I was homeschooled K-12 and the eldest daughter of 3. I am 23 now and I am unable to perform basic math including division or multiplication. I do not know how to tie my shoes properly, I don’t know how to write an essay and I struggle to read out loud. I was not taught Science beyond 6th grade. Much of my childhood was spent helping my siblings, or just plain slacking off living a “free range childhood” I lived in Oklahoma and I was not given any direction or encouragement to pursue higher education after High School. I was raised to become a Christian housewife and now that I do not identify with the religion or the community I was brought up in, I have suffered greatly trying to navigate my adult life. I have no sense of community, no self confidence to enroll in college or technical school...

I was not homeschooled, but as a mother in 2023 I have found the need to do so for my children's safety. I believe these children need advocates in both education types. Parents that are able to keep their children safe from toxic social structures and traumatic social interactions, yet give the children fun and interactive social experiences need the support of policies and law! Give homeschooling access to the sports and chosen courses taught in public school without the need of full time enrollment!

I was "unschooled" K-12. My parents neglected my educational, emotional, social, medical, and dental needs. My mother stopped providing classroom education at a primary school level, she didn't even teach me to read (thankfully a kind neighbor did). I had no math instruction beyond simple arithmetic. No access to textbooks either. As an adult, I was able to make up for my inadequate education through remedial classes an by attending college. But I was (and still am) traumatized by the isolation of being homeschooled. It impacted my ability to make friends and set me up for a lifetime of loneliness. No child should have to endure the combination of pain and shame that I have suffered as a result of my parent's decision to homeschool me. No child should be denied an education based on parental whim. No child should be isolated from their peers the way I was. I...

We have to make sure that children have access to everything they need not only to survive, but thrive. While a parent could simply provide food, housing, and books for their children to figure out on their own, it is not enough. As a homeschool alumna, I know we need more than that; we need to be mentored by someone, to learn to form connections with others, and engage in extracurricular activities that enrich our lives. Now that I'm in college I realize just how much I missed out on, both educationally and socially. These things cannot be supplemented by a parent at home, no matter how well they mean for their kids; a parent simply cannot master every subject a child has to study, meaning the child is often on his own when it comes to learning. Likewise, a parent cannot provide school dances, or a band room, or football game nights. I believe...

Due to severe lack of accountability & regulations, home schooled students are at risk of being taken advantage of, abused, neglected, & brainwashed. I advocate for the those children's rights to safety, care, respect, emotional well-being, & education.

I support CRHE as a homeschool alumni. I was not given a proper education. I had to get my G.E.D due to my mother not submitting the proper papers/testing. Later in life I would realize how the lack of socialization during my formative years would effect me. It's not just the education, I didn't get a chance to form connections. I missed out on so much social practice.

Every homeschooled child has the right to a quality education that prepares them to contribute to their community and lead a fulfilling, joyful life. Every homeschooling parent should be held accountable for the power they wield over their children. Homeschoolers assigned female at birth are especially vulnerable, and they need an advocate desperately. I am so grateful for CRHE. Thank you, thank you, thank you.

You can't adequately prepare children for the real world in isolation from it. Unfortunately, my experience of homeschooling (completely unregulated) isolated me from the real world in ways words can never fully describe. Homeschooling robbed me of something that I can never get back: not just a proper education, but a sense of belonging in my wider community. I feel like an alien even among people my age and in my own hometown. Fighting for homeschool oversight isn't just about equal access to education, as important as that is. It's about ensuring that homeschool students get a proper foundation for the rest of their lives, and that they don't lose out on the community that students in other academic settings get more automatically. Refusing those things does those students a grave disservice that will affect them for the rest of their lives. Thank you, CRHE, for your incredibly important work.

I support the work of CRHE! I've so appreciated the ways they enable the broader community to hear the first-hand experience of people who were homeschooled. As a home-educator, classroom teacher, and mother, I believe accountability, guidance, and awareness are crucial elements that help cultivate healthy homeschooling communities where everyone can flourish. I believe it's important for everyone involved in homeschooling circles to be aware of the ways it can leave children and young people vulnerable to abuse and harm. As we all grow in awareness we can safeguard our communities and learn how to respond well to reports of abuse and advocate for those who may be isolated from other avenues of support.

Homeschooling education should be the best quality and at least match the public schools.

I was homeschooled K-12th and my mother never turned in my records to the local school so I went to get my GED. The best school experience I ever had was College. I was socialized and I interacted with students and faculty. I understand that at times homeschooling is beneficial for a child but not every child needs it. Thank you for what you are doing. We need better laws in place to protect children from possible abuse. I was abused emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

I was homeschooled until 8th grade, and in a small, culty religious school thereafter. We need more voices like CRHE. Too many people are being denied the basics of an education, or effectively barred from society.

As a homeschool alumni and child abuse survivor, I believe it is of vital importance to provide parents with the proper tools to ensure their childrens' academic success. My personal experience in a home where parents suffered from untreated mental illnesses, enabled by a high-control fundamentalist religious indoctrination, has led me to be a strong proponent of the importance of oversight. It is far too easy for abusive environments to fly under the radar away from mandated reporters. Although many parents have good intentions, and many homeschool students have a positive experience, the ones most in need of a voice remain invisible because neglect and abuse flourish under the cover of isolation and anonymity.

I had a solid education, but homeschooling wasn't good for me. My mom's poor mental health made every day an exercise in walking on eggshells to not trigger her anger. I was isolated and not allowed out of the house by myself, so I had no friends at all. I remember looking forward to saying hi to the grocery clerk every week, because that was the only person who wasn't an immediate family member I was allowed to talk to. Such extreme isolation made it difficult to make friends even after I graduated homeschool. I was unable to make friends in college, and only after moving out from my parent's house and getting a job did I finally have a real social life. Homeschooling doesn't have to be abusive, but it provides no checks on parent's abusive behaviors. There is no oversight for homeschool kids to make sure they are...

Homeschooled children need advocates. As a homeschooled child, there were times I tried to advocate for myself to trusted adults, and those adults - some being mandatory reporters even, because of their roles or employment - did not hear me because they feared my parent's disapproval more. Also homeschooling, as such in my case, was an isolating experience and I did not have the language to effectively communicate why my homeschooling experience was hurting me. I needed someone who would choose to try to understood my experience, value my rights, and realize that just because someone homeschools their children or calls themselves a Christian, does not mean they are a safe person and does not mean that the children in their care are in a safe and affirming environment. Yes, my experience is not the experience of all homeschool children, but there are those of us who have been hurt...

I support CRHE 100% and am so grateful for the work they do. I am a homeschool alumni, fortunate to receive a fairly solid education in some ways, but my adulthood has been a process of discovering the many ways I was not adequately prepared for life. The largest danger about homeschooling is that the parents’ ideology completely dictates their children’s ENTIRE WORLD. If the parents have a healthy ideology and center a child’s autonomy, it can be beneficial. But for those parents with extreme views (especially views contrary to a healthy understanding of child development, such as that children are naturally sinful) and who view it as their duty to raise children in a very specific way, they essentially cut off their child’s ability to view themselves apart from the family system. This can cut off that child’s chance at full agency from very early on, producing life-long effects.

Im constantly learning all the ways I was fucked up as a child that just felt like the way things are supposed to be. Im trans and I always have been and since Ive come out Ive lost access to siblings who are still in the cult. Homeschooling isnt fair to kids and it hurts and theres no way to get that childhood back. I have no friends except through my partner and no idea how to interact with anyone to make friends. I might be autistic but Ill never know I just have to deal with symptoms that should have been recognized in elementary school.

As a former homeschooler (who was not taught enough and had an isolating childhood), I am so happy this organization exists. All children should be advocated for, even the ones parents attempt to hide away from the world.

I was homeschooled grades 1-12. Both parents had serious illnesses. It was a burden they should never have taken on, but they were told they should and then encouraged to keep doing it. Unfortunately, I was socially isolated, educationally neglected, and subjected to routine abusive beatings, called "discipline". I wasn't allowed to have a peer group of friends my age. The various homeschool cults we joined over the years put more emphasis on ideology than child welfare. I was very ill-prepared for life as an adult, but I have managed to survive. I believe it is criminally irresponsible for any group or person to tell unqualified parents that it is "god's will" for them to homeschool, to encourage them to continue homeschooling or to pressure them to start homeschooling for ideological reasons. Homeschooling is a perfect opportunity for abusive types, and people with anger issues or personality disorders can get...

I support CRHE because they fill such an important need in raising awareness about the plight of many abused homeschooled kids. I was that homeschooled kid and I'm grateful they exist.

If only someone could have stepped in when my Dad became psychotic and abusive, resulting in educational neglect that gets in the way of my dreams even now. The voiceless and invisible desperately need a voice.

I have multiple nieces who are being homeschooled. They are not being prepared for college or the work world. They are being prepared to be a housewife/mother/homesteader and belongs to a church who actively talks about "end times". They are far behind their peers in all STEAM subjects. Their only extra curricular activities they participate in is bible quizzing and using a sewing machine that is operated by foot. No sports, no music, no art, no theater, no foreign languages, no girl scouts, etc. They have very limited interaction with only a few kids from their extremely strict pentacostal church. They don't like to leave the house and the family just calls them homebodies. The one who is now 18 and completed homeschool, is afraid to get her license, afraid to work and has been doing nothing for the past 4 months. I love these kids very much and their...

I believe homeschooled children need an advocate because I don't want them to experience what I experienced in homeschooling - a severe lack of education, because I babysat my younger siblings all day, which led to me thinking I was not intelligent and couldn't learn. Turns out I was smart and just needed access to education! No parent should get to deny their child education like that.

I wish there was someone who stepped in and advocated for me when I was a homeschooled student. The academic neglect I faced has had a profoundly negative effect on my self-worth. Aa a homeschooled student, I thought I was just too simple minded to succeed the way my peers were. It has taken years for me to realize that the way I was treated was wrong, and the anger, confusion and shame I felt was a normal reaction and not my fault in the least. Every "teacher" should be held accountable for their decisions, especially if they happen to be your parents.

The Child-Friendly Faith Project is a non-profit organization that envisions a world where no child suffers abuse or neglect as a result of religious belief, doctrine, or practice. We stand with CHRE in their belief that every homeschooled child deserves a quality education in a loving, safe, and supporting home.

I loved being homeschooled, but it was a mixed blessing for me as a disabled and unpopular kid who was also living in an abusive Christian family. Having oversight of homeschooling families like CHRE is advocating for would have made my life better.

I grew up in a cult that 'homeschooled' the children. Female children were not educated. I would like to see more oversight from the state/government for homeschooled children.

Anyone who believes in homeschooling should believe in ensuring that children receive a real education and are raised in a safe environment. It is a travesty that people too often use homeschooling to hide violence and keeping children ignorant and vulnerable.

Kudos, and much love and support to this much needed organization under the wise and insightful leadership of Jeremy Young and his brilliant partner Chelsea for taking up this important issue!

I was an invisible kid. I had to relearn almost everything as an adult and now my dream is for no other kids to stay hidden and educationally neglected as I was. If CRHE had been around when I was young I could have had a much safer experience w/o the need for escape.

Lucky to have found an unbiased organization representing the educational interests of all homeschooled students. Thanks for being there.

I have been a homeschooling parent for 18 years. I chose to homeschool because I thought it was the best path for my children. My son chose to attend a public high school, and my daughter chose to homeschool all the way to college. She is graduating this year and was accepted to her first choice college. I believe it is the responsibility of all adults in a community to protect the children who are their neighbors. I believe children's rights outweigh parental rights. Children should be physically safe, have their basic needs met, receive medical care and be given at the very least a basic education which allows them to leave home with the ability to read and write well and be mathematically functional in the world. These basic rights should be ensured for every American child, and I feel it's my responsibility to take actions to ensure this...

Every child has a right to a good education. Responsible homeschooling can 100% provide a child with a quality education, but far too many parents use homeschooling to hide the educational neglect of their children. Educational neglect is abuse that limits children’s opportunities in the world from the start. At its worst, educational neglect can trap children and young people in abusive situations and communities. Children need advocates to make sure that their rights as human beings are protected.

I was a homeschooled/unschooled child “k-12” if you could call it that. More like k-8. I was a difficult child to teach apparently and my parents gave up on teaching me for the sake of our relationship. I was basically left to my own devices and handed books but being a child I chose video games and the internet over teaching myself. For my entire life I’ve internalized this as a personal failure, that I am lazy and failed myself and my family. It’s only been this past year that I’ve come to realize that I experienced educational neglect. And after reading so many testimonies from others who are recovering from homeschooling I’ve come to realize that I’ve experienced many of the same things that they have. I strongly believe that homeschooling needs 10x the oversight that it currently does, in its current state kids aren’t just falling through cracks,...

I am a victim of homeschooling educational neglect. I was pulled out of school in the 1st grade because my parents wished to keep me from progressive, left-leaning values taught in schools and modern society. They did this as means to indoctrinate me into taking on a worldview centered on religious, right-wing, fundamentalism – with the Bible as the only trustworthy source (besides Fox News). In this isolation, my education and social life were severely hampered until college. This experience has made me partial to the view that homeschooling ought to be vastly more regulated than it is now, if not entirely banned. From the first through twelfth grade, the majority of my time was spent playing outside, watching TV or movies. A dream for most kids. Of the few children who knew about my lifestyle, many expressed their jealousy. At the time, it didn’t seem so bad. The negative...

I fully support CRHE because of my own story growing up homeschooled. I would consider the experience to be neglectful and severely lacking, mostly from inexperience and lack of knowledge on the part of my parents who taught me. I want to prevent this from ever happening to another child. I believe homeschooling can be effective and a good alternative to public schooling, but only if there are policies put in place that hold educators accountable and protect homeschooled children.

Unfortunately, swelling homeschool numbers include a subset of children who are floundering in public schools and leave even though there is no real prospect for schooling at home. The children are cheated an education and the school is able to skirt their responsibility to help struggling kids. Meanwhile, homeschoolers as a group appear more disfunctional. If homeschoolers refuse to acknowledge this reality, and find ways to ensure homeschooling laws aren't abused, the pushback against homeschooling will continue to grow.

Although homeschooling can be a wonderful thing (and I am planning on homeschooling my future kids!), it can also be used as a way to hide abuse. I was one of thousands of children whose abuse was hidden because I was hidden and isolated from peers and caring adults. Homeschooling can be supported and have oversight at the same time, and CRHE is an incredible organization for holding to these beliefs.

Children are people with rights, as are parents. People fight vocally for the right of parents to home educate, however up until now there has been little fight for the rights of children to an education and a safe home! Parents have a right to educate their children, but parents aren't overlords. They don't have a be-all-end-all right to treat their children however they want. They don't have a right to stifle their child, they can't deprive a basic education, and they can't abuse their children because these actions INFRINGE on the rights of another human being: the child. To give parents absolute power over children with no checks and balances is the definition of slavery. CRH does an excellent job balancing the rights of parents to their children without infringing on the basic rights of children as American citizens. These rights need to be balanced, and the balance is...

I support homeschool advocacy because I was an abused and neglected child that needed it. My story is not unique. Fighting like hell to make a better future for homeschool kids.

I'm so glad that I found this group! I was homeschooled from k-12, which my parents used as a way to keep me extremely socially isolated while inflicting emotional abuse on me every day. While I believe that homeschooling can be absolutely fantastic in many cases, there needs to be more advocacy for oversight and children's rights. I'm so grateful that CRHE exists!

Homeschooled children are more likely to be murdered than are children enrolled in public school. That's not because homeschooling is a bad thing -- it's not -- but because homeschooling laws are so weak and have so little oversight that child abusers regularly enroll as "homeschoolers" to skirt child protection laws. This has to change, and soon. Give to the Coalition For Responsible Home Education today and help reform homeschooling laws so they protect homeschoolers, not abusers. You won't find a more important cause.

Homeschooling without regulation and oversight is highly irresponsible and neglectful. So happy to see an organization standing up for homeschooled kids!

Our son was born in Germany and came to the US being 3 years old. He attended public, charter and private schools and lived one year in mexico in between. He is 12 years old now, but will finish this year 9th grade (public school plus Florida Virtual School). He likes school, it is just too slow for him and there are no options to graduate under 16 (in his case 12or 13) other than home schooling. I was first sceptical (no home schooling in Germany) but as more i read and see: it is the perfect solution for our son-no doubt. He contacted already some universities (Duke, FIU) and they confirmed that they have no issue at all with a "home school high school" diploma and looking forward to his application. I am very thankful for CRHE creating such a great info platform and more importantly to ensure that...

I was homeschooled from 2nd grade through graduation. I'm the oldest of 4 kids & the rest of my siblings were homeschooled from the beginning. As an adult looking back, I am continually awestruck by what an amazing job my parents did with our education, especially now that I am more aware of how often that is not the case. For me, homeschooling allowed me to focus more on topics & subjects that interested me (political science & classical ballet, among others). I also was able to take advantage of opportunities that happened during the day because my schedule was more flexible. Looking back, I think I can pinpoint some of the things my mom was very intentional about that I believe made all the difference in my experience vs. some others. She kept meticulous notes about what each of us were working on & carefully tracked the time spent...

For Kyle and Emily, who never made it out alive...

I was unenrolled from public school at the age of 8 years old. My parents had every intention of continuing my education but life got in the way. After having missed a year of school my parents tried putting me back in school but I'd missed so much and the first time my mother was called for a teacher conference she took me out of school again. I never had any additional education until I started GED classes as an adult. I want to keep this from happening to any more children.

As a psychotherapist, I see kids everyday with tumultuous home lives who are only getting help and assistance because they're exposed to a network of adults outside the family who are trained and able to spot these problems. It is far from a perfect system, but it's a hidden benefit of the public school system. We need a way to make sure these checks and balances are in place for families who choose to homeschool.

I support CRHE and their mission to empower homeschooled children by advocating for them and educating the public. All children matter and we need to work together as a nation to protect at-risk children who are involved in homeschooling.

I am so saddened by how many defenseless children go unseen because there are little to no restrictions and regulations put in place in order to defend them!! We must protect the children!

Homeschooling is not for every child. I believe that there needs to be stricter guidelines to follow and the child's wants should be taken into consideration. I was homeschooled agianst my will and my education was hampered because of being homeschooled. Had I had an opportunity to get out of it, I would have.

I am a home school parent, and I support CRHE's mission to protect children from abuse and neglect.

I was homeschooled all throughout secondary school and unfortunately my parents had to go back to work around grade 5 which left my sisters and I teaching ourselves all of our school work. While we were able to read and do basic math we were unable to do much more then that and did not have any subjects past those, missing out on all of the basic sciences, history, math, and other subjects that we deserved to receive. I don't blame my parents but I wish I had the opportunity to an education and the right to go to school that kids deserve. This experience has impacted my life and left me with a lot of self-blame and shame, I am hopeful to learn and use my experience in the near future to possibly help others who had similar experiences or worse.

Coping with adulthood after receiving an inadequate education bleeds far beyond entering adulthood on uneven playing field - in cases such as my own, it wasn't until my mid-twenties that I even began to unravel the extent of my handicap - and accepting these realities has been an extremely traumatic process that has ultimately left me further isolated - but I maintain some semblance of hope remembering that I'm just now reaching this point, and I'm not alone

My son and I are survivors of severe domestic abuse at the hands of his biological father, who is now in prison for charges due to that abuse. We chose homeschooling as an option for my son's safety and mental health to heal emotionally from the PTSD from the events and to keep his as far from his father's family as possible. Even with protection orders and no contact orders, our local district faced issues with various people attempting to violate the agreement. So for safety purposes, we chose this best option. This may not be the reason why many people choose homeschooling, but for us, security and education go hand in hand.

Every child deserves the right to an education, whether that be through the eyes of a public/private school or homeschooling. There needs to be a more child-centered approach to homeschooling. There needs to be more regulations to someone doing the teaching, and the child doing the learning.

Your good work helped inspire several of us to form the Restricted Education Study Group. Website: religionandrestrictededucation.com

I was homeschooled up until Sophomore year of high school. I faced many barriers over the last few years as I graduated from high school and gained momentum to pursue a career in healthcare. I am about to graduate college with a bachelors in science and apply to grad school. I am lucky. I made it out of homeschooling and moved on to be successful. I have seen just as many if not more homeschoolers fall short and they are going to suffer for the rest of their lives because of the neglect of their parents. I have seen many homeschoolers that are raised racists and hateful people because they were not exposed to diversity and only raised with their parents ideologies. Diversity should be a requirement of homeschooling, and homeschooling parents should be educated themselves to be allowed to teach. I really hope there will be more awareness on...

I support responsible homeschooling. I don't agree that only homeschoolers are neglected/abused but public schoolers are subject to abuse, neglected,bullied and so on.

Every child deserves the right the an education. Educational neglect is abuse.

Thank your for your efforts in making home-schooling safe and healthy for children!