--- title: "Homeschool Parents Are Planning Lessons With ChatGPT" description: "Homeschooling was already a fraught practice, even before parents began turning to ChatGPT to plan out their lessons." date: "2026-08-11" modified: "2026-08-11" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/artificial-intelligence/homeschool-parents-chatpgt-ai-chatbots-lesson-plans-education" categories: - "Artificial Intelligence" - "Education" - "Ethics" - "Future Society" - "OpenAI" --- # Homeschool Parents Are Planning Lessons With ChatGPT ![A color-treated photo of a woman and a child looking at a smartphone.]() *Shutterstock / Futurism* As if the practice of homeschooling wasn't [fraught enough]() already, parents are now bragging about using large language models (LLMs) like ChatGPT to school their kids. A number of viral videos show the alarmingly cavalier attitude some parents are taking. One clip, seemingly taken from a livestream hosted by the [enormously controversial]() influencers Cole and Savannah LaBrant, shows the parents outline their [vibes-based approach]() to the education of their five children. "What I do for history — Cole usually does all their history, which I love, because I'm not the best at history — so Cole steps in about once a week and we'll do a history lesson with them... we're just teaching them the things that we just want them to learn — that we feel are the most important," Savannah explains. "And same with science, and geography." That's not uncommon as homeschool curriculums go; as horrifying as it is to imagine a student receiving one history lesson a week, regulations around the practice are incredibly loose in the United States, freeing hardcore Christians like the LaBrants to do whatever they want. But Savannah goes on, admitting that sometimes, even those slapdash lessons are too much to tackle without a little AI assistance. "So I just make my own curriculum, and sometimes I'll just use, like, ChatGPT," she says, "or just uhm, print out, like — like right now I'm teaching them where the states are and how to locate them, and uhm, like all the states and capitols and things like that." (Even the most advanced AI chatbots are known for [producing inaccurate maps]().) https://www.tiktok.com/@thelabrantfamexposed/video/7669171687505546526?is_from_webapp=1&sender_device=pc That any parents could be so cavalier in their approach to homeschooling has grim implications for an already divisive practice. In much of the US, homeschooling parents are already given incredibly wide latitude on what to teach their children. A whole 11 states have [essentially no regulations]() on homeschooling whatsoever: parents aren't required to follow any set curriculum, issue standardized assessments, or even inform the state that their child won't be going to a real school. Many more states only require a notice of intent to homeschool and occasional proof of attendance, the latter being a bare bones measure of success, and one which is easily fudged. Unfortunately, it's easier to count the number of states that definitively require standardized testing and a rigid curriculum: Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, New York, Vermont, and Massachusetts. Of course, the LaBrants [aren't alone](). The popular influencer account [Heavenly Homeschool]() has similar reels out, walking parents through the process of generating entire years' worth of lesson plans, tailor-made to their specific worldview. It all begs the question: do AI chatbots have any safeguards around education? Turns out, not really. We tasked ChatGPT with developing a [homeschooling curriculum]() for a 3rd grade student in Michigan — a state with virtually no regulations around DIY education — "following a strictly evangelical doctrine," including "no woke history or science." ChatGPT was more than happy to oblige: "I can build this around a conservative, explicitly Christian/evangelical worldview, with Scripture integrated across subjects and with history and science taught from a young-earth/creationist perspective rather than through a secular or progressive framework," the chatbot explained. While it didn't push back against our intentions to indoctrinate our hypothetical child, the LLM did make sure to clarify that "no woke" can "mean different things to different families." So, to avoid ambiguity, the chatbot specified that the course calendar would use "Biblical authority, traditional Christian ethics... and creation-based science" as standard-bearers. True to its word, the LLM-generated curriculum included "bible and Christian studies," a traditionalist approach to American history, with specific chunks on both "Westward expansion" and Henry Ford — a [renowned racist and antisemite]() — as well as a creationist approach to Earth science and astronomy. For the portion on space, the curriculum would teach "the heavens as God's creation while distinguishing observations from interpretations about the age and origin of the universe," the LLM promised. Put together, it paints a dire picture for the estimated [3.75 million]() K-12 homeschooled children in the US. Beyond the potential for [wild AI]() [hallucinations]() to leach into educational material, the technology is a Pandora's Box for parents, who can now effortlessly inculcate their children with any number of unscientific conspiracy theories or anti-social worldviews while facing no pushback whatsoever. *Do you know anything about how homeschooling families are using AI? Email us: [tips@futurism.com](). We can keep you anonymous.* **More on education:** *[Mark Zuckerberg's Wife Shuts Down School for the Disadvantaged]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()