by Holly Swenson
The New York Times recently published an op-ed titled Home-Schooled Kids Are Not All Right. Its author calls for sweeping government oversight in regard to homeschool families and concludes that the government knows better than parents when it comes to our children and how they should be educated.
The author also calls for “an authority outside the home” to protect children from their parents.
As a mother of four and a parenting expert, this article raised serious red flags, gave me chills, and left me genuinely questioning how this narrative is still being pushed.
I am currently homeschooling three of my four sons. Our sons came to my husband and me and asked for the change to homeschooling. They said public school was unbearable, unhealthy, and suffocating their growth on many levels. We said yes without hesitation and have been charting new territory together ever since. We are seizing the day, finding academic and emotional success, and are able to tailor learning to their interests, versus witnessing our sons be stuffed into a dysfunctional and unhealthy box otherwise known as public school, and best of all, we get to really live.
In 2024, approximately 3.7 million U.S. students (6.7%) were homeschooled, which was a large jump from 2.5 million in 2019. This rapid growth primarily stemmed from the COVID-19 pandemic, when families began to have more of a pulse on what was being taught in the public school system.
Additional drivers of the increased homeschool trend are parents citing the public school environment. Bullying and safety have become serious issues—2025 saw at least 231 school shootings, and research indicates an estimated 10% (4-5 million) of K–12 students will experience some form of educator sexual misconduct by the time they graduate from high school. Other issues include dissatisfaction with academics and moral/religious instruction as the top reasons for choosing homeschooling.
The most current, official data from Fall 2022 shows around 49.6 million students enrolled in U.S. public elementary and secondary schools (PreK-12). It is expected that enrollment in public schools will continue to decline, and this forecast highlights that homeschooling is gaining ground and public schools are losing their edge.
While some argue the government knows best, there is immense irony here because under the control of government-run schools, children and adolescents are facing some of the worst mental health outcomes on record. This isn’t my opinion; this is steeped in truth, research, and reality.
Let’s take a look at what’s happening to our young people: diagnosed anxiety and depression are at historic highs. About 1 in 6 teens have diagnosed anxiety, and about 1 in 12 have diagnosed depression, and, per the CDC, 21% of children ages 3–17 have a diagnosed mental, emotional, developmental, or behavioral condition. Loneliness, chronic stress, and emotional dysregulation are widespread; youth suicide rates, which do fluctuate year to year, are significantly higher than a generation ago (suicide is the second leading cause of death for young people ages 10-24); and children report lower well-being and life satisfaction than in past decades.
About 7-8%, or approximately 3.5 million, of public school students receive stimulant therapy for ADHD, according to the CDC and health data from the early 2020s. This one breaks my heart.
As an important side note, “Pentagon studies and health organizations cite figures around 70-80% of young Americans (ages 17-24/25) as ineligible for military service, primarily due to obesity, lack of education, and drug/criminal issues, with physical fitness being a huge factor, though it’s often combined with other disqualifications. Recent data points to about 77% being unqualified, with obesity, substance abuse, and health problems being the top reasons.” The majority of our young people went through the public school system, and this is what it looks like on the other side. I am not impressed.
On mental health alone, many experts agree we are in a youth mental health crisis—and in that sense, today’s kids are worse off than at any point since we began tracking these data.
Children today are less physically active, spending more time sedentary and on screens, and are experiencing higher rates of obesity, sleep deprivation, and stress-related symptoms. Did you know many teachers report students using devices for 1-4 hours daily for digital tools, with some using them 5+ hours? Screen time in school now is substantial and integrated into the curriculum, but this also can be a major source of distraction and is continuing to fuel the mental health crisis we are seeing in our young people.
To be fair, the youth mental health crisis isn’t solely caused by public schools, but it’s certainly being magnified there for many students.
Today’s public school experience increasingly includes high-stakes testing, early academic pressure, long sedentary days, constant stimulation, reduced autonomy, and relentless social comparison. This can lead to chronic stress, which their brains and bodies are not yet equipped to manage.
Neuroscience shows kids lose up to 70% of their focus after just 2-3 hours of sitting. Children spending 8 hours in class per day end up burned out and unwell, not brighter. Science also shows less is more when it comes to learning—the traditional system is antiquated, dysfunctional, and uninspiring for children (and teachers alike).
On the education front, the picture is dire too, with government data showing only around one-third of children in public schools are even “proficient” in the core subjects. If a government cannot properly educate the children already under its control, how is it supposed to oversee and improve education provided by parents?
Public schools didn’t create this crisis alone. But until we acknowledge how current school structures can intensify stress for many children, we will keep treating symptoms while ignoring a powerful part of the equation. To think that the government can do better than the family unit is frightening and wildly off-base.
Let’s now look at homeschool. Statistically, homeschooled students often achieve higher standardized test scores, are more ready for college (higher SAT/ACT scores, better college GPAs/retention), have higher college acceptance rates, and demonstrate improved social/emotional well-being compared to public school peers. Research shows homeschoolers often have increased emotional resilience and higher self-esteem. Additionally, homeschoolers have lower rates of mental health treatment and substance misuse as compared to traditionally schooled peers.
An additional kicker here for the naysayers of homeschool: some of the highest-performing individuals and most influential thought leaders—both today and throughout history—were homeschooled.
Here is a list so you can see for yourself:
George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Abraham Lincoln, Benjamin Franklin, Claude Monet, Florence Nightingale, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Edison, Orville and Wilbur Wright, Charles Dickens, Amelia Earhart, Mark Twain, C.S. Lewis, Albert Einstein, Louis Armstrong, Taylor Swift, Charlie Chaplin, Sandra Day O’Connor, Winston Churchill, Tim Tebow, Venus and Serena Williams, LeAnne Rimes, Justin Timberlake, Dakota Fanning, and Booker T. Washington.
Is this greatness a coincidence? I think not. These humans were taught to think outside of the box and were able and allowed to cultivate greatness within, which is something often squashed in the traditional public school setting. Learning at home was the very foundation from which their collective greatness was built. I applaud the mothers and fathers who raised these children, and I do not believe the government would have done better.
The public system is set up to create compliant sheep, not launch changemakers and visionaries.
We need to wake up and see reality for what it is, and the research is screaming out at us all and is beckoning for change. We are on the edge of a mental and physical health collapse among our young people—the same young people who have been in the public school system for years.
I am a product of the public school system, but frankly, public school is not what it used to be. We have fallen far from grace and are really doing our young people a disservice on a regular basis—mentally, physically, and spiritually, as well as in the very environment they are confined to the majority of every weekday.
Policing American families who are helping their children find more to thrive on than what is found within the framework of the public school system is not the solution. Holistically, we need to revamp the whole education system to help inspire this next generation—we need to feed them whole food that will properly fuel them, help them partner with their purpose, and let them move, play, and explore—not sit for hours on end and do worksheet after worksheet—this never inspired anybody! In the meantime, and until this happens, I will be happily homeschooling my sons.
Finally, if you look back at some of the darker times of our history, Native American children were forced into government-run schools, and the assimilation and cultural genocide were widespread and devastating. Parents who resisted faced severe penalties, including imprisonment or the loss of food rations. This is a stark reminder of what government-run schools can look like if we aren’t careful moving forward.
After doing a deep dive into the research about what is happening in the public school system, it is clear to see that public schools are failing the minds, bodies, and souls of our children and adolescents. I am left to conclude, contrary to the writer in the New York Times, our public-schooled kids are clearly not all right. Our homeschooled kids are doing great.
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Holly Swenson, author of Stop, Drop, Grow & Glow: Forming Deeper and More Joyful Connections with Yourself and Your Children.
