When COVID-19 began sweeping through the community and forced schools to shut their doors, thousands of Maricopa County families turned to homeschooling.
More than a year later, the demand for alternative forms of education remains high.
Data from the Maricopa County Superintendent’s offi ce shows the rate of families who filed to homeschool their kids more than doubled in 2020 as the pandemic began to take hold. There were just 2,188 requests filed in 2019, but the number skyrocketed to approximately 6,306 new requests in 2020.
The surge has been confirmed by the U.S. Census Bureau, which reported in March the rate of households homeschooling their children rose to 11% by September 2020 across the U.S, up from 5.4% just six months earlier.
So far, 2021 has brought a little more than 1,400 requests locally, but Maricopa County Superintendent Steve Watson says July through October will provide the real test for homeschooling’s staying power in the Valley as the school year approaches.
“I do think that we will see a little bit higher number of homeschool filings, just because people are thinking about this option more than ever, we’ve been talking about them as a result of COVID,” he said.
Watson added while area schools are beginning to fully reopen without many restrictions, interest is still high for alternative ways to educate kids. He even considered homeschooling his six children at one point last year, and his office has seen more requests on the subject than ever. But he doesn’t expect the number of filings to ever reach peak pandemic levels again.
“I feel extremely confident in saying that 2020 was absolutely a result of COVID, but I do think that as we see it going back to normal, we do have some more choices for our parents to go back in a more normal way, for their students to go back in a more normal way,” he said. “I think that’s going to permeate through the community and get some other people who are on the fence about it to jump in. But unless we see some other, you know, health issues or some changes in math and changes in what our education system was like, I don’t think we’re going to see the same COVID level numbers that we saw in 2020.”
Anyone interested in homeschooling simply needs to notify their school district and Watson’s office, which will require a signed affidavit that the family will be taking over as teachers; proof of the child’s age will also need to be provided.
The superintendent’s office also will put families in touch with others who have been through the process, with help from an organization called Arizona Families for Home Education. The office was able to use COVID relief funds to create an online portal, so the process can be completely contact-free.
“I will say, consistently every single person I talked to who has chosen to homeschool has done it because they legitimately care about and love their children, and they think that this is a really terrific opportunity to share experiences and to be involved in their children’s education,” said Watson.
According to TJ Schmidt, staff attorney for the Home School Legal Defense Association, the reasons families choose homeschooling can vary, though the pandemic did push those who had been interested for some time into finally moving away from public education.
“While many had been thinking of homeschooling before, the pandemic helped these families make their decision,” he said. “Others weren’t thinking this was a possibility, but with more parents working remotely it became a possibility. Still, others made the decision to homeschool because of health reasons, some were concerned that their local school wasn’t doing enough and they had vulnerable family members. Others were concerned that their school was being too restrictive.”
Whether a parent or guardian wants to be more involved in their children’s daily life or teach them through travel, Schmidt reiterated anyone in Arizona who is committed to educating at home can do so. With a potential third wave of COVID-19 on the horizon and many parents still working remotely, homeschooling likely isn’t going anywhere.
“I think we will see a portion of those who made the decision because of the pandemic to continue to homeschool their children,” he said. “As more parents have additional options to work remotely, I think we will see some more parents make the decision to homeschool.”
Lindsay is a Phoenix native and is thrilled to be reporting in her hometown.
After spending several years in advertising after college, she switched gears and graduated with her master’s degree in journalism at Arizona State University in 2019.
When she’s not writing, you can usually find her reading a book or playing with her family’s dogs.
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