Op-ed: Homeschooling wasn’t always legal. Here’s how a Kansas City nonprofit is remembering 40 years of homeschool history

Almost four decades ago, Todd Kangas was wondering whether he and his wife would be imprisoned for their choice to homeschool.

“We started doing research on homeschooling in Kansas, and we found out like a year before, a lady got arrested for violating school truancy laws and put in jail for homeschooling,” he told me in a recent podcast episode for Midwest Parent Educators (MPE), a homeschool nonprofit in Kansas City.

Today homeschooling enjoys the status of “fastest-growing – and the only growing – form of education” nationwide, but this triumph happened only because of dedicated parents ready to sacrifice everything for their children.

“When we got here, there was a desperation,” Kangas recalled, who had just been transferred to the Kansas City area because of his new job with Hewlett-Packard in 1988.

“We were pioneers. You know, somebody once said it’s hard to be a pioneer because they’re the ones with the arrows in the back. We were there.”

As a homeschool graduate now homeschooling my own children, I cannot express enough gratitude to previous generations who made this freedom possible.

As I prepare to join MPE in celebrating 40 years of homeschool history Oct. 1 at Journey Bible Church in Olathe, I want to uncover three factors that defined this movement – and which it will need to continue thriving.

Following your parental instincts

The first factor involves parents, which even the federal government recognizes as the child’s primary educators – not public-school teachers.

“The fundamental theory of liberty upon which all governments in this union repose excludes any general power of the state to standardize his children by forcing them to accept instruction from public teachers only,” the U.S. Supreme Court concluded in the 1925 Pierce vs. Society of Sisters case.

“The child is not the mere creature of the state. Those who nurture him and direct his destiny have the right, coupled with the high duty, to recognize and prepare him for additional obligations.”

Kangas echoes this perspective when pointing out the academic outcomes of homeschool compared to public-school alumni.

“I have never known a homeschool mom graduate a functionally illiterate child,” he said. “Because if you can’t read, you’re not going to fool your mom. She will know. And believe me, she’ll go to whatever ends it takes to make sure you learn how to read. If she can’t do it, she’ll find the help.”

Public education, however, doesn’t have such a great track record – nor is it legally required to educate.

“While educators can be held liable for infringing on students’ rights and for negligence that causes students physical harm, educators do not have a legal responsibility to educate students,” concluded professors Terri A. DeMitchell and Todd A. DeMitchell in a recent article.

Such was the experience of Katie Mathews and her stepson, Ryley, who was functionally illiterate in 6th grade.

“When we first got custody of him, the longest book he said he’d read was about 13 pages,” she told me. “It was distressing. I felt terrible for him.”

After homeschooling, Ryley became “a voracious reader” who is making better personal decisions as well, according to Mathews.

“He’s less impulsive. He had these symptoms of them saying he was on the spectrum, or having ADD. And I just think a lot of that sometimes is attention and nurturing.”

Focusing on mastery, not structure

Another factor causing homeschool success involves subject mastery, not necessarily testing.

“One of the biggest things in the initial homeschooling time was overcoming the stronghold of how we did school before,” Kangas recalled. “Well, we figured we had to have school from 8:30 to 3:00. No, you don’t. Our kids could have all their schoolwork done before noon.”

Recent studies have borne out these observations, according to Steven Duvall, Ph.D. and director of research at Home School Legal Defense Association.

“Instructional differences between traditional classrooms and homeschools show that homeschools can accomplish standard progress in smaller amounts of time,” he concluded in 2024. “In as little as 2 hours, homeschoolers can engage in the same amount of strategic learning behavior as public-school students experience in an entire school day.”

Meanwhile, all the standardized testing required by public schools fails to guarantee academic success. It only tends to highlight a system imploding from within as states continue to lower the bar on what qualifies as “testing.”

“States that have been more ambitious are now sticking out like sore thumbs,” said Quinton Klabon, senior research director for the Institute for Reforming Government, of the trend toward relaxing test requirements. “It’s kind of a race to the bare minimum, rather than a race to the top.”

Tom Kane, Walter H. Gale Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, agreed with Klabon.

“Many parents are already underestimating the degree to which their children are lagging behind,” he said. “Lowering the proficiency cuts now will mislead them further.”

Growing in faith

The final factor in homeschool success may stir up controversy, but Kangas insists on its importance – growing in one’s personal faith.

“I did not know a homeschool mom that didn’t have some level of insecurity because again, they were launching out into virgin territory,” he said. “They have never done this before.”

Many of them are also the first generation in the family to homeschool, which means they often face opposition and criticism from close relatives and friends.

Additionally, moms who choose to homeschool often sacrifice careers, income, vacations and more to enroll “in a 24/7 career that (doesn’t) have benefits, at least immediately,” Kangas said.

“One of the things I’ve seen over the years is because of that desperation, because of that fear of failure, the moms really had to plug into their relationship with Jesus,” he told me.

“And to me, the ultimate compliment I would have for the homeschool moms is the fact that they invested their time first and foremost to get something from Jesus, so they could live to have something to give to their children.”

Amen.

Perhaps the best gift we can give homeschool pioneers such as Todd Kangas involves the time and investment to listen and learn from them while charting the best educational pathways for our children.

As MPE celebrates 40 years, we’re praying for the next generation(s) of homeschooling parents – for them to follow their God-given instincts, focus on mastery and grow in their own faith journeys.