Audato and Ieda Denardi began homeschooling their daughters, Alice, 15, and Lorena, 11, in São Paulo, Brazil, during the pandemic in 2020 after recognizing shortcomings in their public schools' remote-learning programs.

In doing so, they joined about 75,000 homeschooling families in Brazil. Little did the couple know their choice could cost them their freedom. 

The Denardis saw homeschooling as a caring parental choice intended to give their daughters the best education possible; however, Brazilian state prosecutors viewed it as an administrative offense for failing to register the children in a formal, state-accredited school.

The judge, despite being advised by the prosecutor in the case to acquit the family, convicted and sentenced them, making the Denardis the first to be criminally prosecuted for homeschooling children. 

The judge accused them of "using their daughters as pawns in an ideological struggle ... while completely excluding the State's involvement."