2023-10-31 22:11:21
WASHINGTON (CITC) — The number of U.S. families homeschooling their children has exploded in recent years, making it the country’s fastest-growing form of education, according to a new analysis.
The analysis by The Washington Post found that the number of homeschooled children in the U.S. has soared by 51% since 2017. The statistic comes as public school enrollment has seen a 4% decrease over the same time period.
Homeschool growth is also outpacing that of private school, which has seen a 7% increase in enrollment over the last six years.
Much of the growth occurred following the onset of the pandemic, when families raised concerns over curriculums and COVID-19 protocols. However, the rise has largely sustained itself, as The Washington Post found that the majority of the 11,000 school districts it evaluated still show elevated homeschooling rates.
The states witnessing the largest growth are New York, South Dakota and Rhode Island, which have seen increases of 103%, 94% and 91% since 2017 respectively. The most significant surge occurred in Washington D.C., where 108% more students are now being homeschooled.
Blanca Tapahuasco, a homeschooling mom in Maryland, told Crisis in the Classroom (CITC) she attributes the growth in her own state to parents wanting more flexibility and the ability to meet their children’s needs.
READ MORE | Nearly half of homeschool parents worried regarding ‘liberal viewpoints’ in public schools, poll shows
“Personally, when I decided to homeschool my now fifth-grader, it mainly was narrowed to that he was so bored as a first-grader that he no longer wanted to go to school and he asked me to unenroll him,” Tapahuasco told CITC. “He had no behavior issues, tested one grade above, had no issues making friends, but was bored out of his mind. I decided he mattered more than keeping a job and I might also take a part-time weekend job to keep weekdays open.”
Tapahuasco also noted that “severe adverse behaviors” in public schools can impact teachers’ abilities to run their classrooms, further fueling parents’ desires to find another option for their children.
“Many can learn and many are simply not prioritized nor taught that learning is a journey,” she told CITC. “I have no regrets at all since [beginning to homeschool my son.]”
Parents have become increasingly vocal regarding their frustrations with public schools, including the content shown to their children. A September poll found that nearly half of U.S. parents who homeschool their children do so out of concern that public schools are “influenced too much by liberal viewpoints.”
READ MORE | Support for school choice has soared, crossed demographics since pandemic, poll shows
The same poll determined that 62% of parents choose to homeschool their children out of fear of school shootings, while 58% forwent public schools due to bullying concerns.
The homeschooling surge also coincides with a heightened push for school choice. A July poll determined that school choice programs, which allow parents to use education funds to send their children to alternatives outside their assigned public schools, are supported by 71% of registered voters. The statistic, which represents a 7% increase since April 2020, crosses all demographics, including race and political affiliation.
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