Homeschooling surged during the pandemic.
As schools reopen, many parents continue to educate their children.
BY
April 14, 2022 at 10:36 AM EDT
BY CAROLYN THOMPSON AND THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
April 14, 2022
MARY MCCOOL'S PICK OF NOTEWORTHY QUOTES-
***Minnesota, for example, reported that 27,801 students are being homeschooled now, compared to 30,955 during the last school year. Before the pandemic, homeschool figures were around 20,000 or less.
Black families make up many of the homeschool converts. The proportion of Black families homeschooling their children increased by five times, from 3.3% to 16.1%, from spring 2020 to the fall, while the proportion about doubled across other groups, according to U.S. Census surveys.
“I think a lot of Black families realized that when we had to go to remote learning, they realized exactly what was being taught. And a lot of that doesn’t involve us,” said Bradley, who decided to homeschool her 7-, 10- and 11-year-old children. “My kids have a lot of questions about different things. I’m like, ‘Didn’t you learn that in school?’ They’re like, ‘No.’
“There are kids that don’t know basic English structure but they want to push other things on children, and it can be blatant, but it can be, and mostly is, very subtle, very, very subtle,” McCarthy said. “So we were ready to pull them and will never send them back to traditional school. It’s just not a fit for us.”
MARY MCCOOL'S OPINIONS
Public Schools-
1. STRUCTURED LITERACY IN K-3
2. PROJECT-BASED LEARNING - ALL GRADES-
3. ALLOW CHILDREN TO BE CHILDREN- no gender id books or talk in K-fifth grade.
4. FOCUS. READING, WRITING, SPELLING, MATH. PERIOD.
5. TEACH CONTENT KNOWLEDGE.
6. STUDENTS MUST LEARN ABOUT REAL EVENTS, PEOPLE, PLACES, and HISTORY. Young children are curious about the world- show them the world!
7. LIMIT time with iPads, Chrome books, and other tech tools. Do not eliminate- but limit.
8. TEACH CHILDREN TO DEBATE- USE THE SOCRATIC METHOD.
9. TAKE CHILDREN INTO THEIR COMMUNITIES AND DEVELOP PARTNERSHIPS
10. ENCOURAGE CHILDREN TO WONDER, THINK, AND CREATE