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Homeschooling debate: Why school options are on the rise
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The Education Examiner reported recently about the incredible rise in numbers for United States Homeschoolers. Per the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the US has gone from 1.7% to 2.9% of its school-aged children receiving their education from home.
Charter schools are also rapidly multiplying across our nation with more than 1.3 million children currently enrolled, yet hundreds of thousands still on the waitlists.
It seems that families everywhere are actively seeking schooling options, a phenomenon which has recently increased in popularity. This raises the question—why?
Let’s start with the obvious: Education quality is patchy across our country. Urban and rural districts are experiencing the greatest (or worst) variances. As academic performances and safety may be concerns in some areas, families who seek alternatives which may include learning at home.
But it is not just low performing areas which see a rise in families seeking education options. In many cases it is a different learning style, or family convictions which drive schooling decisions. Some school districts wisely see this as an extension of parental involvement and offer various program options for home educating families.
Virtual education is on the rise. It is not just colleges that offer online degrees. Cyber-learning is also not being pursued by homeschoolers alone. K12 (online learning) states that merely and roughly 20% of their enrolled students come from a previous home based learning environment. More and more families take advantage of the progressive technologies offered by online education in all types of formats—charter schools, districts and private. Some families who try this for summer and enrichment programs find that they like it so much they change their kids year-round education—and voila!—there is another home based learner.
Homeschooling no longer has to be an all-or-nothing-kind-o-deal. Many schools, particularly charter schools, offer part-time enrollment for flexibility for families who want to teach at home, but also offer some brick-and-mortar lessons. This helps families dip their toes into homeschooling whereas taking the plunge may have been too scary at first. Some decide this type of schooling works well; others find that it was a stepping stone toward fulltime homeschooling.
Regardless of the reasons people pursue homeschooling, charter schools, magnet or private education—school choice is here to stay. Remember where there are options you are making a choice regardless of your decision. Traditional district schools are a choice too!
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