CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Census Bureau has reported households with school aged children practicing homeschooling doubled between the spring and fall of 2020. Growing from 5.5% to 11.1%
“We can do those sort of things that we wouldn’t have had with other schooling options," said Shalena French, who home schools her children.
French has been homeschooling her 7th grade and 5th grade boys since the beginning.
“There’s definitely a learning curve when you first start but, once you get into the rhythm its really rewarding and its great for all of us,” said French.
When the pandemic first hit, many families had to make the adjustment to remote learning, French had to rethink her approach to hands on learning.
“We were able to continue with most of what we were doing as far as the education like their normal subjects we just didn’t have the outside,” said French.
A year later and now students are required to be back in the classroom but, the increase in cases of the Delta variant has many parents uneasy.
“What we’ve seen is a lot of parents who aren’t ready to send their students back,” said teacher Melanie Reyes.
The Homeschool Academy and Private Tutoring in Corpus Christi, noticed a rise in interest in homeschooling. Reyes, a teacher there, said she suspects this is because public schools are doing away with online learning.
“We are still keeping our zoom account open for any student whose parent is feeling like they want to keep them home,” said Reyes.
She said the tutoring academy is keeping busy teaching middle school and high school aged kids while still practicing COVID-19 guidelines.
“We are not a public school so, we do require that mask be worn,” said Reyes.
Shalena French said there are options out there to continue your child's education.
“I'm really just thankful that we have that choice to decide what is best for our family,” said French.
Calvert education has a helpful list of pros and cons parents should consider while making the decision to home school.
Whether that is public school or homeschooling, there are resources available to students and parents in the Coastal Bend. You can view them at the links below:
Texas Education Agency Homeschooling Resources
Oso Bay Wetlands Preserve and Learning Center
Corpus Christi Museum of Science and History
