CV NEWS FEED // The number of Americans who homeschool has skyrocketed since the beginning of 2020, with the latest census data showing that over 11% of U.S. households now educate their children at home.
The sea change first began to show itself in the Fall of 2020 at the beginning of the 2020/2021 school year. Some families were stonewalled by school districts kept closed due to controversial COVID-19 lockdown policies. Others opted to homeschool rather than rely on unpopular forms of video-conference learning or sending their children back to heavily restricted classroom environments.
The rate of homeschooling doubled for many demographic groups in 2020 alone, according to a report from the Bellwether Education Partners. Black American households saw the sharpest rise in homeschooling, with a rate that more than quadrupled.
“Census data shows that homeschooling families grew at a rapid rate from 1999 to 2012 before plateauing at around 3.3% of the entire U.S. population,” the Washington Examiner reported:
The data also showed that more diverse demographics have opted to turn away from traditional learning. Approximately 9.7% of white families have retreated to homeschooling, along with 12.1% of Hispanic families, 8.8% of Asian families, and 16.1% of black families, according to the [Bellwether] report.
Will The Trend Continue?
In a column at The American Mind, Blaise Ebiner pointed to the aggressiveness of ideological Leftism in classrooms as one reason for the increase in homeschooling.
“How can parents protect their children against this all-consuming indoctrination? In a hostile society, one of the most viable options is homeschooling—as a lifestyle,” Ebiner wrote. “Homeschooling makes parents into their children’s primary educators, as they should be. Hence homeschooling grows ever more popular as the Left grows ever more aggressive.”
“Homeschooling doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to design a curriculum from scratch or teach every subject to your child,” Ebiner continued. “What it does mean is that you are free to choose your child’s curriculum and who teaches it. With a little research you can find plenty of good resources to help you form a curriculum and instructions on how to get started homeschooling.”
It is “key” for parents to be fully in charge of their children’s education, Ebiner argued:
As school principal, dean, and teacher, you have the power to replace problematic textbooks, discipline your children, and indoctrinate them in the way you see fit. You don’t have to go through a bureaucracy to make any necessary adjustments.
Readers can find Ebiner’s full essay here.
