Volunteers Needed
More info here
Exception Equestrians Unlimited (EEU) Located in Hobart, IN. Provides educational therapeutic riding instruction to people of all ages living with disabilities or special needs.
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Indiana Home Educators' Network
http://www.ihen.org/directory/
If you want to know what's available as to support groups in any Indiana county, this is a link that has many listed. You can direct new homeschoolers here that are looking for a group. A short summary is included with each group, along with contact people.
If you see a group not listed and it's ok with your leadership to list it, there is also a link to a form to do that too.
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Homeschoolers Filing Taxes
Anything remaining of value in your possession cannot be claimed e.g. musical instruments, textbooks, music books, calculators, maps, etc. CLEP fees would not qualify because those are technically college expenses, and this form applies only to K-12. Pre-school expenses cannot be included either.
Publication 119 has the details, but the form you need to file is actually Education Credits, and you're right, Dawn, that it also applies to private school tuition. It even includes public school fees if you paid for summer school, registration fees, but the first $250 doesn't count so most public school families don't claim the credit.
You can only claim consumable expenses e.g. workbooks, music lessons, PE classes that you might have paid to the YMCA or a park district, and so on. They must be classes that would count toward graduation. If you paid tuition to teachers at CHAMPS, Heritage, etc., the teacher is supposed to issue you a receipt with your name on it, and their name and address. The documentation required is quite rigorous. Filing this form doesn't necessarily make you more likely to be audited, though. Just make sure you keep good backup documentation.
To someone who said they wish they had known abut this a week ago.... you can file an Amended IL 1040X and claim those expenses. It has to be mailed in though -- you can't file an amended return electronically. You can also file an amended return for 2004, 2005, and 2006 (April 15 is the deadline for filing an amended 2004).
Questions? Contact Karen Stevenson at kkstevenson1@juno.com
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