Homeschooling has doubled in the past 2 years

[Josh]

Private schooling is up as well.

It's supposedly down in my state.

I found mixed ideas about this.

How Covid-19 Boosted Private School Enrollment Forever

The Cato institute says private school enrollment is down.

Private Schooling after a Year of COVID-19: How the Private Sector Has Fared and How to Keep It Healthy

So I'm not sure.

I mostly based this on how hard it is to get into private schools (at least in metro areas); they have long waiting lists now. Demand outstrips supply.

[Somebody]

We are schooling virtually for the past 4 years, due to Lyme Disease.

I’m a little confused. Why would Lyme disease cause you to need to stay home for 4 years?

We started schooling at home due to a child with Lyme. Liked it so much better at home, we continued.

[Ken]

There actually is a lot of hybrid stuff going on that is probably difficult to accurately count. I’m not talking about so-called hybrid learning from last year but something different.

For example, I have had homeschooled kids from the Russian immigrant evangelical community come to school just to take my AP chemistry class while homeschooling the rest of their education. Lab science was just something they weren’t equipped to do at home. My daughter had several homeschooled running partners on her HS cross country team. And there are a lot of homeschool kids who are doing partial or complete online education through local school districts, charter schools, private online academies, and community colleges. If you are homeschooling but take online Spanish and Calculus through your local community college or school district’s virtual academy, are you still homeschooling?

I think a lot of it will stick around post-Pandemic. Some kids really do better with more independent self-paced instruction. Students are being a lot more creative about putting together a HS education or K-12 education. I would be curious to know what percentage of the home-schooling category maintains some connection to the local schools and universities, and what percentage is completely independent with no connection.

Yet that’s not what this is about. The study and methodology excluded these kind of situations.

Homeschooling - pure homeschooling - is 13.5%. Private schooling is up as well. People are rejecting the failing, bloated, and expensive public school system.

No, it doesn’t. There is no actual definition of “pure homeschooling” as you put it. And there is a tremendous amount of blended learning going on in both traditional schools and homeschools. Each state does it differently, but for states that track students, each student is associated with some school of record, either a public school, a private school, an online school of some sort, or homeschool. The school of record is going to be the one that tracks the student’s progress, issues transcripts, etc. Around here it is incredibly common for homeschool HS students to do online classes, especially community college or university level classes so that they can gain college credit for their work. Or also attend various tech magnet schools to pick up the odd class or two here and there. They are still considered homeschoolers if it is the parent that is putting together the overall curriculum, tracking the student’s progress, issuing transcripts, and such.

I expect both public and private schools to increasingly accommodate this sort of blended or al-la-carte type learning.

[mike]

Private schooling is up as well.

It's supposedly down in my state.

I found mixed ideas about this.

How Covid-19 Boosted Private School Enrollment Forever

The Cato institute says private school enrollment is down.

Private Schooling after a Year of COVID-19: How the Private Sector Has Fared and How to Keep It Healthy

So I'm not sure.

I mostly based this on how hard it is to get into private schools (at least in metro areas); they have long waiting lists now. Demand outstrips supply.

Looks like there are plenty of individual schools that are busting out their walls with higher enrollments. Like these.

https://www.pnj.com/story/news/educatio ... 695274001/

https://www.inforum.com/news/education/ ... ent-uptick

https://comomag.com/2021/08/30/private- ... advantage/

[Josh]

There actually is a lot of hybrid stuff going on that is probably difficult to accurately count. I’m not talking about so-called hybrid learning from last year but something different.

For example, I have had homeschooled kids from the Russian immigrant evangelical community come to school just to take my AP chemistry class while homeschooling the rest of their education. Lab science was just something they weren’t equipped to do at home. My daughter had several homeschooled running partners on her HS cross country team. And there are a lot of homeschool kids who are doing partial or complete online education through local school districts, charter schools, private online academies, and community colleges. If you are homeschooling but take online Spanish and Calculus through your local community college or school district’s virtual academy, are you still homeschooling?

I think a lot of it will stick around post-Pandemic. Some kids really do better with more independent self-paced instruction. Students are being a lot more creative about putting together a HS education or K-12 education. I would be curious to know what percentage of the home-schooling category maintains some connection to the local schools and universities, and what percentage is completely independent with no connection.

Yet that’s not what this is about. The study and methodology excluded these kind of situations.

Homeschooling - pure homeschooling - is 13.5%. Private schooling is up as well. People are rejecting the failing, bloated, and expensive public school system.

No, it doesn’t. There is no actual definition of “pure homeschooling” as you put it. And there is a tremendous amount of blended learning going on in both traditional schools and homeschools. Each state does it differently, but for states that track students, each student is associated with some school of record, either a public school, a private school, an online school of some sort, or homeschool. The school of record is going to be the one that tracks the student’s progress, issues transcripts, etc. Around here it is incredibly common for homeschool HS students to do online classes, especially community college or university level classes so that they can gain college credit for their work. Or also attend various tech magnet schools to pick up the odd class or two here and there. They are still considered homeschoolers if it is the parent that is putting together the overall curriculum, tracking the student’s progress, issuing transcripts, and such.

I expect both public and private schools to increasingly accommodate this sort of blended or al-la-carte type learning.

Yeah, it does. The survey was focused specifically on identifying and clarifying these sorts of hybrid arrangements.

Did you actually read the survey’s published results? I did.

[Josh]

We are schooling virtually for the past 4 years, due to Lyme Disease.

I’m a little confused. Why would Lyme disease cause you to need to stay home for 4 years?

We started schooling at home due to a child with Lyme. Liked it so much better at home, we continued.

“A child with Lyme” - what does this have to do with schooling? Children with Lyme disease can go go school, including for the 4 or so weeks they need to be taking antibiotics.

[temporal1]

From another similar thread:
i’m encouraged at the DIVERSITY of families that are choosing alternatives.
Complete opposite of some former accusations of “ulterior” motivations.

IFI / A Plea to Exit Public Schools ASAP
https://illinoisfamily.org/education/a- ... ools-asap/

IFI / Cultural Collision: “Comprehensive” Sex Ed Passed in Illinois Senate
https://illinoisfamily.org/homosexualit ... is-senate/

From the OP:

.. In addition to massive overall growth in homeschooling, the survey results also revealed
increasing homeschooling rates across all races and ethnicities.

While the homeschooling population has become more demographically diverse over the past decade,
the Census Bureau found that the number of black homeschoolers increased nearly fivefold between spring and fall of 2020,
from 3.3 percent to 16.1 percent. This black homeschooling rate is slightly higher than the approximately 15 percent of black students in the overall K-12 public school population.

The new Census data confirm what previous surveys have shown while also suggesting a tripling of the homeschooling population from its pre-pandemic levels. ..

For those who are accustomed to dismissing alt ed interests as racist+elitist (if not worse) -
the OP points out ALL parents+cultures desire their children’s education to be of quality, and, to reflect their values.

As one who attended very good “mixed cultural” public schools, before “mixed cultural” was a phrase -
i have witnessed this phenomena first-hand, from my earliest years. (The phenomena that parents want their children to respect their family and faith values.)

From what i witness, foreign students in U.S. schools retain their family+faith values in education MUCH BETTER than U.S. legal citizen students in the same schools, who are now systematically seduced into questioning, if not resenting or hating their family and faith values. This change puzzles me. Parents need to be aware, and seek better. Evidently, they are.

The U.S. now has a legal+social culture that allows those who are fringe minority groups IN ALL CULTURES to dominate.
This leaves many alienated, across the family+faith board. Thus, choosing alternative education.

When the inmates run the asylum, hopefully, the asylum will be vacated.

The people least capable of running a group or organization are now in charge.
Said especially when the result is total chaos or calamity.

https://idioms.thefreedictionary.com › ...
The inmates are running the asylum - Idioms by The Free Dictionary

“Much of the social history of the Western world, over the past three decades, has been a history of replacing what worked with what sounded good.”
Thomas Sowell

Another report about diverse folks choosing alternatives:

“Students of color disproportionately choosing distance learning.”
“Not every district in Minnesota is keeping track of the demographics of which students are choosing in-person versus distance learning options. But of those that are, many show students of color disproportionately choosing to stay home.”
https://sahanjournal.com/education/stud ... -learning/

.. Still, he’s decided to remain in virtual learning for the rest of the year.

“If I was to go back to in-person school I would only be there for like an hour out of the whole day and we have to wear masks, stay 6 feet apart. That’s going to be torture,” Hadley said. “So, I’d rather just finish out the two months we have online like we’ve been doing it — like, what’s two months going to do? It’s not going to hurt anybody.”

Still more than a year away from high school graduation, Hadley wants to go into health care like his mom.
He’s been keeping up with his schoolwork at home, and to him, it doesn’t make sense to disrupt the schedule he’s already worked out.

Others at Minneapolis Public Schools are making similar choices. Hadley is among the more than 40 percent of African American students who’ve chosen to stay home, even when in-person classes resume in mid-April. Native American students are staying home at similar rates. Forty-four percent of Hispanic students and almost 60 percent of Asian students have made the same choice. White students are the most eager to return to in-person learning, with only 34.5 percent opting to stick with distance learning. .. ..

.. “what’s two months going to do? It’s not going to hurt anybody.” ..
(well, that’s a change.) “when i was in school” we were told missing 1 day was a significant loss.

these reports suggest (to me) LOADS of all kinds of folks are discontent with what happens, and what doesn’t, in current public schools. old complaints, accusations, and arguments are not holding up.

[Josh]

People of colour are the worst afflicted by failing, unaccountable public schools who just keep demanding more and more money for bad results (and also oppose common-sense measures that would help, like vouchers for private schools). No wonder parents from across all ethnicities and races are fleeing the failing public school system and embracing alternatives like homeschooling.

The reaction of the teacher’s unions? They want to regulate or outright ban homeschooling and they are dead-set against vouchers. They’re afraid of competition.

[Ken]

Yeah, it does. The survey was focused specifically on identifying and clarifying these sorts of hybrid arrangements.

Did you actually read the survey’s published results? I did.

Yes I did read the survey. Hybrid learning in the pandemic time refers to splitting time between online learning at home and in-class learning, all of which occurs with students who are considered enrolled in the public (or private) school that is doing the instruction.

Each state has different requirements but most are somewhat similar to what we have here in WA. We have compulsory attendance for ages 8 and up here in WA and every child ages 8 and up must be registered with with either (1) a public school including charters and online publics, (2) private school or online private school, or (3) as a homeschooler in which case they must file homeschooling registration paperwork with the local school district in which they reside. Any child ages 8 and up for which that has not occurred is considered "truant" and the parents are subject to penalties, CPS investigation, etc. This is a summary of the law: https://www.time4learning.com/homeschoo ... ments.html

The only actual data that the state keeps is what type of school each student is enrolled with. So they know the number of public school students, online students, private school students, and homeschoolers. If you are running a homeschool, you have to keep records as to what your child is learning, what classes they are taking, how many hours, etc. But the state generally doesn't track things at that level of detail as long as you meet the minimum required number of days and hours.

Many homeschoolers engage in all manner of educational experiences outside of the home. But as long as they are enrolled as homeschoolers and their home is their primary school of record, that is how they are classified. A decade or two ago schools were much more strict about outside students taking classes or participating in sports. So in order to take classes or do sports at a local high school you actually had to ENROLL in that school which meant all the curriculum and graduation requirements kicked in and you had to be a full-time student.

Now if you are a homeschooler in many states you can go down to your local high school and enroll as a non-matriculating student for just one or more specific classes or extra-curricular activities while still maintaining your homeschool status. Likewise, if you are 16 or older you can usually register at your local community college or even 4-year college as a non-matriculating student and just take one or more classes without actually being admitted to the college or university within a specific degree program. This is exactly what my daughter did. She took online Spanish and an online math class through the local community college because it wasn't conveniently fitting into her school schedule and she wanted to do them over the summer. She could just as easily have done that as a homeschooling student and would have still been considered a homeschooler.

I actually deal with homeschoolers and homeschool parents all the time. Yes, at the elementary level they mostly do instruction in the home aside from various homeschool group things and the occasional enrichment activity like outside music lessons, museum art classes or whatever. But at the HS level it is exceedingly common to take advantage of all manner of outside educational opportunities while still maintaining homeschool status.

[Josh]

At risk of repeating myself, the survey was about asking if parents are exclusively homeschooling. That’s the 13.5% figure.

Other hybrid arrangements like you discuss are in the 86.5% figure.

This is significant, because exclusive homeschooling was around 3% a few years ago.

Public school (or hybrid arrangements) are becoming MUCH less popular.