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First introduced in 2022, the Kids Online Safety Act (KOSA) is a bipartisan bill purportedly designed to make the internet safer for minors, defined as anyone 16 and younger. Over the past two years, lawmakers, activists, and the media have wondered what the bill would look like and how it would be implemented, with many casting doubt and even expressing strong opposition to its contents. Despite widespread attention, some voices have dominated the conversation, leaving others marginalized. One such overlooked group is homeschoolers, who, advocates say, would face significant unintended consequences if KOSA or similar bills to govern online child safety, like this other bipartisan bill meant to end Section 230, were to pass. At the state level, bills like this are already in effect. In Utah, the state legislature enacted a law requiring social media companies to verify the age of their users when creating an account (although a federal judge temporarily blocked it in September), minors under 18 need parental permission to use social media, and their parents must have full access to their accounts.
“The more censorship is increased, the more children will seek to evade [these] barriers, even more so in a relatively isolated homeschool community. Homeschoolers have always, in my experience, sought genuine connections with and understanding of the lives led by the ‘outside’ world because of the sheltered atmosphere most of us lived in,” Casey, a teen K-12 homeschooler from North Carolina, who asked to use a pseudonym to protect her privacy, tells Teen Vogue. “This purposeful searching will most likely lead to even more youths being exposed to harmful media.”
The internet is central to the education of many homeschoolers, allowing them to access online courses, do research, and take exams. While some students may still learn primarily from textbooks, others, like 17-year-old Akedia, a K-12 homeschooler, say that the internet has been “a very large part” of his life and education. It is also vitally important to homeschoolers’ social lives and mental health, as this group of students is already struggling with an unseen mental health crisis that is made worse by a lack of social support and structure — resources that the internet can help provide. Civil liberties organizations like the Electronic Frontier Foundation and some LGBTQ+ groups say that the versions of KOSA currently being considered by Congress could be used to curtail access to information online.
Jessica Dulaney, a spokesperson for the Coalition for Responsible Home Education (CRHE), describes internet access as a lifeline for homeschooled children: “A lot of people tend to think that children should be outside and playing, which is true,” Dulaney explains. “But homeschooled children are in this unique position in which they may not have the same sort of opportunities to interact with people face to face. Other children in public or other sorts of traditional schooling may be able to, so the internet can provide homeschooled children with this vital space not only to access educational resources but also find a community and connect.”
Dulaney says that CRHE sees internet restriction bills as part of the same “extremist” movement that seeks to ban books and cut off access to information regarding reproductive health, LGBTQ+ issues, sex education, and more. The CRHE also believes that these bills could impact formerly homeschooled adults who may be dealing with the aftermath of their experience as well as identification abuse, which, in this case, is when parents withhold important identification documents from their adult children, preventing them from accessing basic rights and opportunities.
“When people think about children’s internet access, many worry about their safety, but for many children, the internet is a source of safety,” she explains. “For children dealing with abuse and neglect at home, particularly for homeschooled children who may not have any other place to go, the internet can be a true lifeline.… That space has to remain available to them. We really can’t sacrifice the most vulnerable people in society (children in abusive homes) in our quest to make the internet safe because a solution that puts the most vulnerable children in more danger is not a solution at all.”
Dubbed America’s fastest-growing form of education in 2023, “homeschooling” is an umbrella term that describes home-based education. Traditionally, homeschooling involved parents teaching their children at home or in group co-ops. This umbrella also covers the “unschooling” movement, a radical educational philosophy in which children don’t attend school or follow any set curriculum, instead pursuing only their own interests. Another option, which has become increasingly common, is for parents to select online classes and schools for their children. These online schools, although sometimes somewhat pricey, offer parents the freedom to choose their child’s curriculum while allowing experienced educators to teach, making them popular among parents who lack confidence in their teaching abilities and families who want the flexibility of online learning.
One such school is FundaFunda Academy, founded by Meryl van der Merwe in 2012. The program offers over 45 courses and partners with 17 instructors, many of whom have personal experience with homeschooling. Van der Merwe tells Teen Vogue that a bill like KOSA could impact her business and students, underscoring the confusion and potential unintended consequences of such legislation on the homeschooling community.
“It’s difficult to know [what those consequences would be],” she says. “It might make it harder for students to research if you assign a research project and it might force people to go back to the old libraries to take things out. I just can’t imagine how they’re going to [actually implement a bill like KOSA].”
