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Homeschooling applications in California more than double amid COVID-19 school closures | California
(The Center Square) – The number of California parents who elected to homeschool their children amid the COVID-19 pandemic increased significantly last school year. Data released by the California Department of Education on the number of parents who applied to homeschool their children in the last school year shows 34,715 affidavits filed to homeschool at least one child. In the 2018-19 school year, 14,548 applied. An additional 3,215 people submitted private school affidavits, which would allow them to operate schools with six or more students. This could be because of the increase in groups of parents privately schooling their children in groups that became known as “pandemic pods.” The Coalition…
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Leading Homeschool Magazine Measures Years and Reasons | State
GRAY, Tenn., July 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — The publication that started as a dream and an eBay store twenty years ago has transformed into 120+ glossy pages of inspiration and encouragement delivered quarterly as The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine to home educators across ninety nations. Over 120 staff now help with production and run the SchoolhouseTeachers.com online curriculum division. As the magazine celebrates twenty years, it remains a constant support for parents invested in educating their children at home. Why do parents choose to homeschool? Gena Suarez, who publishes The Old Schoolhouse® Magazine, can answer that question with confidence from two decades of expertise in the industry. “Homeschooling allows a child…
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Another homeschool myth busted
An attorney says a recent situation in Tennessee shows that many school officials and parents don’t realize that homeschool students can participate in sports at public schools. Homeschool student Warner Hamm told his parents he wanted to try out for basketball at a local middle school. The Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association said it was OK, but school officials did not. That was when the Home School Legal Defense Association (HSLDA) got involved. “24 states have some kind of law that grants homeschool students access to either extracurricular activities or classes, or both,” explains HSLDA attorney Dan Beasley. “So we sent a letter the day of the tryouts, and to…
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Stateside: Auto insurance changes; Black homeschooling; LGBTQ Muralist; Ypsi youth choir
Stateside for Wednesday, June 30, 2021 Today on Stateside, changes to auto insurance’s medical care funding formula are happening in Michigan. Critics fear many catastrophic car crash victims will end up in nursing homes at taxpayers’ expense. Next up, we are re-airing a year of homeschooling and self-determination for Black families as they make their decisions to keep their children homeschooled or prepare them for traditional school. The second re-air is a conversation with a Detroit based LGBTQ muralist. Lastly, an Ypsilanti youth choir’s pandemic journey to create innovative ways to sing together. Listen to the full show above or find individual segments below. [Get Stateside on your phone: subscribe…
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After a lifetime of homeschooling, this Philly student is still waiting to learn with peers
Carpentry teacher Jared Lauterbach stopped short when he spied the student seated at the sidewalk art table, sketching a design for a school logo. “Is that Yahya?” Yahya Long, 15, looked up. He slowly unfolded his lanky frame to his 5-foot-11 height. “You’re tall!” said the 6-foot-3 Lauterbach, as Yahya met him almost eye-to-eye. “I wouldn’t have thought that.” Yahya seemed to smile behind his mask. His eyes crinkled, and the two fell into conversation. It’s hard to take the full measure of a student when your only prior contact has been as a face in a box on a computer screen — or sometimes, just a voice. Yahya, a…
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Families that switched to home school say they won’t go back
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. In 2020, Ophelia Talley was suddenly handed the opportunity, as she saw it, to homeschool her son, Noah. “I had wanted to homeschool, and then COVID happened, and I was just like, well, we’re trying it!” said the mom of two, who had previously sent her older son to kindergarten class in Huntsville. Thousands of families learned at home during the pandemic. But while many returned to traditional classroom settings when schools reopened, a record number of families — and a record number of Black families, like the Talleys — opted out of school systems altogether. “I’m seeing and hearing about lots of new families,” said Cheryl Fields-Smith,…
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A Q&A with homeschooling reform advocates Elizabeth Bartholet and James Dwyer
Elizabeth Bartholet ’65, the Morris Wasserstein Public Interest Professor of Law and faculty director of the Child Advocacy Program at Harvard Law School, and James Dwyer, the Arthur B. Hanson Professor of Law at William & Mary Law School, are longtime advocates for child welfare and homeschool reform. Recently, they held a summit, called “Problems, Politics, and Prospects for Reform,” to discuss homeschooling in America, which featured legal and education experts, social scientists, social workers, advocates for children, and homeschool alumni. Bartholet and Dwyer spoke to Harvard Law Today about key takeaways from the conference — including the nationwide lack of regulation for homeschooling, how that can harm children, and…
Skillful education crafters
