Americans spent much more time at home in the last 18 months as the COVID-19 pandemic rampaged across the country. They worked, played and learned at home in large numbers.
Turning the home into a place of learning led to a dramatic rise in home schooling, with the number of families using it increasing from 5% in 2019 to 11.1% by the fall of 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. In Texas the number rose from 4.5% to 12.3%.
That trend continued in 2021, and the Texas Home School Coalition is seeing further evidence of it increasing this fall, according to Stephen Howsley, the coalition’s public policy department’s assistant manager.
“We definitely can already see an increase in families choosing to home-school,” Howsley told the Austin Journal. “Both the latest U.S. Census data and our own internal data show that home schooling in Texas has increased drastically during COVID-19. Home schooling was also overall trending upward before COVID-19, but the pandemic dramatically drove numbers up even more.”
One thing parents are learning is that they can do it, and the kids will receive a quality education. Howsley said there are a few things parents need to know to properly instruct their children.
“Families should just know what the legal requirements are to home-school in Texas before beginning to home-school their child," he said.
Howsley added that "the only requirements" to legally home-school in Texas are the instruction must be bona fide [i.e. not a sham], the curriculum must be in visual form (e.g. books, workbooks, video monitor) and the curriculum must include the basic subjects of reading, spelling, grammar, mathematics and good citizenship.
He also advises them to seek support from other families who have made this choice.
“I always tell families who are considering home schooling that if they decide that it is the best form of education for their child, they should find a community to do it with,” Howsley said. “There are co-ops and support groups that are filled with veteran home-school educators who have been doing it for 20 or 30 years that can share a wealth of wisdom on how to home-school well.”
As more students remain at home it impacts school districts, which rely on enrollment figures to determine their funding level. But Howsley said they have accepted the changing face of education.
“From our perspective most Texas public school districts have been either supportive of us or have had no notable response,” he said. “Very few districts have been aggressive or cold toward us in response. I think those that are supportive of us and recognize that we are on their side of just wanting to provide the best education possible for each child.”
Howsley, an Austin resident, is not only an advocate for home schooling — he has personal experience. He was home-schooled from kindergarten through his senior year of high school, but also interacted with other home-schooled children through a weekly co-op program.
In an essay for the American Federation of Children, Howsley explained his advocacy for home schooling.
“I would love to start out home schooling my kids, for several reasons," he wrote. "Mainly it’s having the ability to incorporate my own religious beliefs into the child’s education. To give them that foundation. At some point they might transition to public school or private school or charter school or some other option.
“School choice to me really means giving parents as many options as possible when it comes to the education of their children,” Howsley wrote. “Anything that gives families more flexibility with their educational tax dollars and with any other things that have to do with education, I’m a huge fan."
He joined Texas Home School Coalition in 2015 and serves as a writer, public policy analyst and lobbyist.