Home-schooling has been on the rise in Texas since the final years of the 20th Century and received an additional boost with the COVID-19 pandemic, which caused families to reconsider their educational choices.
“The surge has been confirmed by the U.S. Census Bureau, which reported in March that the rate of households home-schooling their children rose to 11% by September 2020, more than doubling from 5.4% just six months earlier,” according to a July 25 AP report. “Black households saw the largest jump. Their home schooling rate rose from 3.3% in spring 2020 to 16.1% in the fall.”
That trend is clear, Texas Home School Coalition public policy department assistant manager Stephen Howsley told the Austin Journal.
“The biggest indicators are increased outreach to our team, use of the tools that we have provided for families who wish to withdraw their child from public school to home-school, and maybe one of the largest indicators is the U.S. Census Bureau's monthly pulse survey which has shown a nationwide trend in home schooling increasing over the past year,” Howsley said.
A study commissioned by a national online curriculum provider recently measured the 2021-22 school year schooling choices of families who opted to home-school since January 2020. The survey reported that 72.2% of families who home-schooled during COVID-19 plan to continue home-schooling this fall.
According to the U.S. Census Bureau report, the percentage of Texas school-aged children being home-schooled almost tripled in 2020, from 4.5% last spring, to 12.3% by fall 2020. The report states that by the fall of 2020 more than one in 10 households with school-aged kids in the U.S. and in Texas reported home schooling. The Census Bureau ensured responses indicated true home schooling rather than virtual learning through a public or private school.
“We are seeing mainly concerns for their student(s) regarding their health, safety and also the content of the classes and curriculum as reasons to withdraw to home school,” Howsley said.
He said people want options. Home schooling is more and more attractive to many families for a variety of reasons.
“I do think that home schooling is an innovative way to educate children now due to the fact that it is not a one-size-fits-all type of education,” Howsley said. “I think that the biggest way that home schooling leads the way in innovation is that it allows families to focus differently on each student. The flexibility allows the home-school instructor to tailor the home-school curriculum and schedule to each student so as to maximize the focus on each student's interests in addition to focusing on core subjects.”
Home-school starts in Texas were steadily rising even before the pandemic. Analysis of data from the Texas Education Agency (TEA) showed between 1997 and 2019, students who withdrew from public schools and were home-schooled in the state increased 228%. Comparatively, public school enrollment grew at a slower rate over the same time period (41%), as previously reported by the Education Daily Wire.
Howsley encourages families to talk with those who educated their children at home. They have the best insights and can provide meaningful information.
“I always tell families that they should seek out other families who are looking to home-school as well,” he said. “Home schooling is something that should be done in community when possible so that everyone can get the support they need. There are veteran home-school families and groups who have 20 and 30 years of experience, and they have a wealth of knowledge and wisdom.”
Howsley knows the rise in home-schooled children may decrease as the pandemic lessens.
“The numbers may drop some because some of the families who are home-schooling now always intended to return to public school," he said. "But I also expect many to stay since many families were put into a position where they were forced to home-school and realized that it was the perfect fit for their family and will end up continuing to home-school.”
Howsley, who joined the coalition in 2015, speaks from experience. He was home-schooled himself.