Homeschooling is having a moment. By a wide margin, homeschooling is now the fastest-growing form of education in America. It spans all demographics, geographies, and political stripes, but what the left cannot destroy, it seeks to discredit.
The latest example of this comes from Illinois, where leftist-funded ProPublica and a state-based news service, Capitol News Illinois, recently published an “investigation” into the way parents’ right to educate their own offspring allegedly endangers kids.
The story, headlined “How Illinois’ Hands-Off Approach to Homeschooling Leaves Children At Risk,” tells the sad story of a boy named L.J., whose parents abused and neglected him. According to the story, L.J.’s parents stopped sending him to school. They beat him. They refused to feed him. He was subjected to emotional abuse. It’s a horrific tale and something no child should ever experience.
But rather than hold accountable L.J.’s obviously crummy parents or the myriad of government workers who knew about L.J.’s suffering yet did nothing about it, reporters Molly Parker and Beth Hundsdorfer instead point fingers elsewhere: at homeschoolers.
According to the reporters, L.J. was abused because Illinois allows parents to homeschool their children without obtrusive government involvement, noting that the state doesn’t require parents to register their homeschooling with any government agency.
“Under Illinois law, they must provide an education equivalent to what is offered in public schools, covering core subjects like math, language arts, science and health. But parents don’t have to have a high school diploma or GED, and state
