National homeschooling growth no longer just pandemic-related, researchers conclude
Results from the 2023-2024 school year show the noticeable increase in U.S. homeschooling can no longer be attributed solely to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While the exact reason for this growth is…
Results from the 2023-2024 school year show the noticeable increase in U.S. homeschooling can no longer be attributed solely to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“While the exact reason for this growth is unknown, we do know that it was not driven by the pandemic or a sudden disruption to traditional schooling,” concludes Angela Watson for Johns Hopkins University’s Homeschool Hub.
“While homeschooling grew rapidly during the pandemic, most people thought that students would return to more traditional schools when the pandemic disruptions abated.”
Four years later, however, the homeschool movement shows no signs of slowing.
Nineteen of 21 states have reported increases in homeschool participation, ranging from 2-29%. Even the two states showing a decline may not tell the full story, as Watson notes for New Hampshire.
“Insider reports indicate that the decline in New Hampshire is likely related to the state’s Education Freedom Account (EFA) and how homeschool students who receive public funding are no longer counted as part of the state’s total homeschooling number.”
This change in counting students “may not truly reflect a decrease in actual homeschool participation,” which highlights the limitations of available reporting.
“These are state-registered homeschool participation counts collected by the local districts (in most cases) and issued by the state,” Watson explains. “They count the families who report their homeschool participation to the state.”
As a result, these counts should be considered “the minimum number of homeschooled students in a state” with the actual count likely higher, according to researchers.
“The increase is even more interesting because the overall number of U.S. students is declining due in part to declining birth rates. In other words, ultimately we see that the number of homeschooled students is going up as the total number of U.S. students is going down.”
‘So many resources’ to homeschool
While researchers did not explore why more families are choosing to homeschool as an educational option, popular reasons reported elsewhere include dissatisfaction with public schools.
For example, a recent think tank in New York quoted a homeschooling mom who had originally planned to send all four of her children to public school: “When it came time to send our eldest, I was dismayed by what I observed during the tour.”
Another homeschooler, Léa Bouillon, highlighted her ability to customize learning opportunities for each of her three children.
“What is wonderful about homeschooling is that you really get to think about your own education all over again and maybe reconsider your own strengths and weaknesses and how they can be improved.”
Bouillon, an opera singer who graduated with a degree in French literature, includes classical arts and music in her homeschool.
“I think it used to be that there weren’t a lot of resources for some parts of homeschooling,” she said. “And now thankfully there are so many resources.”