Why Homeschooling Is Growing in 2026

I sat endlessly scrolling on TikTok, seeing how parents had pulled their children out of school and were now teaching them at home. I thought this could be the best thing for my family, for so many reasons, but I was torn! There must be pros and cons to this situation. I have seen a massive surge in online discussions about homeschooling their children. The comments on these posts are very diverse. Everyone seems to have a different opinion. So is homeschooling the right thing to do? Does it actually provide a better education than public school?

After doing some research, I have realised that homeschooling has always been around but has surged in popularity since the pandemic in 2020. The most recent census from the Autumn of 2025 showed a massive increase in the UK, with about 126,000 students in home education. I never realised how easy it was for parents to take their child out of school. From what I see, it only takes the parent to write a letter to the head teacher to advise them to remove your child from their register, and you’re good to go. According to my research, this is only ever an issue if your child is on the SEN register or has already had severe attendance issues; otherwise, it could be difficult to remove them.

The main debate on this topic is whether children will receive a good education through homeschooling. And obviously, there are good points on either side of this debate. Doing some further research into social media posts, I have found quite a few accounts focused solely on sharing their experiences with homeschooling, and most of them seem positive. People say this has created a better lifestyle for them and their children, reduced their children's stress about completing work on time, and significantly improved their children’s mental health. The main reason I have found that parents are making this decision to teach their children at home is bullying, or because they feel the school hasn’t supported their child properly or that the school gives children too much work. Another big reason is that parents do not feel safe with their children being away from home in the modern world. Teaching your child yourself offers a more personalised education tailored to your child’s individual needs, which parents claim is helping their children achieve a better education than if they were still in public school. Also, this gives children a more well-rounded education, beyond just textbooks. I saw one post online claiming that adults who were homeschooled genuinely have a better CV for work than those who attended school.

The main concern people seem to have about children who don’t attend school is that it could leave them significantly less experienced in social situations and unable to make friends later in life. The other big reason people are against it is that they don’t believe parents can provide a child with the full education they need. In the UK, you are not required to follow the national curriculum, which means you can teach your child however you like, as long as they are receiving a full-time education. But, of course, this means children could miss out on opportunities such as trips, scholarship programmes, and work experience. A good point I did find was that children thrive in a reward system. Yes, you could reward your child at home, but the feeling of being in an assembly and receiving an award for good work, people believe, is a lot more rewarding than just being told by your parents you’ve done well. School offers structure and routine, which many believe are vital things children must learn to enter the real world of adulthood.

For working parents, homeschooling is just an impossible concept: being at home every day. But many people seem to believe that children should be free to learn in real-life situations and travel without the worry of a government fine. Should we really need government permission to take children out of school for a holiday? which could be educational. These are not issues homeschooling parents face; they take their children out of school and are free to live any lifestyle they want. I can’t help but wonder, personally, is this the new way forward? If you can be at home and it doesn't put a lot of financial pressure on you, could offering this lifestyle to your child be the best decision you ever make? Or is it true that some children will suffer going into adulthood because they haven’t developed skills that some people believe they can only gain from being in school with other children?

It’s an interesting debate, and one I've personally considered. Is it the right decision? Who knows? I think it depends on the person, the time you have and what home education looks like for you. But the final note I have here is that I think each parent knows what’s best for their child.