What People Get Wrong about Homeschoolers

The short answer is an obvious no. But the real answer is far more complicated. Who exactly is fit to homeschool is a more controversial question, and the answer is increasingly that far more people than you might think are equipped to do this, and to do it excellently.

Researcher Anthony Bradley recently took to X to share a graph showcasing abysmal literacy rates across the country, arguing that the statistics rendered the argument that “anyone can homeschool” laughable. The most obvious reason Bradley’s argument falls short is that in far too many places, public schools are the very ones that have failed students and led to low literacy rates. Going back to these schools to solve the problem they created can’t be our only option. But the second reason Bradley is wrong is that he simply doesn’t understand what the average homeschooling family looks like today.

Modern parents considering homeschooling no longer have to ask themselves if they are necessarily more qualified than a professional teacher to school their children. While in too many school districts the quality of teaching is so low that practically anyone could clear the very low bar of teaching better than the system could, in other districts the teachers are qualified and competent. They are also specialized and educated in the field in which they teach. Parents who nevertheless still choose homeschooling are not hubristic. They understand that the resources available to them will more than bridge the gap between their own teaching skills or education level and what their child would receive at even the best of public schools.

YouTube alone is filled with millions of hours of educational content from the top schools in the country. You can take Harvard courses online for free. Khan Academy has entire courses in science, math, computer programming, and SAT and LSAT prep all for free. There are entire textbook PDFs online for some curricula. And that’s just the free stuff. Curriculum in any subject and in any education style—from classical to Montessori to Common Core—is available for purchase from reputable groups across the country and even beyond. Co-ops allow homeschool parents to access the specialized skills of other homeschool parents in a controlled environment. Gone are the days when homeschool parents had limited options. Today, it seems like the public schooled kids are the ones dealing with too many boundaries in their education.