Ahead of Their Time: Why Students Are Deciding to Switch to Homeschooling

By Natalia Khodaverdi

As the school year progresses, more and more students are switching to homeschooling as opposed to attending a public school. The National Home Education Research Institute states that there were 3.4 million students who were homeschooled during the 2024-2025 school year, which is 900,000 more students than in 2019 (Homeschooling: The Research, 2026). As more students decide to learn from home, public schools have been losing the adequate budget and funding from the government that they need to keep their school system running, so why do students decide to switch?

Besides the fact that students get to work on their own time and do not have to run on a school schedule, many students have various reasons as to why they prefer homeschooling over attending school. The benefits of being able to escape the bullying and strain on mental health, graduate early, and the ability to control the curriculum and what they learn from homeschooling outweigh the benefits of attending a public school for these students (Homeschooling: The Research, 2026).

At times, schools can create toxic environments for students that place their mental health and wellbeing at risk. Because of the bullying and toxicity that can occur when physically attending school, most students who choose homeschooling use this as a deciding factor. The National Home Education Research Institute reports that 64% of interviewed students show better social, emotional, and psychological performance than those attending school. However, the lack of physical attendance also takes away from engaging in social circles and the opportunity to meet new people, which can take away from one’s social wellbeing.

Homeschooling also gives most students the opportunity to graduate early and choose their route for their future much earlier in their lives than other students. Whether they are graduating early or choosing to take a gap year before applying for their undergraduate program, students are given the chance to choose which path they want to take as opposed to the traditional route of attending college right after one graduates from high school. Another statistic from the National Home Education Research Institute shows that 54% of homeschooled students tend to do better in their adult life and future careers than those who attended institutional schools. The American Emergement Curriculum explains that students have the opportunity to attend college, take a gap year, or even choose other paths, such as volunteering, traveling, and more. The freedom that graduating early from homeschooling gives students is a path with many more options and opportunities than attending institutional schools. However, does homeschooling provide students with the necessary skills and resources to take on the challenge of graduating at such a young age?

Lastly, the question of curriculum comes into play when homeschooling is mentioned. Are students who are learning from home receiving the adequate amount of schooling and curriculum that other students are receiving? The National Home Education Research Institute mentions that homeschooling gives students the opportunity to control the beliefs and values that they learn. Critics can argue that choosing the beliefs and values of one’s education restricts students from learning the scope of different opinions and worldviews of other people. The curriculum that homeschooled students learn from is also different as they don’t receive the same learning opportunities as students that are physically attending school. At the end of the day, while the topics that they learn are the same, the quality of education is very different. This affects the futures of both types of students when it comes to comparing them in college and job applications; it’s a very fine line when it comes to deciding between two students with different experiences from different learning styles.

Overall, homeschooling has its benefits and disadvantages. However, what is the extent to which the two outweigh each other? The public school system is affected every day as more students switch to online learning, but the advantages that they may receive are more important to these students than the funding that their school would receive if they had decided to attend institutional schools.

References

Home. National Home Education Research Institute. (n.d.).

https://nheri.org/research-facts-on-homeschooling/#motivations

Albanese, C. (2024, December 26). How Homeschoolers Can Finish High

School Early: A Guide for Parents. The School House.https://www.theschoolhouse.org/post/finish-high-school-early-homeschool