Black Families See Largest Increase in Homeschooling Since Spring 2020

According to a U.S. Census Bureau survey, the rate of homeschooling doubled from spring 2020 to fall 2020. Parents homeschooled their children at a rate of 5.4 percent in the first week of May. In the fall, that rate was 11.1 percent. Did the survey account for homeschooling versus online schooling parents were forced to do by school closures?

A clarification was added to the school enrollment question to make sure households were reporting true homeschooling rather than virtual learning through a public or private school. That change represents an increase of 5.6 percentage points and a doubling of U.S. households that were homeschooling at the start of the 2020-2021 school year compared to the prior year.

In spring 2020, black families homeschooled their children at a rate of 3.3 percent. By the fall of 2020, the rate jumped to 16.1 percent.

One black parent called the COVID-19 pandemic “a blessing —  an opportunity to take ownership of our children’s education.” Charmaine Williams of Missouri said that school officials had complained about her son’s behavior. Now she uses the National Black Home Educators curriculum to homeschool him and her daughter.  “At school, children have to follow a certain pattern, and there’s bullying, belittling — compared to being home where they’re free to be themselves,” Williams said.

Joyce Burges, co-founder and program director of National Black Home Educators, said membership increased during the pandemic from 5,000 to over 35,000.

One parent’s son didn’t like the government school’s remote learning classes, and his mother opted to use a homeschooling curriculum.