMCA will have so many activities for homeschoolers you'll be overwhelmed!

I am in the far south suburbs of Chicago area and it's rather welcoming here for all styles and ethnicities. ( I add that last bit because I've lived in an area in the south-central side of the state where the homeschoolers themselves would shun any homeschooling families that were latino or African-American because they thought those two races weren't intelligent enough to homeschool their kids- way to shoot your cause in the foot, dur...)

[kittywitty]

Originally Posted by heatherdeg

I've found that pretty much anywhere you go in IL, if you say you're hsing, nobody even raises an eyebrow. VERY acceptable... even if you live in an awesome school district. So the culture is great on that level.

Not true. I've lived many places here in IL for 18 years. Homeschooling is still really weird or frowned upon in many places. Downstate it's much worse. Chicago and Northern IL are completely different species to the rest of the state. A few more urban areas have homeschooling resources or groups, but otherwise they are very rare unless you are a conservative christian.

Otherwise, homeschooling here is easy. Nothing to do but teach your kids.

[Mizelenius]

This is our 2nd school year HSing in IL and these are the two issues I've found:
(1) Secular HSers are harder to come by
(2) Driving everywhere seems to be the norm

We live in the w. suburbs and it seems if we lived further west (oddly) OR in Chicago (northside) this wouldn't be as much of an issue. There are two USing groups (I'd call them sister groups) and one inclusive group that are closer to the Naperville/St. Charles area. (Not that these two towns are that close together, but they both happen to be further west.)

Around here, I think people HSing for religious reasons and are more traditional in their approach have an advantage. They have a built-in circle of friends/support who are homeschooling, AND since they have less free time (time is more scheduled with formal/"traditional" HSing)-- this means less need to find new HSers to hang out with.

This means, for a family like mine that is unschooling and secular, I always wonder-- where are all the homeschoolers? I started a group last year for people in the area and it has not been active until just recently. It's been great so far . . .though since we are still spread out, there is still some driving involved (not as bad as before, however).

As for the responses to HSing, I'd say it's been fine. I think my kids seem pretty normal, LOL, so I don't think anyone can even tell!

[dannic]

Originally Posted by heatherdeg

Is there something specific about it that you're looking to find out? I may not have encountered it yet, but maybe I have. I can't wait to get there.

I found one site that mentioned that vax could be an issue due to hsing being under the private school umbrella and all schools have to have 90% vax rate or the state looses funding, so if a district gives you grief about it, you have to turn in a religious exemption and the superintendent decides whether your exemption reason is valid...that sounded troublesome to me...


http://homepage.bushnell.net/~peanuts/illaws.html#REC

Not sure where my other quote went, lol. The other concern I had was basically what a pp said about keeping good records in case you are investigated. I live in a very hs friendly state with a hs friendly legislature, so this is worrisome.
We're looking into the western suburbs lombard, ect of chicago.

[Tigeresse]

Originally Posted by dannic

I found one site that mentioned that vax could be an issue due to hsing being under the private school umbrella and all schools have to have 90% vax rate or the state looses funding, so if a district gives you grief about it, you have to turn in a religious exemption and the superintendent decides whether your exemption reason is valid...that sounded troublesome to me...


http://homepage.bushnell.net/~peanuts/illaws.html#REC

Not sure where my other quote went, lol. The other concern I had was basically what a pp said about keeping good records in case you are investigated. I live in a very hs friendly state with a hs friendly legislature, so this is worrisome.
We're looking into the western suburbs lombard, ect of chicago.

Since you do not have to withdraw or register there is no reason why the school district should be in touch with you regarding vax status. Private schools have their own policies regarding vax, afaik.

Also, I have never heard of people being investigated out of the blue, I have only heard (do not know of any personally) people that hit some snags by not withdrawing from the public school properly. If this is the case then the schools are required to check out a child that has become truant. This should not be an issue if the child has never been to school or has been withdrawn in accordance with the districts policies.

I did not keep records until high school, and have *never* needed any until enrolling ds in the CC. They required a transcript which I created and have used successfully for 3 years now.

It is good to be well versed in the laws and to know your rights as well. You do not need to just allow truant officers in your home. This is by far one of the easiest states to homeschool in in the country.

[PGTlatte]

The information about vaccination in the link is old, from 1998. Since August 2001 it is IL law that "A child shall not be considered neglected or abused for the sole reason that the child's parent or other person responsible for the child's welfare failed to vaccinate, delayed vaccination, or refused vaccination for the child due to a waiver on religious or medical grounds as permitted by the law."

This is from here:

http://www.ilga.gov/legislation/publ...s/92-0375.html

Scroll down to see the underlined text.

Homeschoolers here do not have to report anything at all to either the local school board or to the IL State Board of Education. The text at the ISBE website is quite clear on that. You can follow this link and scroll down to question 4:

http://www.isbe.net/homeschool/faq.pdf

Also, if you follow the pdf link to the registration form (inside the first pdf), it states right on the form "Registration with the Illinois State Board of Education and/or your Regional Office of Education is voluntary". We do not have to register, test, or turn anything in, including vaccination records.

I do think it is a good idea for everyone to have a copy of their child's records of medical care, and if you are choosing not to vaccinate, it's a good idea to have a statement of religious exemption prepared, but these are not things that have to do with homeschooling or that are required to be submitted anywhere. All of the records are things I think would be good to have ready in case of an investigation of any sort. But they are not things that are normally required here.

Originally Posted by dannic

I found one site that mentioned that vax could be an issue due to hsing being under the private school umbrella and all schools have to have 90% vax rate or the state looses funding, so if a district gives you grief about it, you have to turn in a religious exemption and the superintendent decides whether your exemption reason is valid...that sounded troublesome to me...


http://homepage.bushnell.net/~peanuts/illaws.html#REC

[PGTlatte]

Originally Posted by Tigeresse

Also, I have never heard of people being investigated out of the blue, I have only heard (do not know of any personally) people that hit some snags by not withdrawing from the public school properly.

Over the years there have been some Regional Office of Education superintendents who have been demanding of information from homeschooling families in their areas. Here is a blog post from 2007 that makes reference to some of this:

http://www.eduwrit.com/blog/?m=20070907

Here is a more recent post about a daytime curfew in one area:

http://illinoisreview.typepad.com/il...me-curfew.html

[dannic]

Thank you so much for all your up to date info! I was trying (in between life, lol) to get it all together for DH and coming up with discrepancies--this really helps to clear them up.

As I said before, our state is very HS friendly (only affidavit of intent) and altho the bigger areas have great HS groups, ours is very small in our area. I'd love to have an active community! Something it seems the larger areas offer. Is there a statewide organization that has local resources for finding groups in each area? Thx.

[heatherdeg]

Originally Posted by kittywitty

Not true. I've lived many places here in IL for 18 years. Homeschooling is still really weird or frowned upon in many places. Downstate it's much worse. Chicago and Northern IL are completely different species to the rest of the state. A few more urban areas have homeschooling resources or groups, but otherwise they are very rare unless you are a conservative christian.

Yeah--we stuck to Northern IL. And I really only detailed and named the areas I found the most info on. I guess where we were looking might be considered "urban" by IL standards, but are very "suburban" by what I'm accustomed to. That being said, I have a hard time seeing Rockford as "urban" even though it's the 2nd largest city in the state.

We've spoken to just about every human who would speak to us in the last 6mo and that involves about 7 trips there. I haven't had anyone yet look at me funny for hsing. I found that to be pretty impressive. But you're right--I was only in Northern IL.

[Tigeresse]

Originally Posted by dannic

Thank you so much for all your up to date info! I was trying (in between life, lol) to get it all together for DH and coming up with discrepancies--this really helps to clear them up.

As I said before, our state is very HS friendly (only affidavit of intent) and altho the bigger areas have great HS groups, ours is very small in our area. I'd love to have an active community! Something it seems the larger areas offer. Is there a statewide organization that has local resources for finding groups in each area? Thx.

Here is a listing of the HOUSE groups in the area: http://www.illinoishouse.org/a03.htm

More on truancy and the laws: http://www.illinoishouse.org/truancy.htm

More on some of the issues discussed like daytime curfews and the truancy, although not very up to date: http://www.illinoishouse.org/issues.htm

IL HOUSE is probably your best resource for secular homeschooling resources.

laundrycrisis...we have some park/beach days happening in Cary/Crystal Lake with our unschooling group, and we are not all unschoolers! PM if you would like info.

[Copper]

I pulled my dd out of K (she was there for 4 days)...I submitted a letter stating that I was homeschooling according to the IL "requirements" .......handed it in and never looked back. So they have a "record" of her....we are going into 4th grade now we never had a problem since.

Consider yourself lucky ....I am in southern Illinois which is a whole different animal...buckle of the Bible belt. I was raised Catholic.....this area is so different than 6 hours north in IL where I came from. Any group you find is primarily Christian...some are small and you must sign a statement of faith....I have yet to find a secular group. We do some things....in the group framework....but there are activities offered in a wide range mostly privately....I think it is pretty accepted in this area ...you will still always get a raised eyebrow here or there or an ignorant comment anywhere you go. When we moved here I really had no idea what we were in for as far as the predominant religion and getting invited to church constantly.

If I had any idea we would have been homeschooling we would have not considered this move (job transfer).

[tsmama24]

Just wanted to share a list of secular/inclusive support groups for Illinois...can't vouch for any of them, but it might open up possibilities, hopefully!!

[kittywitty]

Copper- Do you mind me asking which county you're in? I'm also 6 hours south and know NO other homeschoolers down here except by rumor (and one we no longer get together with).

[dannic]

Originally Posted by heatherdeg

Yeah--we stuck to Northern IL. And I really only detailed and named the areas I found the most info on. I guess where we were looking might be considered "urban" by IL standards, but are very "suburban" by what I'm accustomed to. That being said, I have a hard time seeing Rockford as "urban" even though it's the 2nd largest city in the state.

We've spoken to just about every human who would speak to us in the last 6mo and that involves about 7 trips there. I haven't had anyone yet look at me funny for hsing. I found that to be pretty impressive. But you're right--I was only in Northern IL.

You'll have to let us know how you like it once you're settled in!

I am actually Christian, but not accepted as such in some circles and probably wouldn't be able to sign a statement of faith if it was denomination-specific. That's all really interesting.

I'm still getting a feel for the geography--would Lombard and surrounding areas be considered more pro HSing or HSing is weird?