Book examines growing homeschool appeal to minority communities, special needs students, families fleeing conventional schools
Examining the growth of homeschool enrollment in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, the nonpartisan Pacific Research Institute today released The Homeschool Boom: Pandemic, Policies, and Possibilities, a new book that profiles families from diverse communities and different backgrounds who have successfully transitioned to homeschooling.
“The Covid-19 pandemic forced millions of students to learn at home. Many parents saw for the first time how ineffective traditional schools were at educating their kids,” said Lance Izumi, the book’s author and senior director of PRI’s Center for Education. “With the number of homeschooled students growing to 8 million, my new book shows why more parents dissatisfied with their children’s education are making a once unthinkable choice – the choice to educate their kids at home.”
The Homeschool Boom is available for purchase at Amazon.com, Barnes and Noble, or your favorite online bookseller. Click here to watch a first-hand account of the book from author Lance Izumi.
If you would like to interview Lance Izumi about the book, please contact Tim Anaya or Evan Harris at (916) 389-9774.
The Homeschool Boom features interviews from several homeschool families and busts many common myths about homeschooling:
• Homeschool Growth During the Pandemic
During the pandemic, the number of students being homeschooled grew to 8 million. The number of African American families homeschooling increased by five times and the number of Hispanic families doubled as families were confronted with an unprepared and ineffective remote public-school curriculum.
• Homeschool Parents Cover All Ends of the Political Spectrum
It’s not only conservatives or Christians who are homeschooling, but parents from every background, religious belief, or political persuasion. The Homeschool Boom profiles a parent who is a self-professed “flaming liberal” who joined a conservative Christian parent in founding a homeschool co-operative.
• Homeschool Programs Offer Individual Learning, Flexibility
The book shows how homeschooling is perhaps the most individualized learning option available, offering the choice, flexibility, and personalization that cannot be found in traditional schools. Readers will learn about a wide array of resources to help parents educate their kids at home, from online learning platforms to affiliations with neighborhood charter schools. Also profiled are parents who were able to educate their special needs kids just as well as conventional schools.
• Future of Homeschooling
Coming under increasing attack by the teacher’s unions, Ivy League academics, and politicians, the book looks at homeschooling as education enters the post-pandemic world and makes the case that it will be an increasingly utilized educational choice for parents dissatisfied by the status quo.
