In the United States, there have historically been a growing number of parents choosing to educate their children at home.
If homeschooling was once preferred primarily by religious parents, it is now becoming popular among non-religious families.
According to a Washington Post study, the number of home-schooled American children ranges between 1.9 and 2.7 million. At the same time, public school enrollment fell 4%.
The study notes that the rise in popularity of alternative education is not due to the poor quality of traditional education, but rather because many parents believe that traditional schools cannot meet the unique needs of their children. They also fear being bullied by other students and worry about school shootings and curricula that don’t align with their family values.
In addition, the newspaper notes, the growing popularity of homeschooling is facilitated by special programs in several states that offer parents subsidies of thousands of dollars a year for this purpose, and financial support from nonprofit organizations to the teachers who teach children at home.
The explosion of homeschooling has led to the rise of an entire industry aimed at parents who want to educate their children at home, notes Morning Brew. Among others, they mention OutSchool, an online platform that allows you to develop a personalized curriculum based on collaborative lessons, and Prenda, which helps parents create microschools where five to 25 students learn under the guidance of a teacher.
However, many education experts are skeptical that most parents can match the teaching skills of qualified teachers. They say homeschooled children may lack the necessary socialization that a traditional school provides.
Additionally, the Washington Post notes in another article, homeschooling can be a way to cover up signs of child abuse and avoid the attention of special teachers and counselors trained to recognize unexplained bruises and changes in children’s behavior that indicate abuse. parental.
The newspaper cites data from a 2014 study among pediatricians in the states of Virginia, Texas, Wisconsin, Utah and Washington: of the nearly 20 children treated for injuries caused by domestic violence, eight were home-schooled.
