We're Not All Homeschoolers Now

When they announced that schools were closing for several weeks due to concerns over the COVID-19 pandemic, I jocularly posted on social media, “Welcome to the homeschool movement, America.” That statement was untrue and may be misleading if people take it seriously.

My statement was meant humorously, but as the lockdown promises to extend for weeks or months ahead, with parents forced to cobble something together to continue learning and keep kids from bouncing off the wall, it’s important for people to understand that they really aren’t homeschooling.

The results achieved by homebound students who are attempting to continue curricula designed for a classroom setting are likely to be worse than desired. Valiant public and private school teachers will attempt to adapt the material in many cases, but the conditions we are all working under are not ideal for anyone, much less for students forced into their homes having been accustomed to being taught in classrooms. Parents whose districts have elected to cease their child’s education are being thrown to the wolves, so to speak, to choose something that will keep their kids occupied and academically engaged. That is a process that normally takes months for homeschool families, but must be accomplished in days under the current circumstances. The results are going to be different, even if it isn’t anyone’s fault.

Homebound Education is Not Homeschool

There are several key reasons why this COVID-19 enforced homebound education is not like homeschooling.

First, contrary to the typical objection, homeschooling is usually done in community. Socialization is built into the homeschool community through cooperative classes, where parents or another adult teach a subject they are familiar with. Sometimes this is done for upper level classes that require some specialization, but often it is done at lower levels to spread the teaching interactions so that parents are interfacing with other people’s kids sometimes.

Additionally, homeschool students are often involved in community activities and sports, which are cancelled right now. In some ways, the social disruption of this lockdown is impacting normal homeschool routines similarly (though not to the same extent) as public and private school students. Parents share teaching tips, share activity suggestions in online fora, pass around resources, and commiserate. Homeschooling is typically a highly socialized activity with a strong community.

Second, homeschooling usually necessitates a parent with significant free time is available to guide, direct, and keep the student on track. Many parents have had to continue to work while trying to oversee their child’s education, which is drastically different than the typical homeschool experience. Homeschooling is a full-time job, especially with multiple kids. Many parents that have been forced into support of their homebound student don’t have that option.

Third, the curricula that homeschoolers use is usually designed for homeschoolers. The teacher’s unions are correct that homeschool parents don’t have the same qualifications as the state-sanctioned teachers, but they aren’t doing the same thing either. Over the decades that the homeschool movement has grown, numerous high-quality curricula have been developed. They are designed to be taught by a reasonably educated, but not specialized, parent. (Many of these are even cross-referenced to the common core, interestingly enough.) The activities and instructional techniques are different than classroom lessons, which suits them to application at home. The homebound student working on his public school lesson is trying to use textbooks and curricula that presume a teacher will be present to teach and guide. It’s not impossible, but the material wasn’t designed for this setting.

Fourth, families that choose to homeschool have chosen to homeschool. This changes motivation, attitude, and preparation. Even if there is a stay-at-home parent for the now-homebound private school student, that family already decided that teaching at home was not for them. Being forced into homebound education doesn’t have the same sort of emotional investment as the family that has chosen to homeschool. Parents of homeschoolers chose that option. They also likely prepared for it by reading about the necessary teaching techniques and having lengthy discussions with other families about it. There is a fundamental difference between making do and choosing to do something.

Parental engagement is one of the key predictors in student success in any model of schooling. Homeschoolers tend to have higher academic outcomes than other students in large part due to high levels of parental engagement. At the same time, students in public schools with highly engaged parents will also tend to perform better than their peers. Volition and vocation make a difference in results.

Fifth, the homeschool family chose their curriculum based on careful research into the quality, instructional design, and interests of the family. This sounds similar to point three above, but it is a variation on the theme. The curricula chosen for a classroom, whether public or private, will be evaluated based on different criteria than material designed for virtual or one-on-one use.

In addition, people doing curricula selected by their school do not have the same options to change it. Sometimes homeschool families find that a curriculum flops for them, but that usually leads them to change course, even a month into the school year, to find something that works. Much of our homeschool curriculum is interesting for the parent and the students, and we use our own interests as one factor in choosing material. We can also modify the curriculum to meet or needs if it doesn’t quite hit the mark. That customization isn’t available to the families trying to continue their school’s chosen curriculum at home.

I’m certain there are other significant differences, but these are five of the most important. I think it is critical that families that are being forced into homebound education recognize that their experience is not typical for homeschooling and that homeschool families make it clear that this is not normal for them either.

Don’t Use this to Evaluate Homeschool Results

When the current lockdown is over, whenever that occurs, we will find that some kids will have made little to no progress during the end of this year. Other children will have experienced horrific abuse.

Opponents of homeschooling are likely to use these results against the homeschool community to attempt to increase regulations and governmental supervision. They already use the rare cases of actual abuse by homeschoolers as grounds for attempting to control curricula, mandating supervision by state officials, and ending the ability of parents to supervise their children’s education.

The homeschool community needs to make it abundantly clear that, although we are generally better equipped to adapt, this present situation is not typical homeschooling. We should also make it clear that the models of education that many parents of public and private school students are being forced into are not homeschooling either.

This is an unusual situation for everyone. Whatever the results are from our current lockdowns, we should not base future regulation of the homeschool movement on results that are not representative of the means, model, or motivation of those who have chosen home education as the best choice for their families. There may be superficial similarities to homeschooling, but this isn’t normal for anyone.

Additionally, families that might later consider homeschooling their children should not use their experience or other people’s stories about this time as typical data to inform their decision.