As a direct result of the coronavirus pandemic, the total number of students being homeschooled in the United States has more than doubled from pre-pandemic levels, and continues to rise even as schools begin to slowly reopen, according to Fox News.
By March of 2021, the total number of homeschooled students in America stands at over 5 million, in comparison to just 2.6 million in 2020. Christopher Chin, president of Homeschool Louisiana, said that “interest has exploded,” and that although some students may ultimately return to regular schools after the pandemic, “many parents [are] finding this is a better way of life for them and their children.”
Additionally, Chin says the homeschooling model has proven successful even for households where both parents work, due to the rise in remote work at many companies and places of business.
“The pandemic has changed the way many companies work,” he continued. “Now, even two-income households have the flexibility to teach their children at home, and they’re taking that opportunity.”
Parents who turned to homeschooling initially due to fears of the virus itself are now choosing permanent homeschooling due to discovering more of what their children were being taught in public schools. Courtesy of remote learning, parents across the country found out that their children were actively being taught debunked far-left ideas such as Critical Race Theory – the claim that all White people are racist and that America is a racist nation – and the idea of “transgenderism,” which falsely claims that there are more than two genders, and that a child can choose their own gender at any given time.
One such example is Josh and Brittany Miller in Louisiana, who have been homeschooling their four children since the pandemic started and have no intention of going back, for that very reason.
“We don’t have to worry about the politics or circumstances of the virus,” Josh Miller explained. “We can do what’s best for our kids’ education, and then you add in the curriculum that we’re not even in agreeance with, and this is an obvious alternative.”