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Gen Z is 74% more likely than other generations to want to homeschool their kids

Their reasons for wanting to homeschool and how they think it should be done departs from previous generations as well.

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Homeschooling numbers in the U.S. have more than quadrupled since 1999.

It used to be that if you said the word "homeschooler," people would conjure up images of a Bible-carrying homesteader whose parents kept them out of school so they wouldn't learn about "dangerous" ideas like carbon dating and evolution.

While those kinds of homeschoolers still exist, the homeschooling world has become much larger and more diverse in recent decades. In 1999, there were approximately 850,000 students homeschooled in the United States. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, that number had tripled to an estimated 2.5 million, and in the past year, it's grown by over a million more to 3.62 million. These days, you'll meet homeschool parents from all walks of life who have chosen to educate their own kids for all kinds of reasons, moving the "typical homeschooler" stereotype further and further from reality.

Now we have a new generation of Americans thinking about how they want their kids to be educated. Gen Z is now 12 to 26 years old, with the 20-somethings at a prime age for starting (or at least imagining) their future family lives. Interestingly enough, they are even more keen on homeschooling their kids than their parents or grandparents were.


Education technology company Age of Learning conducted an analysis of Google search trends and commissioned an online survey of 1,064 parents and aspiring parents to explore American interest in homeschooling. The results are telling, if somewhat surprising in some ways.

First, it's clear that Gen Z has pretty positive feelings about homeschooling, since nearly half of them are considering homeschooling their own kids—74% more than other generations of parents.

Of course, it's always easier to imagine homeschooling kids you don't have yet, so their age and stage of life probably accounts for a portion of that interest. But it says something that 59% of aspiring parents are more interested in homeschooling than public or private schools.

Statistics about homeschooling interest from Age of learning survey

Gen Z is more interested in homeschooling than previous generations.

Age of Learning

So why are so many parents and aspiring parents turning to homeschool as an educational option? It seems logical that the vast educational resources that the internet has spawned makes homeschooling seem far more doable than it used to be. However, the motivation for wanting to homeschool is primarily about safety and freedom.

Current parents cited "providing a safer environment" as the most common motivation for homeschooling at 66%, followed by "flexible schedule" at 56%, "preventing toxic socialization" at 55% and "providing individualized instruction" at 42%. "Providing a safer environment" topped Gen Z's list of motivators as well at 68%, which does make one wonder whether the active shooter drills they grew up play a role in how they feel.

And those the religious beliefs that pushed people to homeschool way back when? Those came in at the bottom of the list with only 16% of people citing "religious or philosophical beliefs" as motivation to homeschool.

Motivations varied by region, however, and the breakdown of which regions cited which reasons the most often is a bit surprising.

Motivations for homeschooling by region

Reasons for wanting to homeschool vary by region.

Age of Learning

If someone were to ask which region cited religion as their main motivator for homeschooling, what would you guess? Personally, I would have thought the South, or maybe the Midwest. Nope. The West cited "religious or philosophical beliefs" the most often. In the South, it's the "low ratings of local schools," while the Northeast is looking at the "ineffectiveness of 7-hour daily curriculums" and the Midwest cited "providing individualized instruction" as the main motivation Huh. Who knew?

Surely, these survey respondents must have cited some downsides of homeschooling, though, right? Well, yes. Numbers-wise, however, the challenges don't outweigh the benefits current and aspiring parents see. As one might expect, "limited socialization opportunities" topped the list of challenges that concern parents, but as most homeschoolers will tell you, the socialization "issue" is far less of an issue than people make it out to be (so long as you aren't holing up in a cave somewhere and not having your kid involved in any activities).

benefits and challenges of homeschooling

The upsides and downsides of homeschooling

www.homeschoolplus.com

Going back to our Gen Z friends, another thing to note is their feelings about government involvement in homeschooling. Freedom from excessive standardized testing and flexibility in learning have long been touted benefits of homeschooling, so it's fascinating to see that Gen Z actually favors government involvement in homeschooling more than any other generation. At 77%, they are more likely than any other generation to believe homeschooled students should be required to participate in state testing, and 91% believe the government should mandate homeschooling subjects.

As it stands now, each state has different laws and requirements for homeschooling, and they can vary greatly. New Jersey has the least number of regulations for homeschoolers, while Pennsylvania has the most. Some states simply require you to notify your school district that you are homeschooling and that's it. Some states require you to be under the supervision of a certified teacher and provide portfolios of your child's schoolwork for evaluation. Some states require testing, some don't.

Having been a public school teacher and also having been a homeschooling parent for two decades, I've experienced how valuable freedom to learn in whatever way suits individual kids best can be. It will be interesting to see if Gen Z's desire for government requirements shifts as they actually delve into the reality of educating their own kids.

One thing seems certain: Homeschooling is growing and showing no signs of slowing down any time soon, and if Gen Z keeps their current interest level, we may see an exponential explosion in homeschooling numbers in the next decade or two.

If you're feeling frustrated with your kids' sudden plunge into e-learning during widespread school closures, you're not alone. In fact, parents on the other side of the world are experience the exact same frustrations, as evidenced by this distance learning rant from an Israeli mom of four.


Shiri Keningsberg Levi is a special education teacher, so she's undoubtedly sympathetic to what teachers are going through trying to help kids learn from home during a global pandemic. But that hasn't stopped her from cracking under the weight of her own four kids' schoolwork two days into quarantine.

"Listen, it's not working, this distance learning thing," Levi starts. "Straight off in the morning—it's only the second day—millions of WhatsApp messages."

After pointing out how much schoolwork four kids times goodness-knows-how-many subjects is, she says her son's music teacher sent home a musical score. "What am I going to do with that information?" she asks. "What, have I got some band in the house? I can't read music!"

"Enough guys. Teachers, dial it down. Lower expectations," she continued.

The video is subtitled in English, but you don't even have to understand her words to feel Levi's sentiment. If you're feeling the pain of trying to play the role of several teachers at once for your kids, I'm sure you'll find her rant gloriously cathartic.

If Corona doesn't kill us, Distance Learning willwww.youtube.com

As schools around the country are shutting down due to the coronavirus pandemic, millions of parents have found themselves plunged into the role of homeschool teacher for the foreseeable future. And not everyone is feeling prepared for—or thrilled with —this development.

In solidarity with other parents, comedian Branalyn Shropshire posted a 'mother's desperate prayer' to YouTube—a humorous take on a sentiment shared by many moms and dads right now.



Here's a taste:

"Father God, I am your humble servant. What I am NOT is a math teacher, God. Lord God, the spirit of Common Core has attacked our household, and right now the only thing we have in common is frustration and no answer to the math problem..."

You will laugh. You might cry. But if you're reeling from the sudden shift to homeschooling your kids and feeling like you may not get through this social distancing period with your sanity in tact, this prayer is for you.

Let us pray:

A Desperate Mothers' Prayerwww.youtube.com

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Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

As employees are being asked to work from home whenever possible and schools across the nation are closing down for weeks, millions of parents have suddenly found themselves in the role of remote worker and homeschool parent.

Since this is the life I've been living for 15+ years, I'm a bit of an expert—if there were such a thing.


(My background: I have an education degree and worked as a public school teacher. Not thrilled with the education system, I started exploring alternative options as my first child approached school age and ultimately landed on homeschooling. That child is now 19 and in college. My other two kids, ages 15 and 11, have always been homeschooled as well. Through our years of homeschooling, I have also worked from home—part-time when the kids were young, full-time now.)

As a former teacher and remote work/homeschooling veteran, I thought I'd offer some advice to the parents who feel like they just got thrown into the deep end.

Everyone's circumstances are different, so I'm not going to specifically tell you how to homeschool while working from home. Rather, I want to help curb your anxiety over your new role and help you adjust your expectations.

Here we go:

1. Lower your standards on housework.

I'm starting with this one because it is so very real. Your house is going to be messier. It just is. Especially now, when we're all spending a lot more time inside our homes than usual, it's going to be hard to keep up with.

When the whole family is home all day, you use more dishes, clutter is inevitable, things get dirtier, bathrooms get used more frequently, etc. Set up chores and create the expectation that everyone helps tidy, clean, and maintain, but also accept that having a pristine home and family home all day are not compatible realities. I've been fighting this battle for 15 years and have learned to embrace the fact that my house will never grace the cover of a magazine.

2. Relax. Your kids will learn despite you, I promise.

I see parents sharing schedules and curriculum ideas on social media, and I'm sure that helps people feel like they have some semblance of control in this situation.

But here's the thing: While routine is important and some people really do thrive on structure, detailed schedules are not necessary from a learning standpoint. If it helps you and/or your children feel more stable, then by all means go wild with your schedule-happy self, but don't freak out if the wheels fall off that cart.

First of all, teaching one kid something takes a fraction of the time it takes to teach 20 to 30 kids something. You don't need to spend hours doing formal schooling each day, and it's healthy for most kids to have lots of free, creative time.

Second, I've fluctuated between structured and unstructured learning with our kids over the years, and aside from math and the basics of learning to read, I've found it makes little difference either way. Humans tend to retain knowledge that interests them or that they need in order to do what they want to do. Everything else gets tossed into a slush pile in our brains.

Learning is a natural, organic, ongoing, non-linear, non-standardized process. Humans instinctively want to make sense of the world and will seek answers to their questions in order to do so. Recognizing that fact can relieve a lot of the stress you might be feeling about having to officially teach your kids anything in particular.

Most of my kids' best learning has happened when they have easy access to information (the internet, books, and tools of communication) and the freedom to explore what intrigues them. We've kept math structured because my kids don't naturally gravitate toward it and they'll need it for standardized testing purposes. But almost everything else has been led by their own interests.

And this method appears to have worked. My oldest graduated with honors from community college at 17 and is now in her second year as an honor roll student at a 4-year university. My 15-year-old is wrapping up her second community college class with a near perfect score—and that's the kid I have most worried about being "behind" at various times over the years. Our loose, free approach to learning has clearly not resulted in academic failure in any way.

So relax. Your kids are not going to fall into academic ruin no matter what you do or don't do during these weeks, I promise.

3. Recognize that learning at home looks almost nothing like learning at school.

Let me assure you that your lack of teacher training makes zero difference in your ability to homeschool. Seriously. I know at least a dozen homeschooling parents who were certified teachers, including myself, and we all agree that our formal teacher training is often more of a hindrance to homeschooling than a help.

Educating a few kids you know intimately is nothing like teaching a classroom full of kids from different families. Homeschooling bears no resemblance to teaching in a classroom, and it shouldn't. It takes a lot less time. It can be a lot looser and freer. It can look like doing a formal lesson for a bit and then curling up on the couch with a book. It might look like binge-watching National Geographic specials or Brain Games (super cool show). It might be hours of strategy games played between siblings. It could be watching "Captain America," coming up with questions about World War II, and researching the answers.

If your school has a specific plan for kids while they're home, that's one thing. But if you are left without a plan, it's okay to say, "What are you interested in learning about?" and then help them find resources for them to learn about those things. It's okay to let them play outside for hours. It's okay to hand them a roll of duct tape and the recycling bin and challenge them to build the coolest thing they can think of.

It's even okay to take an "unschooling" break from formal academics altogether and embrace a curiosity-led approach to learning. You—and your kids—might find it totally refreshing.

You'll find it much easier to work from home while your kids learn if you view yourself as a facilitator of their natural learning process rather than a formal teacher who has to fulfil the requirements of a specific curriculum. That's part of the beauty of homeschooling—learning is just a way of life, not something separate that has to be done a certain way.

4. Take care of yourself. For real.

Everyone has just had their lives upended. All of us are feeling on edge. It feels like a superhuman feat to manage our own uncertainty and fear while also managing our children's.

And being at home with the family all day every day is a stress of its own, even if you love your children dearly. I've been doing this for many years, and while I love many things about this lifestyle, the near-constant togetherness and the feeling pulled in several directions all the time can wear me down. Clearly, that's exacerbated right now when I can't go escape to a coffee shop and we can't all hop over to a friend's house. If you aren't used to this life, it's going to feel overwhelming. You're probably feeling that already. This is a hard time for everyone.

But your mental health is important, so take care of yourself as best you can. If you need to hole up in your bedroom for a while, put on a video for the kids without any guilt—even if you think they've already had too much screen time. Send all the kids to their room for quiet solitude time and take some of your own. Go outside and get some fresh air. Take a bath. Do some meditation. Whatever you can do to replenish your inner resources, because you need them now more than ever.

The kids are going to be fine through all of this and you will be too. Relax. Loosen your standards. Lower your expectations. Embrace curiosity and expect some days to feel chaotic. It probably won't feel like it every hour of every day, but you've got this. Learning might not look like what you imagined it would, but your kids will be learning no matter what, I promise.