Getting started
How to Start Homeschooling, at Any Age
Withdraw first, deschool second, curriculum a distant third
You've probably seen the "first day of homeschool" printables online, the chalkboard sign, the countdown, the color-coded planner. Skip all of it for now. The actual first steps, in Illinois, are duller and more useful: get your child legally clear of whatever school they're currently in, and then don't teach anything for a while. Curriculum is step three, not step one, at any age you're starting.
Step one: get clear of the school you're leaving
If your child has never been enrolled in school, there's nothing to do here, skip ahead to deschooling. If they're currently enrolled, Illinois treats a homeschool as a private school, and Illinois doesn't make private schools register. Nobody has to approve this. You send written notice, keep a copy, and you're done. The full sequence, including a withdrawal letter you can copy word for word, is on the Illinois homeschool law page.
Don't take your legal information from a Facebook comment thread, however confident it sounds. Illinois homeschool law is genuinely short, short enough that I'd rather point you at the actual page than summarize it twice here. Read what Illinois actually requires before you read anyone's opinion about it.
You don't need curriculum picked out to send that letter
Curriculum comes later, and it will change. Most families I know of are on their third math program by year two, and that isn't a sign anything went wrong, it's just what fitting a program to an actual child looks like. Send the withdrawal letter this week. Figure out what you're teaching in a few weeks.
If you're pulling a child out mid-year because something is actively wrong, bullying, a meltdown every morning, a placement that stopped working, the hesitation usually isn't really about the paperwork. It's the fear that leaving mid-year is drastic. It isn't. Illinois allows mid-year withdrawal, no district approval needed, and the year you're weighing this against is the one currently happening, not some hypothetical better one.
Step two: deschool before you plan a single lesson
Deschooling is the part almost nobody mentions before you start, and it's the part that saves the year. It means real time off from anything that resembles formal instruction, not workbooks with the covers off. A common rule of thumb is a month of deschooling for every year your child spent in a classroom, so pulling a third grader mid-year, plan on a few weeks at minimum. More on what deschooling actually looks like is in the glossary.
Let your child pick the books
Go to the library together and let your child choose books about whatever they're actually curious about right now, sharks, a video game, ancient Egypt, doesn't matter. That's the whole assignment for week one.
Get a stack for yourself too
While you're there, pull a few books about homeschooling written for parents, not curriculum catalogs, actual books about how the thing works day to day. Most Illinois library systems carry more of these than you'd expect, and interlibrary loan can pull in the rest.
Search "free unit study" plus whatever they picked
Once you know what has your child's attention, search "free unit study" and the topic. Sharks, the solar system, whatever it is, someone has already built a free set of reading and activities around it. It's the fastest way to see what your child does with unstructured curiosity before you've spent a dollar.
Look for a free intro workshop
Some co-ops and library systems run a free "new to homeschooling" night, usually late summer or early fall. I haven't cataloged every one across the state, so check your library's event calendar and your local homeschool Facebook groups for what's running near you.
The actual goal of deschooling isn't rest, though rest happens along the way. It's finding out how your child learns when nobody's grading them, and how you teach when nobody's watching. Do some of this alongside your child instead of just supervising it from the next room. That's where the two of you build the working relationship the rest of the year runs on, and it's a lot harder to build after a few months of friction over spelling lists nobody asked you to give.
Next: figure out what kind of homeschooler you are
Once the fog lifts a little, Homeschool 101 walks through the rest in order, law first, curriculum much later than you'd think. The style quiz helps you stop guessing at curriculum before you've spent any money on it.
Read Homeschool 101 Take the style quizCommon questions
How do I start homeschooling in Illinois?
If your child isn't currently enrolled anywhere, you can simply begin, Illinois requires no notice, registration, or permission. If they're enrolled now, send the school written notice of withdrawal and request their student records, then start deschooling before you plan any lessons.
What is deschooling and how long does it take?
Deschooling is a deliberate stretch of little or no formal academic work right after leaving school, so your child (and you) can decompress before real learning starts again. A common rule of thumb is a month of deschooling for every year spent in a classroom. The first weeks will feel unproductive. That's the point.
Do I need curriculum before I start homeschooling?
No. Withdrawal and deschooling both come first, and what you learn about your child during deschooling should shape what you buy, not the other way around. Most families change curriculum more than once in the first two years regardless of how much research went into the first pick.
Free download
The Illinois Homeschool Starter Kit
A one-page compliance checklist, a withdrawal letter you can copy word for word, and a record-keeping log that fits on a single sheet. The paperwork part, done, so you can get on with the actual question of what to teach.
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