“Do not let kindness and truth leave you; bind them around your neck,
write them on the tablet of your heart.” Proverbs 3:3

ICHE is hosting an entirely online Family Conference instead of meeting at Olivet Nazarene University this May. This is a great opportunity because all this wealth of information and resources is available to us entirely free of charge.

WHEN: the weekend of May 28-31

The Cost – FREE!

This website is a great resource for your students of math. It’s totally free and ad free and has been a great help for us.

Click this link to go to the website:

For all the amazing moms out there – don’t forget to take care of yourself! Even with kids constantly at home and no gym to escape to, don’t despair. This amazing program will restore and heal your body, whether you are still having babies, delivered last week, or suddenly noticed you are twenty years post partum due to the inexplicably fast passage of time. You will find support and clinically proven methods to prepare, heal, and even move forward to strength and fitness beyond your pre-baby experience.

Inspirica is donating 1000 ACT/SAT one-week classes, online (avoiding virus entirely)—no strings attached. Instruction will be live and on demand, with our most experienced tutors. With everything going on right now, the Founder and CEO of Inspirica, Lisa Jacobson, wants to contribute something positive to a community that has supported her and her business Inspirica Test Prep for the last 37 years. Please click HERE to request a discount code. Limited to the first 1000 families.

Stay safe and be well,
The Inspirica Team

Our own James Quandt wanted to share a few tricks he has up his sleeve that has saved his family $$ – he wants to pass those on to you!

Did you know you can take a tax credit for some of you home schooling and ODE costs?  It is viable on your Illinois state taxes, not on your federal tax return.  For the taxes most of us are working on currently, the 2019 state tax return due on 4/15/2020, the credit is for Line 16, called “Property tax and K-12 education expense credit amount from Schedule ICR.”
Follow the IL-1040 Instructions (found of course on the IL Dept. of Revenue website under Tax Forms), but the essence of the credit is: 1) You can get credit for things “significantly used up” in your teaching between 1/1/19 and 12/31/19 for your home schooled kids, including tuition (including that paid to ODE) and consumable books (workbooks in which students write), as well as PE tuition (ie, gymnastics classes, soccer instruction) to private gyms or organizations; 2) From the same website location, print or read Publication 119 and also Schedule ICR.(and Schedule ICR Instructions); 3) If you own your home, or in any other way take a property tax credit on your state taxes, Schedule ICR is already the form that you use; 4) You can only get a maximum of $750 from this, but that is pretty good! 5) Publication 119 states: “You will be allowed 25 percent of your student’s qualified education expenses after the first $250.”  After spending $250 on home school expenses during the year, you get 25 cents back for each dollar spent; 6) You need to send receipts for each expense you claim, and the receipts need certain information on them–check your receipts ahead of time, giving enough time to request the organization re-issue any receipts that lack the information (for instance, some receipts lack the issuer’s address).
We have probably gained a couple thousand dollars over the years from this credit.  More work, but more money!

*****Important Tax Update!!*******

THE DEADLINE TO FILE YOUR 2019 TAXES HAS BEEN EXTENDED FROM 4/15 to 7/15. This announcement was made by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin on Friday, 3/20.