Community Voices

Many members of the homeschooling community support oversight of homeschooling, including current and former homeschooled students and current and former homeschool parents. At CRHE, we are working to change the conversation. We believe that the voices of homeschool alumni should play a role in conversations on homeschool policy, and that the voices of homeschool parents who support oversight should not be ignored or minimized.

If you would like to contribute your own personal reflection, you can! We invite homeschool alumni and current and present homeschool parents who support accountability for homeschooling to lay out and explain their reasons. You may use a pseudonym if necessary. Click here to learn how to submit your own call for reform! We would love to feature your thoughts.

To view all of our voices for reform to date, click here.


Homeschool Alumni Reflect 

A photo of a young woman sitting against a stone bench. Only the back of her is visible.

Homeschool alumni who support oversight have had a variety of experiences, some positive and others negative. Alumni with negative homeschool experiences often want to save other children from suffering the harm they did while alumni with positive homeschool experiences want to ensure that current and future homeschooled children have positive experiences too.

 

“I support oversight of homeschooling because every child deserves a good education in all subjects.” ~ Jerusha Loftland

“My family knew homeschooled children … who could barely read and who had learning disabilities that their families were not equipped to even identify, let alone address.” ~ Alisa Harris

Without oversight, there was no need to think about compiling a portfolio. Without state standards, there was no benchmark for my progress.” ~ Caitlin T.

“I can tell you that not having anyone really paying attention to my education cost me years of having to make it up.” ~ Bethany Brittain

 

 
[Read All Alumni Reflections Here]

 


Homeschooling Parents Reflect 

Someone holding a pen and writing on a notebook. Only their hand is visible.

Many homeschooling parents also support oversight of homeschooling and see the need for reform. Below, homeschooling parents share their own personal reflections and discuss how the current lack of oversight for homeschooling in most states affects them personally.

 

“As a licensed civil engineer, I would not think twice about my superior evaluating me. … I think about accountability and oversight of home education in the same way.” ~ Amanda Smith

“Until I left my job to start a small private practice so I could be home more to school my son, I was working with people struggling with substance use disorders and trapped in poverty. Most had not graduated high school and never got their GED. A sizeable portion had left school because their parents pulled them out, allegedly to homeschool them.” ~ Rioanna

“Following a few regulations is not burdensome and provides protection for both the parent and child and ensures a successful homeschool experience for all.” ~ Kieth and Gail Brightbill

“I’m a perfectionist who constantly worries about where he is academically or where he needs to be, and I find myself looking up state standards at least several times a month for guidance. I would so much prefer regulation for homeschooling.” ~ E. Bradshaw

 

  • Faye Marcinko: “Homeschooling in America is full of contradictions and extremes” “The idea that I have the ‘right’ to do anything I want with my child, without respect to his/her or society’s well-being, strikes me as utterly barbaric.” I am a former attorney homeschooling my child because I love… Read More
  • Linda P.: “I wish I could paint a happy ending to this story” “I want families who choose this route to have a tremendous homeschool experience. After hearing about the Turpin case, like many others with homeschool experience, I believe changes needed to be made in the laws.” My name is… Read More
  • E. Bradshaw: “Some kind of oversight for me would help me out” “I’m a people-pleaser and a rule-follower. Sometimes I feel overwhelmed with everything [my son] is required to know, and some kind of oversight for me would help me out. I think some oversight for the people in our co-op… Read More
  • Roianna: “I think complete dysregulation is dangerous and harmful” “While I was researching what I would need to do to homeschool, I was stunned to find that in Texas homeschooling is completely unregulated. . . . Professionally I am a counselor. [At one point] I was working with people struggling with substance use disorders and trapped in poverty. . . . A sizeable portion had left school because their parents pulled them out, allegedly to homeschool them.”
  • Amanda Smith: “I want a professional looking at what I’ve done” “As a licensed civil engineer, I would not think twice about my superior evaluating me. It simply wouldn’t be safe for the public if I were to design something without that design being checked by my superior. I think about accountability and oversight of home education in the same way.”
  • LaDonna Sasscer: “We home educators should welcome accountability” “The homeschool community should be leading the way in demanding accountability in home education. We who are not abusing our children, we who are providing a quality education, we who want to be accepted participants in community life, should demand politicians put in place a process that differentiates between quality home education and child neglect, and in the worst cases, abuse.”
  • Lara Kondor: “I had never actually intended to homeschool my son” “Christian believes homeschooling did benefit him. He was allowed to explore reading, math, history and science at his own pace and to develop a great passion for learning. However, he worries that this may not be true of all homeschooled children. He especially worries for the girls he knew that were being told as young as five that they would not go to college because their duty was to be a good wife and mom.”
  • Jackie Cordon: “I always felt very fortunate with Iowa’s homeschooling laws” “As a Christian homeschooling parent of four, I always felt very fortunate with Iowa’s homeschooling laws. I homeschooled my children in Iowa for fifteen years, all the way up until my youngest graduated three years ago. I’m writing because Iowa’s homeschooling law benefited my own children in a real way, and I want present and future homeschooled children in Iowa to have these same benefits.”
  • Keith and Gail Brightbill: “We are strong believers in accountability” “Space does not permit us to discuss the many more positive benefits homeschool parents and their children receive by having accountability procedures in place. Following a few requirements is not burdensome and provides protection for both the parent and child and ensures a successful homeschool experience for all. Remember, the goal is to prepare our children to be educated, moral, productive members of society.”

 
[Read All Parent Reflections Here]

 


Across the Country

The personal reflections featured here are written by individuals across the country. While the level of oversight in each state varies, nearly every state’s system of homeschool oversight has serious flaws and loopholes. These reflections shed light on a wide variety of problems that plague current homeschool accountability measures, and touch on points for change.

Alabama

Alaska

Arizona

Arkansas

California

Colorado

Connecticut

Delaware

Florida

Georgia

Hawaii

Idaho

Illinois

Indiana

Iowa

Kansas

Kentucky

Louisiana

Maine

Maryland

Massachusetts

Michigan

Minnesota

Mississippi

Missouri

Montana

Nebraska

Nevada

New Hampshire

New Jersey

New Mexico

New York

North Carolina

North Dakota

Ohio

Oklahoma

Oregon

Pennsylvania

Rhode Island

South Carolina

South Dakota

Tennessee

Texas

Utah

Vermont

Virginia

Washington

West Virginia

Wisconsin

Wyoming


The personal reflects presented here are the opinions of the authors alone and do not necessarily reflect the positions of CRHE.