America’s Elites Deserve An “F” For Their Take On Homeschooling
In July, Angie Sullivan, co-host of the popular podcast, I’ve Had It, decided to tell her audience she’d had enough of homeschooling. Per Sullivan: “I think it’s just f***ing weird…that you want your kids around you all day, every day and all night.” She went on to say: “I don’t trust somebody that wants to be with their kids 24/7. I think a lot of dumb people do it because it’s just easier.”
Highlights
- In her new book, ‘Skipping School,’ historian Dixie Dillon Lane makes a compelling case that homeschooling in the U.S. has moved into the mainstream. Post This
- No matter where a child goes to school in the next few decades, he or she will probably encounter both homeschooling families and educational changes sparked by the homeschool movement.Post This
But is homeschooling still weird? In a new book, Skipping School: A History of American Homeschooling and How it Went Mainstream, historian Dixie Dillon Lane makes a compelling case that homeschooling in the United States has moved into the mainstream. Once a quasi-illegal (or actually illegal) educational method relegated to the fringes, homeschooling is now almost … ordinary. While numbers vary, the National Home Education Research Institute estimates that in 2025, there were around 3.4 million homeschooled students in the United States, making up approximately 6.3% of the school-aged population. The adoption of “Education Savings Accounts” in many states—which often allow homeschool parents to use state funding to pay for approved educational expenses—promises to further fuel the growth in American homeschooling.
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2025-2026 Madison 4k-3rd grade Early Literacy Screener report: The bar moves faster than the kids.
Joe Gothard, Becky Kundert and Sonia Spencer Remarks on Madison’s K-12 Literacy Crisis.
2026-2027 Madison K-12 $pending continues to grow, fueled by a 9.7% (!) property tax increase. Total spending will be at least $706,000,000 for 25,003 students, or $28,236 per student.
May 2026 Madison School District Presentation: 7,095 adults for 25,003 students (3.52 students per adult!)
2024-2025 Early Literacy Screener Map.
Map: Foundations of Reading Results: 2015–2024
Where have all the students gone?
3,887 Madison 4 year old to third grade students scored lower than 75% of the students in the national comparison group.
Madison taxpayers have long supported far above average k-12 tax & $pending. This despite our long term, disastrous reading results. May, 2026: 7,095 Staff for 25,003 students; $pending > $26k per student!
Madison Schools: More $, No Accountability
The taxpayer funded Madison School District long used Reading Recovery…
The data clearly indicate that being able to read is not a requirement for graduation at (Madison) East, especially if you are black or Hispanic.
My Question to Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers on Teacher Mulligans and our Disastrous Reading Results
2017: West High Reading Interventionist Teacher’s Remarks to the School Board on Madison’s Disastrous Reading Results
Madison’s taxpayer supported K-12 school district, despite spending far more than most, has long tolerated disastrous reading results.
“An emphasis on adult employment”
Wisconsin Public Policy Forum Madison School District Report[PDF]
WEAC: $1.57 million for Four Wisconsin Senators
Friday Afternoon Veto: Governor Evers Rejects AB446/SB454; an effort to address our long term, disastrous reading results
Booked, but can’t read (Madison): functional literacy, National citizenship and the new face of Dred Scott in the age of mass incarceration.
When A Stands for Average: Students at the UW-Madison School of Education Receive Sky-High Grades. How Smart is That?
