Why Homeschooling Has Tripled Since The Pandemic

A rapidly-growing number of families across America are choosing to homeschool their children.

Parents throughout the United States have decided to ditch the public-school model and are taking it upon themselves to provide their children with the life skills and academics necessary to help ensure they become productive members of society that can think critically and make educated decisions. It’s no question at this point that the COVID-19 ‘pandemic’ was a key driver in the explosion of homeschooling numbers across the country, as since its’ beginning, the numbers of homeschooled students has tripled.

Almost every state in the U.S., with the exception of a few like Iowa and Kentucky, saw increases in the number of children being homeschooled from 2020-2021. Some states even saw drastic spikes like Alaska, Florida, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, Oklahoma, Vermont and West Virginia, with increases of 10% or more compared to the year prior. 2 An important caveat to note is that these states are politically and socially diverse which tells us that parents across the political and social spectrums are fed up with the public school system and their dangerous and divisive policies. In fact, according to a recent poll, an astounding just over 70% of American adults feel concern over the academic progress of K-12 public-school students and as a result, many are now opting for homeschooling options.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, by Fall 2021, 11.1% of U.S. students were homeschooled, a rate that continues to rise. With interest continuing to grow in the homeschooling space, parents that may feel isolated or overwhelmed with the process, are quickly realizing they are not on this journey alone, and there are homeschooling communities popping up all over the country. Today’s homeschooling parent has endless support with things like access to free online curricula, support groups, and educational resources. And, given the relatively recent explosion in homeschooling rates across the U.S., many parents are even fortunate enough to have friends or neighbors who homeschool, providing a launching pad for implementing a community homeschool co-op or micro-school for example.

It wasn’t long ago that homeschooling families were considered rare, ‘odd’ because they lacked the social experience of public-school or looked down upon as if the quality of the education they received was not up to par. Unfortunately, this long-term aversive type of behavior towards homeschooling families has been completely unfounded.

Homeschooled students consistently outperform public-school peers.

The truth is that on average, homeschooled children surpass their public-school peers in social and academic skills. In fact, according to data, homeschoolers continue to score above-average on measures of social skills compared to their public-school peers in areas like empathy, self-control, cooperation and assertiveness. Even more shocking, data shows that academically, homeschooled children surpass their peers by a lmost 30% in all areas of academic testing! This includes college entry exams resulting in homeschooled students being actively recruited and admitted into prestigious colleges. 5 While homeschooled students are excelling, shockingly over 71% of public-school students are failing to maintain basic academic proficiency by the end of their K-12 experience. 6 Given data like this, it’s no wonder why homeschooling numbers and interest continue to climb even with schools opening up and returning to in-person learning.

With planning underway for the 2023-2024 school year, public school districts should not expect many of those students lost to homeschooling to return. No matter what the reason was to send a family down the path of homeschooling, it’s more likely now than ever that those students will never return to the public-school system with many more families following as policies and curricula are continuing to be enacted that disrupt learning and social growth. Drastic policies enacted in response to the COVID-19 ‘pandemic’, such as lockdowns, masking and mandated injections, spurred one of the biggest losses of students to homeschooling in decades. Each parent may cite a different reason for pulling their child from public-school but all around it is clear: public school is failing the American children.

Why are parents so concerned all of a sudden?

Parents are also dealing with dangerous overreach by public-school entities specifically in regard to the strategies enforced in response to the ‘pandemic’ that often involved social and medical interventions by unqualified individuals in the school environment. It may be arguable where the primary cause for the increase in homeschooling stems, but certainly, the reasons parents choose to go this route are vast, and Covid-19 isn’t the only thing driving them away.

Many homeschool parents were particularly pleased that their children were no longer being exposed to extreme political indoctrination that is being increasingly integrated into public school curricula, like the implementation of Critical Race Theory (CRT), a focus on LGBTQ+ material, and academics more concerned about molding students into social justice warriors than academics. It is dangerous ideologies like these that continue to dominate today's K-12 public-education classrooms and foster an environment of divisiveness, confusion and victimhood.

Homeschool children are liberated from the political agendas of teacher’s unions, school officials and the influence of other indoctrinated students allowing them to focus solely on academic growth and improving life skills. One example of such indoctrination is the increasing use of "Gender Unicorns" as a tool to encourage students, as young as 5 years old, to choose their gender identity, gender expression, the gender to which they are physically attracted, and the gender they are emotionally attracted, be it female/male, female/male, or some other combination.

The drop-off in academic standards as mentioned above, is obviously another major cause for concern for parents. For example, advanced classes and gifted/talented programs were put on the chopping block all over the country, with many being eliminated all together on the basis of ‘equity’--stifling passions and depriving top performers the chance to realize their full potential. 8 In addition, graduation requirements are being scaled back -- again, in the name of equity. 9 This begs the question:

What is the value of a high school diploma when certain academic standards are not

maintained?

Concerns over a child’s physical safety is also now a major concern for many parents. Racial tensions have been amplified and instigated by the media and policy makers, making schools a hot bed of discrimination and too often, violence. 10 More disturbingly, children are now being forced to share spaces previously segregated by sex, such as bathrooms or locker rooms, with students of the opposite sex, claiming gender identities that are at odds with their biological sex. Loudoun County, Virginia, is one of the many examples where peers are sexually assaulting minors in school buildings throughout the school day. 11

Parents are also feeling increasingly frustrated over antiquated curriculum and techniques. As one parent shared:

"Now that I’ve started homeschooling my kindergarten daughter, I can’t imagine

sending my younger son to traditional public school, confined to sitting at a desk six

hours a day when he turns 5.” 12

The theme is all too common, parents all across this country are now saying to themselves:

"We never thought we would be homeschooling our kids. We didn’t think we could pull it

off. Now, we cannot imagine ever NOT homeschooling our kids."

The move to homeschooling is hardly without challenges, in fact, it’s relatively difficult. But the rewards are invaluable for both the student(s) and the parent(s), with increased family time being one of the greatest. A major benefit is also seen in parents actively exercising their rights and authority over their children. This ability for parents to determine and control what their children are learning is profound and an opportunity not to be ignored as it can mean the difference between a well-adjusted, and a poorly adjusted adult. Parents all over this country are now seeing first-hand, through homeschooling that success is possible. They are watching their children transform before their own eyes into motivated, curious, and well-adjusted students excited to learn and contribute positively to the world.

Here’s the takeaway…

By pushing back against the detrimental policies implemented by public schools, vast numbers of American students are now able to experience the benefits of an education focused on academics instead of social justice. All of these benefits from a formerly scoffed homeschool education. While homeschooling is not for everyone, more families than ever are finding it to be an excellent solution to many of their problems and it is making amazing differences in the lives of their children. Given all of these benefits, it’s no surprise why choosing to homeschool continues to become more and more popular by the day.

1 New Census Data Show Homeschooling Tripled During the Pandemic—And One Key

Group is Driving the Surge - Foundation for Economic Education (fee.org)

2 Homeschooling on the Rise During COVID-19 Pandemic (census.gov)

3 Almost everyone is concerned about K-12 students’ academic progress

4 Community, Co-Ops, and “Micro-Schools” — The Coop Homeschool

5 Homeschooling: The Research, Scholarly articles, studies, facts, research (nheri.org)

6 Dumbing Down K-12 Education | American Center for Transforming Education

(discovery.org)

7 Gender Unicorn - (transstudent.org)

8 Boston Suspends Advanced and Gifted Programs Over “Equity” Concerns –

JONATHAN TURLEY

9 Chicago Public Schools Releases Equity-Focused Guidance on Grading, Graduation