Greetings Eddies!
Whenever a mainstream news outlet runs a story about a homeschooled student who "fell behind," there's usually an implication disguised as a question.
The question is this: "Can parents be trusted with their kids' education?"
The not-so-subtle implication is "No."
These articles follow a familiar pattern.
Spotlight an anecdote (say, an example of homeschooling-gone-wrong)
Generalize it into a warning label.
Skip the part that would actually help readers think clearly - namely,what the broader data says.
So, once again, let's see if we can set the record straight.
Let's dive in.
– Charlie (the OpenEd newsletter guy)
SKIN IN THE GAME
Robert Enlow, president of EdChoice, has spent nearly 30 years watching what happens when families get more say in their kids' education. His research shows that when parents have real input, outcomes improve—students perform slightly better on state tests, graduate at higher rates, and attend college more often.
But Enlow points to something that doesn't make headlines as often: the ownership effect.
"When you have skin in the game, you make better decisions," he says in a recent episode of a new podcast from EdChoice. Families who feel ownership get more involved. They engage more with teachers. Their kids show greater tolerance for differing opinions.
The education models that are thriving are the ones that treat parents as partners, not obstacles.
DATA VS. HEADLINES
Brett Pike runs @ClassicLearner and translates education research into clear, parent-friendly arguments. After yet another mainstream story implied that homeschooling leads kids to fall behind, Pike responded with the simplest corrective possible:
"Homeschool students outperform public school peers in science, math, history, English, the ACT, and the SAT."
An HSLDA Progress Report study of nearly 12,000 homeschooled students found that homeschoolers score 34-39 percentile points above national averages - and the advantage holds regardless of family income or parental education level.
So why doesn't the coverage match the data?
PREPLY: LANGUAGE WITHOUT THE WALL
Foreign language is where a lot of homeschool families hit a wall. It's hard to teach conversational Spanish when you maxed out at "¿Dónde está el baño?"
Preply connects you with native speakers for live 1-on-1 lessons, with over 100,000 tutors teaching more than 90 languages. You can filter by accent, schedule, budget, and specialization, so your kid ends up practicing with someone from Madrid or Tokyo rather than memorizing verb conjugations from a textbook.
Trial lessons run 25 or 50 minutes, and rates vary by language—some start surprisingly low.