The court ruled that homeschooling is
constitutionally permitted, but must be
regulated nationally by the legislature. This
was both good and bad news, as it provided
a level of legal precedent and protection for
homeschooling. But it also granted the
federal government regulatory power instead
of the states.
In 2021, a high-ranking official in the
Ministry of Education expressed a positive
outlook for homeschooling. “We are much
more optimistic about what we can do here,
and about the future of homeschooling,” the
official said. “We’ve had explosive growth.
And we see that we are not alone any more.
Homeschooling in Brazil is a fact. It’s not
going away.”
That same year, a federal bill was
introduced that would have created the
national legal framework that the 2018 court
decision required. The homeschooling
movement was energized by the proposal.
“We are seeing great excitement from all
the families in Brazil who homeschool,”
Carlos Vinícius Reis, homeschooling father of
three and executive director of the national
homeschool organization ANED, said. The
week before, ANED had bussed in more than
300 people from all over Brazil to meet with
legislators. “We received a warm welcome,
and we are working hard to provide them with
the information they need to debate a law that
gives us all the freedom we need to teach our
children,” Reis said.
Kevin with Carlos Vinícius Reus and his family at the national homeschooling conference in 2023.
The outlook changed, however, when Brazil
elected Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva as the new
president in 2022. The homeschooling bill
had advanced through one chamber of the
legislature, but its progress stopped after
the election, and there is little hope of more
before the next election in a couple of years.
The new Brazilian government also
considered implementing a national action
plan to eliminate any educational freedom,
including homeschooling. Any doubts one
might have had regarding the ideological
position of this Brazilian administration were
removed when the president appointed Flávio
Dino to the Supreme Court.
Dino was a member of Brazil’s Communist
Party when he served as a congressman from
2007 to 2011, and then joined the Brazilian
Socialist Party before he was elected to the
Senate in 2022. Communists and socialists
are not traditionally friends of the
homeschool movement.
Since early 2024 we have been getting
reports of homeschooled children being
ordered to public school, parents having their
bank accounts frozen, and families being
intimidated by police cars parked in front
of their homes. I personally know several
homeschooling families throughout the
country who have been prosecuted.
Brazilian homeschooling families have
reason to be discouraged, but they are
refusing to give up and continuing to maintain
hope. One family who was prosecuted
won their case on appeal. They retained
custody of their children and continue to
homeschool them.
Additionally, Brazilian leaders have
organized three wildly successful national
homeschool conferences where thousands
of families have gathered in support of homeschooling, despite the legal uncertainty.
There are also political leaders at the local
level who support homeschooling and even
host events to discuss this educational choice.
Participants of the conference in 2023
I had my first opportunity to travel to Brazil
in September 2023 to support the 2nd Annual
Expo Homeschooling Conference—an event
that drew a few thousand families who believe
in parent-directed education. That’s where
I met Miguel and Helena, who describe
homeschooling as a “divine grace” for their
family. (Names have been changed to protect
their privacy.)
They have six children and are ardent
leaders of the homeschooling movement
in their community, where they’ve been
homeschooling without issue for more than
a decade. Miguel supports local families,
defends families in the judicial sphere, and
advocates for the freedom of parent-directed
education in local and national legislatures.
Their advocacy for families facing
prosecution has been a lifeline for many, but
now they are facing prosecution because
of their decision to homeschool. They were
reported anonymously to the local Child
Protective Council (known in Brazil as the
“Conselho Tutelar”)—like so many other
families across the country—late last year.
Shortly thereafter, Miguel was summoned
to appear at the public prosecutor’s office,
where he was ordered to demonstrate “in
a documentary and physical way all the
evidence that the children are very well
and all the educational quality of [their]
homeschooling.” The family originally had
less than a month to present their defense,
although a brief extension was granted.
They submitted their defense, including
documents regarding their homeschooling,
and many families submitted letters of
support to the prosecutor on their behalf.
But within weeks, they were informed that
the public prosecutor had not accepted
their defense.
Fortunately for the family, the public
prosecutor is not mandating that the parents
enroll their children in public school (for
now), but they and their six kids face an
uncertain future.
Kevin speaks at the national homeschooling conference in 2024
At the convention I attended in Brazil last
year, I bought a t-shirt emblazoned with the
slogan “Imparável” from a lovely family in the
exhibit hall. Though life is challenging and
the future of homeschool freedom in Brazil
is uncertain, Miguel reminded me of a quote
attributed to St. Ignatius, which captures the
heart of the community: “Pray as if everything
depends on God. Work as if everything
depends on you.”
