Is Homeschooling a Scam?

🎧 Listen to the Full Episode Now!

In this episode (#HEFPodcast Ep. 151), Jason, Brenda and Dina look back at what homeschooling was like decades ago versus the booming commercial landscape today, sharing wisdom on how to protect your family's freedom and wallet.

Imagine your child falls while playing outside and scrapes their knee. It’s an open wound. It could get infected. It definitely needs care. Do you get afraid you're not enough? Do you call an ambulance, and wait for a certified medical professional to arrive before putting on a band-aid?

Of course not. You’re the parent.

You clean the scrape, slap on a band-aid, offer a kiss, and send them back out to play. Yet somewhere we found a tipping point where the idea of helpful educators and assistance gave way to the family duty being replaced by a modern education industry. We were convinced that parents are no longer enough, and that real education is not possible without the certified strangers and qualified experts. In a modern public school, teachers don't hand out band aids, the appropriately trained and qualified staff—the school nurse—does that. And parents can't teach their kids, so they should leave it to the appropriately trained and qualified professionals to do that.

While some might overtly resist the idea that parents can be entrusted to raise their kids on their own, others are more subtle. They make claim that they don't even trust a parent who wants to spend so much time with their own kids. They laugh and scoff at the notion of nuclear family, and parents setting their own standards and teaching their own kids. Others aren't so overt, but they still offer the same underlying disbelief in the parent.

And they're flooding the market, now that there is such a thing in Florida. The 40+ years of home education community, traditions, and ways are just not enough. Apparently, we require new and shiny methods, techniques, programs, schools, etc. The experts are finally ready to descend from their high tower and bless us with all of the things they've learned about how to educate effectively. They're even offering to homeschool your kids for you.

TODAY ON, "IF ADVERTISEMENTS WERE HONEST."

I imagine an episode of "IF ADVERTISMENTS WERE HONEST." These companies selling you on the idea of replacing you as the parent-educator: "Hey, there. You know you can't really do it yourself. Listen to that voice inside telling you that you're not enough. You're right. But we're here for you. We'll homeschool your kid for you, and you can finally relax knowing that your kid is being taught by an accredited program, and qualified professionals ...and not just—some kid's mom. Act now, and you'll get the family rate for all of your kids."

Today in our latest episode of the #HEFPodcast, we tackled this provocative, uncomfortable, and timely issue.

So, is Homeschooling a scam?

Depending on who you ask—and what they’re trying to sell you—the answer might surprise you.

The Lie That "Parents Aren't Enough"

Throughout all of human history, families raised and educated their own children. But today, a growing chorus of skeptics look at home education with deep distrust. They take the default stance that parents are not "qualified" or "professional," that they are unequipped, or somehow harming their kids by taking charge of their education.

Many scoff at the idea, or even run media chop-job stories on the idea, that scholarship funds or family budgets might go toward LEGOs, tabletop strategy games, kayaks, comic books, or trips to the local aquarium. “How could a mom possibly understand how to turn a kayak ride into an educational unit?” they ask.

Even worse, corporate vendors have caught the scent of the newcomers to the home education community, and prey upon their newness to the journey. Everyone who has history in home education—the veterans—know that it takes 3 years to get it rolling. Year 1, you try to bring school home. Year 2, you realize that you don't have to do every worksheet or problem in the book for your kid to learn effectively. Year 3, you liberate yourself from the tracks and chart your own methods that you've found work for you and truly customize the education. It takes 3 years to break from the brainwashing that only the school system works and is effective. Once you pioneer your own path to how your kids unlock education, you'll never go back. But it's that 3-year space that catches newcomers off guard. They get overwhelmed with the cacophony of experts breathing down their necks, the judgment from older generations that only know one way, and the fear that their kids won't be employable if they haven't jumped through all the hoops.

And it's during this fearful and large moment that the vendors pounce. It's "homeschooling" because it's in a home, but we'll homeschool your kids for you. Nope.

There is a massive difference between a program that equips a parent and one that replaces a parent.

Don't be duped by companies promising guidance while silently stripping away your authority.

6 Red Flags That a "Homeschool" Program Isn't a Homeschool Program:

How do you spot a program that’s trying to replace you rather than empower you? Listen to the #HEFPodcast episode to hear a more elaborate breakdown. Here's the list:

1. They take control over all the choices.

2. They take the role of primary teacher, pushing the parent into a spectator role.

3. They promise to have discovered some "magic secret" or new technique no one else has.

4. They take your insecurity as their sales pitch—telling or implying that you aren't enough.

5. They imply that if you're not doing it their way, you're really underserving.

6. They call themselves a homeschool program, but no one there has ever homeschooled.

   
   

You Are in the Driver’s Seat—You Are the Parent.

You do not need a doctorate to give your child an extraordinary education, and an amazing childhood. There are many people walking around out there with parents who have PhDs, but who really wish they had a better relationship with mom or dad. You just need love for those moments that require patience, discernment to understand the costs and sacrifices will be worth it, the willingness to see it through, and the FREEDOM to pivot the second something isn't working for your family.

With legislative sessions and elections right around the corner, parental autonomy is on the line. We must support candidates and community models that recognize your fundamental authority as a parent.

You are not a cash cow for corporate education companies—you are the primary architect of your child’s future.

The "Leprechaun and Genie" Trap: Why We Can’t Legislate Our Way Out

As predatory pretenders flood in as homeschool providers with shiny, but empty promises, it’s tempting for parents to turn to lawmakers and say, "Fix this! Create rules to stop parents from getting taken advantage of by these programs."

But there is a high potential that the way that wish gets granted ends up more like, "Fix this! Create rules to stop parents."

This call for help is a double-edged sword. It cuts both ways it swings. Similar to the way three wishes from a leprechaun or genie are granted but immediately soured by a trick of the language, you might get what you asked for, but it usually comes with some sort of ruin. Creating regulations to remove these predatory programs also removes other valid options parents choose that look a lot like these others.

When state agencies step in to weed out fraud, their heavy-handed regulations almost always wipe out valid, flexible, and innovative choices that real homeschooling families rely on.

So, what’s the alternative?

The Sisterhood of Homeschooling Moms.

We can be proactive in our community, share information, support one another. We can equip and empower, and shine a light on bad programs. If this is done consistently and collectively, The Sisterhood of Homeschooling Moms will choke off predatory scams by refusing to give them their dollars. The "market" will change. When bad actors realize homeschool parents are slow to trust, are not easily distracted by the next shiny object, and are very resourceful and frugal...the "poser program" resources will dry up and make way for those homeschool programs that are true to empowering parents.

Important disclaimer: The Home Education Foundation is not claiming that only homeschooling is valid. All sorts of educational options exist, and we embrace that fully. We embrace public schools, private schools, charter schools, mini schools, microschools, one-room-schoolhouses, Montessori schools, hybrid schools, unschools, and all the options a parent might direct their child's education toward. However, we also stand firmly against non-homeschoolers coming into the long-standing home education history that's so robust in Florida, and choking out the home education supports, methods, and traditions that have made it great by pretending to be homeschool options while being from the institutional models and mindset.

Because at the true heart of homeschooling is the empowered parent doing it themselves.

🎧 Listen to the Full Episode Now!

In this episode, Jason, Brenda and Dina look back at what homeschooling was like decades ago versus the booming commercial landscape today, sharing wisdom on how to protect your family's freedom and wallet.

👉 Watch & Listen to the full episode on YouTube Here

Found this helpful? Don't keep it to yourself! Share this article and podcast link with a fellow homeschooling parent, co-op group, or friend who needs a reminder that they are enough.