I have suffered with imposter syndrome for the last 15 years; feeling like I have somehow lied or tricked my way into getting a seat at the tables where I find myself seated, not being able to feel truly proud of my own social, academic and career accomplishments despite my childhood and upbringing.
Content Note: This testimonial contains detailed descriptions of physical and emotional abuse, and instances of ableism and queerphobia.
I was raised and homeschooled by fundamentalist Christians in south Louisiana for the majority of my childhood, later ‘graduating’ in Texas. Louisiana law required yearly submission of coursework to prove you are educating your children, but this information can easily be fabricated, and often was. I recall knowing other homeschooled children in my church who were 10-12 years old, and they did not yet know how to read or write, but they could recite the Christian Bible.
The quality of our education was contingent on whether our mother was naturally good at that subject or not, resulting in my strongest subjects being English and Grammar and my weakest being Science and Mathematics. In fear of disappointing our mother and incurring her wrath and frustration, we would find the answer books in the house and cheat. This resulted in physical and verbal abuse from our mother, and physical abuse later by our father who was forced to belt us through his own tears.
The emotional, physical, and psychological toll this took on my sister and me runs deep.
We moved to Texas in what should have been my junior year, but due to my mother wanting to get on with her life, she made it my senior year. She failed to research Texas homeschool laws and brought whatever textbooks and subjects we had from the prior year. Three months before my sister and I were to be “graduating”, she read that the state of Texas requires Chemistry, Health, and a few other classes. I did not take those classes and my sister who moved back to Louisiana with her then-boyfriend did not take those classes, but our grocery store notarized transcripts that listed these subjects, along with some fudged grades from tests and subjects that were never taken.
The ‘beginning of the end’ for me was when I got tricked into going to community college (another story for another time). I sat in classes with kids two years younger than me and learned about internment camps, evolution, actual ancient history that was not a bible story, and that remedial math was mostly full of people who had forgotten how to do math or had a learning disability, not very often filled with kids who never learned it. I learned what a GPA was, and that a room number like 202 or 404 meant it was on the second or fourth floor. I learned my worst fear was true – I did not know as much as the other kids my age and I had a long road to self-love, compassion, and pride.
I had to drop out after a year because my father had been laid off. I went back a year later, but the week before class I broke my knee. I was already deeply fearful that kids would find out I was uneducated, but being in a wheelchair made me physically more noticeable and I could not handle that. Also, the campus and classmates were not very wheelchair-friendly.I once sat outside an elevator for 30 minutes in a building that was only two floors, so I went home and convinced my parents that the school wasn’t wheelchair accessible and that I was in too great of pain to go to school. Really, I was afraid of failure and deeply depressed. I had come out to my mother in 2009. For a fundamentalist Christian Conservative family, it went as well as you can imagine.
I didn’t go back to school until 2013 after I had moved to Kalamazoo, MI, to be closer to the girl I had been dating for some time. My first semester there was what the news called a “snowpocalypse”. A young girl pulled out in front of me resulting in my car being completely totaled. I had to drop out of school again.
In 2015 I found myself in smaller town in Michigan where no matter where you lived, you were basically within walking distance to the university. I used to say, “It would take a piano falling out of a window to stop me from graduating.” I graduated with an undergraduate in Political Science and Public Policy in 2018.
I have suffered with imposter syndrome for the last 15 years; feeling like I have somehow lied or tricked my way into getting a seat at the tables where I find myself seated, not being able to feel truly proud of my own social, academic and career accomplishments despite my childhood and upbringing.
Homeschooling resulted in psychological, emotional and, at times, physical abuse and neglect, and there was no one outside of the homeschool community to help us. I want in any way I can to be the person I needed to advocate for me.
Declan was homeschooled in Louisiana from 1995-2007. For additional thoughts and experiences from other homeschool alumni, see our Community Voices page.
Posted: 13 February, 2025 by Jonah Stewart
Iowa House File 88 Would Endanger Homeschooled Children’s Health and Safety
Child advocacy group opposes Utah’s proposed rollback of health and education standards
[Washington, DC]: The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the only organization in the nation that advocates for homeschooled children’s rights, strongly opposes Iowa’s proposed legislation, House File 88, which would erode the state’s already fragile laws that protect homeschooled children’s health, safety, and access to a basic education.
If passed into law, House File 88 would:
Moreover, House File 88 would allow homeschooling families to educate children outside the household, and charge tuition. This bill would allow anyone to establish a private school under the state’s highly deregulated homeschool statute, which does not require educators to have any training in subjects they teach, or even require having a high school diploma (or equivalent). It would also prohibit all teachers, in homeschool settings and in public and private schools, from using gender-neutral language while teaching world languages.
“House File 88 represents an aggressive attempt to erode public education and, in doing so, violates a child’s basic right to a comprehensive education in a safe home,” said CRHE Executive Director Angela Grimberg. “We urge lawmakers to vote no on House File 88.”
In 2024, CRHE released the Make Homeschool Safe Act, model legislation that protects homeschooled children’s right to be safe, to learn, and to access resources.
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About CRHE: The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE) is the only organization in the country founded and run by homeschooled adults that advocates for laws and policies that protect homeschooled children. CRHE exists to ensure that every homeschooled child is educated in a safe home.
Posted: 5 February, 2025 by Acacia
Utah HB 0209 Would Leave Homeschooled Children Vulnerable to Predators
Child advocacy group opposes Utah’s proposed child safety rollbacks
[Washington, DC]: The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the only national nonprofit advocating for homeschooled children, strongly opposes Utah HB 0209, a bill that would allow convicted child abusers to homeschool.
Currently, parents who homeschool in Utah must give their local school district an affidavit with four pieces of information:
If passed, HB 0209 would remove the requirement for parents to attest to criminal background history, thereby allowing convicted abusers to homeschool without any restrictions.
“HB 0209 blatantly disregards child safety,” said CRHE executive director Angela Grimberg. “If you have been convicted of a crime that would prevent you from teaching children in a public school, then you should not be allowed to homeschool children, either. Homeschooled children deserve to learn from educators who have been vetted for safety. We urge Utah lawmakers to protect children from convicted abusers by voting no on HB 0209.”
Utah is one of just three states with laws that bar from homeschooling parents convicted of child abuse, sexual offenses, or other crimes that would disqualify them from employment as a school teacher. In a 2024 report for Homeschooling’s Invisible Children, the world’s only dataset of extreme abuse and neglect cases in homeschool settings, CRHE researchers found a number of cases in which caregivers who had been convicted of crimes against children were allowed to homeschool.
In July 2024, Gavin Peterson, a 12-year-old homeschooled child in West Haven, died from the effectives of chronic, systematic abuse allegedly committed by his family. Despite multiple reports of abuse to social services from school employees, Gavin was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled in 2023.
“Gavin Peterson’s death should have been a wake-up call for Utah legislators to strengthen protections for homeschooled children, not destroy them,” said Grimberg. “We at CRHE ask Utah residents to join us in rejecting this bill and supporting homeschooled children’s right to safety.”
Posted: 3 February, 2025 by Acacia
The Fight To End Virginia’s One-Of-A-Kind Educational Neglect Loophole Continues
[Richmond, Virginia]: During the 2025 legislative session, Virginia Senator Stella Pekarsky introduced SB 1031, which would have closed the educational neglect loophole in the state’s religious-exemption statute for homeschooling. On January 30, 2025, the Virginia Senate Finance & Appropriations Committee voted to pass SB 1031 by indefinitely. The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the nation’s only advocacy group for homeschooled children, fully supported Pekarsky’s efforts and remains committed to ending this loophole.
“While this may not be the outcome we envisioned, this moment marks major progress in the fight for homeschooled children’s rights,” said CRHE board chair Carmen Longoria-Green. “SB 1031 garnered significant support in the Senate education committee. Before the bill was passed by, nine senators voted to end this loophole. That’s a stark contrast to when Del. Thomas Rust proposed a study on the religious-exemption statute in 2014. This progress is evidence of the real-world impact of CRHE’s work over the past decade.”
Virginia’s religious-exemption statute legalizes educational neglect in homeschooling, and Virginia is the only state in the country with such a law. Under the religious-exemption statute, a parent or guardian can refuse to teach their child anything at all — even to read — and that conduct is completely legal. Pekarsky, a former homeschooling mother, responded to the horrific cases of educational neglect authorized by this statute and introduced SB 1031 to close this one-of-a-kind loophole.
“We thank Sen. Pekarsky for her efforts to raise awareness of the massive loophole in Virginia law by introducing SB 1031,” said Longoria-Green. “We hope that her concerns are heard by other lawmakers invested in improving the current and future welfare of Virginia’s children. The fight is not over.”
If you are a homeschooled adult or homeschooling parent with connections to Virginia and are interested in supporting CRHE’s efforts to close the religious-exemption loophole, please join CRHE’s mailing list.
Last Updated: 25 January, 2025 by Acacia
CRHE Rejects Proposed Changes To Virginia Homeschool Assessment Requirements
The Coalition for Responsible Home Education, the only national nonprofit advocating for homeschooled children, rejects the Jan. 23, 2025 proposed changes to Virginia SB 1031, which would have significantly and disastrously altered the assessment requirements in the state’s homeschool statute, Va. Code § 22.1-254.1.
On Thursday, January 23, 2025, a substitute was offered for SB 1031, which would have altered the homeschool assessment requirements. CRHE acted immediately against this proposal and notified the bill’s sponsor that it would have to withdraw its support for the bill unless the changes to the assessment requirements were removed. The proposal has now been withdrawn, and the bill’s former language has been restored.
CRHE has been supporting Sen. Pekarsky, a former homeschooling mom and SB 1031’s sponsor, to remedy the current loophole in Virginia’s religious-exemption statute. That loophole makes it completely legal for parents homeschooling under that statute not to teach their children at all. The proposed alterations to the assessment provision were not proposed by Sen. Pekarsky – but by a senator acting without her knowledge and without the input of key stakeholders, including CRHE. As explained in her statement, Sen. Pekarsky immediately understood the dangers posed by the proposed alterations to the assessment requirements and acted swiftly to have the proposed alterations withdrawn. CRHE and Sen. Pekarsky remain in alignment with our shared goals to protect homeschooled kids.
“CRHE emphatically rejects assessment requirements that rely solely on standardized testing,” said CRHE board chair Carmen Longoria-Green. “CRHE’s model legislation, the Make Homeschool Safe Act, represents the gold standard for homeschool legislation based upon the real-world experiences of formerly homeschooled adults. The model statute embraces holistic assessment requirements so that students have a variety of methods to demonstrate their academic progress. CRHE does not endorse alterations to existing homeschool laws that run contrary to the policy positions adopted in the Make Homeschool Safe Act.”
There is significant misinformation circulating about SB 1031 and the Jan. 23 proposal to alter the assessment provisions. Opponents to SB 1031, who want the religious-exemption loophole to remain in place, are using this confusion to their advantage. The language of SB 1031 has been restored to its original purpose: removing the religious-exemption loophole that legalizes extreme educational neglect.
“We at CRHE ask all Virginia residents to join us in supporting Sen. Pekarsky’s efforts to remove this loophole,” said Longoria-Green. “This is a vital opportunity to make homeschool safe for every child in Virginia.”
About: The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE) is the only organization in the country founded and run by homeschooled adults that advocates for laws and policies that protect homeschooled children. CRHE exists to ensure that homeschooling is an educational tool used to lovingly prepare children for an open future.
Posted: 25 October, 2024 by Acacia
New report reveals troubling insights on abuse of homeschooled children
Child advocacy group led by homeschooled adults offers insights on the abuse of homeschooled children, calls for legal reform to promote child safety
[Washington, DC] A new report developed by a child advocacy group reveals eye-opening insights into extreme cases of child abuse within homeschooling families.
The Homeschooling’s Invisible Children (HIC) 2024 report examines three key dimensions of abuse and homeschooling: red flags surrounding homeschooling, patterns in abuse, and outcomes for victims as well as how abuse came to light. Developed by the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the report contains insights based on the nearly 500 cases of severe child abuse and neglect on public record and documented in the HIC database.
“While many families homeschool responsibly, abuse and neglect do occur in homeschooling environments,” said Dr. Jonah Stewart, CRHE research and operations director and the report’s lead author. “The data we have collected illuminate how abusive caregivers are able to use homeschooling to conceal and escalate their abuse.”
Among the report’s key findings are the following:
“The insights found within this new report are horrifying, but they are not surprising,” said Angela Grimberg, CRHE executive director. “These tragedies are the inevitable outcomes of decades of deregulation that have left homeschooled children with minimal legal protections from abuse and neglect. Each of these children’s stories represents a policy failure.”
Homeschool laws nationwide have few measures to ensure children’s safety. Among these laws’ most egregious failures are the following:
CRHE recently released the Make Homeschool Safe Act, first-of-its-kind model legislation that codifies measures to support homeschooled children’s safety, education, and wellbeing. Versions of the Make Homeschool Safe Act are in development in Illinois, Michigan, and Minnesota.
“The findings in the HIC report clearly illustrate the urgent need for homeschool reform,” said Stewart. “The report, and HIC moreover, document extreme manifestations of broader problems. For every grisly, highly visible story of a child harmed in a homeschool environment, there are an unknown number of others grappling with the wide-ranging harms of underregulated homeschooling.”
“Our hope is that the public and policymakers grasp this urgency and take action to make homeschool safe for children,” said Grimberg.
Posted: 26 August, 2024 by Acacia
CRHE mourns Gavin Peterson, 12-year-old homeschooled child in Utah
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Homeschooled children’s advocacy group calls for change after child found dead
[Washington, DC]: Gavin Peterson, a 12-year-old homeschooled boy in West Haven, Utah, died this July from the effects of chronic, systematic abuse allegedly committed by his father, stepmother, and brother. We at the Coalition for Responsible Home Education, the nation’s only advocacy organization for homeschooled children, mourn the loss of Gavin’s life.
Gavin’s story is a tragic example of state laws failing to protect homeschooled children. Despite multiple reports of abuse to social services from school employees, Gavin was withdrawn from school to be homeschooled in August 2023.
We know that withdrawal from school under suspicious circumstances is a red flag for child abuse. Per our Homeschooling’s Invisible Children database, since 2000, at least 31 homeschooled children have died from abuse after being withdrawn from school in the wake of a social services investigation or in direct response to school officials making a report to social services.
According to CRHE research and operations director Dr. Jonah Stewart, “When abusive families withdraw a child from school to be homeschooled, they can easily isolate them from professionals trained to recognize child abuse – or anyone else who could spot a problem and help. Not one single state – including Utah – has strong enough homeschool laws to keep children like Gavin from falling through the cracks.”
In fact, Gavin’s case is one of at least 218 fatalities documented in Homeschooling’s Invisible Children. Many of the database’s cases involve parents, guardians, and other caregivers exploiting their state’s lax homeschool laws to isolate and abuse children. And because reporting on child fatalities doesn’t always contain information on school status, this number is likely an underestimate.
According to local media reports, Gavin loved science and Pokemon. His favorite color was blue, and he had an infectious smile. Gavin should still be here today, sharing that smile with the world.
At CRHE, we’re fiercely committed to protecting children like Gavin. We continue to conduct research, develop resources, and advocate for policies that prioritize homeschooled children’s safety, wellbeing, and education. To that end, we call on Utah lawmakers to implement the Make Homeschool Safe Act, which contains measures that protect homeschooled children from abuse and neglect. It’s time to make the changes needed to keep children like Gavin safe.
Last Updated: 4 March, 2024 by Jonah Stewart
Child advocacy group condemns Nebraska’s LB 1027, warns of risks to homeschooled children
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
[Washington, D.C.] – The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the leading national nonprofit advocating for homeschooled children, condemns Nebraska’s proposed legislation, LB 1027. If enacted, the bill would introduce unnecessary changes to the state’s homeschool enrollment process, potentially fostering a neglectful attitude towards homeschooling, and raising concerns about the well-being and education of homeschooled children.
The bill’s key points of concern are as follows:
Changes to the Enrollment Process
LB 1027 introduces unnecessary changes to the enrollment process, potentially encouraging a neglectful attitude towards homeschooling.
Removal of Safeguards Against Educational Neglect
LB 1027 eliminates any possibility for school districts or state services to identify and address cases of educational neglect within homeschooling.
Empowerment of Abusers
LB 1027 makes it possible for abusers to unilaterally make educational choices for their children without the input of the co-parent, raising concerns about the safety and well-being of homeschooled children in potentially abusive situations.
Removal of Competency Requirement
LB 1027 removes the stipulation that home educators must be competent to teach, potentially compromising the quality of education provided to homeschooled children.
“The Nebraska Department of Education is facing severe understaffing in handling homeschool enrollments. Instead of addressing this issue by increasing resources, special interest groups are advocating to abandon the process altogether. This is a classic example of under-resourcing a government office and then using its inefficiency as an argument to eliminate the office and its duties,” said CRHE government relations director Samantha Field.
Proponents of the bill promote the false narrative that homeschooled children outperform their peers. However, the research used to support this claim has been widely discredited as methodologically unsound. Credible research on homeschool achievement paints a less bright picture: for example, multiple studies point to the existence of the so-called “math gap,” finding that homeschooled students perform worse in mathematics than their conventionally schooled peers. Although additional research is needed, large-scale studies find that homeschooled students are more likely to report being behind grade level than publicly schooled peers, and that four-year university attendance among homeschool alumni is very low.
Nebraska has multiple documented cases of educational neglect and physical abuse in homeschool settings, such as the case of 13-year-old Cassandra B. in Lancaster County. The teenager was abused by her homeschooling mother, and the state later prevented the mother from homeschooling her other daughter once Cassandra’s abuse came to light. Cases such as this one illustrate the importance of state oversight to address and prevent such abuse and neglect.
“We urge Nebraska lawmakers to consider the negative impact LB 1027 would have on the state’s homeschooled children,” said Field. “Any legislation impacting homeschooled children should prioritize their safety, well-being, and educational quality.”
The Coalition for Responsible Home Education empowers homeschooled children by educating the public and advocating for child-centered, evidence-based policy and practices for families and professionals.
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Posted: 28 November, 2023 by Jonah Stewart
Homeschooled children’s advocacy group celebrates 10 years, launches “$10K for 10 Years” campaign
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the nation’s leading homeschooled children’s advocacy nonprofit, celebrates its 10th anniversary this December with a $10,000 fundraiser.
Together, CRHE board president Carmen Longoria-Green and supporters Caleb and Hannah Lowery will match up to $10,000 in donations to CRHE from Giving Tuesday through December.
“2023 has been a banner year for CRHE,” said Longoria-Green. “From appearing on Last Week Tonight with John Oliver and Amazon Prime’s Shiny Happy People to presenting at the internationally renowned Crimes Against Children conference and releasing a first-of-its-kind college and career readiness guide for homeschooled students, our team has marked our 10th year by taking our work to new heights. We wholeheartedly thank our supporters as they help us continue to build on a decade of advocacy.”
Since its founding, CRHE has worked to ensure homeschooled children’s right to a quality education in a safe home is affirmed and protected by laws, stakeholders, and society as a whole. The organization is known for its groundbreaking research project, Homeschooling’s Invisible Children, the world’s only database of severe abuse and neglect cases in homeschool settings. Beyond research, the organization’s focus areas include government relations, resource development, communications, and direct services.
“CRHE was founded in 2013 by a small group of homeschool alumni who wanted to address a problem: the use of homeschooling to isolate, abuse, and neglect children,” said CRHE executive director Angela Grimberg. “We’re proud of our advocacy for homeschooled children over the past 10 years, and we look forward to expanding this vital work in the years to come.”
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Last Updated: 18 October, 2023 by Jonah Stewart
Declan: “I want in any way I can to be the person I needed to advocate for me”
I have suffered with imposter syndrome for the last 15 years; feeling like I have somehow lied or tricked my way into getting a seat at the tables where I find myself seated, not being able to feel truly proud of my own social, academic and career accomplishments despite my childhood and upbringing.
Content Note: This testimonial contains detailed descriptions of physical and emotional abuse, and instances of ableism and queerphobia.
I was raised and homeschooled by fundamentalist Christians in south Louisiana for the majority of my childhood, later ‘graduating’ in Texas. Louisiana law required yearly submission of coursework to prove you are educating your children, but this information can easily be fabricated, and often was. I recall knowing other homeschooled children in my church who were 10-12 years old, and they did not yet know how to read or write, but they could recite the Christian Bible.
The quality of our education was contingent on whether our mother was naturally good at that subject or not, resulting in my strongest subjects being English and Grammar and my weakest being Science and Mathematics. In fear of disappointing our mother and incurring her wrath and frustration, we would find the answer books in the house and cheat. This resulted in physical and verbal abuse from our mother, and physical abuse later by our father who was forced to belt us through his own tears.
The emotional, physical, and psychological toll this took on my sister and me runs deep.
We moved to Texas in what should have been my junior year, but due to my mother wanting to get on with her life, she made it my senior year. She failed to research Texas homeschool laws and brought whatever textbooks and subjects we had from the prior year. Three months before my sister and I were to be “graduating”, she read that the state of Texas requires Chemistry, Health, and a few other classes. I did not take those classes and my sister who moved back to Louisiana with her then-boyfriend did not take those classes, but our grocery store notarized transcripts that listed these subjects, along with some fudged grades from tests and subjects that were never taken.
The ‘beginning of the end’ for me was when I got tricked into going to community college (another story for another time). I sat in classes with kids two years younger than me and learned about internment camps, evolution, actual ancient history that was not a bible story, and that remedial math was mostly full of people who had forgotten how to do math or had a learning disability, not very often filled with kids who never learned it. I learned what a GPA was, and that a room number like 202 or 404 meant it was on the second or fourth floor. I learned my worst fear was true – I did not know as much as the other kids my age and I had a long road to self-love, compassion, and pride.
I had to drop out after a year because my father had been laid off. I went back a year later, but the week before class I broke my knee. I was already deeply fearful that kids would find out I was uneducated, but being in a wheelchair made me physically more noticeable and I could not handle that. Also, the campus and classmates were not very wheelchair-friendly.I once sat outside an elevator for 30 minutes in a building that was only two floors, so I went home and convinced my parents that the school wasn’t wheelchair accessible and that I was in too great of pain to go to school. Really, I was afraid of failure and deeply depressed. I had come out to my mother in 2009. For a fundamentalist Christian Conservative family, it went as well as you can imagine.
I didn’t go back to school until 2013 after I had moved to Kalamazoo, MI, to be closer to the girl I had been dating for some time. My first semester there was what the news called a “snowpocalypse”. A young girl pulled out in front of me resulting in my car being completely totaled. I had to drop out of school again.
In 2015 I found myself in smaller town in Michigan where no matter where you lived, you were basically within walking distance to the university. I used to say, “It would take a piano falling out of a window to stop me from graduating.” I graduated with an undergraduate in Political Science and Public Policy in 2018.
I have suffered with imposter syndrome for the last 15 years; feeling like I have somehow lied or tricked my way into getting a seat at the tables where I find myself seated, not being able to feel truly proud of my own social, academic and career accomplishments despite my childhood and upbringing.
Homeschooling resulted in psychological, emotional and, at times, physical abuse and neglect, and there was no one outside of the homeschool community to help us. I want in any way I can to be the person I needed to advocate for me.
Declan was homeschooled in Louisiana from 1995-2007. For additional thoughts and experiences from other homeschool alumni, see our Community Voices page.
Last Updated: 2 November, 2023 by Acacia
CRHE Condemns Neo-Nazi Homeschool Network
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), the nation’s leading homeschooled children’s rights nonprofit, condemns the actions of the Dissident Homeschool community and warns the public that the group’s actions were possible because of inadequate homeschool laws nationwide.
“The hateful, violent, and bigoted ideologies forced upon innocent children by the Dissident Homeschool group have no place in the homeschooling community. Their efforts do a massive disservice to their children, their community, and our nation,” said CRHE executive director Angela Grimberg. “We condemn their beliefs and actions in the strongest possible terms.”
Led by parents in Ohio, the recently uncovered community of nearly 2,500 online participants develops and shares “Nazi-approved material” to be given to homeschooled children. Assignments distributed by the group label Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee a “grand role model for young, white men” and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “the antithesis of our civilization and our people.”
Like many states, Ohio homeschool law contains loopholes and inadequacies that are easily exploited by parents with bad intentions. For this reason, said CRHE board chair Carmen Longoria-Green, the Dissident Group – horrific as its stated intentions are – is likely in compliance with the minimal requirements of state law. “In the 1980s and 1990s, the Home School Legal Defense Association bullied legislators across the country into removing protections that would have ensured homeschooled children would receive a quality education in a safe home,” said Longoria-Green. “Today, children in Ohio and in every other state suffer the consequences of HSLDA’s destructive lobbying.”
“At CRHE, we want to create a culture change in homeschooling. We envision a world in which parents homeschool to promote their child’s overall well-being instead of their own personal agendas,” said CRHE research director Dr. Chelsea McCracken. “In an environment like the Dissident Homeschool group, a neo-Nazi ideology is the only one that the homeschooled children might be learning. Their parents can easily deny them the chance to hear a different viewpoint or to access the tools to form their own beliefs. That kind of homeschooling is a violation of children’s rights – their rights to self-expression, freedom of conscience, and to an education that prepares them for an open future, which includes understanding how to respect people from other cultures and backgrounds.”
“Children have the right to the information they need to form their own beliefs and identities apart from their parents’,” said Grimberg. “In CRHE’s Bill of Rights for Homeschooled Children, we affirm the importance of this right and many others.” The Bill of Rights, an aspirational vision for the homeschooling movement based on the U.N.’s Convention on the Rights of the Child, was published in 2021.
“Homeschooled children deserve a high-quality education that gives them a chance at a bright, open future and prepares them to thrive in a changing, diverse world,” said Grimberg. “We urge lawmakers to instead develop policies to promote positive outcomes for every homeschooled child.”
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