The Homeschooling Hack

"Kids arrive with their parents, holding hands or racing ahead. Some are neatly dressed, some of them messy; there are girls with cute headbands and girls with hair dyed blue. They drop their water bottles and let their backpacks jump up and down on their shoulders as they break into a run after spotting friends. They cluster into pairs or groups. They self-organize soccer games or sit playing cards. Some of them climb rocks."

"In New York City, the number of children being educated at home increased 324 percent from 2017 to 2023; nationwide, more than 3 million children are homeschooled. Even Jonathan Haidt - the author of The Anxious Generation and our nation's current sage of adolescent failure to thrive - has come out in favor of homeschooling, arguing on the Ezra Klein podcast, "If you want to send me someone who's going to do well" in higher education, "don't send me someone who has mastered Instagram."

Heckscher Playground provides a window into homeschooling life: parents and children gathering midweek, children self-organizing play and diverse social appearance. Homeschooling is undergoing a rebrand and rapid expansion, with New York City’s homeschooled population rising 324 percent from 2017 to 2023 and more than 3 million homeschooled nationwide. Some commentators praise homeschooling for reducing social-media distractions and improving attention and reading. Homeschooling families generally cluster into three types: religious families; un-schoolers who aim to learn outside traditional student-teacher hierarchies; and a newer, more academically ambitious generation that blends un-schooler philosophy with intentional educational goals.

Read at Intelligencer