amna: Since the start of the
pandemic, homeschooling has been
on the rise, with an estimated
30% increase in homeschool
enrollment since the beginning
of the 2019 school year.
While the total number of
homeschool families remains
relatively modest, its rise has
impacted traditional school
enrollment and the way we view
education.
William brangham has the story.
Correspondent: Think of it as a
school without walls, or even a
roof for that matter.
This group of kids, in a park
about an hour west of Detroit,
Michigan, aren't on a field
trip.
This is just another day of
homeschooling.
>> We usually pick a different
park every week to visit with
the kids, and we just -- there's
no agenda.
We just go out on the trails and
floor.
-- Explore.
You can't get those experiences
from a textbook.
Correspondent: Kelly konieczki
and her 12 year-old daughter,
Matilda, took the leap into
homeschooling during the
pandemic.
Being at home allowed them to
reflect on their lives, and
Matilda's public school
education.
>> We were going to school, we
were shuffling back and forth.
It's this hustle and bustle kind
of thing.
And when all of that all of a
sudden just stopped and I was
like, wait a minute.
I think the pandemic taught a
lot of people about what life
could and should be like.
And I just wanted to continue
with that.
I said, well, if there was ever
a time to try homeschooling,
it's now, because things are
crazy.
>> We've been tracking the
homeschool movement for a while,
and we were noticing a surge in
homeschooling before the
pandemic.
And during the pandemic, the
numbers really shot up.
Correspondent: Robin lake is the
director of the center on
reinventing public education, a
non-partisan research and policy
center.
>> What surprised me was how
many said, hey, let's use this
opportunity to try something
different.
Maybe we can do better.
>> I do think that there are a
number of homeschool families
that really want to flip how
education works, so that they're
not just running away from
something, they're trying to do
something really different.
Correspondent: The konieczki's
use an approach known as
unschooling.
>> Unschooling is really just
learning through living.
It's respecting your child as an
individual and supporting them.
Letting them lead.
He is barking because it is
meeting season -- mating season.
Correspondent: For Matilda, this
means she can take deep dives
into her real interests, like
veterinary medicine, which she
explores by caring for the many
dozens of pets in her home, and
shadowing a veterinary
technician at an animal shelter.
>> It still feels a little
weird, but I've gotten used to
at this point.
It's such a healthier way to
learn, in my opinion.
Correspondent: While
homeschooling seems to be
working for families like the
konieczki's, experts who study
this field say that homeschools,
just like traditional schools,
can vary widely in the quality
of education they provide.
>> Even though we think of
ourselves as a society that
requires that children be
educated, if parents want to,
they can simply keep their kids
at home, not educate them or
educate them in whatever way
they choose, and there is no
limit.
Correspondent: Dr. Elizabeth
bartholet is a child welfare
expert and law professor at
Harvard university.
She says the laws governing
homeschools vary from state to
state by state, but rarely
provide meaningful oversight.
>> In the United States there's
essentially no effective
regulation, and I think that's
true in all 50 states.
Correspondent: In loosely
regulated states, like Texas,
Michigan, and Illinois, parents
are not even legally required to
notify their school district
before homeschooling.
More strictly regulated states,
like Pennsylvania, New York, and
Massachusetts, require parents
to turn in curriculums and
assessments, but, says
bartholet, enforcement is
lacking.
>> There are some states that on
paper look better than others.
But even the ones that look on
paper as if they have some
requirements, what regulation
there is isn't enforced.
Correspondent: She says this
means authorities aren't able to
really see what the lives of
homeschooled children look like,
from the quality of education
they receive, to their mental
and physical health.
>> The requirement that all kids
go to school has been an
enormous piece of our protective
system for children.
So protecting them against abuse
and neglect.
And the largest group of
reporters for many years now has
been teachers and other school
personnel.
Correspondent: But in robin
lake's research, she says
homeschooling parents bristle at
those concerns, saying they know
what is best for their kids.
>> Parents who are homeschooling
would tell you, look, we ran
away from something that wasn't
working.
Don't -- don't rebuild it.
Give us -- give us the space to
do what we need to do for our
kids.
>> I don't want anybody to tell
me that my daughter is only able
to do this book at this time.
Then she's not really
homeschooling, is she?
Correspondent: Navy veteran
Natalie Thomas says she started
homeschooling early in the
pandemic when her older
daughter's school in Maryland
went virtual.
>> And every time she would get
on the computer, I would say,
what are you doing?
You know?
And she's like, I don't know.
I was drawing a picture.
I was making a flower.
So I'm like, okay, she's not
getting anything from this.
So we started homeschooling.
Correspondent: With her
direction, Thomas says, her
daughter, Sariah, now 8, learns
the fundamentals, but also has
the flexibility to explore her
interests.
>> This is when I'm going to
make a shop that's called
Sariah's shop.
>> That makes sense, because
you're Sariah.
Correspondent: --
>> She drew this whole vision
board of the salon that she's
going to create.
And I've already looked into
that.
Like in Maryland, you can have
your cosmetology license at 16.
Home schooling will afford me
the opportunity to allow her to
be on that track.
Correspondent: At a time when
school curriculums are the
center of a passionate national
debate, Thomas says she's able
to teach Sariah and her younger
sister, 4 year-old Samia, things
like black history more fully.
>> A lot of schools and a lot of
states are starting to really
take out history.
And I feel like you can't really
talk about American history
unless you talk about the
importance that
African-Americans, Latin
Americans, there's no American
history without us.
Correspondent: In 2020, the
number of black homeschooling
families shot up, diversifying a
movement many think of as being
white, Christian, and
conservative.
>> What's the hardest part of
all of this for you?
>> I think a lot of times it's
the naysayers.
>> The outside world?
>> I think that maybe the
hardest.
What we do here.
It works for us.
It works for my kids.
They're learning and they're
thriving.
Correspondent: Public schools
across the country have lost
roughly 1.2 million students
since 2020, in part due to
homeschooling, which leaves the
schools still reeling from the
pandemic with even smaller
budgets.
It's a troubling shift, says
Elizabeth bartholet, because
free public education was
created to benefit not just
children, but society as a
whole.
>> There was some way of trying
to ensure that all children
raised in the larger society had
some sense of that larger
society's values, its democratic
system, core values like
anti-racism, anti-sexism and
just the right of people to take
charge of their own lives.
Correspondent: Whatever the
impact, robin lake says
homeschooling has staying power.
>> In talking to some families
during the pandemic, I asked
them, do you think you will stay
with this?
And many of them said yes.
And I think that the reason in
part was they realize that it's
easier than they thought.
And now that many parents have
done it successfully, they feel
like, okay, I've got this.
I want to stick with it.
Correspondent: Back in Michigan,
Kelly konieczki plans to do just
that.
>> I've seen her grow and
flourish and just thrive in this
environment.
That's why we've decided to
continue.
For the pbs newshour, I'm
William brangham.
♪♪