I was delighted to be interviewed for a recent Newsweek article entitled “Why Homeschooling Is Still on the Rise.” The piece has amplified conversations surrounding homeschooling, microschooling, and other unconventional learning environments, and their implications for both traditional schooling and higher education. Research conducted by Dr. Angela Watson of the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy’s Homeschool Hub confirms that homeschooling continues to rise at an average rate of 5.4%, with states that report these statistics documenting their highest homeschool enrollment, surpassing the increase that occurred during the pandemic. According to Dr. Watson, this growth “represents a fundamental shift in how American families are thinking about education.” I wholeheartedly agree.
As I’ve tuned into online discussions surrounding this growth, I continue to see misconceptions about who homeschoolers are and why we choose to school differently. As the Homeschool Mythbuster, I want to offer my additional insights into the many reasons why families choose homeschooling, microschooling, and other unconventional learning spaces. My perspective is based on 22 years and counting of homeschooling my six children across various settings, nine years as the founder and leader of eXtend, an academic homeschool program based in the suburbs of Washington, DC, and almost three years as the leader of a cohort of educational entrepreneurs in DC, Maryland, and Northern Virginia.
Any meaningful discussion about why families choose to homeschool must begin by recognizing the level of diversity that exists within the homeschool community and other unconventional learning spaces. The long-standing stereotype that homeschoolers are uniformly upper-class, Caucasian, Christian fundamentalists is simply inaccurate. It does not align either with current data or with the surge in homeschooling now being reported. In fact, research that Dr. Watson shared with me during an earlier interview found that homeschoolers are a reflection of the broader American population in terms of political affiliation, socio-economic status, and racial and ethnic diversity.
Politically, 44% of homeschoolers identified as Republican, 29% identified as Democrat, and 27% identified as Independent. Economically, most families surveyed had median household incomes between $50,000 and $74,999, a far cry from the wealthy homeschooler stereotype. Racially, while 69% of families surveyed were Caucasian, 15% were Hispanic, 10% were African-American, and 5% were Asian. Given the diverse makeup of homeschoolers, it follows that the reasons for homeschooling are equally varied. Our program at eXtend bears witness to this, as in any given year, families walk through our doors to homeschool for a myriad of reasons.
A February 2025 article from the Pew Research Center analyzed data from the National Center for Education Statistics surrounding the reasons parents chose to homeschool. At the top of the list was concern over the school environment, including school safety. Following closely behind were the desire to provide moral instruction, the desire for more family time, and dissatisfaction with the academic instruction at other schools. However, what I have noticed within the community I serve and am a part of, as well as other communities I have relationships with, is that while there are shared reasons for homeschooling, the reasons still tend to be more varied, more nuanced, and more personalized, going beyond what Pew reported.
Consistent with the findings by Pew Research, one of the primary reasons many of our families choose to homeschool stems from dissatisfaction with the academic instruction at other schools. This is what initially prompted me to homeschool my children beginning in 2003. During the pandemic, our program welcomed nearly an entire class of students whose families were frustrated with the program they were in. Multiple mid-year staffing changes without continuity of instruction resulted in learning losses that the school was not able to recover. This, coupled with the pandemic, resulted in the parents choosing to homeschool.
Although almost all of our families would agree with the concerns surrounding safety in schools, only two of the 63 families in our program reported that school safety, and specifically, bullying, was the reason they began homeschooling. The majority of our families choose to homeschool for other reasons, including wanting more flexibility in their students’ schedules, wanting more compatible programs, and in response to the increased availability of homeschooling resources and support networks.
For some families, flexibility is the deciding factor. Three students who are relatively new to our program chose to homeschool because of the flexibility it affords. One is a senior who only needs a handful of classes to graduate and doesn’t want to be confined to a building from 7:30 AM to 2:10 PM. She is now on a schedule that works for her life, taking two classes with eXtend and dual-enrolling at the local community college. Another is a competitive athlete who uses the flexibility of homeschooling to train, travel, and build his athletic portfolio in the hopes of playing for a D1 school. A third is an aspiring professional golfer whose homeschool schedule allows her the time needed to pursue her dreams. For nearly all of our families, homeschooling also provides the irreplaceable gift of more meaningful family time.
Several families have students who want to graduate early and pursue interests beyond high school, be it college, trade school, or the workforce. When homeschooled students dual-enroll in college courses, they are able to shorten the time it takes to reach the level of credits necessary for graduation, as each semester of a college-level course translates into a full year of high school credit for that subject. For these families, the flexibility of homeschooling in conjunction with the benefits of dual enrollment at the community college makes the goal of early graduation fully achievable.
Other families in our program choose to homeschool because the traditional academic setting is not a good fit, as it lacks the flexibility needed to match their students’ capabilities. For example, one of my students is on grade level in English/Language Arts, but two grade levels ahead in math. Traditional programs were not able to accommodate his learning profile, so his family chose to homeschool him. Still other families have students with special needs, and have chosen to homeschool in programs that specifically cater to their children’s unique styles of learning, allowing them to thrive.
While faith and sincerely held beliefs continue to motivate some families to homeschool, another form of philosophical mismatch occurs around curriculum. Specifically, several families in our community want curricula that more accurately reflect their culture and history. In my recent article discussing the rise of homeschooling among Hispanic and Latino families, culture plays a significant role as families want their culture more accurately reflected in literature books and curriculum. Whether Hispanic/Latino, African-American, Asian, or belonging to another ethnic group, educating children in a culturally affirming manner represents another reason why many families choose to homeschool.
For some families, simple curiosity about homeschooling prompts them to take the leap. With a growing number of families that telework or have employers who allow flexible work schedules, many are empowered to explore homeschooling. As the quality, diversity, and availability of homeschooling curricula, online resources, and support groups increase, so does the number of families willing to explore homeschooling. Many families are discovering that homeschooling is not only possible but it is also incredibly rewarding, and their numbers are contributing to the overall rise of homeschooling families.
At the monthly meetings of the educational entrepreneur cohort I lead, nearly everyone notes a rise in inquiries from parents seeking alternatives to the conventional public and private schools their children currently attend. These parents, like many across the country, aren’t necessarily abandoning or rejecting traditional education; they are simply looking for programs and environments where their children will thrive.
Although not yet available in my home state of Maryland, the number of states adopting universal educational choice legislation is growing. These policies give parents the freedom to choose options, including homeschooling, with the added benefit of state funding. As more states offer and expand school choice, more families will view homeschooling and other unconventional programs as viable options to traditional schooling. Yes, homeschooling is indeed on the rise for reasons that vary as much as homeschoolers themselves.
