Homeschoolers are concerned parents are getting the wrong idea of what learning at home requires during the pandemic.
Kate Selig said homeschooling her four kids relies on resources that are not available anymore.
“Everyone’s homeschooling now and getting not a true idea or experience of what it really is. So then, are they going to think that that’s what homeschooling is? Because that would be bad,” she said.
“But then I’m also seeing a decent number of people saying maybe I’ll just keep doing this in the fall.”
Selig is part of a homeschooling association, and she says she takes a literature-based approach to teach her kids.
That approach is harder to make happen when the libraries and museums she relies on are shut down.
“We have swimming lessons, violin lessons, piano lessons, and a weekly science co-op meetup that we do and then we meet some other people for a hike somewhere for a nature study and then usually an art component to that,” she said.
Some things, like violin and piano lessons can be moved online, but Selig said it isn’t the same.
“I think everyone is experiencing that it’s lonely, homeschooling is lonely unless you have community. So everyone has lost that community,” she said.
Selig said even without resources closed down, it’s been harder to stay focused due to the disorientation of the pandemic.
She said if parents are still interested in homeschooling, try it, but it isn’t all staying home on a computer.
“It’s all about finding your people.”
