Updated 7/27/2026:
The Ad Hoc Committee for Illinois Home Education Legal and Legislative Matters (Ad Hoc) is a consensus organization comprising homeschooling representatives from around Illinois and across political and religious divides. Ad Hoc carefully watches legal and legislative activity regarding homeschooling in Illinois and comments on matters if there is a consensus.
We have been asked to support a bill in the Illinois state legislature to require the public schools to change their policies regarding homeschool participation in sports and other interscholastic activities.
Ad Hoc recognizes that the Illinois High School Association is a private 501(c)3 non-profit organization that oversees, controls, and promotes high school athletic and non-athletic interscholastic activities. These activities are not run by the Illinois State Board of Education.
The Illinois High School Association has been largely against any non-public school student’s participation in public school activities but has left a narrow door open for homeschooled students if their local public school agrees to certain restrictions. Local school boards differ in how they interpret those restrictions. These many different interpretations have created a patchwork of different policies, with some schools being much more flexible and others completely inflexible.
The Ad Hoc Committee for Illinois Home Education Legal and Legislative Matters understands why some homeschoolers would like a change in the policy but cautions that any legislative intervention could invite heavy-handed government oversight and stricter rules for all homeschools in Illinois. As such, Ad Hoc declines requests to back a state bill requiring IHSA policy changes on behalf of homeschoolers.
Ad Hoc Committee for Illinois Home Education Legal and Legislative Matters is a consensus driven group comprising three different homeschool organizations who advocate for homeschools throughout Illinois regardless of religion, ethnicity or homeschool philosophy. Established in 1984, we are dedicated to protecting private home schools from state regulations that infringe upon the liberty of parents in the education of their children. Working by consensus, we present unified positions to state school officials and legislators on important legislative and legal issues impacting home education in Illinois. We are committed to advancing the principle of academic freedom for the good of all citizens in Illinois.
In Illinois, home schools are one kind of non-public, private school (in 1950 the Illinois State Supreme Court in People vs Levisen 90 N.E.2nd 213 no.31133 determined that home schools were private schools). There is no law requiring non-public schools to register with any public school official, nor are they required to seek state recognition, approval or accreditation.Under Illinois School Code 105 ILCS 5/26.1 (known as the Compulsory Attendance Law) parents of children ages 6 through 17, beginning with the 2014-2015 school year, must make sure the education their children receive includes the branches of education taught to their age group in the local public school (language arts, mathematics, biological ...
Withdrawing from Public School: Before withdrawing your child from public school there are four important steps to follow. If the appropriate steps are not followed, the school will most likely assume that your child is truant. First, familiarize yourself with Illinois laws that apply to homeschools: Illinois Homeschool Laws Second, write a letter to withdraw your child from the public school. See sample withdrawal letters: Letter Sample #1 Letter Sample #2 Print at least two copies of your letter, one for the school’s permanent records and one for your own permanent records. Third, deliver the letter to your child’s school in one of these three ways: Go to the post office and mail the letter “return receipt requested ...