Since the onset of COVID-19, parents have taken the reins of their children’s education and made homeschooling mainstream.
Before the pandemic, homeschool rates from the U.S. Census Bureau have been holding steady at around 3 percent since 2012.
However, data from 18 states reveals the number of home-educated students skyrocketed 63 percent in the 2020-2021 academic cycle and fell by only 17 percent during the 2021-2022 school year.
The total number of children receiving home education soared to 3.7 million in that time frame.
A drop in public school enrollment rates this year reflects the trend.
In 2020-2021, the number of students enrolled in public school fell by 3 percent, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Yet the rates haven’t rebounded as expected this year, despite a return to physical classes and more flexible COVID-19 protocols in some districts….