One of the most controversial ideas in America is that children have rights. And the people who are most opposed, who keep us as one of just three nations that refuse to recognize the rights of the child, are "pro-life, pro-family" homeschooling advocates. https://jill.substack.com/p/one-of-the-most-controversial-ideas

The wonderful @kathsstewart has written a definitive piece about this, and how right-wing homeschooling groups besiege and bully anyone who tries to regulate homeschooling -- they even oppose requiring parents to notify the state that they're homeschooling https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/coronavirus-home-schooling-highlights-religious-right-s-education-system-influence-ncna1233824

One law proposed after homeschooled kids were horrifically abused required parents to tell the state "I'm homeschooling" & "submit proof of their children's annual medical exams and provide assessments in core academic topics like reading and math." Conservative groups opposed it

Right-wing homeschooling groups are definitely not representative of all homeschooling parents. But they are the most powerful and politically connected, and they have very successfully undermined children's basic physical safety and right to an education all across the US.

These groups oppose requiring homeschooling parents to submit proof of children's annual medical exams; they oppose welfare checks. This is really scary, because kids who aren't in school don't have as much access to child abuse resources & adults who are mandatory reporters.

Of course any child is vulnerable to abuse. But homeschooling makes it much easier to hide, and much easier to isolate an abused child -- it makes it easy to hide that a child even exists. And some prominent conservative homeschooling parents promote hitting kids to "train" them.

The Pearls, who wrote a "child training" book popular with conservative homeschoolers, describe hitting their own four-month-old girl on her bare legs with a tree switch to "train" her out of trying to crawl up the stairs. Of course they don't want the state looking at them.

The above is from here: https://jill.substack.com/p/one-of-the-most-controversial-ideas

Conservative pro-homeschooling groups also oppose any requirement that kids learn anything at all. They oppose any requirement that a parent teaching a child at home submit curriculum. They oppose any requirement that a parent teaching a child actually teach them anything at all.

Homeschooled kids are disproportionately white and rural (getting kids out of "bad" schools -- often, schools with Black kids -- is one big reason for homeschooling). Overwhelmingly, parents say they homeschool to teach their kids religion.

And of course every parent has the right to raise their kid within their religious traditions. But too often, homeschoolers pull their kids out of school so that they don't come into contact with information that might challenge their religious views.

More than half of homeschooling parents don't have a college degree. Homeschooling parents are less likely to have graduated from high school, and are less likely to have a graduate degree. Parents without a HS diploma are the most likely group to homeschool their kids.

None of that would be an issue if there were laws mandating that homeschooled children, whatever their parents' level of education, were being taught by qualified people (which might be their parents, regardless of education) and had a solid core curriculum. But there aren't.

There's a lot of extreme arrogance here. I have a graduate degree, but that doesn't make me a teacher. And there is no way I could teach calculus or physicals or frankly probably algebra at this point. But some parents seem to believe whatever they know is enough for their kids.

And again, tons of responsible homeschooling parents don't take all of the teaching on themselves -- they do work with folks who actually know what they're doing. And good for them! But kids deserve more than just randomly getting lucky. All kids deserve a good education.

The big problem here is that powerful, conservative homeschooling groups don't want any regulations at all. Responsible homeschoolers would not suffer one lick from basic rules aimed to ensure children's wellbeing, physical safety & right to information. https://jill.substack.com/p/one-of-the-most-controversial-ideas

It is absolutely the case that if you so much as write about homeschooling, and certainly if you try to legislate anything related to it, you will be incessantly harassed by a right-wing mob. Children's rights are as threatening to them as feminism is.

And again, this is definitely Not All Homeschoolers. Tons of parents homeschool because it's in the best interest of the particular, individual child sitting in front of them. But right-wing homeschooling groups oppose "the best interest of the child" as a standard at all.