More Minnesota families deciding to homeschool their children
More and more Minnesota families are opting out of the traditional classroom.
POD days at Christian Homeschool Academy Tutoring (CHAT) keep getting busier.
"There's been a big uptick in the last three years," CHAT co-director Laura Johnson said.
At the start of the 2018-2019 school year, there were under 20,000 Minnesota students in homeschooling. That number skyrocketed to over 30,000 at the height of the pandemic. In all, Minnesota homeschool totals are up nearly 40% from pre-pandemic and 7% since last year.
"I think during COVID, parents got to see, maybe a little bit more of what was really going on in the classroom," Johnson said. "And I think that with our liberal state, I think a lot of families are just not comfortable with what is being taught."
Johnson says she sees more and more families looking for faith-based learning. Although not everyone at CHAT is Christian. Faith isn't the only draw, though.
"I think people are realizing all the, you know, opportunities that are out there with it, and also just the resources that they have," homeschool mom Lauren Burns said.
The spike in homeschooling rates doesn't surprise her.
"I think people did it because of maybe COVID, but some people are continuing it because they're seeing how amazing it is to have the flexible schedule that you can," Burns said.
Burns is a mom to three: 6-year-old Brooke, 9-year-old Blake and 11-year-old Christopher. Her family made the switch to homeschooling about four years ago. Homeschooling was always a desire, but COVID was the catalyst. So were state test scores.
"The statistics of some of the students across Minnesota being below lines of reading and writing and arithmetic and everything, and their scores being so low, it made me lose a little bit of faith in the system," she said. "And so, I started being like, all right, well, what are my other options?"
Before making the switch, her oldest, Chris, worked with a tutor.
"I almost felt like he was learning more in that one hour of focused, specific time than he was in his other hours at school," Burns said. "And so I was like, wow, if I can get this done in focused time, and he's going to learn so much in one hour of focused time, what could we be doing with the rest of our days? Why not? Do you know our focus time and then be able to be outside and be a kid?"
For Burns, it was an easy switch. She was already running an out-of-home daycare and the transition to teaching at home was pretty seamless.
She's found her kids do better with focused, flexible learning. In fact, they've consistently tested above state levels.
While Burns stays home with kids, her kids stay social at POD twice a week. They're involved in church Bible study, chess club and sports. Burns loves the community they've created and the hands-on learning homeschooling allows for.
"There are so many co-ops now, and there are so many opportunities to get together for social groups or for nature groups, or, you know, science groups, or whatever it is, that it's not just being in your home, homeschooling anymore," she said. "You will really are out and with your community and with friends and just building bonds with people who are just amazing."
She feels grateful for the privilege and sacrifice.
"Of course it doesn't work for some families, but we're very blessed that we are able to do it," Burns said. "And my kids have really thrived under it."
Public schools still remain the most popular choice for Minnesota families; nearly 90% of K-12 students attend public schools.
