April 10, 2025
A new wave of legislation claims to protect children—but what it really does is place every parent under suspicion.
Estimated reading time: 8 minutes
It was the mailman. I just know it.
He had to be the one who reported us to our local superintendent—as truant.
My homeschooled children were far from being truant.
Every school day began the same: breakfast, farm chores, and then lessons began at our kitchen table by 9 a.m.—sharp. At the time we lived in rural Illinois, in an old farmhouse tucked between 60 acres of woods and cornfields. We were raising a crop of blue-eyed, blonde little Robinsons.
The highlight of the day for our simple country kids? Racing to get the mail.
Our front yard stretched to the road like a football field—at the edge stood the large, dented country mailbox.
The mail usually arrived at noon. As soon as my kids heard the rumble of the mailman’s jeep rolling down our gravel road, the oldest three would bolt out of the front door, leaving the littles cheering at the window. The 100-yard dash was on. The first to grab the stack of junk mail and race back inside won…bragging rights. Their red faces and laughter punctuated a morning full of lessons. Their daily little sprint was the perfect release of bottled energy before lunch.
Apparently, our mailman didn’t see the same happy, healthy kids letting off steam over their lunch break. He saw truant children—and, by default, neglectful parents.
Not long after, there was a knock on the door. It was the superintendent.
“I’ve had a report that school-aged children live here who are truant.”
“I assure you, sir,” I replied, “my children are not truant. They are homeschooled.”
“May I come in and see your curriculum?”
“Absolutely not,” I answered politely.
“What I will do is send you a certified letter assuring your office that we are homeschooling and in full compliance with Illinois state law.”
He thanked me and left.
That was 1989—at the dawn of the homeschool movement.
It must have been quite an unusual sight: children playing in their yard, in the middle of a school day.
All it took was a polite but firm conversation and a voluntary letter to settle the matter.
Under a 1950s Illinois Supreme Court decision: People v. Levisen, homeschooling families like mine have taken seriously their responsibility to direct the education of their children. This ruling affirmed that a home could legally function as a private school. Homeschools and private schools alike could operate free from government interference, so long as basic subjects were taught in English.
Local officials—though sometimes misinformed—respected the rights of parents to direct the education and upbringing of their children. In fact, it was expected.
But what happens when respect is no longer the expectation—but suspicion is?
Suspicion of abuse and neglect simply because you, as a parent, have chosen to take full responsibility for the education of your children.
And what happens when a simple knock like that comes with legal teeth? When “a report” is all it takes to open an investigation—and your curriculum, your qualifications, even your ability to parent—are suddenly subject to the scrutiny and personal opinion of local officials?
For most parents, that’s a reality that’s hard to imagine. Nevertheless, this is the paradigm shift that is quietly slipping into the legal narrative.
Thanks to a little-known organization called the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE). This obscure group is not comprised of researchers, home educators, or elected officials. They have, however, succeeded in setting the stage to strip parents of their rights to direct the education of their children, and place them under threat of criminalization for non-compliance.
In 2024, CRHE released the Make Homeschool Safe Act—a fill-in-the-blank template written for lawmakers to introduce in their own states. It reads more like a government control manual.
Here’s what the Make Homeschool Safe Act considers a model law:
With all 50 states already operating under their own laws governing homeschooling, there is no need for new legislation. This is clearly a solution in search of a problem.
So they invented one. By playing on emotionally charged language—child abuse, accountability, and protective measures—they attempt to take the moral high ground of “saving the children.”
HSLDA’s Darren Jones, Esq., Senior Counsel and Director of Group Services, writes:
“At a fundamental level, the MHSA is a misguided attempt to convert homeschooling into public school at home. It ignores the reality of how homeschooling works and the many legislative steps that states have taken to modernize homeschool regulations. In some ways, the MHSA hearkens back to the 1980s, when public schools, school boards, and legislatures tried to fit homeschooling into a box of ‘what education should look like.’ But it’s also more radical than any regulation a state has ever tried.”
He goes on to say:
“The MHSA goes after the very foundation of homeschooling in this country.”
CRHE found a sympathetic ear in Illinois, the Land of Lincoln.
HB 2827 was introduced under the guise of “accountability” and rooting out child abuse. It would require every homeschooling family in Illinois to register with the state. It mandates a Homeschool Declaration Form listing not only the name, birthdate, and address of each child, but also the parent’s education level and contact information just for starters.
And if you fail to file it?
That could trigger criminal consequences.
Don’t be deceived. This isn’t about truancy. It’s not about improving educational outcomes. And it’s certainly not about helping children.
It’s about control.
It carries an unmistakable message to homeschooling parents: You are no longer presumed trustworthy.
This is an important cultural shift—one no parent, in any state, can afford to dismiss.
With a Democrat supermajority in the House, Senate, and Governor’s office, the state was a perfect test case. Rep. Terra Costa Howard introduced HB 2827 with CRHE’s language and logic tucked neatly inside. She called it “a minimal step” toward accountability—but it’s anything but minimal.
This is a Trojan horse.
Once the law is passed, regulatory agencies—like the Illinois State Board of Education and the Department of Children and Family Services—would be empowered to write new rules and regulations without ever returning to the voters.
And that’s how the system shifts—quietly, bureaucratically, and without consent.
HB 2827 isn’t just influenced by the Make Homeschool Safe Act. It nearly mirrors it word for word.
The CRHE’s model bill opens with a set of “Findings” that frame homeschooling as a problem in need of government oversight. It claims that:
The strategy follows a well-worn path: use emotional language to introduce a bill that reframes every homeschooling parent as a suspect. Wrap it in child safety rhetoric, introduce it in a “friendly” state, and then point to that state as the model for all others.
If this bill passes in Illinois, it won’t stay in Illinois. Legislators in other states will have a ready-made script, complete with a new narrative: “Illinois is doing it. Why aren’t we?”
That’s why this moment matters so much.
This isn’t just a bill. It’s a blueprint for a new national norm—one where the government doesn’t support parents… it supplants them.
In a world filled with hyperbolic rhetoric, it’s easy to dismiss a bill in another state. But that is the insidious nature of the Make Homeschool Safe Act. The very name implies that homeschooling is inherently dangerous, and government intervention is necessary.
If you think your state is safe, or your kids are in public school, keep in mind these facts:
In 1994, legislation known as HR 6 also struck an ominous tone across the country. Had it passed, it would have required all teachers—both homeschool and private—to hold a teaching degree.
The response is now legendary.
In a pre-internet age, homeschoolers flooded Congress with over 1 million phone calls and letters in a matter of days. So many calls poured in that Capitol Hill phone lines jammed. Lawmakers were stunned by the tidal wave of protest from what they assumed was a fringe minority, quickly amended the bill.
It was dramatic—and victorious, a milestone in parental rights. It was also an example of what happens when parents realize their rights are on the line and take action.
That was a generation ago. Now it’s your turn.
Today, the tactics are more refined, the language more polished, but the endgame is the same: government control disguised as public concern. And this time, the threat isn’t just to homeschooling—it’s to the very authority of parents to guide their children’s lives.
If Illinois fails to protect parents, how many states will follow? If this is the baseline, I shudder to think what the extreme will look like. Here’s what I do know, it only takes one misguided report, one knock at the door.
If we as parents are not proactive in protecting the rights given to us by our Creator, how long before the state decides what beliefs qualify as “safe”?
If that strikes you as extreme. I understand. So did the idea of losing custody of your children for calling them by the name you gave them at birth. And yet, here we are.
Married to her high school sweetheart, Rhonda Robinson is the mother of nine and grandmother of 39. An award-winning author with over 25 years of writing experience, she currently serves as manager and content producer for the Parenting and Marriage web content at Focus on the Family. Rhonda is also a legacy homeschool mom, her latest book published by Focus on the Family —The Thriving Home School: A Christian Parent’s Guide.
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