Spending Money on School Expenses as a Teacher - Can we claim this if my wife home schooled 3 of our children this year?

[DianeW777]

No. The requirements are detailed at the link provided and an excerpt is shown below. IRS Topic 458-Educator Expenses

What about "educator expenses"

According to the IRS, you are an eligible educator if, for the tax year, you meet the following requirements:

• You are a kindergarten through grade 12; Teacher, Instructor, Counselor, Principal, or Aide, and
• You work at least 900 hours a school year in a school that provides elementary or secondary education, as determined under state law.

The IRS does NOT recognize homeschooling as eligible for the $250 educator's deduction. Their apparent reason is that one of the requirements is that the teacher "work at least 900 hours a school year in a school that provides elementary or secondary education, as determined under state law."  While a homeschool may very well meet the requirements of state law, homeschool parents do not "work" or get paid there, nor are they employees of the school.

[xmasbaby0]

EDUCATION EXPENSES

Education expenses for grades K-12 are not deductible on your Federal return, whether for private, public, or home schooling, nor are the expenses for tutoring, after school lessons or after school activities, such as dance lessons, sports, etc.  Some states allow deductions/credits for K-12 education and/or home schooling expenses; if your state has these deductions available, you will be prompted to enter them when you prepare your state return.  (As far as I know, the states that offer any sort of K-12 deductions/credits are Arizona,  Illinois, Indiana, Iowa,Louisiana, Minnesota, and Wisconsin)