N.W.
We've been homeschooling for a year and love it!
I started with a "boxed" curriculum and then we soon went our own way. It was great to have the curriculum as a guide but we stayed longer on some areas that she needed work and had to get supplemental worksheets. I found many free resources on the internet for free worksheets, curriculums, chapters, quizzes, games etc. If you message me your email I can send you the list.
Organization was key for us. We have a 3-ring binder for each subject and I keep everything for that subject in the binder. I have a big binder for all her finished work, we date each page and I keep them in order. Illinois shouldn't interfere, but just in case someone thinks we aren't doing our job we have a big binder to prove we are!
This website:
http://www.illinoishomeeducation.com/
does a great job of explaining the law and how to declare your home a private school. We just followed the instructions on the site and it was easy! It also tells you exactly the subjects to teach.
We do lesson plans and write them down just like teachers do. We use the library as a great free resource and I keep a computer close by because the internet is a great source for showing a picture or a video if they don't understand something. We just google whatever it is they don't get!
Some kids are great with "informal" learning. They can do lessons in their PJs, read on the couch, do pages lying on the floor etc. Taking frequent breaks is good. With my daughter that doesn't work. An informal style means she thinks it's time to goof around! So she has to be dressed and "ready to learn." We don't allow her to play before homeschool because then we have to fight to get her to settle down. She learns at a table, not lying down on the floor. If we let her play during her breaks we can't get her back to the table to finish.
Maybe when she gets older we can go more informal.
And here's where I always get flamed...you only need to homeschool for a few hours a day with the little ones. We do two hours max with our 2nd grader and it's PLENTY to get through her entire day's work. Working one-on-one at a child's own pace is very different from the classroom. Ask any other homeschooling mom, only a few hours of formal work is needed. The lessons continue throughout all experiences though...we learn about money and adding at the grocery store, we learn about physics and motion at the playground, we learn about fruits and vegetables at the farmstand and we even learned about Germany at the Germanfest this weekend!
The important thing is we try to make it fun. Learning IS fun, and right now my daughter can't wait for homeschooling to start because we are growing triops and flowers for science, making a Barbie house for art, we have a money game for math (she can win jelly beans!) and she's reading a chapter book she loves.
If you have any specific questions, please let me know! There's just so much info to give, I don't even know what else to say!