Home Schooling On The Rise In Virginia Schools

Summary: Over the years, the Virginia schools (like many school systems across the nation) have been losing their public school students to home schooling. Henry County, for example, has seen an increase in home-schooled students from eight to 99 over the past 11 years. In April 1999, the nation watched in horror the news reports on Colorado's Columbine High School shootings, where 12 students and one teacher were fatally shot and 24 others were wounded by two teens who then killed...

Over the years, the Virginia schools (like many school systems across the nation) have been losing their public school students to home schooling. Henry County, for example, has seen an increase in home-schooled students from eight to 99 over the past 11 years. In April 1999, the nation watched in horror the news reports on Colorado's Columbine High School shootings, where 12 students and one teacher were fatally shot and 24 others were wounded by two teens who then killed themselves. Afterwards, the Virginia schools saw a steady increase of applications from parents who wished to home school their children. Though the number of children who are home schooled has continued to increase within the Virginia schools, the reasons have changed. Though school violence and security remains to be a primary concern of Virginia schools' parents, they now have a variety of other reasons, including: