homeschooling

Two women are deep in conversation in a spacious room with wooden accents and a bustling background. The woman on the left has long blonde hair and wears a light blue jacket, while her counterpart, with dark hair tied back, wears a gray sweater. Their discussion hints at an opposition to recent homeschool rules.

Homeschool bill stalls in Illinois House, but sponsor says it's still alive

A bill that would tighten homeschooling regulations in Illinois missed a key deadline on Friday. But its sponsor, Rep. Terra Costa Howard, said it’s still alive — and she’s working on changes recommended by fellow lawmakers to get it passed.

Representative Weaver talking at a conference around a group of homeschooled children

Local News

Homeschool families upset after Illinois lawmaker pushes a bill to create oversight

Cesar Toscano

Illinois is among about a dozen states that have little or no homeschooling oversight. Some advocates want to do something about that.

Under the new bill, families would be required to tell their school districts when they decide to homeschool their children, and the parents or guardians would need to have a high school diploma or equivalent.

Illinois News

Illinois bill aims to add more oversight of homeschooling

Following a ProPublica and Capitol News Illinois investigation, an Illinois lawmaker has introduced legislation that would require families to tell their public school districts if they are homeschooling.

Local News

Homeschooling trends in Illinois during and after COVID are hard to see due to limited data

Lyndsay Jones

With no centralized data, there's no way to definitively know how many families are homeschooling in Illinois. Anecdotally, Bloomington-Normal homeschool advocates say the numbers are up after the COVID-19 pandemic. But will they stay up?