Homeschool growing in our state

Homeschooling rates are on the rise across the nation as parents grapple with the dangerous woke agenda being pushed in public schools as well as ineffective teaching methods. Washington is no exception.

The Evergreen State has seen one of the biggest homeschooling booms out of all 50 states. Some proponents are even calling it a “miracle” of the Pacific Northwest.

The homeschooling surge was first noticed throughout the U.S. during the onset of the pandemic, with many families determining online school was not a viable option for their children. But after the country slowly returned to normal activity, many parents chose to keep their children home-educated rather than sending them back to traditional brick-and-mortar schools.

The homeschooling trend may have started in response to the pandemic, but now it’s here to stay.

While the national average of children enrolled in home education grew by about 27% between the 2019-2020 and 2022-2023 school years, Washington’s rates jumped a staggering 43%. This translates to an additional 9,000 students who are now enrolled in homeschooling since 2019 in Washington state alone.

Washington’s homeschooling laws are among the more strict in the nation, requiring that parents are “qualified” with at least 45 college-level credit hours. Parents also must register a declaration of intent to homeschool their child and submit to academic evaluations assessed by the state through achievement tests.

The Family Policy Institute of Washington is keeping a close eye on any legislation that could hamper parents’ ability to homeschool their children.

There’s no doubt that making the decision to home educate your children requires sacrifice. However, for many families, that sacrifice is well worth it.

The opportunities homeschooling affords are priceless – precious time spent with your children in their formative years, raising them up in accordance with family religion, teaching them history and science without unnecessary woke ideology, making decisions about what they should and shouldn’t read, and choosing curricula that honor God.

Homeschooling allows the natural bonds between children and their parents to be strengthened and given time to develop, cementing the value of family and generational wisdom into their life.

“It is a hard venture, we know that it’s tough,” said Jay St. John, co-founder of Washington’s largest homeschool center. “But everything that has value costs something, and so if it was easy, it probably wouldn’t be valuable.”

Jay began the The Homeschool Resource Center with his wife, Heidi, nearly 20 years ago. With the recent surge in homeschooling rates, the resource center has exponentially grown, far beyond what Jay and Heidi could have ever imagined.

Homeschooling is building up the next generation of conservatives who will continue to defend our values and freedoms in the public square.

— Email the Family Policy Institute of Washington at [email protected].