New data from the Johns Hopkins Institute for Education Policy shows that homeschooling is booming again! According to their research, nearly 90% of states that track homeschooling saw a rise in the number of students being homeschooled during the 2023–2024 school year. This increase marks a major trend in how families are choosing to educate their children.

The report looked at data from 21 out of 30 states that keep track of homeschooling. The remaining nine states haven’t shared their numbers yet, but they’re expected to do so soon.

Of the states that reported, 19 saw growth in homeschooling, including states like Arkansas, Georgia, Maine, Minnesota, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, and Washington. Only two states, Vermont and New Hampshire, saw a decline in the number of homeschoolers compared to the previous school year.

Two Big Trends: Sustained Growth and Rebounding Growth

The report identified two main patterns in this homeschooling rise: sustained growth and rebounding growth.

• Sustained growth means that these states never saw a dip in homeschooling numbers, even after the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic. Louisiana, South Carolina, and South Dakota are examples of states with sustained growth.
• Rebounding growth refers to states where homeschooling numbers had dropped after the pandemic but have since bounced back in the 2023–2024 school year. Sixteen states, including Colorado, Delaware, and Wisconsin, saw this kind of recovery.

Surprising All-Time Highs

Some states hit record highs in homeschooling this year. For example, North Dakota saw a 24% increase in homeschoolers, marking an all-time high for the state. Rhode Island reported a staggering 67% increase in homeschoolers compared to the previous year. Even Wyoming set a new record with an 8% rise in homeschooled students.

“While homeschooling grew rapidly during the pandemic, most people thought that students would return to traditional schools when things got back to normal,” said the report. But that hasn’t happened. Even four years after the start of the pandemic, homeschooling numbers in many states are still growing.

Why Is This Happening?

Angela Watson, the author of the report, noted something interesting: “The rebound effect is really fascinating, and we aren’t sure why it’s happening—but it’s not because of the pandemic this time.”

While many assumed that homeschooling was just a temporary solution during the COVID-19 disruptions, it seems something else is now driving families to stick with or switch to homeschooling. However, the exact reason remains unclear.

The Challenges of Tracking Homeschooling

One of the difficulties in analyzing homeschooling trends is that states have different laws about how they report or even classify homeschoolers. For instance, some states consider homeschoolers as private school students, while others don’t. This can make it hard to get a clear, consistent picture across the country.

Interestingly, while some states like Texas don’t report detailed homeschool numbers, other data sources give us clues about the rise in homeschooling there too. For example, the Texas Homeschool Coalition used data from the U.S. Census Bureau and found that homeschooling in Texas almost tripled from 2020, jumping from 4.5% to 12.3% of students. In 2022 and 2023, more than 50,000 students left public schools in Texas to be homeschooled.

What’s Driving the Shift?

Although the specific reasons behind this growing homeschooling trend aren’t entirely clear, one thing is certain: homeschooling is continuing to gain popularity, even when traditional school systems have returned to normal. The Johns Hopkins report emphasizes that this growth is happening independently of any major crisis like the pandemic. So, what’s behind this homeschooling boom? That’s the mystery still waiting to be solved.

In the meantime, one thing is obvious—homeschooling is here to stay, and more families than ever are making the switch.