If the State Oversees Your Homeschool, Is It Still Homeschooling?

If the state holds the ruler to measure your homeschool, it’s not homeschooling.

God gave the authority to educate children to parents, not the state. The command is direct:

“These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall speak of them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the way and when you lie down and when you rise up.” —Deuteronomy 6:6–7 (LSB)

The father is charged with bringing up his children “in the discipline and instruction of the Lord” (Ephesians 6:4). This stewardship belongs to the family under Christ. It is not granted to the civil magistrate.

God has given each sphere its jurisdiction: the family for nurture and training, the church for worship and discipleship, the state for justice and the sword (Romans 13:1–4). The state’s God-given tool is not the chalkboard but the sword. When it steps into education, it has left its lane and invaded the family’s calling.

And oversight—no matter how “hands-off”—is intrusion. Curriculum approval is intrusion. Progress reporting is intrusion. Funding restrictions on faith-based materials are intrusion. Mandated Individual Learning Plans are intrusion. All are claims of authority over a jurisdiction God did not give the civil ruler.

I’ve heard the claims: “It’s just a formality.” “They’re Christian-friendly.” “We’re only using the money for math.” None of these change the fact that the moment Caesar sets conditions, you’ve acknowledged him as having the right to set them. You’ve invited him to sit in the teacher’s chair and judge the work.

Even when they leave you alone most of the time, oversight assumes the right to stop leaving you alone whenever they decide. That’s not freedom. And every chain is already an admission of ownership.

If you truly believe education is discipleship, then you know whose authority must govern it: Christ’s, not Caesar’s.

Semper Reformanda

Some will argue, “They’re hands-off, so what’s the harm?” But if the oversight were truly meaningless, they wouldn’t require it. Authority claimed but “not exercised” is still authority ceded and it can be exercised at any time.

Others say, “We just use the money for neutral things like math.” But funding always comes with strings. The moment the state dictates how you can and cannot spend those funds—especially forbidding explicitly Christian curriculum—it has already decided that part of your child’s education belongs to them, not to God through you.

Then there’s the “few strings” argument: “It’s free money, and the restrictions are minimal.” But Christ’s lordship is not for sale, and His commands to parents are not negotiable. When the state mandates progress reports, Individual Learning Plans, or approved curricula, it’s not “partnership”. This is simply jurisdictional theft.

Romans 13 does not authorize the state to disciple your children. Its role is to punish evil and reward good, not to monitor your homeschool. Deuteronomy 6 and Ephesians 6 put the chalkboard squarely in the hands of parents under Christ’s rule. To yield that, even partially, is to disobey the order God established.

Truth That Withstands

The state’s oversight—light, friendly, or “hands-off”—is still a breach of God’s sphere sovereignty. The family holds the authority for education under Christ, and Caesar’s approval, restrictions, or reviews have no rightful place in it.