More Than 11% of Students in the U.S. are Homeschooled
The U.S. Census Bureau Household Pulse Survey has found that the number of homeschoolers has increased sharply to 5 million students. In April of 2020, 5.4% of U.S. households with school-age children reported that they were homeschooling. By fall 2020, that number had jumped to 11.1%. This represents true homeschooling and does not include numbers for children who were at home enrolled in virtual school.
Homeschool Groups Growing Rapidly
Homeschool groups and co-ops are reporting increased interest in their programs and some are even reporting that there is a waitlist for families who want to join. Traditional homeschooling, which has used similar methods to those used in public or private schools, is being joined by a variety of new homeschooling philosophies. The pandemic has seen the creation of “learning pods” where families who live near each other have their children attend “classes” in one of the homes, where the instruction may come from one or multiple parents. Some families adopt a less structured, or “unschooled” child-led approach to homeschooling. Some choose a hybrid structure called the University Model, where students attend a private school for 2 or 3 days a week, and then complete schoolwork at home, under the supervision of their parents.
Many parents admit that they are “making it up as we go” in order to find the model that works best for their child. The goal is to keep the child engaged and learning, and measure success by their performance on state-required standardized tests.
A Response to the Pandemic Provides New Opportunities
Many of the families who have chosen to opt out of traditional schools and begin homeschooling have done so as a response to the pandemic, and the forced virtual school they were suddenly faced with. Parents were able to witness firsthand what their child’s school day was like, and many parents saw their children falling behind in academics they used to be able to master.
“Homeschooling became a viable alternative for many parents who had considered it in the past or who were curious but never prompted to change,” William Heuer and William Donovan, authors of a new study on the shift, said in a summary of the Census Bureau’s research.
Parents have been concerned about many issues, including exposure to COVID-19, the lack of social contact, the concern over what was being taught at their child’s school, and the new rules and restrictions being put in place in order to return to in-person school.
Even working parents are finding ways to homeschool. Parents who have the option to work from home find that it can fit pretty seamlessly into their day. Some parents who have flexible work hours spend a half day with homeschooling, and then go to work. And some parents who have the option, bring their child to work with them and provide learning activities throughout the day while also teaching their child about their work.
Now That In-Person School Has Resumed, Are Homeschoolers Going Back to School?
It seemed reasonable to assume that a percentage of homeschoolers would choose to send their kids back to school this fall when schools reopened for in-person classes. So far, it’s not clear that this is happening. In Los Angeles public schools, for example, have actually seen a larger public school enrollment drop this fall compared to last fall.
The controversial mandates regarding COVID-19 vaccinations are almost certainly going to affect enrollment numbers. The governor of California has announced that all students in the state would be required to get the vaccine, and homeschooling may be the option that parents will choose who are reluctant to vaccinate their children.
The Chicago public school districts are also reporting that enrollment is down this year and local Catholic schools and other private schools are seeing boosts in enrollment. Seattle and West Virginia are reporting enrollment declines as well.
A Side Effect of Dwindling Public School Enrollment
School districts receive funding based on how many students are enrolled and attending school, so the drop in enrollment means a drop in funding. Last year school funding was frozen at the 2019/2020 spending level, but this school year funding will be based on actual headcount. And while fewer students should mean that less funding is required, it’s always difficult to adjust to a reduced budget.
The exodus from public schools can mean a positive educational change for families who have expanded choices and learning opportunities. The increase in homeschooling is evidence of the desire for change.
Homeschooling Parents Need Support
In addition to joining groups, co-ops, pods and other support groups, homeschooling parents are increasingly turning to tutoring to help fill gaps. While it may not be necessary or desirable to enroll their child in a part-time private school to help bolster the homeschooling curriculum, a once-a-week or twice-a-week tutoring session with a certified teacher can be a viable option.
You can find some local homeschool support groups here:
Help improve memory and retention simply by writing things down
You already know how much time your child spends using electronics. It’s easy to depend on automated calendars, reminders, appointments, and notes. But did you know that the simple act of writing these things down on paper helps to reinforce them and make them easier to remember?
It seems easier and faster to type things into a laptop or tablet, or even a phone, but various studies have shown that when we write things down, something actually happens in our brains that reinforces what we’ve written, and we retain the information much better.
There was a side-by-side study done earlier this year using fMRI neuroimaging to identify specific brain activation differences when we use paper notebooks versus mobile digital devices. Interestingly, the participants who filled in a paper calendar did it more quickly than those who used a tablet or a smartphone. In addition, the accuracy was much higher in the group who wrote notes down manually.
One hour later, participants were asked a series of detailed questions related to the personal calendars they had created and their brains were imaged during this process. There was significantly more robust brain activation and better memory recall in the group who wrote things down on paper. The conclusion? ”Use paper notebooks for information we need to learn or memorize.”
Get your child a day planner
A simple day planner book with a calendar section and a notes section can help your child enter due dates for assignments and projects, reminders about class schedules and extracurricular activities, and any appointments they may have. To make it even more useful, they can include birthdays, holidays, vacation dates, and more. The act of writing these things down will help them remember, but it also produces a handy reference where everything they have going on in their lives can be viewed at a glance, in one place. It also becomes a great way to check things off of a to-do list and refer back to past events and accomplishments. What was I doing on March 13th this year? Oh, there it is on my calendar.
Are there apps that can help you do those things? Of course! And that’s the problem. It could require multiple apps, making it harder to find the thing you’re looking for, and science has already shown that you’ll remember it better if you write it down. Is your child already making notes and writing down assignments using pencil and paper? Great! A day planner will help keep all of that information organized and easy to access.
Letting your child choose the planner and pencil or pen they want to use with it helps them to be invested in the new process. Tip: using a pencil makes it easier to edit and update. Helping them get started, and offering suggestions and support will help it become a successful transition.
Dependence on electronic devices
If you need any more reason to encourage your child to learn to use handwritten calendars, planners, and notes, consider this information from Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital: “We have become increasingly dependent on our devices, and now, more than ever, we are using our devices to communicate, get information and remain in contact 24/7. This lends itself to feeling anxious or stressed when we don’t have that source close by at all times.”
One of the negative outcomes of the pandemic has been the hugely increased amount of time children spend on video games, social media, and electronic devices in general. Many parents had to relax their rules about how much screen time their kids could have because suddenly everything was online, the kids couldn’t go to school and couldn’t get together with friends. Data shows that children’s screen time has doubled this year as compared to the year prior.
Returning to in-person school will be an important factor in weaning kids off of their addiction to electronic devices. Providing them the memory-enhancing tools of pencil and paper to incorporate into their daily habits will help retrain their brains and create a lifelong tool that will improve their lives.
Teachers are experienced in dealing with the annual learning loss that happens every year over summer break. When the new school year begins in the fall, it takes a while to get students back to the level they were at when summer break began, and teachers have methods to achieve that.
This school year, teachers and students are not only facing the normal slump after summer, but many students have fallen much further behind due to distance learning, school closures, technical challenges, and other disruptions due to the pandemic. The normal catch-up activity that most teachers use during the first few weeks of school is not going to bridge this gap and bring all students up to grade level.
What Researchers are Reporting
The Institute of Education Sciences Regional Educational Laboratory Program (IES/REL) recently published the results of research on K-12 learning loss during COVID-19. “Taking into account research on summer learning loss, Kuhfeld and Tarasawa (2020) project that as a result of recent school closures and an array of contributing stresses and trauma caused by the coronavirus pandemic, student academic achievement will decline in greater proportions than the average trajectory from summer learning loss. They also conclude that when some students return to in-person instruction, they will be particularly behind in mathematics. Among several recommendations, Kuhfeld and Tarasawa suggest providing resources and support to families and students, especially around mathematics, where the steepest declines often occur over summers and with interrupted school time.”
Intensive Support and Multiple Years of Individualized Attention is Needed
A brief by Allensworth and Schwartz (2020) “is one in a series aimed at providing K-12 education decision makers and advocates with an evidence base to ground discussions about how to best serve students during and following the pandemic.” Allensworth and Schwartz stress the effectiveness of what is known as “high-dosage tutoring”, which is up to two hours daily, directly tied to classroom content.
When education was disrupted by Hurricane Katrina, school and academic leaders in New Orleans observed that losses in mathematics were the most dramatic. Students returned to school more than two years below grade level on average. They found that it often took multiple years of individualized attention to make up those learning losses.
It’s difficult to predict how long it will take for students to recover from pandemic-related learning loss, but it is certain that providing individualized support in the form of tutoring will be a major factor. Not every student needs that high-dosage tutoring for multiple hours every day. For many, a couple of sessions a week in a one-on-one environment with a teacher is sufficient to regain lost ground and reinforce new content.
What Can Parents Do?
One of the most effective learning activities parents can do at home with their children is to read. Reading aloud to your child, helping them read aloud, discussing what they read are all ways to help. Professor Gail Nelson from Cleveland State University points out that with younger students, the emphasis is on learning to read and with older students it’s reading to learn. She also points out that finding ways to engage your kids in activities in the home can help turn things like cooking or setting the table into teachable moments. Essential skills like measuring, counting, fractions, quantities, following instructions, and telling time are just some of the basic components that can be incorporated into home activities.
Staying positive and keeping in touch with your child’s teacher(s) is key in supporting their progress. While it’s become the popular description for how the pandemic has affected education, the term “learning loss” is itself a negative. Increasing your child’s confidence and helping them feel calm, safe, and secure helps them focus on academics. Some teachers recommend playing educational games as a break from additional schoolwork. What’s important is to help nurture the positive and fun aspects of school and learning, and not make it feel like punishment or somehow the child’s fault if they need some additional academic help.
TutorUp Provides 1-on-1 Online Tutoring with Certified Teachers
We believe that the best tutoring experience is one where a student and teacher spend time one-on-one, focused on the individual challenges and solutions that are specific to that student. For that reason, all of our tutoring sessions are individualized, and all of our tutors are certified, experienced classroom teachers. It’s not enough to be a subject matter expert to be a tutor. You also need to know how kids learn, and how to teach.
We can match your child with the right tutor today.
Pandemic disruptions caused significant learning loss
A recently published study by McKinsey & Company reveals that after a year in remote and hybrid learning, students in the United States have fallen behind significantly. Assessment tests showed the biggest loss is in math, averaging 5 months behind, and English following at 4 months behind.
Keeping in mind that this is an average across the whole country, there are many school districts and populations that have actually seen far greater losses in learning. These studies also showed that Black and Hispanic students ended the 2020/2021 school year 6 months behind.
If you have a school-age child, you know that academic loss isn’t the only harm our students have suffered during the pandemic. Thirty-five percent of 16,370 parents surveyed across every state in America said they were “very or extremely concerned” about their child’s mental health. Roughly 80 percent of parents had “some level of concern” about their child’s mental health or social and emotional health and development since the pandemic began.
Chronic absenteeism and a sharply increased dropout rate have contributed to the learning loss crisis. Further, the survey suggested that 17 percent of high school seniors who had previously planned on attending postsecondary school have now abandoned those plans. Most have joined or are planning to join the workforce, and many state that the cost of postsecondary education is the main reason.
While remedies are already in place in some areas, and programs and plans are being developed to help address learning loss, attendance, and the dropout rate, the cumulative effects of the pandemic can have a long-term impact on this generation of students.
What can parents do?
The McKinsey & Company research “suggests that parents underestimate the unfinished learning caused by the pandemic.” Forty percent of the parents surveyed thought their child was on track academically. More than half of parents “think their child is doing just fine.” Statistics from assessment tests tell a different story.
Parents who recognize their child’s dilemma, and are committed to doing something about it, are choosing a variety of remedies and innovations: tutoring, summer school, enrichment programs, homeschooling, district-sponsored “recovery programs”, hybrid models of in-person plus remote learning, homeschooling, learning hubs, and even holding their child back a year.
The case for tutoring
Though not the answer for every child, personalized one-on-one tutoring is one way parents are choosing to get their kids re-engaged, on-track, and academically successful. At TutorUp, all of our tutors are certified teachers with classroom experience. It’s not enough to have a tutor who is a subject matter expert if they don’t also have training and experience in how to assess, adapt, innovate, motivate, measure, and provide the individual and personalized instruction each child needs.
Following a chaotic year-and-a-half of a mixed bag of school experiences, teachers will not only have their hands full trying to reach each student at their level of ability, but they are all dealing with quarantine restrictions, an uptick in positive COVID-19 cases, and worry about their own health.
Will teachers – even the most well-meaning – be able to help their students in the classroom make up for all of the learning loss?
Tutoring is often a choice parents make as a reaction to finding out that their child is struggling in school, or possibly even failing a subject. As parents realize that even the most conscientious students are suffering learning loss through no fault of their own, they are choosing to enlist tutoring support to help bridge the gap.
