the staff of the Ridgewood blog
Ridgewood NJ, homeschooling is a legal instructional option in all 50 states and national homeschooling rates grew rapidly from 1999 to 2012 but had since remained steady at around 3.3%.
According to the Census Bureau’s Household Pulse Survey the global COVID-19 pandemic has sparked new interest in homeschooling and the appeal of alternative school arrangements has suddenly exploded.
So, how significantly have homeschooling rates increased during the pandemic?
The U.S. Census Bureau’s experimental Household Pulse Survey, the first data source to offer both a national and state-level look at the impact of COVID-19 on homeschooling rates, shows a substantial increase from last spring — when the pandemic took hold — to the start of the 2020-2021 school year.
Using a large, nationally representative sample of U.S. households, the survey shows homeschooling is notably higher than the national benchmarks and offers a glimpse of changes in homeschooling patterns during the pandemic.
We compare survey results from the spring of the 2019-20 school year to results in the fall of the 2020-21 school year to measure the pandemic’s impact on homeschooling.
In the first week (April 23-May 5) of Phase 1 of the Household Pulse Survey, about 5.4% of U.S. households with school-aged children reported homeschooling .
By fall, 11.1% of households with school-age children reported homeschooling (Sept. 30-Oct. 12). A clarification was added to the school enrollment question to make sure households were reporting true homeschooling rather than virtual learning through a public or private school.
That change represents an increase of 5.6 percentage points and a doubling of U.S. households that were homeschooling at the start of the 2020-2021 school year compared to the prior year.
It’s clear that in an unprecedented environment, families are seeking solutions that will reliably meet their health and safety needs, their childcare needs and the learning and socio-emotional needs of their children.
From the much-discussed “pandemic pods,” (small groups of students gathering outside a formal school setting for in-person instruction) to a reported influx of parent inquiries about stand-alone virtual schools, private schools and homeschooling organizations, American parents are increasingly open to options beyond the neighborhood school.
Half of all Americans will be self-employed by 2030. Traditional public and private schools cannot satisfy the needs of tomorrow’s entrepreneurs. Homeschooling limits the range of professionals and peers children learn from. Unschooling makes it difficult for children to develop self discipline, focus and drive. Those in the best position to learn and achieve are children who grow up around a well run business.
got to laugh at this comment, public education creates obedient corporate drones, not business owners , suggest you read Rich Dad Poor Dad by Robert Kiyosaki
Agree, public schooling creates obedient corporate drones, not business owners and also recommend Kiyosaki. Perhaps you misread the comment.
Benefits of a school system are receding as unions and demagogues dominate learning curriculum. Why send your kid to a school where they’ll teach you self-hate and zombify your tastes into consumption addiction? Only when you have to.
Alas most parents have to as they are not suited for home schooling. It’s a full time job to be a parent and too much for most of us. I’d love to home school my kids, but career gets in the way. To compensate I send them for a variety of extracurricular learning. Hopefully that gives them a perspective on school-taught material.
Ultimately parents are responsible for raising healthy, productive next generation. Not teachers. Teachers are explicitly trained to raise consumers. Nothing wrong with that, just not what we want for our loved ones.
They SHOULD be teaching REQUIRED classes on entrepreneurship and investing in schools rather than those useless required “financial literacy” classes where they teach you how to create a budget (this can be covered in a week at most) and write a check (an outdated payment mode) .
It’s a disgrace that RIDGEWOOD doesn’t place a high value on this education and instead wastes time indoctrinating students with socialist propaganda.