Families in New York City are reportedly choosing to homeschool over attending regular public schools. According to state data, the number of children attending homeschool programs in the city has more than doubled, to approximately 12,900 children, since the COVID-19 outbreak began. As recently as 2019, less than 5,300 families in the city were homeschooling. The New York Post reports that homeschooling is becoming more popular among city parents, continuing a national trend that started during the pandemic and has persisted even with the restoration of in-person classrooms.
Julie Kvyatkovsky, a Brooklyn single mother of 9-year-old twin daughters made the switch to homeschooling following an unsuccessful attempt at remote learning. She said, “I like being engaged and involved in their lives” and that “It was so weird, so unstable, that I decided I was going to keep them home.” She explained, “I sat them down and said, ‘Girls, we’re going to be doing something different — we’re going to be opening up our own school. I’m going to be the principal, the teacher, the gym teacher, the art teacher. Are you with me?’”
Kvyatkovsky made student IDs, transformed her kitchen into a classroom, and called it Home Sweet Homeschool. She gave her kids the choice of going back to public school, but they both chose to continue with it, at least for the remainder of elementary school.
Since the start of the pandemic, New York City public schools have lost tens of thousands of students. In part, the loss is a result of families relocating outside of the city, but experts believe parents may also be seeking alternative educational opportunities. John Edelson, the founder of Time4Learning, a popular online learning program stated, “Parents go to homeschooling because something’s not working.” He also noted that parents were “not impressed” when they got the chance to see school curricula and policies during the pandemic.
