The kids are not alright! <\/p>\n
The number of New York parents choosing to homeschool has exploded by more than 200% over the past 15 years \u2014 the highest rate of growth in all school sectors \u2014 as the nation\u2019s biggest public school system struggles with an illiteracy and innumeracy crisis<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to the most recent 2025-2026 figures<\/a> analyzed by The Post, New York state now has a whopping 53,905 children being homeschooled \u2014 a figure that has more than tripled since 2009-10. <\/p>\n In New York City, those figures are also rising \u2014 with more than 14,000 children being homeschooled at last count.<\/p>\n Adrienne Jensen said her family initially chose homeschooling to ensure their children received a rigorous, quality education \u2014 one they could shape themselves rather than leave to the luck of the teacher or school district.<\/p>\n This pace of growth across the state and the city eclipses even the current rate of charter school enrollment \u2014 since 2023, homeschooling has risen nearly 8% compared to 3.1% for charter attendance.<\/p>\n \u201cFor the past few decades, New York\u2019s schools have been in a death spiral of worsening performance and exploding costs,\u201d Zilvinas Silenas, president of the Empire Center for Public Policy think tank, told The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cNew York\u2019s taxpayers spend $37,000 \u2014 the most in the world to educate one kid \u2014 yet we lose in reading and mathematics to Mississippi, the poorest state.<\/p>\n \u201cIt might not be that all parents that homeschool think homeschooling is the best thing in the world. It could also be that anything \u2013 even homeschooling \u2013 is better than New York\u2019s government system.\u201d <\/p>\n And frustrated parents agreed. Many told The Post they\u2019re opting out because they\u2019re fed up with bloated classrooms and bad results.<\/p>\n \u201cSo many students are in large classes where they feel intimidated to raise their hands, and parents come to me asking, \u2018Why is my smart kid so unhappy at school?\u2019\u201d longtime New York homeschooling advocate Laurie Block Spigel told The Post.<\/p>\n Adrienne Jensen often takes her kids (above) outdoors to study, read and learn.<\/p>\n \u201cEvery teacher and every parent knows that no two kids are the same, yet you have 30 or 35 kids in a classroom, all at different levels. You\u2019re failing the whole class,\u201d said Spigel, who homeschooled her two sons in The Bronx in the \u201990s \u2014 her eldest attended NYU\u2019s prestigious film school and is now a writer and her youngest studied marine biology \u2014 and now advises numerous local parents.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd then there\u2019s the testing. They\u2019ve stopped teaching whole books because you can\u2019t test comprehension of a whole book \u2014 you can only test an excerpt. How does that build readers? They\u2019re teaching students how to write badly and how to hate reading.\u201d<\/p>\n A recent analysis conducted by the Success Academy Charter Schools network found that in 906 of NYC\u2019s 1,500-plus public schools, fewer than half of students passed math<\/a>, reading, or both, on state exams last year.<\/p>\n And about a third of the 906 schools have appeared on state \u201caccountability\u201d lists since 2012, with some having been designated as failures for decades, the analysis found.<\/p>\n Adrienne Jensen is another parent who \u2014 while initially balking at the idea of homeschooling \u2014 decided she didn\u2019t want to risk her kids entering an education system she didn\u2019t trust. <\/p>\n Jensen\u2019s children are active in NYC\u2019s homeschooling community, where they\u2019ve made friends with other homeschooled kids who share their interests and often study and play together.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought homeschooling was definitely weird and fringy<\/a>,\u201d Jensen, 45, an Upper West Side mom of four, told The Post, such as religious fundamentalists and off-the-grid preppers like those in the tradwife thriller \u201cYesteryear\u201d as typical homeschoolers. \u201cI dismissed them as weirdos.\u201d<\/p>\n But then, while browsing cloth-diapering forums after having her first child, she stumbled onto a homeschooling discussion board, and discovered the families<\/a> she encountered were like her.<\/p>\n \u201cIn the beginning, our reasons for homeschooling were mainly about rigor and being able to give our kids a quality education without having to hope that they got \u2018good\u2019 teachers [and] without strategizing to live in a \u2018good\u2019 school district,\u201d Jensen explained.<\/p>\n Now, Jensen, who is homeschooling three of her four children \u2014 ages 16, 14 and 12, and homeschooled her oldest daughter, a 19-year-old sophomore at Cornell \u2014 said the biggest draws became less academic and more about time and freedom.<\/p>\n \u201cI love that we spend at least half our time outside or at museums and other city institutions, really living while we learn,\u201d the Upper West Side mom said. <\/p>\n \u201cAt this point, I can\u2019t imagine making my kids spend all day, every day, inside the same four walls when there\u2019s so much life happening out here.\u201d<\/p>\n Jensen\u2019s children have taken classes at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the New York Historical Society, gone birding in Central Park, participated in book clubs and running clubs, taken field trips across the city and even created their own homeschool newspaper.<\/p>\n Jensen has homeschooled her children for 15 years and is currently teaching three of them.<\/p>\n Jensen frequently uses NYC\u2019s museums as classrooms, often taking her children to the Metropolitan Museum of Art\u2019s Temple of Dendur.<\/p>\n So why are so many parents taking their children out of traditional schools \u2014 and bypassing even the academically rigorous charters that have risen to rival public education?<\/p>\n In a 2025 survey conducted by NYC\u2019s Department of Education<\/a>, 21% of homeschool parents said they felt their children got a more rigorous education than was possible in public schools.<\/p>\n Similarly, in a 2019 survey by the National Center for Education Statistics, 80.3% of homeschooling parents cited concerns about their children\u2019s school environment, 72.6% pointed to dissatisfaction with academic instruction at other schools and 54.2% cited a desire to spend more time together as a family.<\/p>\n Jensen says homeschooling allows her to nurture her children\u2019s individual interests, giving them the freedom to dive deeper into subjects they want to read about rather than follow a one-size-fits-all curriculum.<\/p>\n This number includes Vivianne Wright, 46, who is homeschooling her 9-year-old daughter, Violetta.<\/p>\n \u201cHomeschooling was not our initial plan,\u201d the Harlem-based mom told The Post, but when she realized her child was academically gifted and that her busy work schedule as an A.P. test tutor was at odds with Violetta\u2019s school calendar, she began planning for a home education.<\/p>\n As Jensen told The Post, her family has \u201cdone lots of classes with park rangers and NYC Audubon,\u201d where they are able to \u201clearn about ecology in the park.\u201d<\/p>\n Today, Violetta is 9. She works through math for up to 90 minutes at a time, studies humanities through projects comparing folklore from different cultures and creates her own science tests. She also takes judo three times a week, art once a week and practices chess and piano daily.<\/p>\n \u201cTo me, the most important habit to nourish is curiosity,\u201d says her mother.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, Astoria mom, Carolina Brinkman, 40, chose to homeschool so her children could see their father, a chef with demanding overnight hours.<\/p>\n Harlem mom Vivianne Wright has homeschooled Violetta (above) since she was 4. <\/p>\n \u201cWe knew traditional school hours would mean not getting time together,\u201d she told The Post.<\/p>\n Brinkman has homeschooled her four children \u2014 ages 15, 14, 12 and 10 \u2014 since kindergarten.<\/p>\n Brinkman has also turned libraries, museums, parks, playgrounds and historical sites into lessons.<\/p>\n At just 8 years old, Violetta (above) won second place in an international essay competition, beating out hundreds of students around the world. She was the youngest contestant \u2014 and the only homeschooled student \u2014 to place.<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of times, you learn alongside your kid,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s really cool to experience that together.\u201d<\/p>\n But is it in the best interest of New York children?<\/p>\n Some research says \u201cactually, yes.\u201d Studies show<\/a> that homeschooled children can perform as well as or better than traditionally schooled students academically. Some research also finds positive social and developmental outcomes.<\/p>\n But clinical psychologist Dr. Wildaliz Caro<\/a> told The Post that social development involves more than simply \u201cproviding the child with exposure to same-age peers.\u201d<\/p>\n For a field trip, Jensen likes to take her children to the New York Transit Museum in Downtown Brooklyn to learn about the city\u2019s transportation history and how its subway system came to be.<\/p>\n It requires regular opportunities to resolve conflicts, navigate differences, follow group expectations and build sustained, daily relationships with people outside the family.<\/p>\n \u201cParents need to think carefully about what their child might lose as well as what they might gain,\u201d said Dr. Connie McReynolds<\/a>, a licensed clinical psychologist. \u201cSchools provide access to different teachers, specialists, group learning, activities and a wide variety of social situations.\u201d<\/p>\n Jensen runs a weekly book club in her apartment for her children and other homeschooled kids. Together, they dive into classic literature and lively discussions about the books they\u2019re reading.<\/p>\n But according to Laurie Block Spigel, a longtime NYC homeschooling advocate, many children wither in larger group settings and get lost in a big classroom. <\/p>\n