Why most parents can homeschool — so don’t believe this viral lie

Every few months, the dumpster fire formerly known as Twitter informs me that I shouldn’t be homeschooling my kids. The accusations are often hurled down from Mount Olympus as stern rebukes: They won’t be properly socialized! They’ll receive a substandard education! They’ll become Republicans!

More recently, however, Dr. Caitlin Baird raised concerns that were more bemused than disparaging. She wrote “seriously…what makes anyone believe they’re qualified to homeschool their kids K-12?” Even with “4 degrees in both the sciences and the humanities,” she said that she “would never presume to believe [she] was qualified to teach.”

“But,” she added, “maybe I’m missing something.”

If your public school taught you to read well, then you can teach your kids to read well. And if public school didn’t teach you to read well, why exactly do you want to send your kids there?

In the spirit of dialogue, I’d like to address her concerns, because she is indeed missing something. My goal is modest: to assure nervous young parents that they are qualified to teach their children and to encourage them to at least consider homeschooling as an option.

First, I find it extremely odd for educated people to insist that they aren’t qualified to homeschool. I want to ask them, “Can you read? Can you write your name? Do you know your shapes and numbers? What does the cow say?” If you answered “yes,” “yes,” “yes,” and “moo” to these questions, congratulations, you have mastered kindergarten. If you can add, subtract, and multiply, your knowledge will carry you all the way through third grade. Throw in long division and fractions, and you’re probably good through fifth. And if you need a refresher on percentages, take a few weeks and relearn them. If Billy Madison could do it, so can you.

Some commenters on Twitter argued that it’s arrogant to claim you’re qualified to teach reading simply because you know how to read. To them, that’s like claiming you’re qualified to manage a restaurant because you once ate at an Olive Garden. But that’s a bad analogy. In reality, if you spent 13 years learning how to manage restaurants from teachers who knew how to manage restaurants and have been managing restaurants for your entire adult life, then yes, you probably are qualified to teach your kids how to manage restaurants. Believe it or not, this is how many family trades worked for centuries.

In the same way, if your public school taught you to read well, then you can teach your kids to read well. And if public school didn’t teach you to read well, why exactly do you want to send your kids there?

Second, some parents may feel capable of teaching their kids reading, writing, and math. But they ask, “What about other subjects like history, science, and art?” I’m only partly joking when I say, “They can learn those later.” When I think back to my own public school education, it feels like I repeated the same lessons about the Pilgrims, photosynthesis, and torn paper collages every year until I turned 12.

Be honest: Do you really remember all the facts you memorized in your fifth grade social studies class? What you’ve likely retained are those skills that you continued to use throughout your life, skills like … drum roll … reading, writing, and math. Consequently, these are the topics you should emphasize in the early years.

Moreover, the internet is teeming with high-quality content on a variety of subjects. Some of it is for purchase, but much of it is completely free. Lean into these tools. After that, you can add art, music, sports, and foreign language as you see fit. However, these activities mostly take place outside school hours already.

The bottom line is that if your child’s primary school education is focused on the three Rs, he’ll probably be fine. Your voracious 11-year-old reader will not be permanently handicapped in U.S. history because he didn’t make a macaroni-art picture of the Mayflower in first grade. And once children enter high school, there are all kinds of options for supplemental and concurrent education through community colleges, summer schools, and distance learning programs.

Third, how can you ward off the question homeschooling parents most dread, “What about socialization?”

One word: co-op.

This frequent, individually tailored instruction will be provided by someone (you) who knows and loves your children better than anyone else in the world.

There are thousands of homeschool co-ops scattered all over the country that employ a variety of educational frameworks. Not only will they often provide you with a complete curriculum that covers all the major subjects, they will connect you to other seasoned homeschooling parents who can answer your questions, point you to resources, and offer advice. Between our Classical Conversations co-op, church, youth group, Trail Life, Science Olympiad, and cross-country practice, my kids spend plenty of time with their peers. The only “socialization” they’re missing out on is being stuffed into a locker, having their lunch money stolen, and being forced to watch the chorus teacher sing a Janet Jackson tribute medley during morning assembly.

Fourth, when people complain that homeschoolers receive a substandard education, they need to be asked, “Compared to what?”

Let’s be honest: Public schools aren’t doing well. In 2019, only 37% of 12th graders were deemed proficient in reading, and 30% did not even achieve a basic reading level on a national test. Many parents were very dissatisfied by what they witnessed in their kids’ virtual classrooms during COVID lockdowns.

Since studies routinely show that homeschoolers academically outperform their public school counterparts, why isn’t it considered a viable educational alternative?

Finally, homeschooling has benefits that no public or private school can provide. Unless you have your own reality TV show with a title like “Tim and Jean Have Seventeen,” your student-to-teacher ratio will be far lower than anything a traditional school can offer. This frequent, individually tailored instruction will be provided by someone (you) who knows and loves your children better than anyone else in the world. And you’ll be able to shape your kids’ character in ways that public schools can’t. Some of my family’s most important and educational conversations about science or theology or economics happen not while we’re in the classroom but while we’re in the car on the way to the grocery store.

Homeschooling isn’t for everyone. Sometimes it’s an impossibility due to financial constraints or the special needs of your kids. Sometimes parents are truly unequipped to teach even basic skills. Sometimes local public or private schools are excellent. However, I want to encourage every parent to consider homeschooling as a live option, at least for the first few years of elementary school.

Today, with homeschooling exploding across the country, I hope that skeptics like Dr. Baird will talk to a few homeschooling families and homeschool alumni in their areas and will try to keep an open mind. Like public school or karaoke or dad jokes, homeschooling can be done poorly. But it can also be done well. And when it’s done well, it is joyful and fulfilling in a way that few things can be.