Directory
Homeschooling isn't one thing anymore. Families here are stitching together co-ops, microschools, hybrid programs, a tutor for upper math, and a park district class for PE. This directory covers all of it, sorted by region, with cost and faith orientation noted upfront because those are the two things everyone wants to know and almost nobody states.
Being built in public
There is 1 verified listing here right now. I'd rather show you a short honest list than a long stale one, so entries go up as I confirm them and every one carries the date I checked. Submit a listing and I'll verify and add it.
No co-op near you? Starting one is smaller than it sounds. Three families and a recurring day is enough to begin. How to start a homeschool co-op →
Families meet weekly, parents teach or hire instructors.
Small in-person schools, usually 5 to 20 students.
Two or three days on campus, the rest taught at home.
Full-time independent schools, including part-time options.
One-on-one and small-group instruction by subject.
Art, music, PE, and daytime classes for homeschoolers.
Park days, field trips, and community. No classes.
Libraries, used curriculum, testing, evaluators, and services.
What kind
Where
Chicago and suburbs · Free
A long-running network with a co-op list, park days, and regional subgroups. Worth a look even if you don't join anything, because their co-op page is one of the few in the state that actually gets updated.
Faith-friendly, nothing required
Verified 2026-07-26
Collar Counties
DuPage, Lake, Will, and Kane have the densest co-op scene in the state and the worst online record of it. If you run or belong to one, I want it here.
Statewide
Illinois microschools are growing fast and almost none of them are findable. If you run one, send me the details: ages served, days per week, cost, and a link.
Statewide
University-model and hybrid programs are the hardest category to find in Illinois, and the one families ask me about most once they learn it exists.
Statewide
Especially upper math, lab sciences, foreign language, and writing. Include whether you take small groups, since that changes the price for everyone.
Statewide
Park district daytime classes, studios, farms, nature centers. If your program runs on a weekday and welcomes homeschoolers, it belongs here.
Statewide
Particularly schools offering part-time enrollment or à la carte classes, which families almost never discover on their own.
Statewide
Used curriculum sales, testing and evaluation services, unusual library programs, anything that makes the year easier.
A co-op is families teaching families. Parents run or hire the classes, you're usually expected to be in the building, and the teaching stays largely yours. A microschool is a small school, usually five to twenty students, that handles instruction during the hours your child is there. A hybrid school splits the week: two or three days on campus, and the other days at home following the school's plan.
The labels get used loosely, so the useful question is practical rather than definitional: how much of the teaching am I still doing, how many days are we out of the house, and what does it cost.
No, and that's deliberate. I write about Illinois homeschool law because that's what I know firsthand. Microschools, hybrid programs, and private schools each set their own structure, and their requirements are theirs to explain, not mine to summarize.
Ask each program directly what enrolling with them means for your family, and get the answer from them in writing. For homeschooling itself, the Illinois homeschool law guide covers what the state requires.
Four things, in this order. What is expected of me, because burnout over unexpected obligations is the number one reason families leave. What happens if we miss. Who is still here in year five. And what does this actually cost once you add materials, fees, and the drive.
Then visit. Almost every group allows a guest visit, and two hours there answers more than a semester of research.
Send me the details: name, type, region, whether faith is involved and whether anything is required of members, rough cost, ages served, and a link. I add things as I verify them, and I put the verification date on every listing so you can see how stale it is.