02/17/2026
Parenting outside the norm can bring unexpected tests. About a year ago an anonymous call reported our 7-year-old to the truancy officer — something most homeschool families only joke about.
The officers arrived at our home while we were preparing for a holiday barn sale that draws hundreds of amazing people from our community. All to buy our natural soaps. Within minutes the officers realized we were not the type of family needing investigation, but the caller knew our children’s names, birthdays, address, and claimed they’d been inside our home and “didn’t see educational materials.”
The sheriff couldn’t reveal the caller but encouraged us to question close relationships. Many of our loved ones were literally in our basement helping that day, equally shocked. We had our suspicions, especially after reviewing past comments from specific relatives like, “You guys NEED to put that boy in school” or “Emily, your kids are going to be f*cking weird if you homeschool them.” So we set our boundaries accordingly and have moved on from trying to find the answer, some things don’t deserve more energy.
Because the call went through the sheriff’s office, Job & Family Services followed up. They wanted a meeting — we requested a FaceTime instead. Knowing we had done nothing to initiate this, we were definitely not about to let our peaceful life be shaken up any further. Our kids are assertive, WELL SOCIALIZED and can speak for themselves. Evan confidently took the phone and chatted with her while showing off his writing in notebooks, pencils, drawings, fountain pen collection, sewing machine, Lego creations, maps, books and art supplies galore.
24 hours later: CASE CLOSED on the first homeschool truancy report in our county.
To anyone reading this, maybe even the caller themselves, and especially those who question the legitimacy of home education - I encourage you to rethink how you feel about the idea of responsible and highly capable parents taking accountability to educate their own children. Families like ours might just be the quiet, humble movement towards a more peaceful, wholesome humanity if left alone to do the real work ourselves. Thank you for reading ❤️
