Three children — two boys and a girl — sitting together on a plaid surface, smiling and reading an open book with a green cover.
Photo courtesy of Theresa Olohan
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A Podcast Won a GLAAD Award, Then Called Homeschooling “Child Abuse” and “Weird As F—” but the Evidence Suggests Something Different

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Peer-reviewed research says homeschoolers outscore their public school peers by 15 to 25 points on standardized tests. Among Black homeschoolers, the gap runs as high as 42 points.

Homeschoolers score at least 15 to 25 points higher than public school students on standardized tests, and among Black homeschoolers the gap runs as high as 42 points, according to peer-reviewed research cited by USA TODAY Opinion writer Theresa Olohan.The comments she’s responding to came from Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan, cohosts of the “I’ve Had It” podcast. On the July 14 episode, Sullivan said she doesn’t “trust somebody that wants to be with their kids 24/7” and added, “I think a lot of dumb people do it ’cause it’s just easier.”

Welch went further, calling it a “crazy Christian problem” and saying, “I think it’s selfish for parents to push a religion on a child. … I think it’s all child abuse, honestly.”

The podcast was honored at GLAAD’s annual dinner, where Welch used her acceptance speech to say “F— Donald Trump” and “save trans kids!”

A young girl sitting at a desk in her bedroom doing math schoolwork at home
A five-year-old works through her Maths lessons at home in Newcastle-under-Lyme, England, in January 2021, during a period when UK schools remained closed. Photo by Gareth Copley / Getty Images.

More than 3 million kids are homeschooled in America, a number that climbed after the pandemic. Olohan, one of 11 children taught at home before she went on to Notre Dame, argues the hosts aren’t really objecting to the pedagogy.

Three children sitting together reading books during a homeschool lesson in the early 2000s.
Siblings Catherine, Theresa, and Patrick Olohan (right) share a homeschool reading session in the early 2000s. Photo courtesy of Theresa Olohan.

“Welch and Sullivan likely know that homeschooling is not abusive, regressive or weird,” she writes. “They simply hate the values of many of those who homeschool.”

“Homeschooling certainly set my conservative Catholic family up for success,” Olohan writes. “That’s likely why progressive activists like Welch and Sullivan want to destroy it.”

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