Ohio becomes one of the homeschooling states

Recent data indicate that Ohio is one of the fastest-growing homeschooling states, while other states known for their no-notice, low-regulation homeschooling laws, like Michigan, are not improving in that regard.

In addition to Ohio, the states of Georgia, Minnesota and Nebraska have reported their highest-ever homeschool enrollment numbers, according to the Institute for Education Policy at Johns Hopkins’ School of Education.

“During the pandemic, homeschooling experienced dramatic growth followed by a slight decline immediately after traditional schools reopened,” the institute said. “However, in the 2023-2024 school year, homeschooling participation rebounded. These new data for 2024-2025 indicate that this upward trend has continued in the most recent round of reporting.”

The institute added that it could use only the “state-registered homeschool participation counts collected by local districts (in most cases) and issued by the state,” meaning the state would count only families who report their homeschool participation to the state.

“While reporting is required in these states, there is no guarantee that all homeschool families report. Conversely, it is also unlikely that families would falsely report homeschooling while their children attend traditional schools,” the institute said. “Therefore, we consider these counts as the minimum number of homeschooled students in each state.”

These numbers also include students who attend “microschools, hybrid schools and learning cooperatives.”

“For another consecutive year, these findings demonstrate continued homeschooling growth that is not pandemic-driven and significantly outpaces pre-pandemic growth rates,” the institute said.

The institute said that a more nuanced study is needed, considering that differences in urban growth rates may indicate that homeschooling is growing in different areas for different reasons, adding that, according to several new studies, “homeschooled students frequently move in and out of the sector, thus expanding the impact of these trends beyond the approximately 3 million students currently being homeschooled.”

One possible reason Ohio became so popular among homeschooling supporters was its laws, which were more favorable to homeschooling, HSLDA, a non-profit organization that advocates for homeschooling, reported.

HSLDA said that even though the state of Ohio requires parents to notify the government if they decide to homeschool their children and imposes the state-mandated subjects, the state doesn’t require teacher qualifications, assessments and immunizations. According to the non-profit’s rankings, Ohio ranks low in regulation for homeschooling.

The recent news about parents deciding to homeschool their children came after Ohio.News previously reported on different colleges and universities in the state suspending pro-abortion doctors, firing their professors for their research, which partially resulted in them being ranked relatively low when it comes to the freedom of speech, cutting their degree programs and implementing the mandatory diversity, equity and inclusion coursework for students.

It was also reported that Cleveland public schools were being emptied.