PARIS, Ky. — While many children across Kentucky are returning to school, there are kids who have yet to start and some won’t be going to a school at all. In the last few years, homeschooling has been a growing trend, especially after the pandemic.

What You Need To Know

  • Since the pandemic, the amount of families choosing to homeschool their children has been on the rise

  • Jennifer Davis has been homeschooling her children for nine years and says that being able to have a choice over the education that her kids receive is a big part of her reason to homeschool her children.

  • Davis works part-time while overseeing her children's education and says that there are many families who are doing this as well.

  • She supplements her children's education with fun activities like planning field trips, engaging with animals, and focusing on topics that interest them.

This school year will be Jennifer Davis’ 10th year of homeschooling her children. There were several reasons that led her to decide that homeschooling was a good fit for her family, but ultimately, choice over how and what to teach her kids was the main factor.

“Overall, it’s been a great experience,” said Davis. “That’s why we keep doing it.”

Davis’ daughter, Stevie, is going into kindergarten and the instruction for her will be much more hands-on since she’s young. As for her older son, Houston, who is about to start 8th grade, he follows an online curriculum under her supervision. Houston has been homeschooled since the start of his education, and like his mother, he enjoys the flexibility that comes with homeschooling.

Parents who homeschool choose a curriculum to follow and pay for it themselves, which Davis says can cost thousands of dollars. They pay for that while still paying taxes that go toward public schools.

The approximately 3.1 million homeschool students in 2021-22 represented savings of over $51 billion for taxpayers, according to the National Home Education Research Institute.

While Davis works at her desk, she observes her children to ensure that schoolwork is getting done and answers any questions. She works part time as a property manager and says that it’s not uncommon for parents who are homeschooling their children to work a part-time job as well.

“There is back and forth so there’s a lot of interruptions and that’s one thing I’ve had to work through over the years,” said Davis. “That’s OK, as long as all the work gets done and everybody’s in a good mood, then it’s a good day.”

Spending quality time together as a family makes the hard work of homeschooling well worth it for Davis.

“I do feel like it makes me a lot closer to the kids and also makes me a lot more in tune with what their needs are as they grow and change and I’m really grateful for that time that I get to have with them ‘cause 18 years is so short,” said Davis.

She finds ways to make homeschooling a positive and fun experience for her kids by having them engage with animals and their surroundings, planning field trips, and supplementing their education with topics that interest them.

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