What will homeschooling look like in 5 years?

[poppy]

The number of people coming into our coop with barely-5 year olds, and a couple youngers, is much, much higher than the number of older kids.  Like wow.

I know there is a fair number of "just doing it until 1st grade" people out there, but this also feels like  a shift.

But I've only been homeschooling 2 years, and I may be overreacting. Man, do 5 year olds seem little when your kids are older!!

So asking more seasoned folks: what do you think, do we have a horde of happy homeschoolers following us? Or is it an short term uptick / regular flux?

[lulalu]

I think the US will see big changes in the homeschool world at each state and possibly nation wide. 

I think the use of online schooling and classes will have a big change in regulations and people sticking it out in homeschooling too. 

It seems homeschooling is so common now. But I think there are many who want "easy" and will bail when the work load gets harder. 

[freesia]

My guess is regular flux. We have a bunch bc our new group leader is young and pulled them in. We had a big group when ds 13 was 5 but drubs and drabs in between. But I could be wrong. 

One factor, though, is that we have a lot of kids who grew up homeschooling or who had friends who homeschooled and may be more likely to consider it. It certainly has become more common since we began. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

What you describe doesn’t sound any different from homeschooling in the last 15 years. I vote regular influx even if some of them will drop off in the next couple of years. 

[RootAnn]

Regular influx that will drop off. That's my vote. Definitely seen it before. They won't all stick it out, but you'll have them for a couple years.

[HomeAgain]

I see more communities starting to move to hybrid models, where children can attend school part-time, for either one class a day or 2-3x a week, like a university model.

You know, when I was a kid I read the most fantastic story about a futuristic society where kids were all schooled with computers, with teachers grading on the other end and sending the work back on punch cards.  It borrowed elements from Disney's Tomorrowland House and 1980's technology, but I thought it was very cool, but dull.  30 years later I couldn't help but chuckle as my own child's work was all done on a computer, sent in on pdf, and had the teachers grading it on the other end.

[Carrie12345]

I consider myself "seasoned", and I'm not sure I'm seeing a big change in numbers. Our former co-op and our current co-op have made more accommodations for the under-6 crowd, but that's mostly dependent on having older kids enrolled. We always lose families as the kids get older, but I've been noticing more going all the way.  That may very well be because of cyber charters. I don't really keep track of who uses one and who doesn't, and our co-ops do welcome pretty much any at-home-schoolers. Technically, they wouldn't be reflected in legal homeschool numbers, but they're present in our community.

I do wonder if our numbers will actually be smaller in 5 years.  Over the past couple of years, I've seen a lot of people online deciding to homeschool with very little understanding of homeschooling. Posts asking who they need to call for their curriculum, people looking for a place they can send their kids all week, even someone who just found out they're expected to have a portfolio and get it reviewed by the end of next month. (One of THE biggest factors in our state being considered "high regulation".)

Don't get me wrong, I think learning on the fly is an enormous part of homeschooling, but I do wonder if people who go in blindly are the type to be in it for the long haul.

On the other hand, I think our communities (co-ops and the like) are getting stronger, and providing a special element that may boost the "retention rate" with their unique opportunities and support system.

So, I guess I think anything is possible in the next 5 years!

[lmrich]

I work at a hybrid or university model school for homeschoolers in a very affluent area. We had a surge of students 4 years ago. My classes filled with 18 students. This year enrollment is down for all the classes. I think that our hybrid serves an alternative to private school. Now that the economy is better more people are sticking with the $$ private schools rather than venturing into the homeschool world.  We also compete with online schools and dual enrollment which are more common now. 

[poppy]

11 hours ago, lolo said:

I think the US will see big changes in the homeschool world at each state and possibly nation wide. 

I think the use of online schooling and classes will have a big change in regulations and people sticking it out in homeschooling too. 

It seems homeschooling is so common now. But I think there are many who want "easy" and will bail when the work load gets harder. 

 

There does seem to be a perception that there is a variety of online all in one homeschooling options and one just has to pick.  Which is fine when "shopping" for a 4-5 year old but just a road to frustration and disappointment beyond that.

 

OK sounds like this is normal! It makes me want to get rid of my discount for younger kids. I want to be encouraging, and I know some will stick it out.

[Farrar]

I think it's both a regular influx and part of an overall increase. There are genuinely a lot more homeschoolers, especially young ones (and not just kindergarten/first grade, but across elementary school) here than there were a decade ago. Noticeably more with more co-ops.

There are a few co-ops that have sprung up here that I think are the future of homeschooling and I have mixed feelings about it. They're basically co-op schools. The kids are there every single morning, or four days a week or some other such model. Like, they're there a LOT. They pay actual resource teachers. They are a mix of unschoolish and directed. I think that model is going to become more and more prevalent. I think it's what a lot of parents are looking for. It wasn't what I was looking for, but I've met a lot of prospective homeschool parents who want that. They want to have a super flexible "school" basically.

But I also think there isn't one future of homeschooling, any more than there's ever been one present of homeschooling. There will continue to be plenty of traditional style homeschoolers, plenty of unschoolers... I think there will be more people who are heavily using online learning models - both online schools, but more and more people whose kids are in an array of online classes. I think there is springing up a lot of kids who are basically getting an a la carte education between online classes and local classes and groups.

[EKS]

I've read that nationwide, the huge surge in homeschooling seems to have leveled off.  I suspect that what you're seeing is a normal variation.

[catz]

I’ve been homeschooling for going on 11 years in an urban area.  Local communities ebb and flow.  I don’t get too excited about up or down trends anymore.   

[klmama]

I agree with the rest - it's normal to have a lot of littles.  Many will end up enrolling in a school once their moms discover how much work homeschooling actually entails.  In the meantime, just enjoy some of the fun activities they plan for your group!  

[Dmmetler]

5 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

I see more communities starting to move to hybrid models, where children can attend school part-time, for either one class a day or 2-3x a week, like a university model.

You know, when I was a kid I read the most fantastic story about a futuristic society where kids were all schooled with computers, with teachers grading on the other end and sending the work back on punch cards.  It borrowed elements from Disney's Tomorrowland House and 1980's technology, but I thought it was very cool, but dull.  30 years later I couldn't help but chuckle as my own child's work was all done on a computer, sent in on pdf, and had the teachers grading it on the other end.

Isaac Asimov-The Fun They Had. http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/funtheyhad.html

I do think that’s kind of the direction we’re going in, but Asimov didn’t foresee the social networks that also develop when more kids are homeschooled, and that doing school at home doesn’t mean doing school alone all the time. 

 

[KungFuPanda]

That seems normal since there will always be people who don’t make it past the try-it-out stage. What I am noticing is a shift from homeschooling DIYers to homeschooling consumers. There just seems to be a MUCH lower percentage of people who can create an educational experience out of thin air. The suggestion that you “start something to meet your needs” is met with complete disbelief. I’m talking on the scale of a book club, not a co-op. It’s a little surreal. I’ve decided I’m a dinosaur and maybe my advice isn’t relevant in today’s culture. 

[HomeAgain]

41 minutes ago, dmmetler said:

Isaac Asimov-The Fun They Had. http://visual-memory.co.uk/daniel/funtheyhad.html

I do think that’s kind of the direction we’re going in, but Asimov didn’t foresee the social networks that also develop when more kids are homeschooled, and that doing school at home doesn’t mean doing school alone all the time. 

 

OH MY GOSH!  THAT'S THE STORY!  I always thought it was just made up for the reader it was in, like the ones in Highlights magazines.  I found it fascinating as a child.  Now watching the spring up of so many K12-like schools, I think it's fascinating in a different way.

[catz]

1 hour ago, KungFuPanda said:

That seems normal since there will always be people who don’t make it past the try-it-out stage. What I am noticing is a shift from homeschooling DIYers to homeschooling consumers. There just seems to be a MUCH lower percentage of people who can create an educational experience out of thin air. The suggestion that you “start something to meet your needs” is met with complete disbelief. I’m talking on the scale of a book club, not a co-op. It’s a little surreal. I’ve decided I’m a dinosaur and maybe my advice isn’t relevant in today’s culture. 

I hear you.  But they're more than happy to take advantage of opportunities when other people set them up and have no issues complaining about how things are run by a volunteer or flaking out.   

When I was on the leadership team for our co-op, I once got an e-mail from a lady asking for a meeting to expound on how our grass roots parent run with paid teachers co-op would compare to the highest end private schools in our metro.  Ummm ... time for some google fu lady.  You create your own curriculum.  There are kids that have Ivy stats at our co-op to kids with LD's who struggle to get to grade level.  It's up to YOU to decide how and if it's a right fit for your kid's educational and social goals and to think about what you and your family bring to the table.  It's not a parent volunteer's job to lay out your child's homeschool educational options for you or to market homeschooling to you.  Sounded like this mom wanted a pretty brochure with some comforting stats and smiling children.  

Sorry for the random vent!  LOL!  I am bit surprised about people who start homeschooling who seem to know little to nothing about what that really means or looks like.   If you're unwilling to crack a book or do some research, it's probably not for you.  

[mumto2]

I have no way of documenting this but I think there are a few more people that are starting home education from the start of their children’s education not just switching to home ed after other school alternatives fail.

[HomeAgain]

6 minutes ago, mumto2 said:

I have no way of documenting this but I think there are a few more people that are starting home education from the start of their children’s education not just switching to home ed after other school alternatives fail.

 

I think you're right.  When we started people usually fell into one of two categories: those "called" by God, and refugees from a system that wasn't working.  Homeschooling is seen more as a viable option for families now.  I watched our communities morph from the two categories above to those who wanted consistency in a life of frequent moves, those who wanted a different educational path than the public school, those whose community was pro-homeschooling and it intrigued them enough to see it as an option for themselves..there seems to be a lot more variety in the reasons, and starting at the beginning makes sense rather than seeing it as a last resort.

[PeachyDoodle]

5 hours ago, Carrie12345 said:

I do wonder if our numbers will actually be smaller in 5 years.  Over the past couple of years, I've seen a lot of people online deciding to homeschool with very little understanding of homeschooling. Posts asking who they need to call for their curriculum, people looking for a place they can send their kids all week, even someone who just found out they're expected to have a portfolio and get it reviewed by the end of next month. (One of THE biggest factors in our state being considered "high regulation".)

 

32 minutes ago, FuzzyCatz said:

Sorry for the random vent!  LOL!  I am bit surprised about people who start homeschooling who seem to know little to nothing about what that really means or looks like.   If you're unwilling to crack a book or do some research, it's probably not for you.  

I don't know if I'm considered "seasoned" or not (we're wrapping up year 5) but I am seeing a lot of this too. Especially on the local Facebook groups, I'm continually shocked and dismayed by the questions that get asked about the most basic of things. Not that I'm unwilling to help out a newbie. I got plenty of help when I was just starting out, not the least of which came from this board, for which I'm eternally grateful. But if you can't even be bothered to google the very simple requirements for our state, you're probably not going to be a terribly successful homeschooler.

In contrast to the OP, what I see more often than littles are families pulling their kids out of situations that aren't working for whatever reason, similar to a lot of what SWB describes in Rethinking School. But I do think that there's kind of a fantasy aspect that "whatever you do at home has got to be better than public school" and that it's just a matter of plunking your kids in front of a free website for 8 hours a day. Which, unfortunately, isn't going to be much better for most struggling students and will probably be worse. When compared with the above unwillingness to seek out good info and blaze a trail for your kid, I think most of these forays are going to be short-lived.

[poppy]

3 hours ago, PeachyDoodle said:

 

I don't know if I'm considered "seasoned" or not (we're wrapping up year 5) but I am seeing a lot of this too. Especially on the local Facebook groups, I'm continually shocked and dismayed by the questions that get asked about the most basic of things. Not that I'm unwilling to help out a newbie. I got plenty of help when I was just starting out, not the least of which came from this board, for which I'm eternally grateful. But if you can't even be bothered to google the very simple requirements for our state, you're probably not going to be a terribly successful homeschooler.

In contrast to the OP, what I see more often than littles are families pulling their kids out of situations that aren't working for whatever reason, similar to a lot of what SWB describes in Rethinking School. But I do think that there's kind of a fantasy aspect that "whatever you do at home has got to be better than public school" and that it's just a matter of plunking your kids in front of a free website for 8 hours a day. Which, unfortunately, isn't going to be much better for most struggling students and will probably be worse. When compared with the above unwillingness to seek out good info and blaze a trail for your kid, I think most of these forays are going to be short-lived.

 

I do think for kids coming out of a bullying or traumatic school experience, 8 hours in front of a computer is better than the alternative.

But yeah. When I see people who get that one fat BrainQuest workook and think they are all set for the year, for the year or list 3 websites and ask which one to use as a complete curriculum, I mentally cringe.

[Lori D.]

15 hours ago, HomeAgain said:

...You know, when I was a kid I read the most fantastic story about a futuristic society where kids were all schooled with computers, with teachers grading on the other end and sending the work back on punch cards.  It borrowed elements from Disney's Tomorrowland House and 1980's technology, but I thought it was very cool, but dull.  30 years later I couldn't help but chuckle as my own child's work was all done on a computer, sent in on pdf, and had the teachers grading it on the other end.

Was it the short story "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov? I had a load of fun doing this story with my grade 7-8 homeschool Lit. & Comp. co-op class this year... (:D

 

ETA -- oops, never mind! Just read through the rest of the thread... ::embarrassed::

[Bluegoat]

I don't know that it's different, but I do find that it seems different to me to have people talking about homeschooling their kids that aren't yet school aged.

I think it relates to the ubiquitousness of having kids in programs at a young age though.  We now have a pre-primary program here, so potentially kids that won't be four until Christmas are going to school.   I do find it a bit weird that the younger parents seem to take this for granted, since thing were different when they grew up.  But I guess for the ones with the really young kids, they are mostly millennials so really a different cohort than I am, and most of them were in care as toddlers if not earlier.

[HomeAgain]

10 hours ago, Lori D. said:

Was it the short story "The Fun They Had" by Isaac Asimov? I had a load of fun doing this story with my grade 7-8 homeschool Lit. & Comp. co-op class this year... (:D

 

ETA -- oops, never mind! Just read through the rest of the thread... ::embarrassed::

I am feeling so out of the loop now!  LOL  I've never been a big science fiction fan and never picked up Asimov's work as an adult, but I do remember that section of the reader very well (We had several old readers in my house growing up.  They were perfect for short story time). It was full of futuristic visions, like the girl who begged for sunglasses and nobody had any idea what they were or what the did, because it was so smoggy they didn't see the sun well.

I may have to look at some of Asimov's other short stories now. ?

[Katy]

I think among our friends homeschooling is more frequently seen as the ideal now, both due to wider acceptance of the concept of a challenging mastery based education done at the child's own pace AND due to increasing school violence.

Many of our friends who try it find out that their family isn't suited and either choose after schooling or private schools instead.  Only about a third stick with home school IME.

[SeaConquest]

We are finishing our 4th year of homeschooling, so I am not exactly seasoned. My view is also colored by the unique homeschooling options we have in California.

In California, you can homeschool as your own tiny private school by filing a private school affidavit (PSA). I have seen the number of people filing a PSA drop off dramatically, and those that remain tend to have older kids (homeschooling high school has more freedom with a PSA), tend to be more religious (you can teach what you want when you file a PSA), and tend more toward unschooling.

You can also join a private school satellite program (PSP), which is what I think they call a "cover school" in a lot of states. I see more religious homeschoolers using a PSP, but I think far more file a PSA than join a PSP. I personally don't know anyone enrolled through a PSP.

We have a seen a huge influx of PSA, PSP, and public school students joining independent study programs through a public charter, and the reason is simple: money. Public charters offer close to 3K per student in K-8, and in the range of $3500 for each high schooler. People just can't resist the funding. The charters here have also become much more flexible and offer a wide range of options -- everything from specialty programs (with things like skiing and water sports), to live classes at a resource center, to paying for online classes, to paying for all sorts of field trips, memberships, and extracurriculars. If you are homeschooling three kids, it is hard to turn down almost 10k in free money, so more and more people are moving to charters for the money and for the built-in community, particularly at the K-8 level, when schooling through a charter is pretty simple. It does become more complex in high school, but again, the charters are becoming more flexible because of the competition among them. I know that some old-timers are not happy about the move toward charters, but I personally love our charter school community and the funding we receive.   

[poppy]

2 hours ago, SeaConquest said:

We are finishing our 4th year of homeschooling, so I am not exactly seasoned. My view is also colored by the unique homeschooling options we have in California.

In California, you can homeschool as your own tiny private school by filing a private school affidavit (PSA). I have seen the number of people filing a PSA drop off dramatically, and those that remain tend to have older kids (homeschooling high school has more freedom with a PSA), tend to be more religious (you can teach what you want when you file a PSA), and tend more toward unschooling.

You can also join a private school satellite program (PSP), which is what I think they call a "cover school" in a lot of states. I see more religious homeschoolers using a PSP, but I think far more file a PSA than join a PSP. I personally don't know anyone enrolled through a PSP.

We have a seen a huge influx of PSA, PSP, and public school students joining independent study programs through a public charter, and the reason is simple: money. Public charters offer close to 3K per student in K-8, and in the range of $3500 for each high schooler. People just can't resist the funding. The charters here have also become much more flexible and offer a wide range of options -- everything from specialty programs (with things like skiing and water sports), to live classes at a resource center, to paying for online classes, to paying for all sorts of field trips, memberships, and extracurriculars. If you are homeschooling three kids, it is hard to turn down almost 10k in free money, so more and more people are moving to charters for the money and for the built-in community, particularly at the K-8 level, when schooling through a charter is pretty simple. It does become more complex in high school, but again, the charters are becoming more flexible because of the competition among them. I know that some old-timers are not happy about the move toward charters, but I personally love our charter school community and the funding we receive.   

 

In Facebook groups, I see so many posts like "I have an extra $2000 to spend what should I do,  Disney  vacation or Ocean camp again" and it makes me think -- what a waste of money.     But, hey, it's not my money!  I wouldn't turn it down either.

[Bambam]

I think there will be a lot more regulation. I live in a no-regulation state, and I see people regularly pulling their children out starting in March/April who plan to homeschool them for the rest of the year and then return them to public school. Said children are most often failing, and the parents are doing this in hopes of advancing the child to the next grade in the fall. Parents are even pulling seniors the last two weeks of school because said children aren't going to graduate, but parents will via homeschooling. All this is going to lead to people demanding some sort of accountability of homeschoolers. 

University model schools are big here. I think they will get bigger. Many seem to want to homeschool but don't want to actually do the work. 

Online schools seem very attractive to newbies, but I don't see reviews/comments from people that continue doing them for years - except the small online classes taught by real instructors. Time4Learning, Acellus, etc - I'm not sure where they will be as they don't seem to be popular long-term options. 

I am starting to see more high school homeschoolers than in the past - which is a good thing, I think! We used to lose about 75% (at least) once you hit high school years. 

 

[Bluegoat]

11 hours ago, poppy said:

 

In Facebook groups, I see so many posts like "I have an extra $2000 to spend what should I do,  Disney  vacation or Ocean camp again" and it makes me think -- what a waste of money.     But, hey, it's not my money!  I wouldn't turn it down either.

 

I find that so weird.  I would have a hard time turning down the money too, but it would be going to the extra things I can't teach - like music lessons or French or a million other things we could do for school.  

[HomeAgain]

15 minutes ago, Bluegoat said:

 

I find that so weird.  I would have a hard time turning down the money too, but it would be going to the extra things I can't teach - like music lessons or French or a million other things we could do for school.  

Same here.  I wish we got a stipend for homeschooling!  I can just imagine what I would do with that money.  There would be a lot more science and language equipment in my home!

[Janeway]

I feel like things might be different in that I know very few home schoolers now. Also, when I go to activities with other home schoolers, the younger/newer home schoolers do not seem as friendly as people from years ago. Also, in the olden days, nothing was really outsourced. Now, most people seem to outsource more than they do at home. I hear a lot of "I can't teach those subjects." I could get people saying that in high school or referencing an extra curricular, but I am seeing early grade school kids having more than half their core classes outsourced.

[poppy]

1 minute ago, Janeway said:

I feel like things might be different in that I know very few home schoolers now. Also, when I go to activities with other home schoolers, the younger/newer home schoolers do not seem as friendly as people from years ago. Also, in the olden days, nothing was really outsourced. Now, most people seem to outsource more than they do at home. I hear a lot of "I can't teach those subjects." I could get people saying that in high school or referencing an extra curricular, but I am seeing early grade school kids having more than half their core classes outsourced.

 

When you say outsource, do you mean like, use an online program? Or do you mean hire a tutor?

[Janeway]

5 minutes ago, poppy said:

 

When you say outsource, do you mean like, use an online program? Or do you mean hire a tutor?

Anything. I am not referencing when someone uses a virtual public charter program. I am referring when they home school, but then their children go to one teacher for handwriting and another for writing and then another for science and yet another for writing, etc. Co-ops have gone from a one day a week thing with just a small handful of extra classes where all the parents run it and teach the classes, to being 2-3 days a week and the parents pay and drop them off and they teach many of the core classes. But they are not university model schools. Or lists of online classes their children are doing. Or a combination.