Why is homeschooling very popular in some states(or regions), but not others?

[Meadowlark]

I recently read a comment here where someone stated that nearly half the state of Texas homeschooled. I got to thinking...why is that?  Beyond the obvious border state thing, why would that be? 

I am here in a 60,000 size city in the Midwest, and there aren't very many homeschoolers nor any coops or anything organized. It's dismal actually. But, across the Mississippi, in a very small town, there is a HUGE homeschooling group that does amazing things. Just 40 minutes away it's like a different world.

So, why? Why the huge variation?

[rose]

I think that there are a few factors involved. Firstly, there's a critical mass thing that gets the ball rolling. If a person has friends that already homeschool then they're much more likely to brave it out. Secondly, I think that areas that collect independent, anti-government sorts are more likely to have more homeschoolers. The areas of the US that are more regulated in any way, less so because the "give me liberty" types will avoid those areas. Thirdly, jurisdictions with more hoops to jump through to legally homeschool are obviously going to have fewer homeschoolers, either because people are discouraged from homeschooling or because homeschooling families will avoid moving to those areas.

[El...]

I grew up being home schooled in Texas!  I think that's a crazy number - Googling quickly shows there are about 7 million kids in TX and the TX homeschool coalition says about 350,000 kids are homeschooling.  (That's probably rounded high, too.)

Anyway, to your question, it's easy to homeschool in Texas, with little to no oversight, and folks have a strong independent streak which I think encourages diy.  The school, at least where I grew up, is pretty good.

I have lived in several states with generally poor school systems, and more people do seem to homeschool there. But ease is definitely a piece of the picture.

[rose]

I just thought of another thing, certain religious groups that homeschool, like independent anabaptists, congregate in certain areas of the US as well. This undoubtedly ups the homeschooling numbers in those states. I know whole congregations where all the families homeschool and they are almost all LARGE families. One church that I know well in SW Missouri has at least 50 homeschooling children.

[Ellie]

It would be hard to know how many children in Texas (and other similar states) are homeschooled as there are no requirements to notify anyone or do anything that would enable anyone to count them. 🙂

I don' t know why it's more common in some areas than others. Just one of those things. 🙂

[HomeAgain]

Some of our valid reasons for homeschooling in Texas:

-the required breakfasts at schools were abhorrent and full of sugar
-corporal punishment was still an option in schools
-the state made it easy with minimal oversight.
-we moved often and didn't want to deal with putting our kid in several schools

Others homeschooled because
-their religious community was very pro-home education
-the schools didn't meet their kids needs
-minimal oversight

Here, it's not nearly as common.  We have a community the same size, but it spans 10-12 towns instead of our little Texas one.  The school districts are thought to be quite good and people are proud of them.  There's a high cost of living that means both parents usually work.  The districts usually require paperwork at the beginning detailing a plan and a progress report at the end.  There's more scrutiny.  It's not as easy to just start and stop.

[Lucy the Valiant]

I would guess that in very high cost of living areas, it's significantly harder for a family to keep 1 parent at part-time or non-working status, too. 

 

[Wheres Toto]

I'm in NJ so very HCOL and fairly secular but we have a ton of homeschoolers.  I think the main reasons are:

-schools that are not meeting the needs of kids with special needs
-It's super easy to homeschool here, along the lines of Texas. No real requirements
-Those that are religious find the schools way too liberal
 

[Farrar]

I think Texas is a perfect storm of things that lead to tons of homeschoolers...

A libertarian minded population
Minimal state oversight of homeschooling
Not great public schools
Lots of Christians
Low cost of living
Family values that includes mom at home as an ideal for lots of families
Strong homeschool communities lead to more homeschoolers so it's a little self-fulfilling

I live in a not-a-state with a very meager population of homeschoolers. It has grown, but it's light. It's sort of the opposite of Texas.

[goldenecho]

On 5/10/2019 at 10:51 AM, Meadowlark said:

I recently read a comment here where someone stated that nearly half the state of Texas homeschooled. I got to thinking...why is that?  Beyond the obvious border state thing, why would that be?

 

Actually, not seeing why the "border thing" would have much to do with it.   In Texas I think it has a lot to do with a few things: 

1.  Strong Christian culture in Texas, which is why many people homeschool (that wasn't our reason, even though we are Christian...but we homeschooled for non-religious reasons). 

2.  Strong independent spirit in Texas.   Granted, they like their traditions...but they do like the freedom to do things their own way too.  They are big on "leave me alone and let me do what I want." 

3.  LOTS of farming communities in Texas.   For some reason, farming and homeschooling seems to go together (not sure why...maybe the need to have kids help out and therefor have a more flexible schedule). 

4.  Not a lot of alternative options for schooling in many communities (so, if your local public schools aren't great, or you have a child who doesn't do well there, there may not be a charter school or private school to try to get them into...so homeschooling is the ONLY other education option in a lot of places). 

Edited May 12, 2019 by goldenecho

[goldenecho]

It's funny, where I am now in California has some of the opposite reasons for a large homeschool community than Texas.

1.   Lots of charters that do "independant study"....we call them "homeschool charters" even though technically they are public school.   They range from programs that choose your curriculum and where kids go to school part of the week and sort of have "homework" the rest, and charters that give you funds and nearly complete freedom teach how you want (so just like regular homeschooling, only with state money and the requirement to submit work samples to a teacher regularly).  I think this has opened up homeschooling to many people that wouldn't have considered it usually, but with that extra support decided to try it.   Once they've been introduced to homeschooling through a charter, some of these eventually try the PSA route (declaring yourself a private school...and getting rid of the support but also the reporting requirements of a charter).

2.   Independent spirit (ok, that's the same as Texas, just in a different way).  In Texas it was more of "rugged leave-me-aloneness" and in California it's more of a culture of individualization and everyone wanting to take their own path/do their own thing.  

3.   There's not as large of a Christian community out here, but the schools are much more liberal, so that pushes many Christians to homeschool.

4.  Anti-vaxxers and CA state law about public school and vaccinations.

5.   Just a lot of people in one place (at least where I live) so it's not hard for a homeschool community to become "big."

 

 

 

Edited May 12, 2019 by goldenecho

[shinyhappypeople]

 

 

 

 

3

11 hours ago, goldenecho said:

It's funny, where I am now in California has some of the opposite reasons for a large homeschool community than Texas.

1.   Lots of charters that do "independant study" (we call them "homeschool charters" even though technically they are public school.   They range from programs that choose your curriculum and where kids go to school part of the week and sort of have "homework" the rest, and charters that give you funds and nearly complete freedom teach how you want (so just like regular homeschooling, only with state money and the requirement to submit work samples to a teacher regularly).  I think this has opened up homeschooling to many people that wouldn't have considered it usually, but with that extra support decided to try it.   Once they've been introduced to homeschooling through a charter, some of these eventually try the PSA route (declaring yourself a private school...and getting rid of the support but also the reporting requirements of a charter).

2.   Independent spirit (ok, that's the same as Texas, just in a different way).  In Texas it was more of "rugged leave-me-aloneness" and in California it's more of a culture of individualization and everyone wanting to take their own path/do their own thing.  

 3.   There's not as large of a Christian community out here, but the schools are much more liberal, so that pushes many Christians to homeschool.

4.  Anti-vaxxers and CA state law about public school and vaccinations.

 5.   Just a lot of people in one place (at least where I live) so it's not hard for a homeschool community to become "big."

 

  

 

 

#1 Yup.  A lot of people call themselves homeschoolers (I know I did) while enrolled in Nonclassroom-based charter schools.  I was with one for 4 years.  It's sorta homeschooling - I mean, it is generally home-based and way more flexible than a brick and mortar school.  It gives very low-income families, in particular, a feasible way out of the traditional school setting.  I do wonder what families with students enrolled in NCB charters will do if Sacramento has its way and imposes further restrictions on charter schools with the possible end result of some of them closing.  Will these family enroll in a brick and mortar school or independently homeschool?  It'll be interesting to see what happens. 

#4  Has forced a lot of families into some variation of home education.  If Pan's additional restrictions on medical exemptions are put in place, there will be even more vaccine refugees.  

[shawthorne44]

I can answer the question for my tiny town of 3K people.   A few years before we moved to town, the state took over the local schools because they were doing such a miserable job.   So, there a lot of people that started out as accidental homeschoolers.  That gave the town the critical mass of homeschoolers.  

In the large city we were before this, I think it is because many had enough income that many preschoolers either have a nanny or a SAHM.   Those with nannies are likely to go to one of the private schools, those with SAHM's are likely to homeschool.  This is in a school district that is highly ranked. 

I have noticed that while homeschoolers are not remotely the majority, those that are in non-school extracurriculars do seem to be mostly homeschoolers. 

[shawthorne44]

I don't know if this is true since I heard it third-hand.   But, I was told that in Southern Baptists the First Baptist Church is designated money for education.  So, a mega-church is likely to setup a private school and smaller churches are likely to have a homeschool co-op.  So, I can see how that would locally increase the number of homeschoolers.

[vonfirmath]

3 hours ago, shawthorne44 said:

I don't know if this is true since I heard it third-hand.   But, I was told that in Southern Baptists the First Baptist Church is designated money for education.  So, a mega-church is likely to setup a private school and smaller churches are likely to have a homeschool co-op.  So, I can see how that would locally increase the number of homeschoolers.

 

I am a member of First Baptist in my town that is actually Southern Baptist and if this was once true, it is no longer true (and we are large, but nowhere close to what I would consider mega. -- I think we run 500 on a Sunday thought I'd need to look at attendance numbers to see for sure. We have three worship services currently that they are planning to tighten to two at the end of the summer.)

 

 

[...................]

On 5/12/2019 at 12:10 AM, goldenecho said:

It's funny, where I am now in California has some of the opposite reasons for a large homeschool community than Texas.

1.   Lots of charters that do "independant study"....we call them "homeschool charters" even though technically they are public school.   They range from programs that choose your curriculum and where kids go to school part of the week and sort of have "homework" the rest, and charters that give you funds and nearly complete freedom teach how you want (so just like regular homeschooling, only with state money and the requirement to submit work samples to a teacher regularly).  I think this has opened up homeschooling to many people that wouldn't have considered it usually, but with that extra support decided to try it.   Once they've been introduced to homeschooling through a charter, some of these eventually try the PSA route (declaring yourself a private school...and getting rid of the support but also the reporting requirements of a charter).

2.   Independent spirit (ok, that's the same as Texas, just in a different way).  In Texas it was more of "rugged leave-me-aloneness" and in California it's more of a culture of individualization and everyone wanting to take their own path/do their own thing.  

3.   There's not as large of a Christian community out here, but the schools are much more liberal, so that pushes many Christians to homeschool.

4.  Anti-vaxxers and CA state law about public school and vaccinations.

5.   Just a lot of people in one place (at least where I live) so it's not hard for a homeschool community to become "big."

 

 

 

 

yep, in CA it's more about being a hippy and doing your own thing LOL..and I agree with the above statements.  I feel like we have less overall than we did in FL, but our area is urban and people are willing to drive pretty far, so it's pretty easy to meet a lot of people and get involved especially with facebook groups! 

However, homeschooled TEENS in CA are a rarity.  For every 20 younger kids, you see maybe one teen.  This has to do with several factors: the fear of the A-G issue and the UC's as well as the cost of living.  Even with charter funds many homeschoolers really struggle to make ends meet, using up all of that extra gas, losing income for the second income earner, the cost of classes themselves and the mis-information about private homeschoolers and what the UCs require...when you add all of that up people put their kids in high school.  There, they get not only free education, but free food,  free or very low cost sports, orchestra, band, electives, clubs, science fairs, all kinds of academic opportunities, and on and on.  I am easily spending over 10,000.00 per year to outsource and keep my dd busy and involved in healthful and interesting things.   Even if I wanted to teach half her classes myself that number would still be 5000.00.... AND it makes it so that it is difficult for me to earn a second income and I'm spending more gas money as well. I have a friend in this exact situation, she just CANNOT afford to lose her income, pay for her daughter's classes, pay for her dance, and have the sanity to also teach her daughter, and they are putting her in public high school.  She's already enrolled.  It's a less than ideal situation as daughter is ASD and dyslexic but they have to try because they just cannot afford it all. ...

We also had a ton of homeschoolers in FL which mimicked many of the reasons why Texas has so many as well.  However the ratio of teens is more balanced there.

[rebcoola]

Around here it seems like the ALE parent partnership program taking off also exploded the homeschool community.  It was started by like 13 families and now has 600.    It has acted as a gateway to homeschooling with people doing a yr or 2 and than moving into true homeschooling.  It seems to have spurred people to create their own groups it seems like the fist 3 years we were here there were a few park playdates and an occasional  field trip.  Now their are all kinds of activities every day and groups for every subject,hobby or interest.   I guess that is the critical mass thing but its been interesting watch. 

[shawthorne44]

5 hours ago, rebcoola said:

Around here it seems like the ALE parent partnership program taking off also exploded the homeschool community.  It was started by like 13 families and now has 600.    It has acted as a gateway to homeschooling with people doing a yr or 2 and than moving into true homeschooling.  It seems to have spurred people to create their own groups it seems like the fist 3 years we were here there were a few park playdates and an occasional  field trip.  Now their are all kinds of activities every day and groups for every subject,hobby or interest.   I guess that is the critical mass thing but its been interesting watch. 

That is why I'm not bothered when people do something like K-12 for free and call it home-school.   I've even mentioned it to people with the caveat that we don't do it because it has the busywork of public school. 

[Janeway]

Honestly, I think the schools are much better in the midwest. Plus, the culture is very different. Sometimes, i call a friend and we talk about what is going on in school down here and get our dose of feeling disgusted for the day, or laughing, but mostly disgusted.

 

Also, even where I am at, in TX, I am seeing way less home schoolers. And the ones who are out there are just different for the most part.

Edited May 17, 2019 by Janeway

[shawthorne44]

11 minutes ago, DiannaKennedy said:

 

I've often wondered this too, and I've also wondered why there's such a wide variation of regulations from state to state. One of our dear friends just moved from Louisville to Indianapolis. Here in Louisville, we have a HUGE homeschooling community, but she tells me that in Indianapolis (which outsizes Louisville by about 37%), homeschooling is not nearly as common. 

When DD was a baby and I was reading about homeschooling, I noticed a trend in regulations.  States that were friendly to homeschooling, e,g, PA, are high regulation states.   Those states were allowing it and set up regulations for it.   Whereas states that were unfriendly to it, e.g. Texas, jailed homeschooling parents then later got smacked-down in the courts.  So, after the court smack-down, it was legal but there weren't any regulations about it.  

I remind other new homeschoolers of this.   People seem to think that because Texas doesn't have regulations that means that it is friendly to homeschoolers.  Noooo, I remember people being jailed in my city when I was a teen.   

Edited May 18, 2019 by shawthorne44

[EKS]

On 5/11/2019 at 11:56 PM, goldenecho said:

 

Actually, not seeing why the "border thing" would have much to do with it.   

I was confused by that statement as well.

[goldenecho]

4 hours ago, shawthorne44 said:

When DD was a baby and I was reading about homeschooling, I noticed a trend in regulations.  States that were friendly to homeschooling, e,g, PA, are high regulation states.   Those states were allowing it and set up regulations for it.   Whereas states that were unfriendly to it, e.g. Texas, jailed homeschooling parents then later got smacked-down in the courts.  So, after the court smack-down, it was legal but there weren't any regulations about it.  

I remind other new homeschoolers of this.   People seem to think that because Texas doesn't have regulations that means that it is friendly to homeschoolers.  Noooo, I remember people being jailed in my city when I was a teen.   

 

That is really interesting!  

But I do think that NOW Texas is friendly to homeschooling.  I rarely see proposals to restrict or regulate homeschooling there, but since I've moved to California I've seen homeschooling restrictions hit our state legislature constantly (though we've done well in thwarting them).

Meanwhile, in Texas, there were moves to try to make it easier for homeschoolers to participate in sports (there's an acronym...UIL or something like that, for the body that governs most school sports, and their rules make it hard for homeschoolers to participate).   It was the HOMESCHOOLERS (or a good portion of them) who fought against this bill that made it fail because they wanted to keep the "no help/no interference" status of homeschooling in the state, fearing that it would lead to regulation on homeschoolers.   That's more understandable now,  actually, considering what you've shared about the state's history.   I always thought it was a bit paranoid at the time. 

Still, I think overall Texas is, TODAY, extremely friendly to homeschoolers...even if it wasn't in the past.

Edited May 18, 2019 by goldenecho

[Farrar]

On 5/17/2019 at 9:27 AM, Medicmom2.0 said:

Homeschooling is dying in my area.  Part of is that I see a huge ideological shift and the Christians locally are no longer afraid of the public schools.  Gothard and VF were rather popular here and now that they’ve fallen away, I see a large shift.  

I was homeschooled in the late 90s and there were a lot of local homeschooled teens.  We had a gym class at a local youth center that had over 40 homeschooled teens, and this is a low population area.  Almost nobody seems to be homeschooling teens anymore; even the hard core homeschoolers that once preached against any type of brick and mortar school have sent their teens to school.  Even elementary age kids seem to have dropped off.  Part of this, I truly believe, is that more families are finding that need two wage earners vs my homeschool years in the 80s and 90s.  Another reason is that the public schools here have become decent.  The Christian school at my in laws church that was thriving  for over forty years closed last year due to decreased enrollment.  The pastor, who’s children are public schooled, attributed it to a shift in ideology where parents who, 10-15-20 years ago would have sent their kids to Christian school or homeschooled, are now using the public school.  I personally use the public school because my oldest’s needs are too much for me right now and my daughter is thriving.  If/when that ever changes, we will likely homeschool.

See, this hits a little on some other trends that I think I see in homeschooling, but it's just SO hard to really know for sure. We all have anecdotal evidence, but there are no reliable national statistics.

I *think* Christian communities are moving away from homeschooling for the reasons you say. However, I think more Muslims and more African-Americans are homeschooling, I think for some of the reasons that Christians were a few decades ago - namely distrust of the public schools. Obviously, the reasons are different. Christians started homeschooling as a response to integration. This is a response to bias in the schools, which is a little different, but still a distrust.

I think overall, homeschooling is becoming more secular. Hybrid schooling options that blur the lines between "school" and homeschool are more popular - online schools, public online schools, part time schools, etc. I think homeschooling is also skewing younger. People used to leave the schools because they were unhappy. Homeschooling used to have a "can do!" attitude about covering tricky harder topics. Now, people start out homeschooling because they want to keep their kids home and aspire to a certain lifestyle. By middle or high school, they're done and intimidated by the efforts. 

In terms of location... I think some of this is the character and regulations in various states. But I think more of it is the demographics. If homeschooling is dying in smaller areas, urban homeschooling seems like it's on the rise more to me. If it's dying in more heavily white Christian areas, I think it may be on the rise in more diverse  areas in general. However, the numbers may be going down overall - I've seen some indications of that. Though with hybrid schooling, it's hard to say exactly. Public schools have gotten better at recapturing those funds by offering at home options.

[Lucy the Valiant]

Another piece of the conversation is that in MANY states, home schooling is impossible to track / measure. Even in my relatively high-regulation state, the tracking mechanism used to count home schooled students is completely broken. And some states don't even bother to count at all.

[ElizabethB]

We have lived in a variety of states as homeschoolers.  It depends on a variety of factors, but one of the most important seems to be the cost of private schools.

For example, Illinois had more homeschoolers than I would have expected, but private schools were very expensive compared to cost of living.  In Arkansas, there were a lot of homeschoolers but some military families that homeschooled in other states put their kids in private schools there because private schools are cheap there, especially for Christian schools if you are a member of the denomination associated with the school.  I also know many people in the military who either started homeschooling in Hawaii or homeschooled just while they were there, private schools are very expensive in Hawaii.

[goldenecho]

4 hours ago, ElizabethB said:

We have lived in a variety of states as homeschoolers.  It depends on a variety of factors, but one of the most important seems to be the cost of private schools.

For example, Illinois had more homeschoolers than I would have expected, but private schools were very expensive compared to cost of living.  In Arkansas, there were a lot of homeschoolers but some military families that homeschooled in other states put their kids in private schools there because private schools are cheap there, especially for Christian schools if you are a member of the denomination associated with the school.  I also know many people in the military who either started homeschooling in Hawaii or homeschooled just while they were there, private schools are very expensive in Hawaii.

 

This tracks a little with my own experience.   When my youngest was struggling in school, and I knew he needed something different, the first thing I looked into were private schools.  I didn't feel confident enough yet to try myself.   But they were more expensive than we could afford at the time.   If I were here in California I MIGHT have gone the full time charter school route (MIGHT, because working with him over the summer to "catch him up" built up my confidence that I could teach him, and convinced me only one on one teaching would do, at least at first).  

[vonfirmath]

On 5/18/2019 at 12:41 PM, goldenecho said:

 

That is really interesting!  

But I do think that NOW Texas is friendly to homeschooling.  I rarely see proposals to restrict or regulate homeschooling there, but since I've moved to California I've seen homeschooling restrictions hit our state legislature constantly (though we've done well in thwarting them).

Meanwhile, in Texas, there were moves to try to make it easier for homeschoolers to participate in sports (there's an acronym...UIL or something like that, for the body that governs most school sports, and their rules make it hard for homeschoolers to participate).   It was the HOMESCHOOLERS (or a good portion of them) who fought against this bill that made it fail because they wanted to keep the "no help/no interference" status of homeschooling in the state, fearing that it would lead to regulation on homeschoolers.   That's more understandable now,  actually, considering what you've shared about the state's history.   I always thought it was a bit paranoid at the time. 

Still, I think overall Texas is, TODAY, extremely friendly to homeschoolers...even if it wasn't in the past.

 

UIL is pretty intrusive for public school students in all sorts of activities, with kids unable to participate due to not pulling the necessary grades/attendance. I don't have any clue how they would get homeschoolers into the system WITHOUT more regulation!  Or a lot of bad blood since there are kids in the public school who are unable to participate due to the rules.

Edited May 20, 2019 by vonfirmath