The stakes for home educators just got much higher. Following in the footsteps of Nazi Germany with its criminalization of homeschooling, a Brazilian court this year sentenced loving parents Audato and Ieda Denardi to 50 days in prison for the “crime” of educating their own daughters, Alice (15) and Lorena (11).
Officially, the charge was “intellectual neglect.” But their real offense was providing a rigorous, values-based education at home while declining to incorporate the state’s mandated lessons on “gender and sex education” along with “tolerance and diversity.” If that sounds like the sort of extreme ideology that is increasingly wreaking havoc in states as such as Colorado, that’s because it is.
An independent educational psychologist found no evidence of neglect. The girls followed a structured routine, studied multiple languages, played piano at a high level, and read dozens of books annually — far exceeding typical government-school outcomes. Their mother holds degrees in pedagogy and mathematics. Thousands of pages of documentation proved above-average academic progress. Even the prosecutor recommended acquittal.
None of it mattered. The judge ruled that omitting state-approved gender ideology and allowing the 15-year-old to object to certain popular music lyrics constituted “cultural isolation” and using the children as “pawns in an ideological struggle.” The court treated parental choices rooted in conscience and faith as evidence of neglect worthy of jail time.
The sentence is suspended during appeal, with Alliance Defending Freedom International assisting the family before higher courts. This marks Brazil’s first criminal conviction specifically for homeschooling. But if left unchecked, it will not be the last. And unfortunately, the extremism behind the decision in Brazil is increasingly being observed worldwide.
Global War on Home Education
Unfortunately, this case is not an outlier. It reflects a broader global campaign against parent-led education. In fact, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), the UN agency that seeks to oversee education worldwide, is now openly demanding that governments target home education.
In a report released in October of 2025, UNESCO called for a critical re-evaluation of home education through what it described as a “human rights lens.” The goal of the report is to have governments that have not yet moved against home education start imposing state oversight, registration, evaluation, and alignment with “societal needs” — often code for progressive ideologies on gender, sexuality, and identity.
Such pressures and even outright criminalization are now becoming commonplace across Europe. Incredibly, Germany’s Nazi-era ban on homeschooling continues to be ruthlessly enforced, with police kidnapping children and threatening parents with jailtime. Similar restrictions are no in place from Sweden to France and beyond. The pattern is clear: when parents resist government-approved doctrines on sexuality and identity, the state responds with coercion, fines, custody threats, or worse.
The message being sent is deliberate and unmistakable. Parents may homeschool, perhaps, but only if they submit to the state’s preferred social, political, theological, and sexual doctrines. Refuse, and you risk fines, loss of custody, or prison. This is not neutral education policy—it is the weaponization of law to enforce ideological conformity and diminish the independent family. And if not stopped, it will be coming to America, too. In fact, powerful forces are already working to regulate and then abolish home education entirely.
Colorado’s All-Blue Government and the Growing Threat to Homeschool Freedom
Colorado parents should pay close attention. The state already operates under unified Democratic control — a “trifecta” with Democratic Governor Jared Polis and Democratic majorities in both chambers of the legislature. While Colorado’s core homeschool law remains relatively parent-friendly so far, recent legislative sessions have shown troubling incremental pressure.
In 2026, lawmakers passed amendments sharply restricting publicly funded homeschool enrichment programs, particularly those authorized by certain Boards of Cooperative Educational Services (BOCES). These programs have grown popular with homeschool families seeking supplemental opportunities. Critics, including groups like the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) and Christian Home Educators of Colorado (CHEC), see these moves as part of a broader effort to increase government tracking and control while curbing alternatives that operate outside strict district oversight.
More concerning is the state’s aggressive advancement of gender ideology in schools and family law. The 2025 Kelly Loving Act (HB25-1312), which took effect in phases and expands anti-discrimination protections for transgender individuals, includes provisions affecting schools (dress codes, chosen names) and has sparked intense debate over parental rights. Earlier versions sought to treat parental disagreement over pronouns or gender-affirming care as potential “coercive control” in custody cases — language that was ultimately stripped amid fierce opposition from parental-rights advocates.
These developments occur against a national backdrop where some states are already moving toward greater oversight of homeschooling or even redefining “neglect” to include failure to affirm a child’s “gender identity.”
Connecticut recently passed a new law requiring approval from “child welfare” authorities before parents can be allowed to homeschool. Bills to impose draconian controls on homeschooling families have been filed in recent years from the Midwest to the East and West coasts. Democrats are getting bolder. And with public money now flowing to homeschool families in some GOP-controlled states, more regulation is now being imposed or seriously contemplated even in deep red areas of the country.
In Colorado’s one-party environment, the risk is that activist regulators or courts could gradually expand “best interests of the child” standards to penalize parents who homeschool precisely to avoid state-mandated gender and diversity curricula. That may seem like a distant concern, but Democrat-controlled Connecticut just went from one of the freest states for home education to one of the most controlled in one legislative session.
Homeschooled students in Colorado and nationwide consistently outperform their public-school peers on academic measures. Research over decades confirms this. And even the critics know this. Yet when ideology trumps evidence — as it did in Brazil — facts about thriving children become irrelevant. The Denardi girls were not isolated or neglected; they were simply educated according to their parents’ values rather than the regime’s sexual and social re-engineering agenda.
The Stakes for Colorado’s November 2026 Election
Colorado’s November 2026 election represents a critical opportunity to push back. Voters will choose a new governor and decide control of the state legislature. With the current all-blue government advancing policies that elevate state authority over parental conscience—especially on contested issues of gender, sexuality, and education—the trajectory is clear without course correction.
Voting your values means supporting candidates who:
- Strongly affirm that parents, not bureaucrats or ideologues, hold primary responsibility for directing their children’s education and upbringing.
- Commit to protecting and expanding homeschool freedoms without new layers of registration, evaluation, or curriculum mandates tied to gender ideology or anything else.
- Oppose any redefinition of “neglect,” “abuse,” or “best interests” that could criminalize parents for declining to teach or affirm contested sexual and identity doctrines.
- Resist global or UN-influenced frameworks that subordinate parental rights to state-defined “human rights” or “societal needs.”
- Take seriously their oath of office to uphold the U.S. and Colorado constitutions and the God-given rights enshrined in each of those documents.
The Brazil case proves that once the state claims ultimate authority over what children must learn about sex, gender, and identity—and treats dissent as neglect—parental rights erode rapidly. Colorado’s hard-fought homeschool freedoms, built over decades, are not immune. They depend on vigilant parents, active advocacy by groups like HSLDA and CHEC, and most importantly, elected officials who respect the natural, God-given role of families.
Every freedom-loving Coloradan should recognize the pattern. The same ideological machinery targeting the Denardis is already visible here in incremental restrictions on enrichment programs, expansive gender policies in schools and courts, and the comfort of one-party rule that reduces accountability. The battle for the family and the right to raise children according to truth rather than political fashion is intensifying.
This November, parents must vote their values. They must vote—and get involved in the public realm—like their freedom depends on it, because it does. Elect leaders who will defend parental rights, preserve homeschool freedom, and ensure Colorado never follows Brazil’s path of jailing parents for choosing conscience over state indoctrination. The Denardis are appealing their unjust sentence but have no guarantees. Colorado families still have the ballot box. Use it wisely — before it’s too late.
