Secular homeschooling is the separation of religion from education.
Non-Religious Reasons Families Choose Homeschooling
The most common misconception about homeschooling is centered around WHO homeschools. People often believe those who choose the homeschool path are far-right, super religious parents wanting to shelter their children from the real world and indoctrinate them into religious extremism.
In the United States, about 60% of homeschoolers are religious…but there is a quickly growing sect of secular homeschoolers.
Secular homeschoolers are choosing the path of home education, not for religious reasons, but for academic, social, and safety reasons. Secular Homeschooling is approaching homeschool without any religious intent.
As of March 2022, approximately 25% of homeschool families identify as secular. This is a number that has continued to rise exponentially over the last several years, especially with the introduction of COVID19.
Public schools are currently in a lose/lose situation. As school boards start to forgo COVID precautions, they are seeing an exodus of families who are worried about the safety of their children.
Alternatively, many school systems implementing distance learning options, are finding it difficult to implement a system that works. No matter which path a school system takes, whether to mandate COVID precautions or return to life as normal, there are groups of students leaving the system and entering the world of homeschooling.
As more people turn to homeschooling for reasons outside of religion, we will continue to see the secular homeschool community grow. With this growth will come more evidence-based curriculums, more inclusive activities offered through public programs, and more regulations.
The regulations are inevitable as there will need to be more protections and programs put in place for children who are no longer attending traditional school. So, as a homeschooler it’s important to understand your rights and the laws surrounding homeschool.
Learn more about your state’s homeschool laws.
