When schools abruptly closed their doors at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the spring of 2020, millions of students unexpectedly started learning at home, with or without the help of Zoom lessons.

Many observers – and perhaps some parents – assumed these kids would return to in-person classrooms once the COVID-19 risk decreased. But homeschooling numbers indicate that many families chose to keep their kids home after the pandemic.

Today, more than 6% of school-age children – or 3.4 million students – are learning at home.

This is higher than before the COVID-19 online learning period. In March 2020, 5.4% of school-age children in the U.S. were homeschooled.

Growth in homeschooling has been gradual.

About 3.4% of K-12 students in the U.S. were homeschooled during the 2022-23 academic year, according to the National Center for Education Statistics.

More than one-third of the 30 states plus Washington, D.C., that report homeschooling trends hit record enrollment as of November 2025. The growth is particularly strong in Midwestern and Southeastern states.

Homeschooling has a long history in the U.S. and is legal in all 50 states. States have varying requirements for homeschooling families, from close state regulation to none at all.

Contrary to what many people thought, the pandemic alone didn’t drive this increase. It gave families who were already inclined toward homeschooling a low-risk opportunity to try it.

Families who found benefits from homeschooling continued to teach their children at home. In........

© The Conversation