Data show homeschooled students fare well

Interesting article in The Duncan Banner.

The truth about abuse and neglect of minors

 Homeschoolers are not the problem.

Homeschooling’s rise from fringe to fastest-growing form of education

"Homeschooling has become—by a wide margin—America’s fastest-growing form of education," The Washington Post reports. "The analysis—based on data The Post collected for thousands of school districts across the country—reveals that a dramatic rise in homeschooling at the onset of the pandemic has largely sustained itself through the 2022-23 academic year, defying predictions that most families would return to schools that have dispensed with mask mandates and other covid-19 restrictions."

Nearly half of homeschool parents worried about liberal viewpoints in public schools, poll shows

At the website of Oklahoma City's FOX 25, Jackson Walker has the story.

Oklahoma homeschoolers deserve school choice

"Not all homeschool groups are glad to see the movement become larger and more diverse," my colleague Trent England observes. "It threatens their political clout to have too many homeschool families who see the world differently than they do. They are trying to keep it harder to homeschool."

Child abuse and neglect among homeschoolers?

"Opponents of homeschooling associate it with unchecked and unreported abuse and neglect of children, often arguing for more regulation of or an outright ban of home education," Brian D. Ray and M. Danish Shakeel write in the Journal of School Choice.

Do homeschool students experience more maltreatment than those in schools and, if so, is it happening in or outside the home? Empirical evidence to answer this question is lacking, data collection during schooling age poses several constraints, and school-age children may under-report incidences due to fear. To address this gap in information and literature, we draw nationally representative data from 1,253 previously homeschooled and conventionally schooled (public and private schools) adults to anonymously report about their abuse and neglect experiences during school age. Cross-sectional findings suggest that school sector is a non-issue after considering the role played by demographics (e.g., family structure, years in foster care, large family size, and household poverty) in the maltreatment of children. The incidences of abuse and neglect for homeschool children are statistically significant only at community or some type of school, and the occurrence rates there are double or more than at family where the rate is not significant. Results suggest that policymakers should consider the larger role of demographics in framing policies to protect children from abuse and neglect.

Hypervigilance is not the price of liberty

When it comes to resisting government encroachment, eternal vigilance is important. Hats off to the many libertarians, liberty-loving homeschoolers, and others who are always diligent about emphasizing this point.

But they can take it too far. Yesterday on The Tom Woods Show (at the 34:30 mark), Corey DeAngelis gave an answer to those on the right who oppose school choice out of fear that government strings will accompany government money.

My simple response to that is that we can’t make perfect the enemy of the good. … Because whether we like it or not, in the current situation we don't have utopia. We have 9 out of 10 kids stuck in government-run schools today that are totally controlled and operated by the government. And out of the 60 or 70 existing school choice programs in the nation, and throughout U.S. history, there’s never been a school choice program that forces any family to take the money. … 

If you were forced to take the money and the regulations, I’d be against it. But there is no program, from what I can tell, that has ever existed that has forced families to take the funding.

So it’s a cost-benefit decision that each individual family should be able to make for themselves. But at the same time, you shouldn't be able to tell another family that they can't make that cost-benefit decision for themselves.

And the other part of this is that, look, the government can regulate private and home education already.This is not a school choice issue; this is an issue of electing the politicians who are going to trample on your rights or not. I mean, look at Oregon in 1922: they outlawed private education in Oregon. Thankfully, three years later the U.S. Supreme Court in Pierce v. Society of Sisters ruled that “the child is not the mere creature of the State” and thankfully overturned that authoritarian law. …

But there's another doomsday scenario that is I would say more likely than what is being argued by some libertarians who say that school choice could lead to government control of private education. And that scenario is that we have 9 out of 10 kids going to government schools today. They're being indoctrinated to grow up to vote like little socialists later on in life. And when they go through that process they're more likely to vote to regulate private and home education in the future. We should be more concerned about that than giving families the choice to accept the money or not today. And the benefit of doing that and having school choice and giving families that option is that you've built a broader coalition to fight back against those future calls for regulation: You get more people experiencing private education, you'll have a bigger “special interest,” if you will, to fight back against tyrants’ calls to regulate private and home education. And then the other benefit is if more people are using private and home education in the short run, then the idea will become more mainstream. If the concept is more mainstream, the rest of society should be less likely to call to regulate it. So both of those things work in our favor and those are arguments as to why we should support school choice and allowing families to have the choice to take the money or not.

Look, I’m with you. I’m an anarcho-capitalist. I don’t want any government involvement in anything, particularly in education. But if we’re going to spend the money, and if we're in a scenario where we already are spending the money, then we’ve got to make decisions about incremental reforms that are going to work in our favor to reduce government control of our lives. And a policy reform that's working right now that we're winning on is school choice. My takeaway is that we should take the W or else we're going to be stuck with the L.

And what's funny to me is, we've mentioned Randi Weingarten a couple of times already, is that she's repeated the same argument on Twitter: oh, you know, school choice is going to control private education. Do you think Randi Weingarten is some anarcho-capitalist libertarian who just hates government involvement in private education? No, absolutely not. Randi Weingarten loves big government. And she’s only repeating this argument because she knows that if it gets more traction and is successful in blocking school choice, well then she's going to keep her gravy train going and kids are going to continue to be stuck in government-run institutions that are controlled by her union. So when you're on the side of Randi Weingarten in this debate and the teachers union, you're probably on the wrong side and you’re probably overthinking things.

And by the way, every single policy reform (and so does the status quo) has a set of costs and benefits associated with it. As Thomas Sowell once said, “there are no solutions, there are only trade-offs.” And there are trade-offs with every policy solution that's proposed and the status quo has trade-offs as well. And what people are doing when they're fearmongering about school choice policies is they are focusing on potential future costs of the school choice policy while ignoring all of the huge guaranteed costs that already exist today of cementing the teachers union monopoly. We’ve got to make these types of decisions and I think parents are in the best position to make these decisions for their own kids. And because they're not forced to take the money and families can make the cost-benefit decision to accept the funding or not, I think we should allow them to have that choice.

Vigilance is healthy and reasonable. Hypervigilance, not so much.

Does homeschooling improve creative thinking and social competencies?

"The findings of the multiple regression analyses indicate that homeschoolers exhibit a higher level of creative thinking and higher social competencies than traditional learners."

Let’s appreciate homeschool teachers

This week is Teacher Appreciation Week, a time to celebrate the 3.6 million school teachers in this country, including some 421,000 working in private schools.

But there are many other teachers who also deserve our gratitude, including one who lives under my own roof. The very picture of unselfishness, for years Susie Dutcher has gone about her work each day with a quiet strength and dignity, often toiling into the wee hours over essays and worksheets and lesson plans for our homeschooled children.

“She looks well to the ways of her household,” as the proverb says, “and does not eat the bread of idleness.”

“I respect your public service,” she once testified in the nation’s capital before a subcommittee of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee. “And I hope you respect my public service, which consists of providing the public with one healthy family, comprised of well-adjusted, productive individuals.

“Because of the time and money and energy I invest in their lives,” she said, “I believe my children will grow up to do great things.”

Economists tell us the difficult work of childrearing provides a benefit to society (I believe the term is “positive fiscal externality”). “Everyone benefits from having a next generation in place to sustain the society and keep its institutions going,” writes Jennifer Roback Morse. “In modern developed countries, the family saves the state money by taking care of its own dependent young, rather than foisting that responsibility onto the taxpayers.”

Our political leaders should appreciate these parents, including those mothers who educate their own children. These teachers build human capital without making demands on budget-conscious appropriators already besieged with requests from competing interests.

After all, policymakers don’t have to provide my children’s teacher a salary, health and retirement benefits, and so on. Indeed, her family’s tax dollars help pay the salaries of public school teachers. She pays for school breakfasts and lunches, too—both for our own children and for the children of our fellow citizens. She buys her own school supplies (without the tax deduction, alas, that other teachers enjoy) and also buys school supplies for others.

When it’s all said and done, her hard work of educating our children will have saved our political leaders well over half a million dollars. That’s money they can use to build roads and bridges, incarcerate criminals, or pay schoolteachers.

Imagine how much money politicians would have to come up with—not only current expenditures but also construction costs—if a few million homeschooled students showed up at public schools nationwide tomorrow morning wanting to enroll.

My children’s teacher is not a professional. She’s an amateur, a word that traces to the Latin amare (“to love”).

“Rather than an exchange,” economist John D. Mueller explains, “love is best described in economic theory as a gift or voluntary ‘transfer payment’—that is, as a voluntary distribution out of one’s resources not made in compensation for useful services rendered.”

As she told the senators that day, “I used to be a schoolteacher, and certainly the salary and benefits I could earn teaching school would improve our material well-being. But some checks can’t be cashed at the bank: My son, when he was 3 years old, said to me one day, ‘I’m proud of you ‘cause you do the right things. Like take a shower, and fix my breakfast … Those kind of things.’

“I know it’s all worth it when we’re on the floor playing with blocks and I notice out of the corner of my eye that he has stopped playing and is staring at me like a smitten young man. ‘I love the way you talk,’ he said to me. ‘And I love the way you smell.’

“‘How do I smell?’ I asked.

“‘Like a mommy.’ ”

That little boy’s all grown up now, doing a residency in orthopedic surgery—thanks to his teacher, who very much deserves our appreciation.

[An earlier version of this article (now behind a paywall, alas) appeared in the Tulsa World.]

Homeschooling skyrocketed during the pandemic, but what does the future hold?

"It may be less of an either-or option," Daniel Hamlin and Paul E. Peterson write, "as homeschooling is combined with online experiences, neighborhood pods, cooperatives, or joint undertakings with public and private schools."

Homeschoolers for school choice

"If we want to save our country," says my OCPA colleague Trent England, "we need to do something different."

School choice makes homeschoolers and private schools more safe from government — not less

Yes, eternal vigilance is the price of liberty. It's important to be vigilant, Greg Forster reminds us, but it's also important not to see a monster under every bed.

What homeschoolers are doing right

"A new study suggests their kids are healthier, happier, and more virtuous than public-school graduates."

Homeschooling in Oklahoma nearly tripled during the government lockdown

New data from the U.S. Census Bureau show that, nationwide, homeschooling doubled between the spring of 2020 and the fall of 2020. In Oklahoma, it nearly tripled—from 7.7 percent of households to 20.1 percent. (Importantly, Census says this is “true homeschooling” rather than simply “virtual learning through a public or private school.”)

Oklahomans say per-student funding should follow the student

By a two-to-one margin, Oklahomans say that if schools don’t open in the fall, parents should be able to take their tax dollars and go to another school. This according to a statewide survey of active likely voters conducted August 10–13, 2020. The survey, with a sample size of 630 and a margin of error of +/- 3.9 percent, was commissioned by OCPA and conducted by Cor Strategies (script here, results here, methodology here).

Voters were also asked about their view of homeschooling: “With COVID-19 forcing many parents to pursue home-based education solutions, would you say your opinion on homeschooling has become more or less favorable as a result of the coronavirus?”

• Much more favorable ... 31%
• Somewhat more favorable ... 26%
• Total more favorable ... 57%
• Somewhat less favorable ... 11%
• Much less favorable ... 15%
• Total less favorable ... 26%
• Unsure ... 18%

The “more favorable” view prevailed among Republicans (62% more favorable, 21% less favorable), Independents (51% more favorable, 28% less favorable), and Democrats (52% more favorable, 28% less favorable).

Are teachers unions' reactions to coronavirus accidentally creating school choice?

"Paradoxically," writes Lindsey Burke, "the teachers unions may be enabling the free-market, parent-driven reform of K-12 education to unfold."

The academic and social benefits of homeschooling

"Homeschooling works," Brian D. Ray and Carlos Valiente write. "The roughly 2 million children who currently learn at home join a millennia-old practice supported by many government officials, scholars, college officials, and employers."

The social realities of homeschooling

David Sikkink discusses them here.

Harvard law professor’s attack on homeschooling is a flawed failure

"We expected it to be rigorous and fact-based but were sadly disappointed."

Literature review shows positive academic outcomes for homeschoolers

Dr. Lindsey Burke of the Heritage Foundation has authored a literature review entitled "Bringing Achievement Home 2019: A Review of the Academic Outcomes of Homeschooling Students in the United States."

Although methodological limitations prevent scholars from drawing a causal connection between homeschooling and the largely positive outcomes identified in the literature, the research on the outcomes of those who homeschool, whether the result of homeschooling itself or other unobservable characteristics of families who homeschool such as greater parental involvement, shows positive academic outcomes for participants.

Read the whole thing here.