Homeschooling catches the eye of major media outlets, including Chicago Tribune 

The explosion in U.S. homeschooling has become so marked that even liberal media outlets are paying attention – recently Newsweek and now the Chicago Tribune.

“Modern homeschooling has shifted from a largely religious, rural demographic to a more diverse, often secular population, according to Angela Watson, assistant professor and director of the Homeschool Research Lab at Johns Hopkins,” the news outlet observed in a Feb. 11 article.

“It is the fastest-growing – and the only growing – form of education in the U.S.” 

The article also features Aziza Butler, who runs the faith-based WeSchool Academy homeschool co-op. As previously reported by The Lion, Butler – a black mother of six – spoke out against an Illinois bill that would have heaped more restrictions on homeschooling families.

“I always say, I feel like I’m Harriet Tubman for homeschooling,” Butler told the Tribune. “Free the kids. Let them thrive.”

Journalists pointed to Butler as a prime example of the swelling interest in homeschooling from nonwhite families.

“Homeschooling is becoming increasingly racially diverse,” the Tribune observed. “A recent analysis from Johns Hopkins researchers found that the share of homeschoolers of color rose by 4 percentage points since 1998, while the proportion of white children declined.”

“We’re not gonna wait for it” 

Although Illinois doesn’t officially track the number of families homeschooling, the Tribune implies it is growing as public-school enrollment falls.

“From 2018 to 2023, the percentage of Chicago’s school-aged children enrolled in (Chicago Public Schools) fell from 75% to 71%, according to a recent report. The proportion attending private schools or not enrolled ticked up over the same period.”

Butler has firsthand experience with Chicago schools, recalling her experience as a former sixth-grade schoolteacher.

“My challenge wasn’t just to be a good teacher, it was to combat a system that had to meet a bottom line,” she said.

Butler cited large class sizes and limited supplies, funding and staffers as part of her challenges in public education. After her first daughter was born, she left the district and founded WeSchool following the COVID-19 outbreak. 

“I think parents really got to see what their kids were not doing, or what they could be doing, and they just got more involved,” she told journalists about the pandemic’s effects on education.

For Butler, homeschooling has empowered many black families to combat “historic inequity and achievement gaps in public schools – what she still calls a ‘failing system,’” according to the Tribune.

“We’ve seen that in history, where black people took it upon themselves to figure out how to give their kids what they need,” she concluded. “I think about the civil rights struggle and how difficult that was. It was like, ‘We’re not gonna wait for it.’”