Over the last few years, I’ve seen the mass exodus of children from traditional education settings. I know where they are headed and why they are leaving…
By Angela Hansen, President & Founder
American Academy of Strategic Education (AASE)
More parents are choosing a non-traditional path for their student’s primary education. A few years ago 1.5 million students were schooling through non-traditional means. Now that number is estimated to be more than 2 million.
Just ten years ago, homeschooling appeared to be cutting-edge or “alternative” but now is bordering on mainstream. It is the fastest growing form of education in the US. It is also rapidly growing all over the globe (ie. Australia, Canada, France, Hungary, Japan, Kenya, Russia, Mexico, South Korea, Thailand, and the United Kingdom).
Parents are taking this new route for a variety reasons such as more educational options, more real learning—less fluff, flexible schedules, more privacy from big government, more influence over their child’s curriculum, less influence from teachers with different values, complete control over how /when/where their child learns sex ed., more control over their child’s environment or friends, etc…
As the number of students leaving public school grows, so do the legislative threats. Government officials in California and local school districts would like nothing more than to take away school choice for children. Parents, state legislators and groups like the Homeschool Legal Defense Association need to remain vigilant and determined to keep our options open.
With public education not going in the direction most parents want, Texas Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick warned, “People will pull their kids out [of traditional public education], homeschooling will explode, and private schools will increase.” Looking back, Patrick was prophetic.
I created American Academy as a private academy to support parents in educating their child(ren) the way they best see fit. We go out of our way to provide tons of flexibility. We offer real learning opportunities in our Essential Discourses, our student-led clubs, and our adaptive and personalized online curriculum without wasted time on fluff and behavior management. We do not indoctrinate children with certain political or gender views; we do not teach Sex Ed—we leave that for families to address in a way that matches their parenting philosophies; and because we have a small teacher to student ratio, we get to know our students well. We foster good character development in your children and we are able to support what you are teaching at home.
Thanks for allowing us to partner with you in your child’s education.