Over 3 Million Americans are Homeschooled \ stacker news ~charts_and

I had no idea homeschooling was this big in the US. The linked article says the 3.1 million homeschooled students in the US represents 6% of all school-aged children.

Interesting to note that while homeschooling rates dropped in 2022, they remained higher than their pre-covid baseline.

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1156 sats \ 13 replies \ @south_korea_ln 25 Feb

Based on my uninformed opinion, this would be more of a testament to how bad public schools have become in some places in the US than to interpret this directly as a positive trend.

I believe that a good trained teacher who is paid a decent wage is better than a motivated parent who has many other responsibilities than teaching a full curriculum for 7 or 8 hours a day. I speak as someone who already has a hard time giving quality material to my son when I have to watch him on his days off from kindergarten while taking care of my full-time job. Even without a full-time job, it'd be hard. I know of some parents who can do this well, but they are the exception rather than the rule.

The social skills one learns in a good school setting are also invaluable.

65 sats \ 5 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb

The kids at school are not doing a full curriculum for 7/8 hours a day, a lot of it is "busy work", crowd control and other unnecessary stuff. Most "homeschoolers" (i.e. those who do "school" or at home) pull it off in about a couple of hours - 3 hours at the most.

253 sats \ 2 replies \ @grayruby 25 Feb

This is correct. My son, now 13, has been homeschooled for his entire educational career. If we didn't allow him to get ahead or work on other educational/developmental interests such as coding, music, taekwondo/working out during his 8 hours of schooling per day he would be done his entire daily curriculum in 2-3 hours.

He is a grade level ahead in every subject and two grades ahead in math.

Public schools are more about social development and learning to take instruction and get work done than actual education. How can one teacher truly dynamically teach 30 students who each need to learn in their own unique way?

Anyways, I am a bit biased because we have had so much success with homeschooling and I know a lot of people I went to school with that became teachers and only one of them did it because they are passionate about teaching. The rest did it because in Canada it is a really cushy job, well paid, with a lot of time off and you can be really bad at it and never get fired. That's just reality. The teachers unions practically run Canada.

50 sats \ 1 reply \ @davidw 25 Feb

Bravo. Glad to hear it has worked well for you all until now. Sounds like you’ve done an exceptional job at home.

How was your son perceived the experience vs his peers?

229 sats \ 0 replies \ @grayruby 26 Feb

My son loves being homeschooled. He has a couple extra curricular activities he does to add in some of the social element. His friends are pretty cool about the fact that he is homeschooled.

What's interesting is the change in reaction from other parents. We used to get odd looks from fellow parents when we said we were homeschooling but now we get more interested looks and a lot of questions so there has definitely been a shift in public perception.

60 sats \ 1 reply \ @justanumber 25 Feb

Regarding socialisation, home educated kids are learning social skills in the "real world" rather than in a class of 30 kids the same age as them (so like 3x0 8 yr olds) and the teachers who are "authority figures" which often creates an unpleasant power dynamic as there is a need for control. In home education there is a wide range of ages and experience and more of a mutual respect between adults and children. It's difficult for people who don't have the experience to grasp. I was there 16 years ago, thinking I was crazy for removing my eldest from state education - but it was pretty swift learning curve, once I was plunged into it.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @398ja 25 Feb

One additional thing that just came to mind is how schooling affects the parent-child bond, especially when both parents work, as it's the often the case nowadays. Children mostly experience their parents in stressful situations. In my opinion, this has unthinkable far reaching consequences.

When you talk to relatively older people, like 50+, you realise that they had much more freedoms. Already in early age, they could roam the streets unsupervised, socialise, play, explore with other kids. This would be unthinkable today, especially in a big cities. A tragedy!

75 sats \ 1 reply \ @south_korea_ln 25 Feb

Appreciate the positive experiences with homeschooling shared as counter arguments to my initial reply. I'm happy to hear it's not all black and white. I probably based my opinion on the extreme cases of American homeschooling portrayed in foreign media where parents insulate their kids from different ways of thinking based on extreme religious convictions or based on a dogmatic rejection of the scientific method of understanding the world. Even then i realise that this last statement is probably also too generalizing. In any event, it is interesting reading people with different perspectives of the world.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb

I probably based my opinion on the extreme cases of American homeschooling portrayed in foreign media where parents insulate their kids from different ways of thinking based on extreme religious convictions or based on a dogmatic rejection of the scientific method of understanding the world

Whilst I don't doubt those situations do definitely occur, bear in mind that almost all MSM articles on homeschooling will be hit pieces specifically skewed to paint homeschooling in a negative light. We need to ask ourselves, should we believe everything you read in the mainstream?

Thank you for considering another point of view 🙏🏼 I appreciate it! As a home educating parent, I have spent the past many years being held accountable and often attacked for doing the best by my kids. It can be mentally draining. Literally nobody has to justify their decision to send their kids to school, even if that school is absolutely terrible and they get beaten up or abused everyday.

25 sats \ 1 reply \ @398ja 25 Feb

Do not underestimate the child's intrinsic motivation for learning. Ultimately, this is what matters. Adults' roleis to protect and encourage at this at all costs, but unfortunately the opposite happens in most schools. Based on my limited knowledge of the montessori system, teachers are only guides, and children do the "heavy lifting" on their own. Also, I am sure if there were no schools, children would still have plenty of opportunities to mingle and learn social skills.

60 sats \ 0 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb

Exactly, I have seen myself as a facilitator and support person in my children's education, rather than a teacher. If I was to let my ego get in the way, my children would have only learnt what "I" know. They were capable of so much more than that!

And yes to your point about social skills. People don't realise that schools are a relatively new concept in the history of the human species. Kids were not unsociable, uncouth savages, incapable of holding a civilised conversation before school came along. 😂

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb

I believe that a good trained teacher who is paid a decent wage is better than a motivated parent who has many other responsibilities

Teachers can have 30+ kids to cater for with many other responsibilities and red tape that are part of their job but not actually related to teaching. It's a major complaint from teachers in many different countries right now. The testing and marking alone takes up so much of their time. Of those 30+ kids, all have different abilities, strengths, learning styles, personalities, academic levels, special education needs. That's before you even get into lesson plans, preparation, parent teacher evenings, social issues, socio-ecomonic issues, bullying and much much more that teachers have to deal with. The huge rise in autism spectrum disorder is a major challenge for many teachers right now. It's a hard job! I'm not saying home educating your kids isn't hard but it's a whole different beast. I have been told by 2 different fellow home ed parents, who are both ex-teachers, that the best home educating parents are not ex-teachers, as they are not basing the facilitation of their children's education on the bias of their training. They are coming at it from a completely different angle. Plus they have a vested interest in their own kids. A lot of public schooling is testing and crowd control.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

What works in South Korea won’t work in USA because of ethnic and cultural homogeneity

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @south_korea_ln 25 Feb

For sure. Lots of nuance to this type of question. Hence my uniformed opinion on the US situation.

1120 sats \ 5 replies \ @justanumber 24 Feb

Numbers have grown in the UK too and it's been steadily increasing the past decade, with covid resulting in a bigger spike, as far as I'm aware. Not sure about other countries. It's good. Free the kids from the indoctrination = critical thinkers. But the parents have to be awake. It's pointless if they just follow the state curriculum and do "school at home". The overlords are panicking though. Can't have people raising kids who can think for themselves.

72 sats \ 2 replies \ @kr OP 24 Feb

it’s fascinating. and this is all happening despite the fact that everyone pays taxes to fund public education yet the homeschooling parents typically receive no compensation for their choice (I believe in Florida they do now).

i wonder what these numbers would be if every family had the option to simply not pay a portion of their taxes if they chose to homeschool their kids.

327 sats \ 0 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb freebie

@kr

this is all happening despite the fact that everyone pays taxes to fund public education yet the homeschooling parents typically receive no compensation for their choice

One of the many reasons is the often poor quality of state education. As I say, there are many reasons but once the parent has come to the end of the road (as often happens) they simply don't care about receiving "compensation".

i wonder what these numbers would be if every family had the option to simply not pay a portion of their taxes if they chose to homeschool their kids.

That argument never holds water, as there are many services that taxes (apparently) pay for that many people do not use themselves and what about people who don't have any children - can they claim their portion of tax back for education they don't use?

I don't think it would make too much difference because the the reasons for doing so are often philosophical or they are forced into it because their child(ren) is not thriving. So they will do it no matter what and make it work somehow. If you feel strongly enough to do that, you are not going to care if you get a few bucks from the government and if you're doing it because you'll get some $$ then it's not for the right reasons. You're doing it because you feel compelled to do it. Sure there might be some who would do when they couldn't otherwise afford it but it's unrealistic IMO as they're never going to be paying people the full wage that they lost. It's usually just a few hundred bucks per year which, granted, some home educators (who are doing it on a shoestring) will take. Then there are ones who never take anything from the govt.

In terms of being "sovereign" I don't think home educators should accept money from the state. That opens doors that will ultimately lead to unwarranted control and surveillance. If we ask for money from the government we are telling them that it is their job to educate our children. It is not, it is our job. Why should we receive "compensation" for raising our own children? Here is a short article about accepting "free money".

412 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

Mainly from local property taxes. California is unusual that the state funds all public education

20 sats \ 1 reply \ @brandonsbytes 24 Feb

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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb

@brandonsbytes hehe that's very funny ;-)

845 sats \ 2 replies \ @kepford 24 Feb

Only a fool would let his enemy teach his children.

~ Malcom X

33 sats \ 1 reply \ @justanumber 26 Feb

Few people understand this

11 sats \ 0 replies \ @kepford 26 Feb

Those that see the state for what it is do see it. That number is very few. Few see that all government's education systems are designed to re-enforce "good" citizenship which is not a good thing. We should be teaching our young people to be good neighbors which is different.

626 sats \ 8 replies \ @kepford 24 Feb

This is incredibly bullish for the future. People taking a more active role in their family's education has never been easier or more important.

76 sats \ 0 replies \ @Undisciplined 25 Feb

It's the silver lining of the pandemic, as far as I'm concerned.

33 sats \ 0 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb

People taking a more active role in their family's education has never been easier or more important.

I totally agree, well said! 👏🏼👏🏼

0 sats \ 5 replies \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

I’m going to guess home schooling comes from one demographic.

I don’t see black and brown parents doing this

0 sats \ 4 replies \ @kepford 25 Feb

I'm aware of a few in my circle. But what is your point exactly?

0 sats \ 3 replies \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

My point is homeschooling is primarily a white phenomenon because most people of color don’t care about their children education

0 sats \ 2 replies \ @kepford 25 Feb

I don't know how you know this but from what I've seen of charter schools being offered and other alternatives to traditional education as well as my social circle that doesn't align. But there is little point in guessing what is in other people's minds. The biggest barrier to change is recognizing it is needed.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

We don’t have to guess. We have statistics on charter school enrollment and home schooling etc

33 sats \ 0 replies \ @ek 25 Feb

Statistics don't explain reasons.

839 sats \ 1 reply \ @DudeJLebowski 25 Feb

How big is the home?!

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr OP 25 Feb

must be a big one, i’d say at least a couple miles long

687 sats \ 3 replies \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

I’m going to hypothesize none of this matters: the only significant factor is the intelligence or IQ of a child

179 sats \ 0 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb freebie

I’m going to hypothesize none of this matters: the only significant factor is the intelligence or IQ of a child

I would politely but strongly disagree!!

110 sats \ 1 reply \ @398ja 25 Feb

Agree, and this is why I so much wish education would be more about transmitting values, real ones!

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb

Public/state education in most western countries (especially in recent years) is ALL about transmitting values (the wrong ones) rather than academic or "intellectual" outcomes. They want to tell your kids how and what to think. That's one the many varied reasons for parents opting to remove their kids from that indoctrination system. Other parents think they can do a better job academically, and they often do.

731 sats \ 9 replies \ @cryotosensei 25 Feb

You piqued my curiosity n I went to Google the number of homeschooled children in Singapore: Parents of about 50 children in each cohort each year opt to homeschool — considering that a typical yearly cohort is about 40,000-strong, homeschooling is truly the path less trodden.

I’m amazed at the structure of these American families. In Singapore, we typically need both incomes to survive, and working from home is not yet popularised. My wife has to go back to the office three times a week. In fact, Singaporean parents tend to outsource their children’s education to cram schools haha

80 sats \ 4 replies \ @kr OP 25 Feb

interesting, i wonder if there is a tipping point beyond which parents consider homeschooling a viable option because they know of other parents taking the same approach.

60 sats \ 2 replies \ @cryotosensei 25 Feb

I think most parents who opt for homeschooling want their children to be more grounded in religious/spiritual education (rather than an outright rejection of the education system). So if you don’t move in those circles, you probably don’t want to stick your neck out and choose something different for your child

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

This is very true in USA. Every home school parent I have met is Christian or LDS.

Orthodox Jews send their kids to Jewish day schools where religion is part of the curriculum.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb freebie

That's not my experience. The reasons and motivations are very varied, mostly philosophical and there is a huge rejection of the education system. I have been home educating for 16 years and 3 of those I have travelled around the world and met many different nationalities who are educating their own children.

However, I'll concur it seems there are a lot of religious families doing it the US.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb

i wonder if there is a tipping point beyond which parents consider homeschooling a viable option because they know of other parents taking the same approach.

Yes definitely. There are some that will do it regardless - trailblazers who are not afraid to stand alone - but there are those who will be encouraged by the social contagion. It's whether they stay the course and keep at it that remains to be seen. Some will and some won't.

69 sats \ 3 replies \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

I thought public schools in Singapore were excellent?

10 sats \ 2 replies \ @cryotosensei 25 Feb

Yes they are. Unfortunately we are a nation that still largely ties our self worth to academic achievements. Given that class sizes are large in Singapore (1 teacher to 35-40 students), many parents are willing to splurge on additional lessons at tuition centres to ensure that their children get all the As they need to advance to the next level.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

I see. Sounds like South Korea

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @south_korea_ln 25 Feb

Yes, very similar indeed.

572 sats \ 2 replies \ @sorukumar 25 Feb

As I am learning more about schools here in the USA. Thanks to Libs of TikTok and a couple of families in the neighborhood. We have also started considering home-schooling for our toddler. luckily we have a couple of years.

I find the rise of homeschooling sad. To me, it points to a decline in trust in public institutions.

I don't think homeschooling is sustainable. Simply cuz it is too much work.

Or, good chance that homeschoolers will join hands with families sharing similar values to educate kids. They will also hire professionals or utilize professional tools ( yet to be built) to educate kids. but at that time, do we call it homeschool or a 'new kind' of school?

on data interpretation:

BTW, the 6% number seemed too high for me, and I didn't believe it. So far we may have met ~50 families in the park, and only 1 is home-schooling their kid. But, then I realized they had 6 kids. The higher the number of kids, the more sense it makes for parents to homeschool.

So it is 6% of kids, but my hunch is it would be not more than 2-3% of families who home-school.

85 sats \ 0 replies \ @freetx 25 Feb

You can mix and match.

Grades K-4 you can homeschool, then send them off to the prison complex after that (jk).

Really tho, I think homeschooling is more important during the formative years, to lay (a) a good foundation of problem solving, and read/write basics and (b) their formative years is when they are most susceptible to big-gov brainwashing...by the time they are grade 5 or 6 they have developed a pretty good "BS detector" and far less able to be influenced by outside sources.

As quick aside on the notion "sending your kids to school". Its fairly insane if you think about it....If I told you that to make sure your computer was operating normally our society had a plan to come around every morning at 8am and collect your computer where we brought it a warehouse and "tuned it" and return to you at 3pm....you would outright refuse and think it was an insane suggestion. Yet we do it with our kids....

50 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

The reason for a decline in trust is a decline in quality.

Public schools have become too bureaucratic and political.

Public school teachers unions are the biggest donors to Democrats. Most teachers send their kids to private schools.

Where do senators send their children? Private schools since Washington DC public schools are terrible.

Why are public schools terrible? Are the teachers terrible? Are the students terrible? Blame the parents?

547 sats \ 0 replies \ @JesseJames 25 Feb

Rightfully so. Just look at the kids books or ask your kid what he did he/she learn in school and that will be the last day he/she goes there.... lol

433 sats \ 1 reply \ @KLT 25 Feb

Add my kid to that list!

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb

🫷🏼👏🏼🙌🏼

543 sats \ 0 replies \ @dagny761 25 Feb

With many co-op groups and alternative supplemental classes, “home school” is less isolated than I assumed.

For example, my home schooling friend has her kids pick a few subjects each semester at a program designed to supplement their curriculum at home. She doesn’t feel comfortable teaching high school math so she has had them do math and foreign languages from certified teachers and oversees the rest at home. This gives her 2-3 days a week to work a part time job and gives opportunities for socialization to her kids.

It seems like a win-win for them…

422 sats \ 1 reply \ @space_karen 25 Feb

Do those statistics include Elon Musk and silicon valley execs founding their own K-12 schools in an effort to boost US science and engineering? https://nypost.com/2023/12/14/business/elon-musk-to-open-a-stem-focused-k-12-school-university-in-austin/

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

Private schools are not home schools.

Home school parents are almost always religious usually evangelical Christian or LDS.

422 sats \ 1 reply \ @random_ 25 Feb

Is this actively home schooled or ever-been homeschooled?

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr OP 25 Feb

this is active homeschooled students

422 sats \ 0 replies \ @southside263 25 Feb

1% in NZ

no interest homeschooling at all - fuck that for torture 😂

41 sats \ 4 replies \ @Taft 25 Feb

I don't live in the US. In my country, homeschooling is not preferred and the numbers are very low.

Do you see this trend as a good thing? Is homeschooling or "home educated", as @brandonsbytes puts it, a good choice for the children?

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

The public schools in USA are awful especially in the cities

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @kr OP 25 Feb freebie

are you ok with sharing which country you’re from?

either way, i’d be curious to know why you think your homeschooling numbers are very low.

personally i don’t have any experience with homeschooling so i’m not in a position to say whether it’s a good or bad thing… but definitely a trend worth watching.

31 sats \ 0 replies \ @Tef 25 Feb outlawed

stackers have outlawed this. turn on wild west mode in your /settings to see outlawed content.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @brandonsbytes 25 Feb

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21 sats \ 0 replies \ @398ja 25 Feb

One thing I've learned during the lockdowns is that I can easily homeschool my little one, especially because I work from home. One hour a day of supervised work is largely enough. The only reason they stay too long at school is largely because parents need to go to work.

10 sats \ 0 replies \ @UCantDoThatDotRugged 25 Feb

I have a hard time believing covid didn't double the number of homeschooled kids. I wonder how they count it.

0 sats \ 1 reply \ @ssaurel 25 Feb

It's surprising and it would be interesting to have explanations for such a phenomenon which tends to intensify in America. It would also be to compare it with other countries around the world to see if it's a global trend, or just localizing to America.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @justanumber 25 Feb

I think it's generally speaking a global trend but you'll only get figures from countries where it is legal - even then you can't know the true figures. It's usually an estimate. Where it is illegal or a "grey area" there either won't be figures or they will be wildly inaccurate.

0 sats \ 0 replies \ @SaToSHiWoMaN 25 Feb outlawed

stackers have outlawed this. turn on wild west mode in your /settings to see outlawed content.

1121 sats \ 14 replies \ @brandonsbytes 24 Feb

deleted by author

90 sats \ 2 replies \ @Enemy_of_the_state 25 Feb

Tuttle Twins books are great, especially for govt and Econ.

121 sats \ 1 reply \ @cryotosensei 25 Feb

Also, did you know that Season 2 Episode 3 (Bitcoin and the Beast) of “Tuttle Twins” features Bitcoin? The twins need to decide which is better when selling their dad’s old video game - Bitcoin or fiat.

31 sats \ 0 replies \ @Enemy_of_the_state 25 Feb

Yeah my oldest loves the show, we watch together!

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @Bell_curve 25 Feb

Were you homeschooled grades k to 12?

21 sats \ 9 replies \ @kr OP 24 Feb

interesting. what was the main benefit in your eyes/your parents eyes of homeschooling back when you were a kid?

is that still the main benefit you see today?

828 sats \ 8 replies \ @brandonsbytes 24 Feb

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21 sats \ 7 replies \ @kr OP 24 Feb freebie

i’m really curious now, can you share more about what a typical “home education” routine might look like for your kids? is it similar to the routine you had as a kid?

1870 sats \ 6 replies \ @brandonsbytes 24 Feb

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443 sats \ 3 replies \ @cryotosensei 25 Feb

Fascinating, esp because I’m a teacher in the public school system haha. How does your wife manage the varied needs of the kids whom I imagine must be from different grades and academic levels?

139 sats \ 1 reply \ @justanumber 25 Feb

As a teacher, how do you cater for 20-30 kids who, despite being similar age, all have different abilities, strengths, learning styles, personalities, academic levels, special education needs etc? Home Educating parents have a far fewer children to cater for, with the added bonus that they are their own children, so they know them much better than anyone and have more of a vested interest in their success.

21 sats \ 0 replies \ @cryotosensei 25 Feb

Good question. Singapore is on-the-ball when it comes to differentiated instruction. All kids with learning needs will be banded together in one class. Other students will be channeled into classes based on their academic ability. So there is some form of uniformity.