Hispanic Americans Turn to Homeschooling in Record Numbers Following Covid-Era School Closures

The growing legions of Americans turning to homeschooling after two years of on-again, off-again public education includes one group for whom the option is particularly challenging — first-generation immigrants.According to recent Census Bureau data, about a quarter of homeschoolers in America are Hispanic, and 18.2 percent of Hispanic families homeschool their children. That’s up markedly from even six years ago, when 3.5 percent of Hispanic families were educating their children themselves at home.First-generation immigrants, many of them with limited educational backgrounds themselves, make up a rapidly growing subset of that demographic. “A lot of these are what we think of as nontraditional homeschoolers — people from low-income, immigrant backgrounds,” the Pacific Research Institute’s senior director of the center for education, Lance Izumi, says. “It kind of shatters that myth that this is basically only a middle-class or maybe a middle-class, white phenomenon.”Mr. Izumi, who recently authored a book on the homeschooling boom, attributes the growth of homeschooling in this demographic to Covid-related school closures. Low-income school districts, he says, fared the worst during the pandemic. “If you’re a parent of a child in a low-income area, where the schools are basically causing your child to lose close to entire years worth of learning, you’re going to really look hard at all the alternatives,” he says. “You may not be able to afford a private school…. Therefore the only real alternative for you is homeschooling.”The coordinator of Hispanic outreach for the Home School Legal Defense Association, Karim Morato, has seen a similar shift since the beginning of the pandemic.Ms. Morato, a native of Guatemala, left her job as a Fairfax County public school teacher to homeschool her children 14 years ago — when fewer than 2 percent of Hispanic Americans were homeschooling.At that time, Hispanic homeschoolers were second- or third-generation Americans, with bilingual fluency and a deep familiarity with American culture. “They already knew the school system, and they spoke English very well,” Ms. Morato says. “They were homeschooling because it’s the best option, but also they wanted [to maintain] their Hispanic legacy by making sure that the children speak Spanish.”Covid ignited a shift, Ms. Morato says. Public school parents felt like “they were trapped in a system that was failing. The children were not learning,” she says. Private school was not an option for low-income families, so they turned to homeschooling. Homeschooling for these families is not without its difficulties. Parents with a limited grasp of English must find educational resources to teach their children English — through tutors, curricula, and online programs.She, however, sees this as just one of many surmountable challenges all homeschoolers face. “If my husband and I would have made our decisions based on our limitations, we would never homeschool,” she says.Another obstacle for those in her homeschooling community is balancing the demands of work with those of homeschooling. Many Hispanic members of her organization work full-time, often in lower-wage service jobs.“A lot of parents — they homeschool and they work from home,” she says, “but [working] parents … have very limited time.”These families rely on homeschooling networks, online resources, and their church communities to find tutors and programs to occupy their children while the parents work. Often, several families will band together to form a homeschooling co-op, where the parents share a rotation of teaching and childcare responsibilities.In Hispanic communities, extended family networks and church communities can also serve as anchors. A neighbor or grandparent can wind up playing a major role in a child’s education, Mr. Izumi says.To help support families who may struggle to afford basic resources such as computers, printers, and curricular materials, Ms. Morato’s organization, the HSLDA, is launching a grant program this month.In rejecting mainstream public schooling, however, these families are turning their backs on the institution once thought to be the key to assimilation into broader American society.Ms. Morato is not concerned about these families alienating themselves from the rest of America. “These parents are passionate about these kids becoming the best citizens that they can be,” she says.Many families, she says, fled dictatorships and socialist regimes in their native countries, and they are grateful for American liberty — a gratitude they impart to their children.In particular, Ms. Morato notes “they are very thankful that they are in a country that gives … them the liberty and freedom to choose … the education they want.”

Hispanic Americans Turn to Homeschooling in Record Numbers Following Covid-Era School Closures

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