New York state, city marks continuing explosion in homeschool growth amid ‘death spiral’ for public education 

Both New York state and the Big Apple are seeing rapid growth in homeschooling, despite a reputation for rigid restrictions against this educational practice.

“New York state now has a whopping 53,905 children being homeschooled – a figure that has more than tripled since 2009-10,” Marissa Matozzo reported for the New York Post.

“In New York City, those figures are also rising – with more than 14,000 children being homeschooled at last count.”

This represents an increase of more than 200% over the last 15 years, or “the highest rate of growth in all school sectors,” according to the article.

This growth is even more remarkable as New York has imposed multiple requirements for homeschool families, causing the Home School Legal Defense Association to classify it as a “high regulation” state.

‘Death spiral of worsening performance, exploding costs’

Zilvinas Silenas, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy think tank, blames public education as a driving factor in parents turning to homeschooling.

“For the past few decades, New York’s schools have been in a death spiral of worsening performance and exploding costs,” he said.

“New York’s taxpayers spend $37,000 – the most in the world to educate one kid – yet we lose in reading and mathematics to Mississippi, the poorest state.”

As previously reported by Heartlander News, the state experienced the second-highest rate of homeschool growth in the nation two years ago – surpassed only by Washington, D.C.

‘So much life happening out here’

“In the beginning, our reasons for homeschooling were mainly about rigor and being able to give our kids a quality education without having to hope that they got ‘good’ teachers [and] without strategizing to live in a ‘good’ school district,” said Adrienne Jensen, 45, who lives in the Upper West Side of Manhattan.

Jensen homeschooled her oldest daughter, 19, who is now a sophomore at Cornell, an Ivy League school. She still homeschools her three remaining children – ages 16, 14 and 12.

“I love that we spend at least half our time outside or at museums and other city institutions, really living while we learn,” she added.

“At this point, I can’t imagine making my kids spend all day, every day, inside the same four walls when there’s so much life happening out here.”

The sustained increase in homeschooling confirms this trend has continued long past the COVID-19 pandemic.

“While the pandemic sparked a surge in the number of households homeschooling their children, research shows that many families are choosing to keep homeschooling years on, driven in part by the desire to tailor their children’s education,” Newsweek wrote in December.

The Newsweek article referenced NYC mom Kymberly Kent, who founded the eXtend Homeschool Tutorial program to help other parents provide a customized, quality education for their children.

“Our goal is to assist you as you prepare your students to reach their God-given potential,” the program explains on its website, “and fulfill their destiny in Christ.”