During the COVID-19 pandemic, schools across the country saw high homeschooling numbers.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the country saw a doubling of households that were homeschooling at the start of the 2020-2021 school year compared to the year before. And while they have gone down in some places, in others, those numbers have stayed high.

Suraiya and Phoenix are working hard on their school work. Their mom Jenni is teaching them grammar and spelling. The girls have been homeschooled their whole lives.

It gives Jenni the opportunity to dive deeper into subjects that interest them.

“It's incredibly flexible to each one of my kids they each learn differently and I can cater what we're doing to each of them,” Jenni said.

Jenni is also a homeschool consultant for families across the country, helping other parents decide if homeschooling is the right decision for their kids. There are many reasons someone could decide to homeschool — a concern that Jenni hears a lot from other parents is safety.

“Recently, school violence, and the educational systems' response to that school violence, has come up more often, but it's not usually the number one reason people decide to home school,” she said. “It is, however, a huge reason why people decide not to go back to the conventional school system.”

Homeschooling has been gaining popularity since the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s been more than two years since a COVID-19 vaccine was released, yet many homeschooling numbers across New York State have stayed high.

According to Education Week, in 2022, there were 51 school shootings with injuries or deaths.

Jenni says another big issue for the parents is the response to the “what if.”

“It's also a really big concern that in 2023 we're doing, you know, active shooter drills with five-year-olds and it's necessary,” she said. “And I think for a lot of homeschoolers, the necessary response to this violence is just as concerning as the violence itself.”

Jenni says there’s no quick fix for this problem, but at the end of the day, what matters is the comfort level of each family.

“It takes a lot of trust to send your kids off with people that you don't really know you're not really friends with,” Jenni said. “And when you add into the mix school violence that is seems to be unsolved, it makes it harder to send your kids off.”