Sometimes a collection of random circumstances makes a particular post at COTTonLINE well nigh inevitable. The last 24 hours have done that, and the result follows.
Yesterday I wrote a post praising skilled labor and those who do it. After writing it, the four smoke alarms in our 23 year old house began to go off, something they had not done before. There was no fire or other source of smoke but, just to be certain we replaced their back-up 9 volt batteries. That did not solve the problem and we concluded we needed new alarms installed.
We called an electrician who'd done work for us, he was busy out of town but referred us to a local man who agreed to come over and install new alarms. He came and did the job, and was accompanied by his son, 11.
The other DrC who early in her career taught youngsters his age before doing her PhD, asked him if he had a day off from school. No, it turned out he is homeschooled. Apparently part of his homeschooling involves following dad around and being an electrician's helper, which he did quietly and without fuss. If he continues to do so, he will end up with a trade at which he can make a living.
This morning comes a link at RealClearPolicy to an article in Reason entitled "The lockdowns made homeschooling more diverse." It's main point is that prior to Covid homeschoolers were mostly adherents of fundamentalist religious groups who didn't want their children indoctrinated with secular dogma. A new survey shows:
The new data indicate that parents have a wide range of reasons for deciding to homeschool their children and that COVID-era school closures played a major role in inspiring many parents to pull their children out of the traditional educational system.
According to the poll, which was conducted by the (Washington) Post and the Schar School of Policy and Government at George Mason University, three-quarters of homeschooling parents said that they chose to homeschool due to "concern about the school environment." Around two-thirds also agreed that providing "moral instruction" as well as "dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools" also motivated their departure from traditional schooling.
According to research from the Urban Institute, homeschooling increased by 30 percent between the 2019–20 and 2021–22 school years. Nationally, over 5 percent of school-age children are now estimated to be homeschooled.
While many parents were anxious to get their children back into school, some found they liked having their kids at home.
Imagine that.
