Homeschooling still on the rise during COVID-19 pandemic | News

REDDING, Calif. – The number of California parents enrolling their kids in homeschool has increased since the start of the pandemic.

College Prep Academy tells Action News Now, pre-COVID they had about 45 students, and now they have about 90 students enrolled in the homeschool program this year.

Amanda Richmond is the secretary for College Prep Academy. She says there are many reasons parents want to take their kids out of public school.

She says one reason is parents not wanting their kids to wear masks and the constant changes in COVID-19 protocols in schools.

One of those parents is Summer, who has one child who goes to College Prep Academy and is in third grade. She says the pandemic affected her daughter’s ability to learn.

“She was ripped out of school for six months and pulled back in, and it created separation anxiety which also caused her not to want to go to school; within this whole year, they have lost so much learning and stability, and it’s an up and down cycle,” Summer said.

“We see a steady number there, and sometimes it’s increased and decreased. We do lose a couple because of the mask mandate lifting, but throughout the year, we are adding,” Richmond said.

The California Department of Education says applications submitted for a parent to have their kids homeschooled doubled, from about 20,000 in the 2019 school year to 35,000 applications in 2021.

Summer tells Action News Now that she hopes to put her daughter back into public school next year once she is caught up in her classes.