Amy Duggar King Stands Firm In Family's Homeschooling Tradition After Backlash

A child's first day of school is a huge deal, and Amy Duggar King made the most of it on Aug. 21, 2023, when her 3-year-old son Daxton began preschool. She bought him lots of supplies, ordered doughnuts in the shape of letters reading "Pre-K!", and had him pose with a sign recording the date, his age and height, and what he wanted to be when he grew up. (Dax said "Help," meaning he wants to help people.) But it was the section titled "My Teacher Is" that really got fans' attention when she shared the photos on Instagram: King wrote "Mama," meaning King will be homeschooling her son this year. 

The announcement made many of King's fans rejoice: "Homeschooling is such a gift!" wrote one mom. "Enjoy the journey!" Others weren't so enthused, considering her family history. King, the niece of Jim Bob Duggar, has made lots of scathing criticisms of his church group, the Institute in Basic Life Principles. She was one of the participants in the Amazon exposé "Shiny Happy People: Duggar Family Secrets," which accused the ministry of "brainwashing" women and "breeding pedophiles" (per Daily Mail).

But one of the controversies surrounding the IBLP is its homeschooling curriculum, which emphasizes morality lessons over actual academics. Some followers wondered why the "rebel" Duggar was choosing this option for her own son, considering her feelings toward her cousins' upbringing and the poor rep of their education system. But King was quick to defend herself against the critics. 

Snarkers on Reddit suggested Amy Duggar King might not be the best person to teach her preschooler son. They pointed to a punctuation error in one of her Instagram posts — she wrote "you're support" instead of the possessive "your" — and to the fact she wrote simply "Monday" to mark the date of Daxton's first day of school. A fan tipped off King to the goof, and she replied, "[T]hat's so sad that just a simple typo can be such a big deal. I'll fix it because I actually like correct grammar." King later took to her Instagram Stories to make a stronger statement (via Monsters and Critics). "I know how to spell, I know how to teach, and I know what's right for my son," she wrote. "I've wanted to homeschool and it's literally a dream come true!!!" King added that she's so content with her life that she doesn't let criticism get to her.

King isn't the only family member catching heat for this choice. Jill Duggar Dillard has also caused a stir for her apparent decision to take her oldest son out of traditional school and teach him at home. (She has never confirmed or denied the rumor.) But it's likely King won't be using a curriculum as sketchy as the one her cousins had. As a follower wrote, "Just because her whacked-out Aunt and Uncle couldn't homeschool properly, doesn't mean Amy can't. ...[D]on't judge others for their decision to homeschool and especially not because of their family members who got it wrong."