Photo: LinkedIn & TikTok
With concern over violence and bullying, parents are increasingly taking homeroom to a room in their home. Is it worth it?
By Katy Kostakis — Written on Apr 28, 2023
Parents online are weighing up their options when it comes to protecting their kids in the current political climate and homeschooling is becoming an increasingly popular solution.
Our formative years are built on being educated in every possible subject to allow for a well-rounded mind. From ages five to eighteen, many of us spent the whole day in classrooms learning everything from Albert Einstein’s Theory of Relativity to why William Shakespeare’s plays are still appreciated hundreds of years later.
While teachers are trained and certified to deliver a curriculum that provides students with a challenging and rewarding foundation of knowledge, many parents have opted to take their children away from the chalkboard and teach them these fundamental subjects in their own home-with themselves as educators.
Homeschooling is not a new concept, but several factors have parents taking this path.
The notion of providing a child’s education exclusively in one’s home is not a novel idea. However, as stated by NewsNation in a report updated in 2022, several mitigating factors, including the increasing number of school shootings and violence, as well as bullying have contributed to an uptick in parents eschewing a traditional scholastic environment to teach their kids.
While being interviewed by NewsNation and referenced in this same report, James Dwyer, the author of “Homeschooling: The History and Philosophy of a Controversial Practice,” elaborated: “Consistently, parents have reported safety as a concern, but it’s not been mass shootings, even in the year just after some horrible incident, but, rather, bullying...Their child is being bullied, there’s fighting going on in the school, there could be gang presence in the school. Those sort of things their own child could be experiencing may motivate a parent to homeschool their children.”
This same debate is playing out online with one mom on TikTok even predicting that the rise of homeschooling will switch social norms so much that kids who go to public school will be considered "weird."
The choice made by a parent to homeschool their child can certainly stem from concern over bullying and violence, along with the COVID-19 pandemic.
In a 2021 paper analyzing the rates of homeschooling during the pandemic, the United States Census Bureau stated that the percentage of households reporting homeschooling rose from 5.4% in the Spring of 2019-2020 to 11.1% in the Fall of 2020-2021.
In an April 5 article by NewsNation, Texas Homeschool Coalition's executive director, Stephanie Lambert, specified additional reasons, including academics, morals and religion: “Parents want to be able to give their kids their own values. And even in the Black community, you’re seeing a lot of people actually say racism in the public schools is something that is driving them to homeschool.”
Parents may be drawn to homeschooling, but this type of work isn't for everyone.
Over on social media, not everything thinks this is an ideal solution. TikTok user @mommacusses weighs how this decision for parents may work for some, yet is "a very individual approach to a systemic problem", while also pointing out that "not everyone is cut out to be a teacher."
Being a teacher is a role that requires extensive instruction and adherence to regulations to maintain set standards, so what governing body keeps tabs on these parents-turned-educators?
A 2015 ProPublica report shows that each state sets its own rules, including whether a school district must be notified of an intent to homeschool, what minimum educational qualifications the parent or guardian must have, and what subjects should be taught.
Surprisingly, the report shows that, at that time, no state specified that a parent or guardian must have a college degree to teach, and in eleven states, notification is not even required.
While parents and guardians have the right to decide what type of education their children receive and in what environment they will get it, whether it’s in a formal academic setting or in the comfort of their homes, it is important that all children receive that solid base of information to be able to not only function in the world, but to succeed in it.
Katy Kostakis is a Boston-based freelance journalist and writer and specializing in lifestyle, arts & entertainment, health & wellness, beauty, food & dining, and culture.