Is Homeschooling Or Public School Better For Louisiana Kids?

In Louisiana, as it is across the entire United States, more and more parents are choosing to educate their children themselves.

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According to the National Home Education Research Institute, 4.59 percent of Louisiana's total student population was homeschooled, giving us the fourth highest percentage of homeschooled students of any state.

Only North Carolina, Georgia and Florida reported higher percentages of students schooled at home and outside of public education.

In 2021, in a report from kalb.com, we learned that Louisiana's homeschooling totals had seen a 23% increase over the previous 5 years and a 76% increase over the past decade.  So, the question is "Why?"

What's The Driving Force Behind This Increased Interest In Homeschooling?

The Discovery Institute stated that COVID-19 was a major contributor in the increased interest of homeschooling, however they list a couple other factors that could explain how the popularity of a parent-led education was on the rise long before COVID hit us.

Parents were especially delighted to have their children escape the far-left political indoctrination that dominates today’s K-12 public education classrooms (the daily promotion of the LGBT agenda, critical race theory divisiveness, and woke academics). Their children have been freed from the political agenda of teachers’ unions and school personnel using them as pawns in their power plays.

In fact, the author of the piece, Keri D. Ingraham, said it best to the Washington Examiner:

The benefits of parents exercising their right to decide what their children learn are profound. Parents are witnessing firsthand their children newly motivated, curious, and excited about learning.

What Are The Biggest Pros and Cons of Homeschooling?

The edadvocate.org listed some profound advantages of a homeschooled education for a child including:

• Scheduling flexibility
• Freedom for the entire teaching and learning experience
• Personalized education
• Building stronger relationships with your children
• Minimum restrictions due to illness

And the disadvantages listed include:

• Too much work for a parent
• Excessive interaction. Too much time with your kids can make them feel confined
• Might cause inability for a parent to earn outside income from a job
• Bias and judgment from others against the idea
• Kids don't have as much opportunity for social interaction with others

While my personal days of child-rearing are long gone, I would have to consider the biggest advantage of a homeschooled education to be that of "freedom" from education from those with idealism totally out of line with my own.

I would also have to consider the biggest disadvantage to be that of "lack of social interaction".

So, if this is something your family is now contemplating, I would think that the real issue, if your finances would allow for homeschooling, is that of the benefit of educational freedom versus that of a lack of social interaction.