As the COVID-19 pandemic took hold across America in spring 2020, it brought anxiety and disruption to most US families. However, some parents are grateful for one outcome and are now opting to homeschool their children even as schools intend to resume in-person lessons.

The definite reasons vary extensively. Several families who spoke with the AP news have children with ‘special education’ needs. While other children seek a “faith-based curriculum” or say, their local educational institutions are flawed. They tried homeschooling on a temporary basis but found it beneficial for their children.

Homeschooling increases in the US: “the surge has been confirmed by the U.S. Census Bureau, which reported in March that the rate of households homeschooling their children rose to 11% by September 2020, more than doubling from 5.4% just six months earlier.” Toronto Star.

— revans@utschools.ca (@Rosemary_Evans) July 25, 2021

Daniel King of Randolph, Vermont, whose seven-year-old daughter thrived with one-on-one instruction, said that homeschooling is one comforting prospect of the epidemic; she doesn’t ponder they would have selected to homeschooling otherwise. Her curriculum has included anatomy, literature, even archeology, cheered with recreations to search for fossils.

The United States Census Bureau confirmed the surge, which reported in March 2021 that the rate of households homeschooling their children increased to eleven percent by last September, more than twofold from 5.4 percent just half a year earlier. Black households saw the peak; their homeschooling rate increased from 3.3 percent in the “2020 spring” to 16.1 percent in Autumn.

Lack of Internet Access Limited Ability To Benefit From Virtual-Learning

Furthermore, the parents in one of those families, Arlena and Robert Brown of Austin (a city in Texas), had 3 children in elementary school when the coronavirus pandemic took hold. After testing with virtual-learning, the pair picked to try homeschooling with a Catholic-oriented course outline provided by Seton Home Study School, serving nearly sixteen thousand students countrywide.

The Browns intended to continued homeschooling for the next year, grateful that they could tailor the course outline to fit their children’s specific needs. Nine-year-old Felicity has a learning disability, and ten-year-old Riley has tested as academically gifted; 11-years-old Jacoby has been diagnosed with narcolepsy and occasionally needs naps during the day.

CEO and Co-Founder of the National Black Home Educators (NBHE), Joyce Burges, said that the twenty-one-year-old organization had nearly five thousand members before the COVID-19 pandemic and now has over 35000.

Burges said that several new families experienced problems, including lack of internet access, that restricted their children’s ability to benefit from virtual-learning during the coronavirus pandemic. Moreover, she said that it got so they did not trust anything but only homes and their children being with them.

Burges added now they are seeing the future, seeing what their children could do.