This has really become a media shit storm. The Fox article posted above seems to try to dig up all the negative dirt they could on this family, it is really a bit absurd. It seems that because the family is a bit eccentric and has a history of participating in reality tv shows. There is really no real reason to believe this was a hoax. The media is just feeding off a public outcry that is based on the fact that this family really isn't normal. The sheriff will continue with his investigation and I doubt he finds this incident to be a hoax.
Personally, what I think is somewhat sad about this story is the media and individuals being critical of the parents. We really don't know what does or doesn't happen in the household, all the information released to the public has been hearsay. Child protective services has been called in to do an investigation, but that doesn't mean these people are bad parents or that the kids won't grow up to be productive members of society. I think it is kind of cool that the dad was trying to get his kids interested in science, especially when there are so many parents that seem to not be involved in their kids lives at all. I'd hold off on the parental critiques since we don't have all the facts.
